"  *? 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

Presented  by 


Es-Vc\^e  of  "Rev.  Greor^e  &.5mitla 


BR  145  .P7  1871 
Pond,  Enoch,  1791-1882. 
A  history  of  God's  church 
from  its  origin  to  the 


c^(^7T 


TEXT -BOOK 


ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 


C  ^^Z^^^^^r.^^    K^y  <^^^i^<L^^^i_^, 


A  HISTORY 


OF 


GoD's  Church 


FROM  ITS  ORIGIN 


TO  THE   PRESENT  TIME. 


BY 

ENOCH  "pond,   D.D., 

PROFESSOR   IN  THB  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,    BANGOR,   ME. 


ZIEGLER  &   McCURDY, 

PHILADELPHIA,   PENN. ;    CINCINNATI,   OHIO;    CHICAGO,    ILL.; 

ST.   LOUIS,   MO.;    SPRINGFIELD,    MASS. 

187I. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870, 

By  S.  S.  SCRANTON  &  CO., 

la  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Boston: 
rand,  avery,  &  frye,  electrotypers  and  printers. 


PREFACE. 


WHEN  I  commenced  giving  instruction  in  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory in  the  seminary  at  Bangor,  I  used,  for  several  years, 
Murdoch's  translation  of  Mosheim  as  a  text-book :  not  that  I  was 
entirely  satisfied  with  it ;  but  I  could  find  nothing  better.    Some  of 
the  more  recent  German  histories  were  too  large  to  be  used  as  text- 
books ;  and  all  were  so  contaminated  with  the  transcendental  phi- 
losophy, and  so  destitute  of  the  spirit  and  principles  of  evangehcal 
religion,  as  to  render  them  unsuitable  for  my  purpose.     A  history 
of  God's  Church  should  be,  to  some  extent,  a  religious  hook,  imbued 
with  the  spirit,  and  in  sympathy  with  the  great  truths  and  facts, 
of  the  gospel;  but  such  a  history  —  in  other  respects  suitable— I 
could  not  find.     After  waiting  in  vain  for  years  for  the  appearance 
of  such  a  work,  I  resolved  to  attempt  something  myself.  ■  Accord- 
ingly, I  sat  myself  down  to  the  labor  of  preparation  ;  and  the  pages 
which  follow  are  the  result. 

In  preparing  this  work,  though  I  have  sought  information  from 
every  accessible  quarter,  I  have  not  recurred  extensively  to  what 
may  be  called  original  sources.  This  did  not  seem  to  me  to  be 
*  necessary,  after  what  has  been  done  by  Gieseler,  Murdoch,  and 
others,  in  their  notes.  In  these  notes,  the  original  sources  are 
pretty  fully  laid  open ;  and  every  reader  can  consult  them  for 
himself. 


10  PREFACE. 

Neither  have  I  thought  it  necessary  to  burthen  my  pages  with  a 
long  succession  of  footnotes  and  references.  I  might  have  made 
a  show  of  learning  in  tliis  way,  as  others  have  done  before  me, 
but  with  little  credit  to  myself,  or  profit  to  the  reader.  In  short,  if 
I  have  done  little  to  aid  j^rofound  scholars  in  the  matter  of  church 
history,  I  trust  I  have  done  as  little  to  offend  them. 

If  in  writing  I  have  adopted  too  freely  the  language  of  any  pre- 
vious author,  that  author  is  probably  Mosheim ;  since,  by  long  use 
of  his  work  in  teaching,  I  have  become  so  familiar  with  his  phrase- 
ology, that  I  may,  in  some  instances,  have  unconsciously  emjDloyed 
it.  For  any  examples  of  this  kind  which  may  be  discovered, 
I  crave  the  indulgence  of  the  reader. 

In  preparing  the  early  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany, 
I  am  much  indebted  to  the  first  two  volumes  of  D'Aubign^'s 
"  History." 

No  one  can  be  more  sensible  than    I   am   of  the  imperfections 

of  the  Avork  here  presented  to  the  public ;  and  it  is  not  Avithout 

itany  misgivings  that  I  have  yielded  to  the  solicitation  of  pupils 

and  other  friends  in  regard  to  its  publication.     My  hope  is  that  it 

may  help  to  render  familiar  to  the  ministers,  the  Christians,  and 

youth,  of  this  generation,  the  facts  and  principles  connected  with 

the  history  of  God's  Church  on  the  earth ;  and  that  the  fruit  of 

such  knowledge  may  abundantly  appear. 

ENOCH  POND. 
Bangor,  June  20,  1870. 


CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 

THE   HISTORY  OF   GOD'S   CHURCH   UNTIL   THE   COMING   OF   CHRIST. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory.  —  The  Philosophy  of  History ,       ,       ,     21 

chjVpter  n. 

Introductory.  —  Church  Historians •.•••••^ 

CHAPTER   HI. 
Introductory.  — Peculiarities  of  the  Sacred  History         •       t       •       •       t       •       •     47 

CHAPTER  ly. 
Introductory.  —  The  Author  of  the  Pentateuch   .       ••'•<.••       .58 

CHAPTER  V. 
Introductory.  — The  Chronology  of  the  Old  Testament 68 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Creation  of  the  "World 80 

CHAPTER  vn. 
The  Garden  of  Eden .       •       .       #     93 

CHAPTER  Vm. 
The  Pall  of  Man ,,,,..    104 

CHAPTER  rX. 
The  Unity  of  the  Human  Race ,       ...    114 

CHAPTER  X. 

Cain  and  Abel • 125 

11 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  SI. 
The  Deluge t       •    134 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Deluge,  Conclubed t    145 

CHA#TER  xnr. 

Events  Following  the  Deluge ...ti..    155 

CHAPTER  SrV. 
Abraham  and  his  Times .       •       o       .       »      •       •    165 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Abkaham  and  his  Times,  Continued ,,       ...    177 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Abraham  and  Isaac •.....•    189 

cmiPTER  xvn. 

Jacob  and  Joseph 198 

CHAPTER  XVni. 
Jacob  and  Joseph,  Concluded .•••...    209 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Moses  and  his  Times ,       ....    221 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Moses  and  his  Times,  Continued ......233 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Moses  and  his  TiMts,  Continued 247 

CHAPTER  XXn. 
Moses  and  his  Times,  Continued »       •       .       .    260 

CHAPTER  XXm. 
Moses  and  his  Times,  Concluded 273 

CHAPTER  XXIV.  • 
Joshua.  — The  Conquest  of  Canaan 283 

CHAPTER  XXV, 
The  Judges 293 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 
Samuel  and  Saul 206 


CONTENTS.  13 

CHAPTER  XXVn. 
David  and  Solomon ".       .       t       t       •       •       •       .       •       t    319 

CHAPTER  XXVlil. 
The  Kings  of  Judah  and  Israel ..•>•*••    S35 

CHAPTER  -XXrS. 
The  Kings  of  Judah  and  Israel,  Concluded  .,,,,«.,,•    348 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
The  Jews  under  the  Babylonians ••••    362 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
The  Jews  under  the  Medo-Persians ■•••••    374 

CHAPTER  XXXn. 
The  Jews  under  the  Medo-Persians,  Continued     ...•••       i       t       •    384 

CHAPTER  XXXni. 
The  Jews  under  the  Medo-Persians  and  Greeks  ...,,,,,.    396 

CHAPTER  XXXrV. 
The  Jews  under  the  Kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt   ..,,,,,,,    408 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
The  Maccabees •••••    419 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 
The  Maccabees  to  the  Death  of  John  Hyrcanus •       •       •    431 

CHAPTER  XXXVn. 
The  Maccabees  to  the  Time  of  Herod •       •       .       t       •    443 

CHAPTER  XXXVni. 
Herod  to  the  Birth  of  Christ ■>•■!••   455 


PART    II. 


HISTORY    OF    GOD  S    CHURCH    FROM     THE    COMING    OP    CHRIST    XO 
THE    PRESENT    TIME. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Introductory • 467 


14  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  n. 
Life  of  Cbbist     , ,,       ...    475 

CHAPTER  m. 
Life  of  Christ,  Continded , 485 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Life  of  Christ,  Concldded      •« ,,,.496 


PERIOD    I. 

THE  CHURCH  UKDER  THE  APOSTLES  AND  THEIR  IMMEDIATE  SUCCESSORS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Opening  of  the  New  Dispensation 509 

CHAPTER  ^n[. 
Early  Labors  and  Successes  of  the  Apostles.  —  Lr\'ES  of  the  Apostles    .       .       .518 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
Lives  OF  the  Apostles,  Continued '     ,       .529 

CHAPTER  Vni. 
Life  of  the  Apostle  Paul ,       .       ,    540 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Life  of  Paul,  Concluded 549 

CHAPTER  X. 
Companions  and  Immediate  Successors  of  the  Apostles    ..,,,..    560 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Church  Organization  and  Government  in  the  First  Period    .       ,       .       ,  '    ,       .572 

CHAPTER  xn. 
Persecutions  and  Progress  of  the  Church  in  this  Period 581 

CHAPTER  Xm. 
Doctrines,  Controversies,  and  Religious  Spirit,  in  this  Period      .....    583 

PERIOD    11. 

KEMAINDER   OF   THE   SECOND   CENTURY. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Pebsecctions  and  Progress  of  Religion    . ,      ,698 


CONTENTS.  15 

CHAPTER    XV. 
Church  Organization,  Religious  Rites  and  Teachers 608 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Doctrines,  Heresies,  and  Controversies.  —  State  of  Religion 618 


PERIOD  m. 

FROM    THE    COMMENCEMENT   OF    THE    THIRD    CENTURY   TO    THE    REVO- 
LUTION  UNDER    CONSTANTINE. 

CHAPTER    XVn. 
Persecutions  and  Progress  of  Christianity  in  this  Period 627 

.                                            CHAPTER  X\'TII. 
Church  Organization,  Religious  Rites  and  Teachers 637 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Doctrines,  Heresies,  Controversies,  and  State  of  Religion    .       .       ■       •       .       i    647 


PERIOD   IV. 

FROM   THE    REVOLUTION   UNDER  CONSTANTINE  TO  THE   FALL  OP  THE 
WESTERN    ROMAN   EMPIRE,  A.D.  476. 

CHAPTER  XX. 
External  History  of  the  Church  during  this  Period 656 

CHAPTER    XXI. 
Church  Organization,  Religious  Rites  and  Teachers        .••!•••    668 

CHAPTER  XXn. 
Doctrines,  Heresies,  and  Controversies 683 

CHAPTER  XXm. 
Controversies,  Concluded.— State  of  Religion 695 


PERIOD  V. 

FROM   THE    SUBVERSION   OF  THE  WESTERN   ROMAN  EMPIRE  TO  ITS  RES- 
TORATION  UNDER    CHARLEMAGNE,    A.D.    800. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
External  History  of  the  Church  during  this  Period 707 


16  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XXV. 
Church  Organization. —  Religious  Rites  and  Teachers 718 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Doctrines,  Heresies,  and  Controversies.  —  State  of  Religion        .       ,       ,       ,       ,    728 


PERIOD  VI. 

FROM  THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  WESTERN  EMPIRE  UNDER  CHARLE- 
MAGNE TO  THE  CULMINATION  OF  POPERY  AT  THE  CLOSE 
OF  THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER  XX\TI. 
External  History  of  thi:  Church  during  this  Period        ...#•...    738 

CHAPTER  XXVm. 
Church  Organization,  Government,  and  Teachers 751 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
History  of  Doctrines,  Superstitions,  and  Controversies 766 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
Religious  Observances  and  Sects.  —  State  of  Learning  and  Religion       .       ,       .    778 


PERIOD   VII. 

FROM     THE    COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE.  FOURTEENTH     CENTURY     TO 
THE    REFORMATION. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
External  History. — [Popery  and  the  Popes. —  Teachers 791 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Doctrines,  Controversies,  and  Rites.  — State  of  Learning  and  Religion  .       .       .805 


PERIOD   VIII. 

THE    SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
The  Protestant  Reformation.  —  Introductory       .       ,       , 


CONTENTS.  17 

CILVPTER  XXXrV. 
Reformation  in  Germany.  —  Life  of  Luthek    .       •       •       #       i       i       •       *       •       •    827 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 
Reformation  in  Germany.  —  Life  of  Luther,  Continued      .■•••••    840 

CHAPTER  XXXVT, 
Reformation  in  Germany.  — Life  of  Luther,  Continued      ....       t       t       .    853 

CHAPTER  XXXVn. 
Reformation  in  Germany.  —  Life  of  Luther,  Continued      ..«•.••    865 

CHAPTER   XXXVin. 
Reformation  in  Germany.  —  Life  of  Luther,  Continued 878 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
Reformation  in  Germany.  —  Life  of  Luther,  Concluded    ■       •       •       i       •       •       •    890 

CHAPTER  XL. 
Reformation  in  Switzerland i«>ii    902 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
Reformation  in  France ..-.i 916 

CHAPTER  XLH. 
Reformation  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  the  jSTetiierlands,  Bohemia,  Italy,  and  Spain,    030 

"^                                             CHAPTER  XLIII. 
Reformation  in  Germany,  Concluded •       >       i       .       .    943 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
Reformation  in  England 954 

CHAPTER  XLV. 
Reformation  in  Scotland  and  Ireland 96S 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 
Reformation  in  S^nTZEKLAND  and  France 982 

CHAPTER  XLVn. 
Reformation  in  the  Xetfierlands ,       ,       ,        .    995 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

Different  Churches  and  Sects    in   the   Sixteenth  Century,  Subsequent  to   the 

Reformation      , 1007 

2 


18  CONTENTS. 


PERIOD   IX. 

THE   SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY. 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
History  of  Different  Churches  axd  Sects »       •       t       .    1021 


PERIOD  X. 

FROM   THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF    THE  EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY   TO 
THE    PRESENT    TIME. 

CHAPTER  L. 
UisTORY  OF  Different  CiiuRcriEs  and  Sects 1033 

CHAPTER  LI. 
Benevolent  Operations  ln  the  Present  Century 1045 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 


PART    I.   • 

HISTOEY  OF  GOD'S  CHUECH  BEFOEE  THE  COMINa  OE  CHEIST. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    HISTORY. 

ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  terms, 
is  the  liistory  of  God's  Church  on  the  earth,  from  the  beginning 
to  the  present  time.  God  had  a  Church  in  the  Avorld  long  ages 
before  the  coming  of  Christ.  He  began  to  have  a  Church  as  soon  as 
there  were  any  pious  people  of  whom  to  compose  it ;  and  he  began 
to  have  a  visible  Church  as  soon  as  these  pious  people  became  in  any 
way  organized  so  as  to  render  their  calling  and  their  piety  visible. 

The  earliest  form  of  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  government  was 
the  patriarchal.  The  father  of  a  family,  the  ancestor  of  a  tribe, 
was  acknowledged  as  both  its  ruler  and  its  priest.  We  have 
examples  of  this  form  of  government  in  Noah,  in  Abraham,  in 
Melchisedec,  and  in  Job.  The  Church  before  the  Flood  was  patri- 
archal, and  had,  at  least,  two  visible  rites,  or  ordinances,  —  the 
weekly  sabbath  and  bloody  sacrifices.  At  the  time  of  Abraham, 
another  significant  rite  was  added,  viz.  circumcision ;  and  a  formal 
covenant  was  given.  At  the  time  of  Moses,  various  other  rites 
were  instituted,  all  of  them  of  symbolical  or  tj-pical  import.  At 
this  time,  also,  the  ancient  patriarchal  form  of  government  was 
exchanged  for  the  theocratic  and  national.  The  Jehovah  of  Israel 
condescended  to  become,  not  merely  the  covenant  head  of  his  peo- 
ple, but  their  civil  ruler  and  governor.  In  the  language  of  the 
prophet,  he  was  henceforth  to  be  "  their  judge,  their  lawgiver,  and 
their  king"  (Isa.  xxxiii.  22). 

At  this  period,  the  Church  may  be  said  to  have  entered  upon 
a  new  dispensation,  exchanging  the  patriarchal  for  the  JMosaic. 
Under  this  dispensation,  it  continued  till  the  death  of  Christ. 

21 


22  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  liistoiy  of  God's  Church  previous  to  the  commg  of  Christ  is 
chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  Old-Testament  Scriptures  ;  and  it  is  this 
which  is  now  to  engage  our  attention.  Before  directly  entering 
upon  it,  however,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  some  introduc- 
tory topics,  which  will  occupy  several  chapters.  And,  first,  let  me 
call  attention  to  what  has  been  called  the  pMlosoijhj  of  Imtory. 

The  transcendental  view  of  the  philosophy  of  history  may  be 
stated  as  follows  :  This  living  world,  wliich  is  the  proper  subject 
of  history,  is  one  vast  organism^  in  which  every  thing  is  moving  on, 
developing,  according  to  established  laws.  This  organism  is  from  a 
germ,  like  the  animal  or  vegetable,  and,  like  them,  is  replete  with 
life.  One  tells  us  that  "  it  is  a  process  of  life,  which  springs  from 
within,  and  which  remains,  in  all  its  coiu'se,  identical  with  itself ; 
as  man,  through  all  the  stages  of  his  life,  still  continues  a  man." 
Another  calls  it  "  a  living,  moral  development.  It  is,  in  its  own 
sphere  and  Idnd,  as  much  of  the  nature  of  a  living  principle  as  the 
breath  of  life  in  the  nostrils."  In  this  view,  history  is  not  the  detail 
of  outward  occurrences,  connected  together  as  cause  and  effect; 
but  it  is  a  constant  living  growth  in  one  direction  or  another,  each 
event  growing  organically  out  of  that  which  precedes  it,  and  giving 
birth  to  that  which  follows  it,  just  as  the  man  grows  from  the 
infant,  or  the  oak  from  the  acorn,  or  the  leaves  and  the  flowers  of 
sprmg  from  the  opening  buds. 

Tliis  philosophy  of  history  originated  with  the  transcendentahsts 
of  Germany,  and  dates  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. "  It  was  brought  out,"  we  are  told,  "  with  peculiar  emphasis 
and  freshness  by  the  genial  Herder.  The  more  mature  and  philo- 
sophical conception  of  it,  however,  and  the  impulse  which  it  gave 
to  a  deeper  and  livelier  study  of  liistory,  are  due  especially  to  the 
philosophy  of  Schelling,  and  still  more  to  that  of  Hegel.  AVith 
Hegel,  all  life  and  thought  are  properly  development,  or  a  process 
of  organic  growth." 

On  these  views  of  history  has  been  constructed  the  pretended 
science  of  sociology,  which,  if  it  shall  succeed  as  its  votaries  antici- 
pate, will,  ere  long,  enable  us  to  resolve  all  questions  in  history  or 
prophecy  with  as  much  certainty  as  we  now  do  problems  in  mathe- 
matics ;  will  enable  us  as  accurately  to  predict  the  course  of  nations, 
in  given  circumstances,  as  we  now  describe  the  orbits  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies.  The  Hegelians  in  Germany,  or  some  of  them,  are 
expecting,  at  no  distant  day,  to  be  able  to  dispense  entirely  with 
the  ordinary  books  of  history,  and,  by  a  purely  d-priori  process,  to 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   HISTORY.  23 

lay  open  all  the  past  and  all  the  future,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  time.  This  period  is  looked  forward  to  as  the  very  millen- 
nium of  pliilosophy,  when  science  shall  take  the  reins  in  politics  and 
rehgion,  and  subjugate  all  things  to  itself. 

Such  are  the  views  entertained  by  not  a  few  at  this  day  as  to  the 
philosophy  of  history ;  and  they  look  down  upon  those  who  follow 
the  old  methods  as  empirics  and  smatterers,  who  have  not  the 
capacity  to  scale  the  heights  of  transcendental  wisdom,  or  pene- 
trate the  depths  of  a  true  philosophy. 

My  objections  to  a  philosophy  of  history  such  as  this  are  two- 
fold. In  the  first  place,  the  grand  assumption  on  which  the  whole 
fabric  rests  is  not  true  in  fact.  It  may  pass  in  fiction,  or  as  a  figure 
of  speech  ;  but,  m  point  of  fact,  it  has  no  foundation.  The  world  of 
mankind  is  not  an  organism  in  the  sense  here  supposed.  It  has 
not  organic  parts  and  members.  It  is  not  pervaded  by  a  common 
principle  of  life  like  that  of  the  animal  or  the  vegetable. 

Swedenborg  taught  that  all  heaven  is  one  "  grand  man,"  pos- 
sessed of  the  human  form  and  features,  and  animated  by  a  common 
Hfe  ;  and  he  is  very  particular  in  describing  what  kind  of  characters 
from  this  world  go  into  the  different  parts  of  "  the  grand  man,"  — 
the  head,  the  breast,  the  limbs,  the  feet.*  Our  transcendental 
pliilosophers  woidd  combine  all  the  inhabitants  of  this  world  — 
past,  present,  and  to  come  —  into  a  "grand  man,"  a  vast  organic 
structure;  and  give  it  life,  growth,  maturity,  and  decay.  Now, 
such  an  idea,  as  I  said,  may  do  well  enough  in  poetry,  or  in  the 
hallucinations  of  a  visionary  enthusiast ;  but  to  lay  it  at  the  foun- 
dation of  a  system  of  philosophy,  and  demand  that  it  be  received 
as  fact,  is  simple  nonsense  \  there  is  no  truth  in  it. 

The  human  race  is  made  up  of  millions,  and  hundi-eds  of  millions, 
of  distinct  beings,  each  having  a  soid,  a  life,  of  its  own,  and  having 
no  common  life.  To  be  sure,  these  myriads  of  men  are  all  of  them 
social  beings,  existing  in  groups,  in  families,  in  communities,  and 
nations.  They  act  as  nations,  and  form  national  characters.  But 
to  fancy  the  immense  multitude  as  constituting  one  vast,  living, 
organic  structure,  all  of  whose  movements  are  normal  outgroivths^ 
unfoldings,  from  a  germ  witliin,  as  much  so  as  the  leaves  of  the 
forest,  and  flowers  of  the  field,  is  one  of  the  strangest  phantasms 
that  ever  entered  the  brain  of  a  German  transcendentalist.  As  I 
said  before,  there  is  no  truth  in  it.  It  contradicts  all  that  we  know 
of  ourselves  and  of  one  another ;  and  to  make  such  a  theory  the 

*  See  Swedenborgianism  Examined,  p.  47. 


24  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

basis  of  a  vast  philosopliical  system  is  simply  to  build  a  castle  in 
the  air.* 

My  second  objection  to  this  new  philosophy  of  history  grows  ont 
of  its  2)antheistic,  atheistic,  fatalistic  tendencies.  Tliis  is  admitted 
by  its  adherents  in  this  country.  "  It  is  indeed  true,"  says  one, 
"  that  the  idea  of  a  living,  organic  development  has  been  employed 
in  an  atheistic  manner,  and  enters  largely  into  all  pantheistic 
methods."  It  is  thus  employed  continually  by  the  German  phi- 
losophers who  originated  it  and  first  launched  it  upon  the  world. 
It  is  not  enough  for  these  men  to  draw  around  the  physical 
world  the  bands  of  law,  so  necessary,  so  changeless,  that  no  sus- 
pension, no  proper  miracle,  ever  did  or  could  take  place  ;  but  the 
same  bands  must  reach  to  the  moral  world,  and  to  all  the  minutiae 
of  social  life,  else  the  reign  of  law  is  not  universal,  and  a  necessity 
is  left  for  a  personal  God  :  and  all  this  the  philosophy  before  us 
proposes  to  do.  Social  progress  is  subject  to  law  as  much  as 
astronomy,  —  to  the  same  kind  of  law ;  and  the  former  moves  on 
as  irresistibly  and  as  uniformly  as  the  latter.  The  buds  on  the 
trees  open  in  the  spring,  the  leaves  shoot  forth,  and,  in  due  time, 
the  blossoms  and  the  fruit  appear.  This  is  groivth,  development, 
normal  development ;  and,  by  a  like  progress  of  organic  law,  the 
movements  of  the  moral  and  religious  world  are  regulated. 

Pantheism  always  runs  into  fatalism  ;  and  so  we  find  it  here. 
The  organic  laws  of  which  we  have  spoken  are  not  like  God's 
moral  law,  which  intelligent  beings  are  free  to  obey  or  disobey ; 
but,  nolens  volens,  they  bear  all  created  beings  and  things,  actions 
and  events,  along  with  them,  and  nothing  can  be  otherwise  than 
it  is  :  consequently  they  obliterate  all  moral  distinctions,  and  render 
sin  and  holiness  ahke  impossible. 

*  This  strange  idea  is  the  staple  of  Dr.  Temple's  *  Essay  on  the  Edncation  of  the  World, 
the  first  in  a  volume  of  Essays  and  Reviews  recently  published  by  clergj^men  of  the  Church 
of  England.  Dr.  Temple  begins  by  assuming  that  the  whole  human  race  is  no  other  than  "a 
colossal  man,"  whose  life  reaches  from  the  creation  to  the  end  of  time.  The  successive  genera- 
tions of  men  are  days  in  this  gi'eat  man's  life  ;  the  inventions  and  discoveries  of  all  time  are  his 
works;  the  successive  states  of  society  are  his  manners;  while  the  creeds,  the  doctrines,  the 
opinions,  of  the  successive  ages,  are  his  thoughts.  This  hj'pothetical  man,  we  are  toIJ,  is  growing 
not  only  in  knowledge,  but  in  visible  size,  just  as  we  do;  and  is  developing  his  faculties  with 
great  regularity.  In  the  education  of  this  monster  man,  the  different  races  that  have  inhabited 
the  earth  have  been  plapng  their  several  parts.  Thus  the  Hebrews  trained  his  conscience,  the 
•Romans  his  will,  the  Greeks  his  reason  and  taste,  and  Asia  his  imagination.  Dr.  Temple  does 
not  tell  us  what  the  Chinese  have  done  in  this  matter,  nor  what  Egypt,  nor  what  the  swarming 
myriads  of  India  and  Africa,  nor  what  the  barbarians  of  Northern  Europe  and  Asia,  or  the 
American  Indians.  The  conclusion  to  which  the  author  comes  is,  that  his  monster  man  has 
already  oiitgrown  Christianity;  that  the  Bible  is  obsolete,  and  no  longer  worthy  to  be  accepted 
as  a  rule  of  faith  and  life. 

*  Dr.  Temple  is  now  Bishop  of  Exeter. 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   HISTORY.  25 

We  do  not  say  that  all  who  have  embraced  this  philosophy  of 
history  are  pantheists  or  fatalists  ;  far  from  it :  but  we  do  say 
that  this  is  the  natural  tendency  of  the  system,  and  that  this  view 
of  it  is  actually  taken  by  the  propounders  and  advocates  of  it  in 
Germany.  Thus,  in  an  English  review  of  HegeFs  "  Philosophy  of 
History,"  the  writer  says,  "  A  certain  tone  of  fatalism  pervades 
liis  interpretation  of  history,  as  if  men,  by  seizing  its  seminal  idea 
at  the  root  of  all  things,  could  predict  its  future  course.  In  the 
primitive  germ  of  existence,  when  first  it  arose  out  of  nothingness, 
Hegel  assumes  a  latent  wealth  of  imphcit  power,  which  must  ever, 
by  the  working  of  an  inherent  power,  press  outward  into  expres- 
sion and  embodiment,  as  the  acorn  expands  organically  into  the 
oak."  *  No  w^onder  that  men,  on  this  ground,  "  by  seizing  the 
seminal  idea  at  the  root  of  all  things,  can  predict  its  future  course." 
No  wonder  that  moral  freedom  finds  no  place  in  such  a  system. 
What  freedom  is  there  in  the  growth  of  the  oak  from  the  acorn, 
or  in  the  movements  of  social  and  political  life,  if  these  proofed 
on  the  same  principle,  and  in  accordance  with  the  workings  of  a 
like  organic  law  ? 

Some  have  thought  that  this  new  pliilosophy  has  been  a  prodi- 
gious gain  to  history.  "  The  great  change  that  has  taken  place 
within  the  present  century,"  says  one,  "  in  the  way  of  conceiving 
and  constructing  history,  is  owing  to  the  adoption  and  use  of  a 
method  that  was  foreign  to  the  mind  and  the  intellectual  ten- 
dencies of  the  eighteenth  century.  One  only  needs  to  compare 
history  like  that  of  Dr.  Robertson  with  history  Hke  that  of  Dr. 
Arnold,  or  history  like  that  of  Gibbon  with  history  like  that 
of  Niebuhr,  to  see,  that,  from  some  cause,  a  great  change  has  come 
over  tlie  department  witliin  fifty  years."  The  supposed  improve- 
ments in  history  here  referred  to  are  accounted  for,  not  because 
of  a  better  arrangement  or  a  purer  diction,  but  solely  on  the  ground 
of  the  new  philosophy  ;  so  much  more  being  made  of  "  the  germs 
and  dynamic  forces  of  liistory  "  than  Avas  ever  done  before. 

But,  as  to  the  alleged  improvements  in  history  on  the  ground 
of  the  new  pliilosophy,  I  can  only  say  that  all  men  are  not  of  the 
same  opinion.  To  my  own  mind,  the  introduction  of  the  prin- 
ciples, the  method,  and  the  peculiar  phraseology,  of  the  new 
philosophy  into  history,  has  been  no  improvement,  but  rather  a 
detriment.  To  trace  it  only  in  the  department  of  church  history, 
the  church  historians  of  Germany,  within  the  last  fifty  years,  may 

*  See  Eclectic  Magazine  for  September,  1858,  p.  12. 


26  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

have  excelled  their  predecessors,  and  perhaps  all  others,  in  pro- 
foundness of  research ;  and  yet  their  histories  arc  soiled  through- 
out, and  half  spoiled,  with  the  mmghngs  of  the  transcendental 
pliilosophy.  Take,  for  example,  the  voliunes  of  Neander,  whose 
learning,  whose  candor,  whose  childlike  simphcity  of  pm-pose, 
whose  humble  piety,  we  all  admire  ;  and  yet  his  philosophy  has 
shut  these  volumes  out  as  text-books  in  most  of  our  higher  schools 
of  learning,  and  must  exclude  them  in  all  coming  time.  It  is  not 
enough  for  an  historian  of  tliis  stamp  to  tell  us  that  a  particular 
event  occurred  at  a  given  time,  and  how  and  why  it  occurred,  and 
what  consequences  resulted  from  it  (all  this  would  be  shallow  and 
empirical)  :  but  he  must  go  into  a  long  d-priori  argument  to  show 
that  such  an  event  must  have  occurred  at  that  time  ;  that  its 
development  could  not  have  been  sooner  or  later.  Nor  is  this  the 
worst  of  it.  If  the  actual  course  of  things  does  not  fall  in  with 
the  course  of  development,  then  it  must  be  broken  in.  Organic 
development  is  more  to  be  relied  on  than  the  testimonies  of 
history.  The  latter  may  be  false  ;  but  the  former  must  be  true. 
It  is  on  this  ground  that  we  find  the  transcendental  historians, 
or  some  of  them,  throwing  aside  so  many  of  the  genuine  works 
of  the  ancients,  —  some  of  the  Orations  of  Cicero  and  of  the 
Dialogues  of  Plato,  and  whole  books  of  the  Bible,  with  all  its 
miracles.  They  do  not  develop  right.  Of  course,  they  are  rni- 
historical,  and  must  be  discarded. 

It  will  be  seen  that  we  repudiate  this  development-theory  in  its 
apphcation  to  history  as  being  false  in  fact,  heretical  in  its  ten- 
dencies, and  positively  injurious  in  its  bearing  upon  the  cause  of 
historical  Hterature  and  truth.  The  sooner  we  renounce  it,  and 
retui'n  to  the  simple  natural  methods  of  the  Bible  and  of  our 
fathers,  the  better  will  it  be  for  all  concerned. 

But,  if  the  theory  which  has  been  examined  is  not  the  true 
philosophy  of  liistory,  what  shall  we  say  on  the  subject  ?  Is  there 
any  pliilosophy  of  liistory  ?  and,  if  so,  what  is  it  ? 

To  tliis  I  answer,  The  pliilosophy  of  history,  Hke  all  other  true 
philosophy,  has  to  do,  not  with  theories  or  hjq^otheses,  but  with 
facts.  Its  province  is,  by  a  patient  induction,  to  ascertain  the  facts 
of  history,  and  then  to  go  into  an  investigation  of  the  causes 
of  these  facts,  and  also  of  tlieu'  results.  This,  I  have  supposed, 
is  the  true  philosophy  of  history;  and  tliis  opens  a  field  to  the 
student  of  history  which  is  all  but  boundless. 

To  ascertain  the  facts  of  history  —  what  an  immense  labor  must 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF  HISTORY.  27 

that  be  !  The  volume  of  history,  taken  in  its  widest  extent,  is  no 
otlier  than  the  great  book  of  Providence.  It  inchides  every  thing 
that  has  taken  phace  in  the  providence  of  God,  whether  in  tliis 
world  or  in  any  other  world,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present 
time. 

A  vast  majority  of  the  events  which  go  to  make  up  this  mass 
of  history  have  never  been  recorded  except  in  the  book  of  God's 
remembrance,  and  will  never  be  unfolded  until  the  great  burning- 
day.  • 

The  history  of  many  things,  indeed  of  most  things,  belonging 
to  the  present  world,  is  now  utterly  lost  to  us.  They  were  not 
recorded  at  the  time,  or  the  record,  if  made,  has  failed  to  reach 
us ;  and  they  are  not  noAv  within  the  scope  of  our  inquiries. 
They,  too,  are  in  the  book  of  God's  remembrance,  and  nowhere 
else. 

But  we  need  not  repine  at  the  loss  of  so  much  history,  since 
what  remains  to  us,  what  is  fairly  within  our  reach,  is  far  beyond 
our  ability  to  investigate.  It  surpasses  not  only  the  labor  of  a  life, 
but  of  many  lives. 

The  history  of  a  pre-Adamite  earth,  God  has  written  out,  to  some 
extent,  in  the  embedded  rocks  beneath  our  feet.  Here  is  a  field 
now  beginning  to  be  opened  to  human  investigation,  wliich  long- 
ages  may  not  be  sufficient  to  explore.. 

Another  portion  of  history,  one  pertaining  to  the  human  race, 
is  inscribed  on  the  ruins  of  mouldering  cities  and  the  mau- 
soleums of  ancient  kings.  These,  too,  are  beginning  to  be  opened  ; 
and  hoary  legends  written  in  mysterious  characters,  after  having 
been  buried  for  thousands  of  years,  are  beginning  to  be  read. 
Here  is  another  field  of  historical  research,  which  Avill  not  soon  be 
exhausted,  and  which  is  full  of  promise  to  the  curious  inquirer. 

Of  the  open  records  of  the  past,  the  oldest,  by  far,  are  those  of 
our  Old-Testament  Scriptures.  Moses  and  Joshua  and  Samuel,  and 
the  Hebrew  prophets,  lived  and  Avrote  long  anterior  to  any  of  the 
secular  historians  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge ;  and  we 
have  reason  for  the  profoundest  gratitude  that  their  writings, 
stamped  with  all  appropriate  marks  of  correctness  and  authenticity, 
have  come  down  to  us.  Herodotus,  appropriately  called  the  father 
of  secular  histo;.y,  lived  four  hundred  and  eighty  years  before 
Christ,  and  was  contemporary  with  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  Manetho, 
the  first  historian  of  Egypt,  lived  near  a  hundred  years  later,  in 
the  days  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.     We  now  approach  the  time 


28  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

of  the  more  ancient  liistorians  of  Greece  and  Rome ;  and  the  his- 
tories of  the  church  and  workl  proceed  together. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the  hibor  of  investigating  the 
facts  of  history,  even  those  which  are  02)en  to  human  investiga- 
tion, is  very  great.  Were  this  hibor  imposed  upon  any  one  man 
during  the  orcUnary  period  of  human  hfe,  he  would  find  it  an  utter 
impossibihty. 

But  to  study  the  mere  facts  of  history  includes  but  a  small  part 
of  the  philosophy  of  history.  The  causes  of  events  are  to  be 
inquired  into,  and  also  their  consequences,  their  results. 

Nor,  in  searching  out  the  causes  of  events  in  history,  are  we  to 
satisfy  ourselves  with  proximate  causes,  —  those  which  are  near  and 
obvious  ;  but  we  must  look  beyond  them,  to  such  as  have  a  deeper 
and  wider  mfluence.  The  general  course  of  events  in  given  peri- 
ods, the  spirit  of  the  times,  prevailing  customs,  the  intercourse  of 
nations  one  with  another,  the  impressions  which  have  come  down 
from  previous  ages,  —  things  of  this  nature  must  come  into  the 
account,  since  they  all  go  to  modify  the  currents  of  liistory,  and 
stand  connected  with  its  results. 

Then  there  is  the  natural  and  universal  depravity  of  man, — 
a  fact  wliich  the  Bible  abundantly  discloses,  and  which  expe- 
rience and  observation  unitedly  teach :  what  a  mighty  influence 
this  has  had  in  shaping  and  controlling  the  history  of  the 
world !  It  is  this  wliich  has  made  the  natural  course  of  things  on 
the  earth,  in  a  moral  view,  perpetually  downward  from  good  to 
bad,  and  from  bad  to  worse.  Why  was  it,  that,  in  the  antediluvian 
ages,  the  world  became  so  soon  and  so  dreadfully  wicked,  filled  with 
every  species  of  violence  and  crime,  till  nought  remained  for  it  but 
an  utter  destruction  ?  And,  after  the  Deluge,  how  soon  again  did 
'  the  earth  become  idolatrous  and  sinful !  so  that  God  was  con- 
strained, in  order  to  preserve  a  knowledge  of  himself  among  men, 
to  separate  a  single  family  from  the  surrounding  nations,  establish 
his  covenant  with  them,  and  constitute  them  a  people  for  himself ; 
while  the  rest  of  the  world  were  given  up  to  their  own  hearts' 
wanderings.*  And  then  how  soon  did  the  family  of  Abraham 
become  corrupt,  —  so  corrupt,  that  they  could  no  longer  be  tolerat- 
ed, but  were  cut  off  and  cast  off  for  their  unbelief !  And  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  so  pure  at  the  first,  and  so  likely,  apparently,  to  hold 
on  its  way,  —  how  soon  did  this  relapse  into  error,  superstition, 
darkness,  and  sin,  till  scarcely  a  semblance  of  true  piety  remained ! 

*  See  Eom.  i.  24,  26,  28. 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   HISTORY.  29 

Now,  facts  like  those  at  which  I  have  here  hinted  —  great  pubhc 
facts,  reaching  back  to  the  remotest  ages,  and  coming  down  to  the 
present  time  —  all  go  to  show  the  influence  of  human  depravity  in 
shaping  the  course  of  tilings  in  this  wicked  world,  and  how  insuffi- 
cient every  theory  of  the  philosophy  of  history  must  be  in  which 
this  doctrine  of  depravity  is  ignored  or  passed  over.  Much  of  the 
history  of  nations  is  but  a  history  of  their  wickedness  and  its 
results.  "  Whence  come  wars  and  fightings  among  you  ?  come 
they  not  hence  even  of  your  lusts  ?  "  (Jas.  iv.  1.)  A  pregnant 
passage  this  in  the  philosophy  of  history. 

In  close  connection  with  human  depravit}^,  there  is  another  fact 
which  I  cannot  forbear  to  notice,  —  the  existence  and  influence 
of  evil  spirits.  The  Bible  makes  us  acquainted  with  the  existence 
of  such  spirits,  with  their  access  to  human  minds,  and  with  their 
vast  and  destructive  influence  upon  human  affairs  ;  and  the  history 
of  the  past  evinces  that  these  utterances  are  true.  How  else  are  we 
to  account  for  far-reaching  schemes  of  corruption  and  wickedness, 
running  often  through  many  generations,  and  thus  forbidchng  the 
supposition  that  they  could  have  been  set  on  foot  by  any  one  man, 
or  generation  of  men  ?  Witness  the  long  reign  of  idolatry  in  the 
earth,  by  which  the  worship  which  belongs  only  to  God  has  been 
turned  aside,  and  given  to  devils.  Witness,  also,  the  long  and  cruel 
reign  of  Popery.  No  sooner  had  Christianity  taken  possession  of 
the  Roman  Empire,  and  it  had  become  certain  that  it  would  spread 
and  prevail,  than  we  see  an  influence  starting  up  to  prevent  it,  turn 
it  aside  from  its  holy  purpose,  and  make  it  an  engine  of  persecution 
and  wickedness.  Witness,  also,  the  frequent  perversion  of  revivals 
of  religion,  and  schemes  of  social  and  moral  reform.  If  Satan 
cannot  prevent  or  stop  a  revival  of  religion,  he  will  be  very  likely  _ 
to  turn  revival-preacher,  and  supplant  the  genial  workings  of  the 
Spirit  by  the  wildfire  of  demoniac  influence.  If  he  cannot  stop 
the  chariot  of  social  reform,  he  can  mount  the  driver's  box,  and 
seize  the  reins,  and,  like  Jehu  of  old,  drive  furiously.  We  must 
not  be  ignorant  of  his  devices  ;  nor  can  we  account  for  some  of 
the  more  striking  facts  in  history  without  recurring  to  his  exist- 
ence and  mfluence. 

As  an  offset  to  human  depravity  and  Satanic  temptations,  we 
must  take  into  account  in  our  philosophy  of  history  the  benign 
and  powerful  effects  of  the  gospel  and  its  p>rovisions  ;  such  as  the 
Bible,  the  sabbath,  the  preached  word,  the  Church  and  its  ordi- 
nances, and  especially  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     I  need  not 


30  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

enlarge  on  these  topics.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  have  a 
mighty  influence  upon  the  destinies  of  men,  and  in^  shaping  the 
currents  of  tliis  world's  history.  Obviously,  they  are  at  the  foun- 
tain-head of  all  ecclesiastical  history  ;  since,  without  them,  there 
could  be  no  chiuxh,  no  piety,  no  real  goodness,  on  the  earth.  The 
world,  and  all  it  contains,  would  go  to  destruction  together.  Above 
all  things,  therefore,  must  these  be  regarded  as  among  the  causes 
of  human  events,  and  as  a  part  of  oui*  philosophy  of  history. 

The  events  of  history  are  connected  not  only  as  cause  and  effect, 
but  in  the  eternal  and  universal  purpose  of  the  Supreme  Being. 
From  all  eternity,  God  had  before  liim  a  perfect  plan  of  all  his 
works.  At  the  appointed  time,  he  entered  upon  the  execution  of 
this  plan.  He  commenced  the  great  works  of  creation  and  j)rovi- 
dence ;  and  all  that  has  taken  place  from  the  beginning  to  the 
present  hour,  —  the  worlds  that  have  been  created,  the  countless 
myriads  that  have  been  placed  upon  them,  the  entire  series  of 
events  in  providence  which  go  to  make  up  the  material  of  his- 
tory,—  all  are  but  the  unfolding,  the  fidfilling,  of  God's  eternal 
and  perfect  plan.  As  his  counsel  purposed  it,  and  his  omniscience 
foresaw  it,  so  his  hand  has  been  concerned  in  it  all.  "  Who 
worketh  all  thmgs  after  the  counsel  of  his  own  will "  (Eph.  i.  11), 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  chain  of  connection  running  through  the 
whole  course  of  events,  —  not  the  organic  development  of  the  pan- 
theist, but  the  providential  purpose  of  an  infinitely  wise  and  holy 
God,  who  "sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,"  and  whose  counsel 
shall  stand  forever.  This  plan  of  God,  of  which  the  whole  work 
of  providence  is  but  the  exponent  and  fulfilment,  is  all-perfect 
like  its  Author,  though  often  dark  and  mysterious  to  us.  Its  unfold- 
ings  not  mifrequently  surprise  us,  puzzle  us,  confound  us  ;  and  yet 
we  know  tliiit  all  is  light  and  right  with  him.  "  Clouds  and  dark- 
ness are  round  about  him ;  but  righteousness  and  judgment  are 
the  habitation  of  his  throne." 

The  pliilosopliical  student  of  history  sees  events  taking  place  not 
only  in  fulfilment  of  an  eternal  and  perfect  plan,  but  in  accordance 
with  established  laws.  In  other  words,  they  take  place  regularly  ; 
so  that  their  occurrence  can  be  depended  on,  and  often  predicted. 
But  then  these  laws  of  procedure,  or  of  Nature  (as  they  are  some- 
times called),  are  not  inflexible  arrangements,  which  no  being  ever 
estabhshed,  and  none  can  suspend,  and  Avhich  the  pantheist  sub- 
stitutes in  place  of  God ;  but  they  are  the  ordinances  of  God  him- 
self, —  the  track  which  he  has  laid  down  on  which  the  wheel  of 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   PHSTORY.  31 

Ms  providence  is  to  roll ;  established  modes  of  divine  operation, 
v^^hich,  in  case  of  miracles,  lie  has  suspended,  and  which,  if  he 
pleases,  he  may  suspend  again. 

Nor  will  the  Christian  student  of  history  be  willuig  to  stop  even 
here.  He  reads  in  his  Bible,  that,  as  all  things  were  made  by 
Christ,  so  they  were  all  made /or  him  ;  that  he  "is  Head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church ;  "  and  that  he  is  overruling  all,  in  some 
way,  for  the  advancement  of  his  holy  Idngclom.  History  is  thus 
brought  into  close  connection  with  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  It  is 
represented  as  being  subservient  to  that  Idngdom  ;  and  the  Chris- 
tian student  is  led  to  inquire  in  what  the  subserviency  consists. 
He  perceives,  first  of  all,  that  the  arrangements  of  Providence  were 
so  ordered,  m  ancient  times,  as  to  i^repare  the  ivay  for  the  Idngdom 
of  Christ.  They  were  so  ordered  as  to  illustrate  its  necessity,  to 
make  room  for  it,  and  fitly  introduce  it.  Here  is  one  important 
point  of  connection. 

Another  point  of  connection  is  this :  Whatever  stands  in  the 
way  of  Christ's  kingdom,  or  cannot  be  made  to  subserve  its  interests, 
'is  quickly  removed.  "  The  nation  and  Idngdom  that  will  not  serve 
Thee  shall  perish;  yea,  those  nations  shall  be  utterly  wasted" 
(Isa.  Ix.  12).  What  a  commentary  on  this  divine  declaration  does 
the  history  of  the  ancient  world  present !  Where,  now,  are  the 
kingdoms  of  Assyria  and  Egypt  ?  —  the  oldest  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge.  Where  is  great  Nineveh,  and  the  still  greater 
Babylon,  which  once  frowned  defiance  on  all  who  approached 
them,  and  seemed  as  though  they  must  stand  forever  ?  Where  is 
the  Medo-Persian  ram  which  Daniel  saw,  pusliing  westward 
and  northward  and  southward,  so  that  no  beast  could  stand  before 
him,  neither  could  any  dehver  out  of  Ids  hand  ?  And  where  is 
that  Grecian  he-goat  which  canie  so  rapidly  from  the  west,  that  he 
seemed  scarcely  to  touch  the  ground ;  which  smote  the  ram,  and 
brake  his  two  horns,  and  trampled  his  empire  in  the  dust  ?  And 
where  is  that  fourth  beast  which  Daniel  saw,  dreadful  and  ter- 
rible and  strong  exceedingly,  which  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces 
with  its  iron  teeth,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  its  feet  ?  These 
mighty  empu'es  have  long  since  departed ;  their  cities  are  in  ruins : 
their  names  and  their  history  are  all  that  remain  to  us.  And  why 
have  they  passed  away  ?  Why  have  they  been  so  utterly  and 
miserably  destroyed  ?  With  the  Bible  in  our  hands,  we  cannot 
hesitate  for  an  answer.  They  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  the 
Idngdom  of  Christ,  and  they  could  not  prosper.     They  put  them- 


32  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

selves  in  the  way  of  the  stone  cut  out '  of  the  mountain  without 
hands  ;  and  it  rolled  over  them,  and  ground  them  to  powder. 

And  so  shall  it  be  with  every  other  kingdom  which  presumes  to 
follow  their  example.  We  have,  in  the  Apocalj^se,  visions  of  the 
future,  wliich  are  as  instructive  on  this  point  as  events  abeady 
past.  We  have  there  brought  before  us  the  last  fearful  enemies 
of  God  and  Ms  Church,  —  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet,  and 
the  mystical  Babylon  drunk  with  the  blood  of  martyrs  and  saints. 
And  what  is  to  become  of  them  ?  What  is  their  end  ?  The  beast 
and  the  false  prophet  are  taken,  and  "  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of 
fire."  "  A  mighty  angel  takes  up  a  stone  like  a  great  mill-stone, 
and  casts  it  into  the  sea,  saying,  Thus  Avith  violence  shall  that 
great  city  Babylon  be  thrown  down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more 
at  all"  (E,ev.  xix.  20;  xviii.  21).  So  true  is  that  fearful  decla- 
ration of  the  prophet  above  quoted,  "  The  nation  and  kingdom  that 
will  not  serve  Thee  shall  perish  ;  yea,  those  nations  shall  be  utterly 
wasted." 

The  foregoing  discussion  is  enough  to  satisfy  any  one  that  the 
true  philosophy  of  history  is  essetitiaUi/  religious.  There  is  no 
tracing  the  events  of  liistory  to  their  causes  but  by  tracing  them 
ultimately  to  God,  to  his  all-wise  counsel,  and  his  providential 
direction  and  control.  We  are  not  to  overlook  instrumental  causes, 
second  causes,  influences  bearing  upon  us  for  good  or  for  evil ;  but 
then  all  these  are  subject,  in  some  Avay,  to  the  great  First  Cause 
of  all.  We  are  not  to  overlook  general  natural  laws  ;  but  then 
these  are  but  established  modes  of  divine  operation,  wliich  God  in 
his  wisdom  has  appointed,  and  the  operation  of  which  he  may  at 
any  time  suspend. 

And  when  we  look  still  farther  into  the  causes  of  things,  when 
we  inquire  for  their  final  causes,  we  find  them  all  bearing,  in  some 
way,  upon  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  They  were  all  made /or  Christ ; 
and  he  is  overruling  all  for  the  advancement  of  his  kingdom. 
Much  of  the  past  liistory  of  the  world  has  gone  to  illustrate  the 
necessity  of  that  kingdom,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  it ;  while 
other  much  has  tended  to  remove  hinderances  and  obstructions  out 
of  the  way.  Mighty  nations,  which  have  set  themselves  in  op- 
position to  that  kingdom,  have,  one  after  another,  been  destroyed  ; 
while  the  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands  is  rolling  on, 
and  is  destined  to  roll,  crushing  every  thing  which  opposes  its 
progress,  until  itself  becomes  a  mountain,  and  fills  the  whole 
earth. 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   HISTORY.  33 

It  adds  a  tenfold  interest  to  the  study  of  Mstory  to  see  God 
in  it  all  the  way,  to  trace  it  in  its  religious  bearings,  and  especially 
in  its  relation  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Pres_.  Edwards  un- 
derstood this  subject,  and  commenced  a  work,  which  he  did  not 
live  to  finish,  on  this  grand  principle  ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  there 
is  more  true  pliilosophy  of  history  in  Edwards's  "  History  of 
Redemption,"  though  it  be  but  a  fragment,  than  in  all  that  has 
been  dreamed  out  by  the  transcendentalists  of  Germany  in  the 
last  half-century. 


CHAPTER    II. 

INTRODUCTORY. CHURCH    HISTORIANS. 

IN  giving  a  sketch  of  the  historiographers  of  the  Church,  I  begin 
with  the  sacred  writers  of  the  Old  Testament.  Herodotus  is 
sometimes  called  the  father  of  history,  and  Eusebius  the  father  of 
church  history.  But  Moses  wrote  history,  and  church  history,  a 
thousand  years  before  Herodotus  was  born,  and  eighteen  hundi'ed 
years  before  the  time  of  Eusebius.  In  the  five  books  of  Moses,  the 
history  of  God's  Church  is  sketched  for  the  long  period  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty  years,  —  more  than  six  hundred 
years  longer  than  the  whole  period  which  has  elapsed  smce  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  era.  To  be  sure,  the  notices  of 
God's  dealings  with  liis  people,  in  some  parts  of  this  vast  period, 
are  brief  and  fragmentary :  but  then  they  are  all  that  we  have ; 
they  are  all  that  we  ever  shall  have ;  and  we  should  be  devoutly 
thankful,  not  only  to  that  Divine  Spirit  who  mspired  them,  but  to 
that  most  remarkable  and  venerable  man  who  was  the  instrument 
of  recording  them  for  our  benefit. 

Succeeding  Moses,  m  the  list  of  church  historians,  were  Joshua 
and  Samuel,  and  the  prophets  who  were  contemporary  with  the 
kings  of  Judah  and  Israel.  During  the  captivity,  and  immediately 
followmg  it,  we  have  Daniel  and  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  Later 
down  in  the  liistory  of  God's  ancient  people,  we  have  the  apocry- 
phal writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  more  especially  the  author  or 
authors  of  the  Maccabees.  Then  the  entire  history  of  the  Church, 
from  the  beginnmg  to  the  commencement  of  the  Clu'istian  era,  is 
re-sketched  and  condensed  in  the  Antiquities  of  .Josephus.  His 
twenty  books  of  Antiquities,  together  with  his  defence  of  them  in 
the  two  books  against  Apion,  though  marked  by  some  glaring 
imperfections,  are  yet  an  invaluable  contribution  to  our  knowledge 
of  ancient  church  history.  They  help  to  connect  and  explain  some 
parts  of  the  sacred  liistory  ;  and,  during  a  portion  of  the  period,  — 

34 


CHURCH   HISTORIANS.  35 

between  the  close  of  the  Old-Testament  history  and  the  coming  of 
Christ,  —  they  are  almost  our  only  guide. 

In  Christian  church  history,  we  are,  most  of  all,  indebted  to  the 
writers  of  the  four  Gospels  and  of  the  Book  of  Acts.  These  writers 
lead  us  to  the  fountain-head  of  divine  knowledge  and  influence  ; 
and,  under  the  guidance  of  an  inspiration  which  secured  them  from 
all  error  or  mistake,  they  acquaint  us  with  the  circumstances  of  the 
incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  of  his  birth,  his  baptism,  liis  pubhc 
and  private  teachings,  his  miraculous  works,  his  cruel  sufferings,  his 
martyr-death,  and  his  triimiphant  resurrection,  and  ascension  into 
heaven  :  and  then,  following  down  the  hue  of  church  history,  they 
tell  us  of  the  mighty  effusions  of  God's  Spirit  and  the  great  and 
glorious  re\dvals  of  religion  which  were  enjoyed  in  the  first  age  of 
Chfistianity.  They  give  us  the  only  reliable  account  we  have,  or 
ever  shall  have,  of  the  labors,  successes,  and  sufferings  of  the  apos- 
tles and  early  evangelists,  and  of  the  rapid  diffusion  of  the  gospel 
during  the  first  seventy  years  of  tlie  Christian  era,  until  near  the 
deaths  of  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul. 

After  the  close  of  the  sacred  history,  we  are  left  much  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  course  of  events  in  the  Church  of  Christ  for  the  next 
two  hundred  years.  It  is  matter  of  wonder  and  regret  that  no 
one  should  have  thought  of  writing  a  history  of  that  interesting 
period  ;  but  so  it  is.  With  the  exception  of  what  the  sacred  writers 
have  given  us,  the  first  three  hundred  years  after  Christ  are  almost 
a  blank.  Papias  and  Hegesippus,  who  flourished  about  the  middle 
of  the  second  century,  collected  some  traditions  of  the  apostolic 
age ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Julius  Africanus,  who  wrote  a 
hundred  years  later.  But  the  writings  of  these  men  have  been 
mostly  lost.  Nothing  remains  of  them,  unless  it  be  some  meagre 
quotations  found  in  the  works  of  later  authors. 

The  oldest  church  history  now  extant  (if  we  except  the  sacred 
writings)  is  that  of  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Csesarea,  prepared  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fourth  century.  Eusebius  was  the  confidential 
friend  and  spiritual  guide  of  Constantme  the  Great.  He  was  a 
man  of  good  mind  and  disposition,  of  extensive  learning,  and  famil- 
iarly acquainted  with  all  the  great  events  and  persons  of  the  day. 
He  had  superior  advantages  as  an  historian,  from  his  free  access  to 
the  archives  of  the  empire,  and  also  to  the  great  library  at  Csesarea, 
which  had  been  collected  by  his  friend  Pamphilus.  He  wrote 
several  works,  as  his  "  Preparatio  et  Demonstratio  EvangeHca,"  his 
"Chronicon,"  "The  Martyrs  of  Palestine,"  and  "A  Panegyric  on 


36  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Constantine."  But  liis  most  important  work,  that  by  wliich  lie 
is  best  known,  is  his  "  Ecclesiastical  History."  The  style  of  the 
history  and  its  method  are  both  faidty ;  and  yet  it  is  a  work  of  vast 
importance  to  the  Christian  world.  It  is  so  for  two  reasons :  first,  we 
have  here  the  testimony  of  a  competent  and  credible  witness  to  the 
great  events  of  his  own  time ;  and,  secondly,  we  are  indebted  to 
Eusebius  for  the  collection  and  preservation  of  numerous  facts  and 
testimonies  of  older  date,  which,  but  for  him,  had  been  lost  to  the 
world.  The  work  is  made  up,  to  a  great  extent,  of  these  collected 
fragments  and  quotations,  and  in  this  way  has  become  a  thesaurus 
of  ecclesiastical  information  to  all  subsequent  historians  of  the 
Church. 

The  history  of  Eusebius  ends  with  the  year  321.  Near  the  close 
of  the  century,  Epiphanius,  Bishop  of  Salamis,  wrote  a  kind  of 
dogmatic  history^  giving  a  full  account  of  the  heresies  of  the  times, 
more  especially  of  the  Arian  heresy. 

The  next  century  produced  several  continuators  of  Eusebius, 
the  more  eminent  of  which  were  Socrates  and  Sozomen,  and  Theo- 
doret,  Bishop  of  Cyrus.  Theodoret  brings  down  the  history  of  the 
Church  to  the  year  427. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  Theodoras  of  Constan- 
tinople wrote  a  continuation  of  Eusebius,  wliich  is  lost,  though 
an  abridgment  of  it  stiU.  remains.  Near  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century,  Evagrius  of  Antioch  wrote  a  furtiier  continuation  of 
Eusebius,  bringing  down  the  history  to  his  own  time. 

The  works  above  named  were  all  written  in  Greek ;  the  Latin 
church  liistorians  of  the  same  age  being  little  more  than  transla- 
tors and  compilers.  The  histories  of  Sulpicius  Severus  and  of 
Orosius  are  not  strictly  ecclesiastical,  though  they  have  much  to  say 
of  religion  and  the  Church.  Rufinus  translated  the  work  of  Euse- 
bius into  Latin,  and  continued  it  to  his  own  age.  Cassiodorus,  a 
learned  civilian  under  Theodoric,  the  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  compiled 
a  manual  of  church  history,  which  was  used  as  a  text-book  through 
the  middle  ages.  During  all  these  ages,  there  were  no  professed 
church  historians  in  Greek.  As  Church  and  State  were  closely 
united,  so  ecclesiastical  and  general  history  were  mixed  up  to- 
gether. 

The  subjugation  of  the  Western  Roman  Empire,  near  the  close 
of  the  fifth  century,  was  followed  by  great  intellectual  depression, 
and  neglect  of  learning,  during  which  all  history  degenerated,  and 
more  especially  ecclesiastical  history :  and  what  history  there  was 


CHURCH   HISTORIANS.  .  37 

more  frequently  took  tlie  form  of  annals  and  acta  sanctorum^  acts 
and  legends  of  the  saints ;  and  these  were  so  stuffed  with  marvels 
and  miracles  as  to  be  entirely  unworthy  of  credit.  And  yet,  even 
at  this  period,  some  local  church  histories  were  written,  which  are 
of  considerable  value :  such,  for  example,  was  the  history  of  the 
Gallic  Church,  by  Gregory  of  Tours  ;  the  history  of  the  old  British 
and  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  by  the  Venerable  Bede ;  and  the  four 
books  of  Adam  of  Bremen,  on  the  period  from  Charlemagne  to  the 
year  1076. 

Church  history,  like  all  other  history,  was  at  its  lowest  ebb  im- 
mediately previous  to  the  reformation  from  Popery;  and  it  was 
for  the  interest  of  the  church-rulers  to  keep  it  so.  They  wished 
to  maintain  the  prevalent  impression,  that  the  existing  church  gov- 
ernment, with  its  accompanying  rites,  usages,  and  doctrines,  was 
of  apostolical  origin, — an  illusion  which  must  have  been  instantly 
dispelled  by  a  clear  view  of  the  intervening  history. 

Most  of  the  writings  of  the  great  reformers  were,  to  some  extent, 
historical,  as  they  went  to  expose  the  superstitions  and  corruptions 
of  the  Church- of  Rome,  and  contrast  them  with  the  simplicity  and 
purity  of  primitive  times.  Still,  neither  Luther  nor  Calvin  wrote 
any  formal  church  histories.  Melancthon  and  Beza  accomplished 
something  in  this  line ;  but  it  was  left  to  Matthias  Flacius,  a  rigid 
Lutheran  of  Germany,  to  produce  the  first  complete  ecclesiastical 
history  that  was  written  after  the  Reformation.  In  order  that  the 
work  might  be  thoroughly  executed,  Flacius  associated  nine  others 
with  himself,  making  ten  in  all,  who  divided  the  labor  between 
them.  Seven  were  engaged  in  collecting  materials,  two  in  digest- 
ing them,  and  the  tenth  in  giving  them  shape  and  form ;  after 
which  the  entire  work  was  submitted  to  a  committee  of  five,  who 
reviewed  and  corrected  the  whole  previous  to  publication.  This 
great  work  was  published  in  parts,  or  numbers ;  each  number  includ- 
ing a  century.  It  was  commenced  in  the  year  1552.  The  first 
number  was  issued  in  1559,  and  the  last  in  1574.  The  whole  is 
comprised  in  thirteen  folio  volumes,  each  volume  containing  the  his- 
tory of  a  century.  As  most  of  the  writers  resided  at  Magdeburg,  the 
work  has  been  commonly  designated  "  The  Magdeburg  Centuries." 

Notwithstanding  the  greatness  of  this  work,  it  obtained  a  wide 
and  rapid  circulation  among  both  the  friends  and  enemies  of  the 
Reformation ;  and,  wherever  it  went,  it  was  like  a  blaze  of  light, 
penetrating  and  dissipating  the  surrounding  darkness.  Its  imme- 
diate good  effects  were  great;  and  then  it  raised  ecclesiastical  his- 


38  .  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

tory  to  a  position  which  it  has  ever  since  retained,  more  especially 
in  Germany.  It  not  only  stirred  up  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  to 
prosecute  a  study  thus  auspiciously  introduced,  but  led  to  immedi- 
ate counteracting  efforts  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 

Csesar  Baronius  commenced  publisliing  liis  Annals  in  the  year 
1558  ;  and  labored  upon  them  thirty  years,  until  his  death  in  1607. 
They  were  published  in  twelve  folio  volumes,  each  volume  includ- 
ing a  century,  and  bringing  down  the  history  to  the  year  1198. 
They  furnish  from  the  Papal  archives,  and  from  many  libraries, 
particularly  the  Vatican,  a  host  of  documents  and  public  papers 
previously  unknown ;  and,  with  all  their  faults,  are  regarded  as  of 
much  value,  and  are  frequently  consulted,  at  the  present  day.  For 
this  great  work,  the  author  was  rewarded  with  the  dignity  of  a 
cardinal. 

Baronius  commences  his  work  with  the  assumption  that  he  is 
about  to  j)resent  the  first  true,  reliable  church  history.  He  cen- 
sures Eusebius  for  leaning  towards  the  Arians,  Socrates  and  Sozo- 
men  for  favoring  the  Novatians,  and  ail  his  predecesors  for  their 
lack  of  critical  discrimination.  "  The  Magdeburg  -Centuries  "  he 
denounces  as  "  Centuries  of  Satan  ;  "  though,  in  his  feigned  con- 
tempt of  them,  he  seldom  mentions  them  directly.  He  writes 
everywhere  in  the  interest  of  absolute  Romanism ;  and,  of  course, 
his  liistory  is,  tlu'oughout,  a  one-sided  affair.  He  endeavors  to  show 
that  the  Papacy  was  instituted  by  Cliiist ;  that,  in  doctrine  and  con- 
stitution, it  has  always  been  the  same  ;  and,  consequently,  that  the 
Reformation  was  an  apostasy  from  the  true  Church,  and  rebellion 
against  the  ordinance  of  God.  But,  in  attempting  this,  he  is  obliged 
to  rely  upon  fictitious  or  corrupted  narratives  and  spurious  docu- 
ments, and  to  suppress  or  distort  important  public  records.  The 
Annals  were  continued  by  Raynaldus,  an  Italian,  and  Spondanus,  a 
Frenchman,  to  the  year  1610.  They  were  controverted,  not  only 
by  Protestants,  but  by  the  more  liberal  Catholics.  Among  those 
who  replied  to  them  were  Casaubon,  Spanheim,  and  one  of  the 
Basnages. 

The  highest  merit  in  Roman-Catholic  historiography  belongs, 
undoubtedly,  to  the  French.  In  the  year  1676,  Natalis  Alexander 
commenced  publishing  his  great  work  in  twenty-four  volumes, 
bringing  down  the  history  to  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. He  severely  criticises,  in  many  places,  tlie  Annals  of  Baronius. 
In  1690,  Claude  Fleury,  abbot  of  a  Cistercian  convent,  began  the 
publication  of  his  church  history,  which  reaches,  in  twenty  volumes, 


CHURCH   HISTORIANS.  39 

to  the  year  1414,  and  was  continued  by  Fabre  to  1595.  Fleury 
wrote  diffusely,  in  the  spirit  of  a  monk,  but  with  taste  and  skill, 
and  with  a  decided  love  for  Christianity  and  the  Church. 

Bossuet,  the  eloquent  Bishop  of  Meaux,  pubhshed  a  compend  of 
Universal  History,  reaching  from  the  creation  to  the  time  of  Charle- 
magne. It  is  not  strictly  an  ecclesiastical  history  ;  and  yet  he  has 
much  to  say  in  it  of  religion  and  the  Chui'ch,  which  he  represents 
as  the  soul  and  centre  of  all  history. 

Near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Tillemont,  a  Jansen- 
ist,  prepared  a  liistory  of  the  first  six  centuries,  in  sixteen  volumes. 
For  his  facts  he  went  to  the  original  sources,  consulting  them  with 
accurate  and  conscientious  fidelity,  and  adding  his  critical  observa- 
tions in  the  form  of  notes.  Other  French  writers  of  history  at  tliis 
period  were  Morinus,  Petavius,  Richard  Simon,  and  Du  Pin.  Sev- 
eral of  them,  though  professed  Catholics,  were  so  anti-Catholic  in 
their  statements,  that  their  works  were  condemned  and  prohibited 
at  Rome. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Lutheran 
Church  was  distracted  with  controversies,  so  that  little  was  done 
in  the  way  of  general  church  history.  George  Calixtus  was  a  man 
of  peace,  and  wrote  a  liistory  with  a  view  to  favor  this  object ;  but 
his  well-meant  endeavors  tended  rather  to  foment  strife  than  to 
allay  it.  Osiander  wrote  a  history,  m  nine  quarto  volumes,  com- 
piled chiefly  from  "  The  Magdeburg  Centuries,''  and  being  a  con- 
tinuation of  that  great  work  until  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

Near  the  close  of  this  century,  Godfrey  Arnold  pubhshed  what 
he  called  "  An  Impartial  History  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
Heretics,  from  the  Beginning  of  the  New  Testament  to  the  Year 
1688."  Arnold  was  a  pietist,  a  friend  and  follower  of  Spener, 
and  strongly  prejudiced  against  all  church  establishments.  He 
not  only,  hated  the  Romish  Church,  but  he  distrusted  the  church 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  and  the  Lutheran  Church,  by 
which  the  pietists  were  persecuted.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
pious  man,  but  was  constitutionally  gloomy  and  melancholy,  and 
much  attached  to  the  mystics.  His  was  professedly  a  history  of 
true  spiritual  religion ;  and  he  was  inclined  to  look  for  it  all  the 
way,  not  in  the  established  churches,  but  among  those  who  had 
.been  stigmatized  as  heretics.  He  favored  not  only  the  Novatians 
and  Donatists,  the  Nestorians  and  Monophysites,  the  Paulicians, 
the  Cathari,  the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses,  but  even  the  Arians 


40  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  Pelagians.  At  the  same  time,  lie  did  great  injustice  to  the 
representatives  of  the  orthodox  ;  impeaching  their  motives,  aspers- 
ing their  characters,  passing  over  their  merits  in  silence,  and 
dwelling  almost  exclusively  upon  their  imperfections.  So  far  was 
his  from  being  an  impartial  history,  that  many  of  the  pietists 
were  dissatisfied  with  it.  It  provoked  a  new  controversy  in  the 
Lutheran  Church. 

The  Reformed  Church  produced  no  important  work  in  general 
church  history  in  the  seventeenth  century,  excepting  that  of  Hot- 
tinger,  in  nine  volumes  ;  iTut  several  scholars  distinguished  them- 
selves in  particular  branches  of  historical  research,  shedding  light 
on  the  characters  of  individuals,  on  various  controversies,  on  pa- 
tristic antiquity,  also  on  the  course  of  the  Papacy  and  of  the 
Reformation.  Thus  Frederic  Spanheim  of  Leyden,  and  Samuel 
Basnage  of  Zutphen,  undertook  the  refutation  of  Baronius  ;  while 
James  Basnage,  who  was  settled  at  the  Hague,  controverted 
Bossuet,  endeavoring  to  show  that  the  true  Church  of  Christ  has 
never  failed,  but  has  had  faithful  witnesses  in  every  age.  Others 
who  distinguished  themselves  at  this  period  by  their  historical 
researches  were  Bathinger,  Hospinian,  and  Heidegger,  among  the 
German  Swiss ;  Beza,  Mornay,  Du  Moulin,  Blondell,  Daille,  Sal- 
masius,  Claude,  Beausobre,  and  L'Enfant,  among  the  French  ;  the 
elder  Vossius,  Vitringa,  Venema,  among  the  Dutch  ;  and  Arch- 
bishop Usher,  Bishops  Pearson,  Beveridge,  Burnet,  and  Bull, 
Strype,  Bingham,  Cave,  Graba,  Whitby,  and  Prideaux,  among  the 
English. 

But  to  return  to  the  Germans.  In  the  first  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  Weisman  published  his  "  Introduction  to  the 
Memorabilia  of  Sacred  History,"  distinguished  for  its  mild  spirit, 
its  quiet,  moderate  tone,  its  predilection  for  the  pietists  and 
mystics,  and  its  regard  throughout  to  the  purposes  of  edification. 
He  was  soon  eclipsed,  however,  by  the  celebrated  Chancellor  of 
Gpttingen,  John  Lawrence  Mosheim,  who  holds  indisputably  the 
first  place  among  the  church  historians  of  the  last  century.  Be- 
sides a  multitude  of  books  and  tracts  on  various  subjects  more  or 
less  connected  with  ecclesiastical  history,  Mosheim  published  two, 
which  have  never  lost  their  place  and  authority  in  the  Church. 
One  of  these  is  his  "  Commentaries  on  the  State  of  Christianity 
before  the  Time  of  Constantine : "  the  other  is  his  "  Institutes 
of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Ancient  and  Modern."  Both  these  have 
been  translated  into  English  ;  and  the  latter  has  long  been  a  text- 


CHURCH   HISTORIANS.  41 

book  in  England  and  America.  His  division  of  his  subject  into 
centuries  may  be  regarded  as  faulty  ;  and  he  is  lacking  throughout 
in  religious  fervor  and  spirituality.  Still,  the  work  is  one  of  high 
merit,  and  fully  entitled  to  the  authority  which  it  has  attained. 
We  entirely  accord  with  the  following  sentiments  of  "  The  Prince- 
ton Review :  "  "  These  works  of  Mosheim,"  referring  to  the  two 
above  mentioned,  "  are  distinguished  by  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
his  subject,  rare  acuteness  and  sagacity  in  critical  conjecture  and 
combination,  great  completeness  and  exactness  as  to  the  essential 
facts  of  history,  clearness  of  arrangement,  and  by  the  classical 
elegance  of  his  Latin,"  in  which  the  works  were  originally  writ- 
ten.* Of  the  two  English  translations  of  Mosheim's  History, 
(Maclaine's  and  Murdock's),  the  former  is  free  and  declamatory  ; 
the  latter  accurate,  but  rather  stiff  and  inelegant.  The  notes  of 
Murdock  are  numerous  and  valuable,  embodying  all  the  important 
historical  matter  which  has  come  to  light  since  Mosheim's  death. 

The  influence  of  Mosheim  in  his  own  country  was  very  great,  as 
may  be  seen  in  the  histories  of  those  who  were  his  contemporaries, 
or  who  immediately  followed  him.  Pfaff  of  Tiibingen  was  equally 
learned  ;  but  his  Institutions  were  not  written  in  so  clear  a  style, 
and  are  overladen  with  names  and  citations.  Baumgarten  brought 
down  his  "  Abstract  of  Church  History  "  only  to  the  close  of  the 
ninth  century.  The  most  extensive  work  of  the  age  was  that  of 
Schrockh,  a  disciple  of  Mosheim,  and  Professor  of  History  at  Wit- 
tenberg, With  Tzschirner's  continuation,  it  makes  forty-five 
volumes,  and  was  published  between  the  years  1768  and  1810. 
Notwithstanding  its  diffuseness  and  its  injudicious  method,  it  is 
exceedingly  valuable  for  its  numerous  and  faithful  transcriptions 
from  original  authorities,  and  will  long  be  referred  to  as  a  mine  of 
historical  learning. 

J.  A.  Cramer,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Kiel,  wrote  a  con- 
tinuation of  Bossuet's  "  Universal  History."  The  younger  Walch 
gave  attention,  chiefly,  to  the  history  of  heresies  and  controversies  ; 
and  his  work,  in  eleven  parts,  is  still  much  esteemed.  The  elder 
Planck  prepared  histories  of  Christian  Doctrine  and  of  Church 
Government ;  both  of  which  he  treats  simply  as  a  philosopher,  mth 
the  utmost  indifference  to  religious  truth.  In  the  same  spirit  of 
religious  indifference,  Muenscher  prepared  his  "  History  of  Chris- 
tian Doctrine,"  an  abridgment  of  which  was  translated  and  pub- 
lished in  tins  country  by  Dr.  Murdock  in  1830. 

*  See  No.  for  October,  1857. 


42  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  era  of  rationalism  in  Germany  commenced  with  John  Solo- 
mon Semler,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Semler 
himself  wrote  no  proper  church  liistory.  His  whole  course  was 
merely  preparatory  ;  raising  doubts  and  suspicions,  forming  con- 
jectures and  combinations,  and  getting  together  a  huge  mass  of 
material,  wliich  his  followers  were  left  to  work  over  at  theu"  pleas- 
ure. Of  his  long  array  of  pubhcations,  scarcely  one  is  consulted 
at  the  present  day.  The  principal  work  from  Semler's  school  is 
Henke's  "  General  History  of  the  Christian  Church,"  in  eight  parts, 
the  first  of  which  was  pubhshed  in  1788.  His  principal  aim  is  to 
show  up  the  mischief  which  rehgious  despotism  and  doctrinal  con- 
straint have  wrought  in  all  ages  ;  and  he  presents  a  glaring  picture 
of  what  he  tails  enthusiasm,  superstition,  stupidity,  and  wicked- 
ness. In  his  hands,  church  history  becomes  mainly  a  history  of 
human  folly.  Wherever  the  unprejudiced  eye  discerns  true  great- 
ness, Henke  can  see  nothing  but  hypocrisy,  calculation,  cunning, 
and  bigotry.  The  efforts  of  Henke,  and  others  of  the  same  school, 
resulted  in  a  total  indifference  as  to  the  religious  import  of  church 
history.  In  this  spirit,  Schmidt  of  Giessen  composed  his  Manual, 
in  six  parts,  which  was  completed  in  1820. 

Within  the  last  fifty  years,  historical  theology  has  awakened  an 
extraordinary  amount  of  diligence  and  zeal  in  Germany.  Her  more 
distinguished  chiu'ch  liistorians  are  Neander  and  Gieseler.  Neander 
commenced  liis  career  by  the  preparation  of  monographs  ;  but  these 
led  on  to  the  great  work  of  his  life,  —  his  "General  Church  His- 
tory." Neander's  history  was  first  published  in  1825  ;  and  nearly  at 
the  same  time  appeared  the  equally  learned  and  elaborate  history 
'  of  Gieseler.  These  works  have  both  been  translated,  and  are  in 
familiar  use  in  England  and  in  this  country.  They  are  so  entirely 
different  in  spirit  and  plan,  tl:^it  tliey  hardly  admit  of  a  comparison 
with  each  other.  In  Gieseler  we  have  an  excellent  selection  from 
the  original  authorities,  inserted  in  the  form  of  notes,  and  strung 
together  by  a  meagre,  cold,  and  slender  thread  of  narrative.  In 
Neander  we  have  the  same  materials  ;  but  they  have  been  digested 
in  his  own  mind,  and  wrought  up  into  a  flowing  homogeneous  nar- 
rative, bearing  the  impress  of  their  author  upon  every  page.  In 
Gieseler  the  notes  are  every  thing ;  in  Neander,  notliing.  In  the 
former,  the  author  conceals  himself  behind  the  fathers  and  reform- 
ers, whose  very  words  he  sets  before  us  :  in  the  latter,  the  self- 
same fathers  and  reformers  are  exhibited ;  but  they  appear  in  the 
dress  and  voice  of  Neander.    Gieseler's  piu'pose  seems  to  have  been 


CHURCH   HISTORIANS.  43 

to  enable  every  reader  to  form  his  own  conclusions,  and  construct 
a  history  for  himself;  while  Neander  gives  us  the  liistory  made 
ready  to  our  hand. 

Neander  has  had  many  imitators  and  followers  in  Germany,  — 
some  in  general  church  history,  but  more  in  the  presentation  of 
particular  branches ;  but  of  these  we  shall  be  able  to  give  little 
more  than  the  names.  The  following  writers  have  furnished  man- 
uals of  church  history,  intended  rather  for  students  than  for 
general  circulation  :  viz.,  Neidner,  distinguished  for  original  learn- 
ing, and  a  masterly  condensation  of  details  ;  Hase,  who  excels  all 
others  in  spirited  description,  comprehensive  brevity,  and  a  success- 
ful dehneation  of  individual  characters ;  the  compend  of  Guerike, 
which,  notwithstanding  its  heavy  and  awkward  style,  has  found 
much  favor  with  the  public  ;  and  Kurtz,  who  greatly  surpasses 
Guerike  in  point  of  style,  and  may  ultimately  take  his  place  in 
regard  to  circulation.  The  principal  writers  in  doctrinal  history  are 
Baumgarten-Crusius  ;  Engelhardt ;  Baur  of  Tiibingen,  who  is  no 
better  than  an  infidel;  and  Hagenbach,  whose  work  has  been 
translated  into  English,  and  is  widely  circulated  both  in  England 
and  in  this  country.  The  writers  of  monographs  on  special  topics, 
single  doctrines,  and  celebrated  individuals,  are  very  numergus. 
We  will  only  mention  Ullman,  Marheineke,  Rothe,  Dorner,  Bunsen, 
and  Ebrard,  among  the  Protestants ;  and  Mohler,  Hofler,  Hefele, 
and  Hurter,  among  the  Catholics. 

The  more  recent  works  of  Roman  Catholics  in  this  department 
of  literature  are  the  following :  Sacharelii's  Church  History,  pub- 
hshed  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  twenty-five 
volumes ;  the  History  of  Rohrbacher,  professor  at  Louvain,  in 
twenty -nine  volumes  ;  A  Manual  of  General  Church  History,  by 
John  Alzog  ;  and  the  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Histories  of  Dr.  Lin- 
gard,  a  Roman-Catholic  priest  of  England. 

While  Germany  has  displayed,  since  the  age  of  Mosheim,  a  pro- 
digious activity  in  the  field  of  church  history,  the  other  Protestant 
countries  of  Europe  have  done  but  little.  In  England,  the  work 
of  Joseph  and  Isaac  Milner  was  first  published  near  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  and  is  of  more  value  than  has  been  gener- 
ally supposed.  It  was  no  part  of  their  plan  to  write  a  history  of 
nominal^  organized  Christianity,  but  rather  of  real  Christianity,  of 
true  piety.  In  pursuing  this  object,  they  were  led  to  pass  over 
much  on  which  other  historians  had  treated,  and  to  search  only 
for  the  image  of  Christ.     Their  work  is  pervaded  not  only  by  a 


44  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

deeply  religious  spirit,  but  by  solid  learning  and  original  research ; 
and,  in  connection  with  other  histories,  should  be  carefully  studied. 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  with  the  above,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Haweis  published  a  church  history,  in  three  volumes,  on  the  same 
plan  as  that  of  the  Milners,  but  vastly  inferior  to  it  in  point  of 
Hterary  execution.  A  little  later,  Messrs.  Bogue  and  Bennett  pub- 
lished their  "  History  of  the  Dissenters  of  England,"  in  four  vol- 
umes, containing  a  vast  amount  of  information  respecting  this  noble 
body  of  Christians. 

Dr.  Milman,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  has  written  "  A  History  of  Chris- 
tianity to  the  Abolition  of  Paganism  in  the  Roman  Empire  ; "  also 
"A  History  of  Latin  Christianity."  These  works  are  distinguished 
for  their,  learning,  and  for  an  elegant  though  not  easy  style. 
Among  the  productions  of  England,  we  only  mention  further  the 
liistories  of  Waddington  and  of  Hardwicke,  both  of  them  learned 
and  well  written,  and  worthy  the  attention  of  students. 

From  the  Protestants  of  France,  the  only  work  to  be  noticed 
here  is  D'Aubigne's  "  History  of  the  Reformation."  Though  yet 
unfinished,  it  has  attained  an  almost  unprecedented  popularity  in 
England  and  America,  and  has  spread  a  knowledge  of  the  Refor- 
mation where  otherwise  it  would  never  have  gone.  D'Aubignd's 
chief  merit  lies  in  his  extraordinary  poAver  of  spirited  dramatic 
and  picturesque  representation,  by  which  he  gives  interest  to  the 
study  of  history,  and  makes  the  pursuit  of  it  a  pleasure.  It  must 
be  said,  however,  that,  in  his  efforts  to  please,  he  sometimes  impairs 
the  simplicity  and  truthfulness  of  the  narrative,  and  too  much 
confounds  the  task  of  the  earnest  historian  with  that  of  the 
novelist. 

In  our  own  country,  the  church  historians  are  yet  to  appear. 
In  civil  history,  we  have  done  our  full  share.  The  names  and  the 
works  of  such  men  as  Ramsay  and  Marshall  and  Prescott  and 
Bancroft  and  Sparks  and  Motley  and  Palfrey  will  not  soon  be 
forgotten.  But,  for  our  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  history,  we 
have  been  content  to  rely  chiefly  on  the  Germans.  With  the 
exception  of  some  translations,  and  the  learned  "  History  of  Chris- 
tian Doctrine,"  lately  published  by  Prof.  Shedd,  little  has  been 
done  among  us.*  At  present,  however,  there  is  a  learned  German 
with  us,  whom  we  are  happy  to  recognize  as  an  adopted  fellow- 

*  In  the  yeor  1859,  Prof.  Henry  B.  Smith  published  A  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in 
Chronoloi^ical  Tables.  It  is  characterized  by  learning  and  accuracy,  but  is  chiefly  valuable 
as  a  book  of  reference. 


CHURCH   HISTORIANS.  ,  45 

citizen,  who  is  laboring  with  great  success  in  the  important  branch 
of  historical  theology.  I  refer  to  Dr.  Philip  Schaff,  professor  in 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Mercersburg.  Should  he  live  to  com- 
plete a  history  of  the  Church  in  the  same  spirit  and  manner  with 
which  he  has  commenced  it,  the  work  will  be  received  with  great 
favor  in  this  country,  and  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  world. 

Should  it  be  asked,  in  conclusion,  which  of  all  the  histories  that 
have  been  mentioned  are  best_  deserving  the  attention  of  ministers 
and  Christian  students,  the  question  is  not  easily  answered.  Each 
has  its  pecuUar  excellences,  and  each  is  characterized  by  some 
defects.  Milner's  is  what  it  professes  to  be,  —  a  history  of  the  real 
living  Churchy  and  should  be  relied  upon  only  in  this  view.  As  a 
general  history  of  that  great  organized  body  commonly  called  the 
Chui'ch  of  Christ,  it  has  no  vaUd  claims ;  nor  does  it  profess  to 
have. 

Neander's  history  is  full,  learned,  candid,  truthful,  and  would  be 
entitled  to  an  almost  unqualified  commendation,  were  it  not  for  the 
minglings  of  the  transcendental  philosophy  and  theology,  which, 
for  the  greater  part  of  a  century,  has  tainted  every  thing  in  Ger- 
many. Neander  was  the  particular  friend  of  Schelling,  one  of  the 
leading  transcendental  philosophers,  and  dedicated  to  him  the  first 
volume  of  his  history.  His  partiality  for  this  philosophy  leaks  out 
everywhere.  It  shows  itself  in  his  fondness  for  the  development 
theory,  and  for  d-priori  reasonings  and  conclusions.  Neander 
seems  to  have  adopted,  too,  the  transcendental  theory  of  Chris- 
tianity, —  that  it  is  not  a  system  of  immutable  truth,  but  rather 
a  feeling^  a  sentiment^  a  life.  "  This  notion,"  says  one,  "  is  the 
spinal  cord  of  Neander's  '  History,'  the  substance  of  Ullman's 
'  Essence  of  Christianity,'  the  basis  of  Twesten's  '  Dogmatik,'  the 
grand  distinction  of  the  Mercersburg  theology,  the  beginning 
and  end  of  Morell's  '  Pliilosophy  of  Religion.'  "  Neander  wrote 
his  "  Life  of  Christ "  with  a  view  to  refute  the  blasphemies  of 
Strauss  ;  and  yet  it  has  been  thought  that  the  former  work  was 
calculated  to  do  more  injury  in  this  country  than  the  latter. 
Strauss  shocked  and  repelled  all  serious  readers  by  his  grossness ; 
wliile  Neander  let  down  stitches,  and  left  them  down,  threatening 
the  whole  fabric  of  Christianity. 

I  am  sorry  to  feel  constrained  to  say  these  things  of  Neander,  — 
a  man  so  learned,  so  childlike,  and,  I  doubt  not,  so  truly  pious.  I 
would  not  dissuade  from  the  study  of  his  history ;  by  no  means  : 
but  then  it  should  be  used  with  discrimination  and  caution,  and  in 
connection  with  other  works. 


46  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Gieseler  was  more  of  a  rationalist  than  Neander  ;  and  yet  there 
are  not  the  same  objections  to  his  history.  His  narrative  is  so 
brief  and  slender,  that,  of  itself,  it  seems  not  capable  of  doing 
much  good  or  hurt.  The  chief  excellence  of  Gieseler  hes  in  his 
notes  ;  and  these  are  invaluable.  To  be  benefited  by  Gieseler," 
one  must  make  up  his  mind  beforehand  to  translate  and  master  all 
his  notes. 

As  a  text-book  in  history,  I  am  far  from  being  satisfied  with 
Mosheim.  He  is  cold  and  passionless,  and,  for  that  reason,  unin- 
teresting to  the  reader.  Besides^  his  method  is  arbitrary  and 
objectionable,  leading  to  much  sameness  and  repetition,  more 
especially  in  the  middle  ages.  Still,  until  a  better  book  is  pre- 
sented, I  know  nothing  that  can  well  be  substituted  for  Murdock's 
Mosheim. 


CHAPTER    III. 

INTRODUCTORY.  —  PECULIARITIES    OF    THE    SACRED    HISTORY. 

THE  greater  portion  of  our  Bible  (the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New)  is  historical,  —  a  record  of  events  either  past  or  passing 
at  the  time  when  the  books  were  written.  To  distinguish  it  from 
other  books  of  the  like  description,  it  is  commonly  called  sacred 
history.  As  we  shall  make  much  use  of  the  sacred  history  in  the 
following  chapters,  it  may  be  well  to  preface  them  with  some 
account  of  its  peculiarities^  or  the  points  in  which  it  differs  from 
other  histories. 

Of  some  of  these  I  have  spoken  already ;  as,  for  example,  its 
early  date  ;  Moses  ha^^ng  lived  more  than  a  thousand  3-ears  pre- 
vious to  the  times  of  Herodotus,  Berosus,  Manetho,  or  any  otheii 
credible  liistorian. 

I  have  referred,  too,  to  tlie  length  of  time  over  which  the  sacred 
history  stretches.  Other  ancient  histories  describe  the  events  of 
only  short  periods,  —  a  few  years,  or,  at  most,  a  few  centuries. 
Thus  Herodotus  traces  the  Persian  history  from  the  time  of  Cji'us 
to  that  of  Xerxes,  —  about  two  hundred  and  forty  years.  Thucydi- 
des  wrote  a  history  of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  embracing  a  little 
more  than  twenty  years.  The  history  of  Polybius  extends  from 
the  Fkst  Punic  War  to  the  capture  of  Macedon  by  the  Romans,  — 
less  than  a  hundred  years.  But  our  sacred  history  is  of  a  vastly 
greater  extent  than  either  or  all  of  these.  Beginning  at  the  crea- 
tion, it  runs  rapidly  down  the  first  two  thousand  years  to  the  time 
of  Abraham  ;  and  then,  following  the  line  of  his  descendants  in  the 
famUies  of  Isaac  and  Israel,  it  stretches  onward  two  thousand  more, 
—  to  the  commg  of  Chi"ist.  Nor  does  it  stop  there.  It  fm^nishes  an 
account  of  our  Saviour's  life  and  pubhc  ministry ;  of  his  crucifixion, 
resurrection,  and  ascension ;  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon 
his  primitive  disciples  ;  and  of  the  planting  and  prospects  of  the 
Christian  Church  imtil  past  the  middle  of  the  first  century.    Where, 

47 


48  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

now,  shall  we  look  for  another  history  (unless  it  have  been  in  great 
measure  copied  from  this)  which  bears  any  comparison  with  it  as 
to  the  length  of  the  period  over  which  it  stretches  ? 

A  thhd  pecuharity  of  the  sacred  history  consists  in  its  ecclesias- 
tical character.  It  is  primarily  and  essentially  a  history  of  God 's 
Church.  Other  liistories  record  the  affairs  of  individuals  and  of 
nations,  —  theu^  wars,  their  revolutions,  their  origin,  and  their  end ; 
but  the  subject  of  the  sacred  liistory  is,  almost  exclusively,  the 
Church  of  God. 

God  has  had  a  Church  in  the  world  from  the  days  of  righteous 
Abel  to  the  present  time,  —  sometimes  in  obscurity,  then  in  pros- 
perity ;  sometimes  almost  liidden  from  the  sight  of  men,  and  then 
standing  forth  the  great  object  of  interest  and  hope.  To  trace  the 
history  of  this  Church  in  its  various  changes,  straits,  persecutions, 
and  dehverances,  through  the  long  space  of  more  than  four  thou- 
sand years,  is  the  prime  object  and  work  of  the  sacred  history. 

The  Church  before  the  Flood  seems  to  have  been  confined  chiefly 
to  the  family  of  Seth.  They  were  "  the  sons  of  God,"  in  distinc- 
tion from  "  the  daughters  of  men."  They  "  called  on  the  name  of 
the  Lord,"  in  distinction  from  others  who  despised  and  forgat  him. 
Enoch,  that  holy  man  who  "  walked  with  God,  and  was  not,  for 
God  took  him,"  was  among  the  children  of  Seth :  and  it  is  to  the 
children  of  Seth  that  the  sacred  history  is  confined,  from  the  fifth 
chapter  of  Genesis  to  the  Deluge,  and  even  beyond  it ;  for  Noah 
and  his  family  were  of  the  children  of  Seth. 

After  the  Deluge,  the  Chui'ch  of  God  was  concentrated  chiefly  in 
the  family  of  Shem.  While  incidental  notices  are  given  of  the 
descendants  of  the  other  sons  of  Noah,  the  interest  of  the  narrative  is 
confined,  for  the  most  part,  to  Shem  and  his  children,  down  to  the 
time  of  Terah  and  Abraham.  From  this  point,  the  Church  of 
God  is  limited  to  the  seed  of  Abraham  in  the  line  of  Isaac  and 
Israel ;  while,  for  their  idolatry  and  wickedness,  the  other  nations 
are  given  over  to  their  own  hearts'  lusts.  And  it  is  of  the  children 
of  Israel  that  the  sacred  liistory  treats  for  the  next  sixteen  hundred 
years,  —  down  to  the  time  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  Here  is  a  break 
of  about  four  hundred  years,  which  brings  us  to  the  coming  of 
Christ. 

At  the  death  of  Christ,  the  old  dispensation,  with  all  its  rites, 
types,  and  shadows,  passed  away,  and  the  new  dispensation  was 
ushered  in.  Then,  also,  the  great  body  of  the  Jewish  nation,  so 
long  the  covenant  people  of  God,  were  broken  off  from  his  Church 


PECULIARITIES   OF   THE   SACRED    HISTORY.  49 

for  their  unbelief ;  and  the  way  was  opened  for  believing  Gentiles 
to  be  grafted  into  the  stock  of  Abraham.  Of  these  great  transac- 
tions, we  have  a  faithful  account  in  the  New-Testament  history, 
which  closes  about  the  year  63.  We  thus  see,  that,  from  first  to 
last,  the  sacred  history  is  essentially  church  history.  It  is  a  history 
of  God's  dealings  with  his  covenant  people. 

K  fourth  peculiarity  of  the  sacred  history  is  its  prominent  exhi- 
bition of  (xod's  universal  and  eternal  purpose^  —  his  great  plan  of 
-providence  and  grace.  To  the  eye  of  sense,  events  seem  to  be  fol- 
lowing each  other  in  this  world  without  much  order.  Some  are 
prospered,  and  some  afflicted ;  some  are  sick,  and  some  well ;  some 
die  almost  as  soon  as  they  are  born,  wliile  others  hve  to  old  age. 
And  as  it  is  with  individuals,  so  also  with  nations.  They  rise  and 
fall;  they  become  rich  and  prosperous  and  powerful;  and  then, 
ere  long,  they  pass  away.  Wars  are  waged  and  concluded.  Revo- 
lutions are  excited  and  accomplished,  or  they  are  speedily  checked 
and  crushed.  Such  being  the  course  of  human  affairs,  a  faithful 
record  of  them,  or,  in  other  words,  their  liistory,  seems,  at  first  view, 
chaotic  and  disorderly.  Figures  are  moving  on  the  canvas  ;  but 
why  and  wherefore,  in  what  order,  to  what  purpose,  and  for  what 
end,  no  one  can  tell.  Such  is  history,  prepared,  it  may  be,  with 
accuracy,  but  with  no  guide  but  the  eye  of  sense. 

But  very  different  from  this  is  the  sacred  history,  or  any  other 
history  prepared  in  the  hght  of  God's  holy  and  eternal  counsels. 
In  the  sacred  history,  we  are  taught  to  look  upward.  We  see  a 
Power  above  us,  which  rides  on  the  whirlwind,  and  directs  the 
storm.  In  periods  the  darkest  to  the  view  of  mortals,  all  is  light 
with  God.  In  circumstances  the  most  chaotic  and  unaccountable 
to  the  eye  of  sense,  he  is  directing  and  controlhng  all  in  infinite 
wisdom  and  goodness.  In  the  plenitude  of  Iris  sovereignty,  he  says, 
"  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else ;  I  form  the  hght,  and  create 
darkness  ;  I  make  peace,  and  create  evil.  My  counsel  shall  stand, 
and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure."  To  the  writer  of  history,  to  the 
careful  observer  of  human  affairs,  passages  such  as  these  are  a  reve- 
lation. They  shed  the  light  of  heaven  upon  his  path,  —  alight 
which  can  come  from  no  other  source.  By  the  eye  of  faith,  he  can 
see  order  now  where  all  before  was  confusion  and  chaos :  and  with 
the  Psalmist  he  is  able  to  sing,  "  The  Lord  reigneth  ;  let  the  earth 
rejoice  ;  let  the  midtitude  of  isles  be  glad  thereof.  Clouds  and 
darkness  are  round  about  hun ;  but  righteousness  and  judgment  are 
the  habitation  cf  his  throne."    With  a  confidence  ins^Dired  by  these 

4 


50  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

» 

views  of  God's  sovereignty  and  supremacy,  and  which  can  be 
created  in  no  other  way,  the  good  man  looks  up,  and  says,  "  God  is 
my  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble.  There- 
fore will  we  not  fear  though  the  earth  be  removed,  and  though  the 
mountains  be  carried  into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  though  the  waters 
thereof  roar  and  be  troubled,  tiiough  the  mountains  shake  with 
the  swelling  thereof." 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  sacred  history  is  its  continual  recogni- 
tion of  God's  providential  agency  in  human  affairs ;  and  that,  too, 
in  connection  with  an  unembarrassed  free  agency,  and  entire  ac- 
countableness,  on  the  part  of  man.  Other  histories,  if  prepared  on 
Christian  principles,  will  indeed  recognize  a  providence  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  and  speak  of  it  submissively  and  devoutly :  still,  they 
come  very  far  short  of  the  sacred  history  in  their  views  of  divine 
efficiency,  and  of  its  control  over  the  hearts  and  the  conduct  of 
men.  Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  Pharaoh.  How  often  does 
God  say  of  this  man,  "  I  will  harden  Pharaoh's  heart,  and  multi- 
ply my  signs  and  wonders  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  Pharaoh  shall 
not  hearken  unto  you,  that  I  may  lay  my  hand  upon  Egypt,  and 
bring  forth  my  people  out  of  the  land  with  great  judgments  " !  And, 
in  the  midst  of  these  desolating  judgments,  how  often  do  we  hear 
God  saying,  "  I  have  hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  heart 
of  his  servants,  that  I  might  show  these  my  signs  before  him  "  !• 
And  yet  it  is  as  often  said  that  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own  hearty  and 
wickedly  refused  to  let  the  people  go.  He  was  altogether  as  free, 
as  responsible,  and  as  guilty,  as  though  there  had  been  no  divine 
providence  in  the  case.  These  statements  may  seem  inexplicable  to 
us ;  and  the  sacred  historian  makes  no  attempt  at  explanation.  He 
merely  writes  them,  and  there  leaves  them. 

Nor  does  the  case  of  Pharaoh  stand  alone.  It  is  but  one  among 
many  of  a  like  nature.  Take  the  instance  of  Joseph.  He  was 
wickedly  seized,  sold  by  his  brethren,  and  carried  into  Egypt,  where 
he  remained  for  many  years,  part  of  the  time  a  slave,  and  part  of 
the  time  a  close  prisoner.  Were  not  his  brethren  responsible  and 
guilty  for  this  terrible  transaction  ?  Were  they  not  brought,  at  length, 
to  an  open  confession  of  their  guilt  ?  "  We  are  verily  guilty  con- 
cerning our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul  when 
he  besought  us,  and  we  would  not  hear."  And  yet  the  Lord's  hand 
was  in  all  this ;  and  in  it,  too,  for  a  wise  and  benevolent  purpose. 
"6roc?  did  send  me  before  you  to  save  your  lives  by  a  great  deliver- 
ance." • 


PECULIARITIES   OF  THE   SACRED   HISTORY.  51 

Take  another  case  out  of  the  many  that  might  be  presented. 
When  Absalom  had  rebelled  against  his  father,  and  had  driven  liim 
away  from  Jerusalem,  the  traitor  sent  for  two  of  David's  counsellors 
to  advise  with  him  as  to  the  measures  to  be  pursued.  Ahithophel 
gave  him  good  advice,  which,  had  it  been  followed,  would  have  led 
to  the  destruction  of  the  old  Idng.  But  Hushai  advised  to  a  very 
different  course,  which  could  end  in  notliing  but  Absalom's  defeat 
and  ruin.  The  two  courses  were  both  before  the  mind  of  the  trai- 
tor :  he  had  his  choice  of  them ;  and  he  chose  freely  to  follow  the 
advice  of  Hushai.  How  came  he  to  do  so  ?  The  whole  thing  is 
explained  in  a  single  verse :  "  The  'Lord  had  appointed  to  defeat 
the  good  counsel  of  Ahithophel,  to  the  intent  that  he  might  bring 
evil  upon  Absalom  "  (2  Sam.  xvii.  14). 

Such,  then,  is  the  sacred  history.  A  broad  line  of  distinction  is 
here  presented  between  it  and  all  other  histories  in  the  world. 
The  divine  hand  is  here  seen  controlling  as  infallibly  the  hearts 
and  conduct  of  men  as  it  controls  events  in  the  natural  world. 
And  yet,  without  any  attempt  at  explanation,  men  are  said  to  act 
freely  and  responsibly ;  and,  when  they  act  wickedly,  are  justly 
exposed  to  condemnation  and  punishment. 

Still  another  peculiarity  of  the  sacred  history  is,  that  it  is  mixed 
,  up  everywhere  with  types  and  symbols  and  prophetic  declarations. 
I  hardly  need  say  that  these  are  not  found  in  secular  history  ;  or, 
if  pretensions  are  made  to  them,  they  are  deceptive  and  false.  But 
in  the  sacred  history,  as  well  as  in  the  prophetical  writings,  they 
are  of  continual  occurrence.  Thus  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam, 
uttered  predictions  :  "  Behold  the  Lord  cometh,  with  ten  thousand 
of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all 
that  are  ungpdly  among  them  of  their  ungodly  deeds,  and  of  all 
the  hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him  " 
(Jude  14,  15). 

Noah  also  uttered  predictions :  "  Cursed  be  Canaan ;  a  servant 
of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren."  "  God  shall  enlarge  Ja- 
pheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  "  (Gen.  ix.  25,  27). 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  each  and  all  of  them,  uttered  predic- 
tions ;  or,  rather,  God  uttered  his  predictions  by  them,  — predictions 
which  are  not  yet  entirely  fulfilled,  and  will  not  be  till  the  end  of 
the  world.  Joseph's  dreams,  and  those  which  he  interpreted  for 
Pharaoh  and  for  his  chief  butler  and  baker,  were  all  of  them  of  the 
nature  of  predictions.  Moses  was  a  prophet  as  well  as  an  historian. 
He  predicted  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  and  the  future  defections 


52  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

of  Israel,  and  the  judgments  wliich  should  fall  upon  them  for  their 
sins,  until  they  were  scattered  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Samuel 
too,  and  David,  and  the  writers  of  the  Kings  and  Chronicles,  were 
prophets ;  and  several  of  those  who  are  distmctively  called  proph- 
ets made  important  additions  to  the  sacred  history. 

Then  the  types  and  symbols  of  oiu-  sacred  books  are  a  peculiar 
feature  of  them.  We  do  not  find  them  in  other  books ;  but  the 
sacred  history  abounds  with  them.  Many  parts  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  little  more  than  the  institution  of  types ;  types,  too,  of  great 
significance,  shadowing  forth  the  most  important  truths,  and  point- 
ing forward  to  coming  events.  Thus  Paul,  speaking  of  the  holy 
places  in  the  ancient  temple,  represents  them  as  figures  (types)  of 
the  true  ;  that  is,  of  heaven  (Heb.  ix.  24). 

The  symbols  of  Scripture  differ  from  the  types.  There  are  fig- 
ures, pictures,  or  pictorial  scenes,  presented,  sometimes  actually,  and 
sometimes  in  visions  and  dreams,  by  means  of  which  important 
truths,  and  often  coming  events,  are  indicated.  Thus  the  cheru- 
bim in  the  ancient  temple  are  supposed  to  symbolize  angelic  beings. 
Nebuchadnezzar's  gigantic  image  which  he  saw  in  vision ;  Daniel's 
four  beasts ;  Zechariah's  horses,  red,  speckled,  and  wliite ;  and  most 
of  the  scenic  representations  of  the  Apocalypse,  —  may  be  regarded 
as  prophetic  symbols. 

As  types  and  symbols  are  peculiarities  of  our  sacred  books,  so 
they  require  a  peculiarity  of  interpretation.  It  is  sometimes  said 
that  the  Bible  is  to  be  interpreted  on  the  same  principle  as  other 
books  ;  but  this  rule  is  not  apphcable  to  the  whole  Bible.  As  the 
Bible  has  peculiarities  not  found  in  other  books,  more  especially 
its  types,  symbols,  and  prophetic  declarations  ;  so  these  require  a 
mode  of  interpretation  peculiar  to  themselves.  In  these  there 
must  be,  often,  sometliing  like  a  double  sense,  —  the  apparent  and 
the  real,  the  hteral  and  spiritual. 

Yet  another  peculiarity  of  the  sacred  history  is  its  frequent 
record  of  miracles.  Other  histories  contain  no  accounts  of  real 
miracles  ;  and  it  is  sometimes  objected  to  the  sacred  history  that  it 
has  such  accounts.  It  is  assumed  that  a  mkacle  is  an  impossibil- 
ity ;  that  the  estabhshed  course  of  Nature  never  was  nor  can  be 
interrupted  or  supervened ;  and  that  the  frequent  stories  of  mira- 
cles which  we  find  in  the  Bible  cannot  be  true.  Tliis  is  no  place 
to  go  into  a  consideration  of  this  objection.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
God,  who  established  what  are  commonly  called  the  laws  of  Nature, 
is  able,  if  he  pleases,  to  suspend  or  contravene  them.     He  is  able 


PECULIARITIES   OF  THE   SACRED   HISTORY.  53 

to  perform  miracles  such  as  the  Scriptures  relate  ;  and  the  fact 
that  he  has  performed  them,  and  furnished  a  record  of  them  in  his 
Word,  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  peculiarities  of  that  Word.  So 
far  from  proving  it  untrue,  it  goes  to  authenticate  it  as  a  revelation 
from  himself. 

Another  of  the  pecuHarities  of  the  sacred  history  is,  that  its 
central  figure  is  the  cross  of  Christ.  Everywhere  it  looks,  either 
forward  or  backward,  to  the  Saviour. 

This,  in  a  lower  sense,  may  be  said  of  all  true  history.  This 
world  was  made  not  only  bt/  Christ,  but  for  him ;  and  its  provi- 
dential arrangements  are  conducted,  in  all  their  branches,  with 
reference  to  the  interests  of  his  kingdom.  Hence  much  is  said, 
and  properly  too,  of  Christ  in  history/.  All  history,  correctly  and 
appropriately  written,  must  have  reference  more  or  less  to  the 
Saviour.  But  this,  which  is  in  some  sense  true  of  all  history,  is 
more  emphatically  so  of  that  contained  in  the  Bible.  The  great 
object  of  the  Old-Testament  history  is  to  reveal  a  coming  Saviour, 
and  direct  the  eyes  of  a  lost  world  in  strong  expectancy  to  him : 
the  great  object"  of  the  New-Testament,  history  is  to  proclaim  a 
Saviour,  and  publish  abroad  the  triumphs  of  his  cross. 

In  its  very  commencement,  the  sacred  history  announces  the  vic- 
torious seed  of  the  woman,  which  is  to  bruise  the  serpent's  head. 
Bloody  sacrifices,  which  were  instituted  immediately  after  the  fall 
of  our  first  parents,  and  which  continued  to  the  end  of  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  spreading  themselves  meanwhile  over  all  the  earth, 
were  everywhere  a  revelation  of  Christ,  a  type  of  his  suiferings 
and  death ;  directing  the  eye  of  the  penitent  worshipper  to  Him 
whose  blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
were  heirs  together  of  the  one  great  promise,  that  a  Personage 
should  proceed  from  them  in  whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth 
should  be  blessed.  In  the  blessings  of  Judah,  his  father  Israel 
spake  of  a  Sliiloh  to  come,  unto  whona  the  gathering  of  the  people 
should  be.  Moses  predicted  a  Prophet  like  unto  himself,  who 
should  be  abundantly  taught  of  God,  and  would  faithfully  publish 
all  his  will.  Even  Balaam,  the  son  of  Bosor,  had  visions  of  a 
future  Deliverer :  "  I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now ;  I  shall  behold 
him,  but  not  nigh.  A  Star  shall  come  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  Sceptre 
shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  which  shall  be  victorious  over  all  the  ene- 
mies of  God's  people."  And  thus  it  is  through  the  sacred  history 
generally.     Christ  is  the  great  subject  and  object  of  it.     He  is  the 


.  54  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

centre  from  which  all  the  light  of  the  sacred  Word  proceeds,  and 
towards  wliich  all  its  reflected  radiance  tends. 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  another  peculiarity  of  the  sacred  history, 
that  in  it  some  of  the  best  examples^  and  some  of  the  worsts  are  set- 
before  us,  —  the  latter  to  deter  from  sm,  the  former  to  persuade  and 
win  us  to  the  practice  of  holiness.     Example,  it  is  commonly  said, 
has   much  more   influence  with  people  generally  than  precept. 
There  are  good  reasons  why  it  should  be  so.     Examples  go  to 
illustrate  good  precepts,  show  their  practicability,  and  make  an 
impression  of  their  importance.     We  are  all  inclined,  more  or  less, 
to  follow  the  examples  of  those  under  whose  influence  we  fall, 
whether  for  good  or  for  evil.     If  this  be  so,  then  we  see  a  sufficient 
reason  why  so  large  a  part  of  the  Bible  is  historical.     It  is  fiUed  up 
with  examples,  the  best  and  the  worst,  —  the  latter,  as  I  said,  to 
deter  from  sin,  the  former  to  encourage  us  in  the  performance  of 
duty.     There  is  the  example  of  Enoch,  who,  in  an  age  of  compar- 
ative darkness  and  of  abounding  wickedness,  was  enabled  to  hold 
fast  his  integrity,  and  maintain  a  consistent  walk  with  God.    There 
is  the  example  of  Abraham,  strong  in  faith,  the  patriarchal  head  of 
God's  ancient  Church,  and,  in  some  sense,  the  father  of  aU  them  that 
beheve.     There  is  the  example  of  Joseph,  lovely  in  youth  as  he 
was  useful  and  fruitful  in  age,  who  came  out  of  the  fiery  furnace 
of  afiliction  and  temptation  like  silver  seven  times  purified.    There 
is  the  example  -of  Moses,  the  writer  of  so  much  of  our  sacred  his- 
tory;   a  prodigy  of  wisdom,   firmness,   meekness,   patience,  and 
unwavering  trust  in  God ;  to  whom  the  world  is,  perhaps,  more 
X  indebted  than  to  any  mere  man  who  ever  lived  in  it.     And  what 
shall  I  say  more  on  this  head  ?  for  time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of 
Job,  of  Samuel,  of  David,  of  Ehjah  and  Elisha,  of  Isaiah  and  Jer- 
emiah, of  Daniel,   Nehemiah,   and    Paul,    "who,   through  faith, 
subdued    kingdoms,   wrought    righteousness,   obtained    promises, 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped 
the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed 
valiant  in  fight,  and  put  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  ahens."     I  must 
not  omit  to  mention,  however,  the  example  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  whose   spotless  life   "the  law   appears,   drawn   out  in 
living  characters ; "  to  love  and  to  follow  whom  is  oiu*  first  duty 
and  highest  happiness,  and  the  only  proper  evidence  of  disciple- 
ship  in  his  kingdom. 

But  the  sacred  history  furnishes  us  with  another  class  of  exam- 


PECULIARITIES   OF  THE   SACRED   HISTORY.  55' 

pies,  —  the  opposite  class,  —  whose  influence  upon  us,  if  properly- 
used,  may  be  equally  happy  in  deterring  us  from  sin.  There  is 
Cain,  the  first  murderer,  with  the  mark  of  infamy  upon  his  fore- 
head, and  the  curse  of  heaven  upon  his  soul ;  and  Pharaoh,  the  very 
image  of  pride,  obstinacy,  and  rebellion,  whose  heart  was  hardened 
beyond  mercy  and  hope,  and  whose  overthrow  was  as  signal  as  his 
wickedness  was  great ;  and  Ahab,  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  There 
was  none  hke  unto  him  of  all  the  kings  of  Israel,  who  did  sell  hmi- 
self  to  work  wickedness  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord ;  "  and  Haman, 
who  plotted  the  destruction  of  the  whole  Jewish  nation,  and  who 
was  hanged  on  the  gallows  which  his  own  hands  had  made ;  and 
Judas  Iscariot,  who  betrayed  his  Master  for  a  mere  pittance,  and, 
in  the  bitterness  of  despair,  went  out  and  hanged  himself.  Now, 
all  these  examples,  the  good  and  the  bad,  are  recorded  "  for  our 
admonition,  on  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come  ;  "  and,  if  we 
do  not  profit  by  them,  the  fault  will  be  our  own.  Who  would 
wish  to  live  or  die  like  Pharaoh  and  Haman  and  Judas  Iscariot  ? 
Who  will  not  rather  copy  the  example  of  Joseph  and  Moses  and 
Daniel  and  Paul,  that  so  he  may  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
and  his  last  end  may  be  like  his  ? 

There  is  sometliing  peculiar  in  the  style  and  manner  of  the  sacred 
history,  wliich  must  not  be  overlooked.  There  is  a  simplicity  and 
directness  about  it  which  we  find  in  no  other  historical  writings. 
There  is  a  detail  of  the  characters  of  both  good  and  bad  men,  their 
virtues  and  vices,  their  excellences  and  defects,  without  any  color- 
ing or  exaggeration  one  way  or  the  other.  The  noblest  actions 
and  the  basest  are  faithfully  portrayed,  without  being  set  off  by 
rhetorical  flourishes  or  passionate  exclamations.  Witness  the 
treachery  of  Judas,  the  death-scene  of  Stephen,  and,  above  all,  the 
crucifixion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clirist.  The  facts  are  stated  with 
perfect  simplicity  and  plainness ;  and  the  reader  is  left  to  his  own 
reflections.  "  And  Judas  Iscariot,  one  of  the  twelve,  went  unto 
the  chief  priests  to  betray  Jesus  unto  them.  And,  when  they  heard 
it,  they  were  glad,  and  promised  to  give  him  money.  And  he 
sought  how  he  might  conveniently  betray  him."  Here  are  no 
maledictions  or  exclamations,  no  expressions  of  resentment  or 
reproach.  The  facts  are  simply  stated,  and  that  is  all.  And  so  in 
the  account  of  Judas'  death :  "  He  cast  down  the  pieces  of  silver 
in  the  temple,  and  went  and  hanged  himself."  I  give  this  instance 
as  one  among  a  thousand  of  Hke  character.     No  other  history  was 


56  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

ever  composed  in  this  way,  so  direct  and  simple,  and,  for  that  very 
reason,  so  attractive  and  interesting. 

I  add  but  another  pecuharity  of  the  sacred  history ;  which  is, 
that  it  was  written  under  a  plenary  mspiration^  —  the  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Grhost.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  every  word  in  the 
sacred  narrative  is  the  truth  of  God  ;  for  it  is  not  so.  Many  things 
are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  which  are  not  revealed  truth,  or 
truth  in  any  sense.  Witness  the  speech  of  the  serpent  to  our  first 
mother,  and  the  speech  of  the  man  in  the  parable,  "  I  know  thee 
that  thou  art  a  hard  man,  reaping  where  thoa  hast  not  sown,  and 
gatheriug  where  thou  hast  not  strewed  ;  "  and  the  sj^eech  of  Ter- 
tullus  before  Fehx,  and  against  Paul,  of  which  it  has  been  said  by 
commentators  that  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  Yet  all  these 
speeches  were  written  under  a  divine  inspiration.  The  sacred 
writer  was  directed  and  inspired,  not  to  indorse  the  truth  of  what 
was  said,  but  to  tell  us  exactly  ivhat  was  said :  in  other  words,  to 
give  a  correct  narrative. 

Nor  do  we  mean  by  inspiration  that  every  word  was  suggested 
by  the  Spirit  to  the  writer's  mind  before  he  recorded  it.  This  may 
have  been  so,  or  it  may  not.  In  many  cases,  I  suppose  it  must 
have  been  so  :  but,  in  every  case,  the  Spirit  so  guided  and  super- 
intended the  sacred  writer,  that  he  was  led  to  record  just  what 
God  would  have  recorded,  and  just  in  the  manner  in  which  God 
would  have  it  done  ;  so  that  not  only  the  sacred  histories,  but  the 
whole  Bible,  is  God's  book,  written  under  the  mspiration  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

In  this  respect,  the  Bible  is  unlike  every  other  book.  It  stands 
out  before  the  world  unique  and  alone.  Nor  is  it  to  be  regarded 
or  treated  like  any  other  book.  There  is  a  sacredness  and  impor- 
tance attaching  to  it,  to  which  no  other  book  has  any  claim.  It  is 
to  be  approached  with  a  reverence  and  devotion  which  we  cannot 
feel  in  regard  to  any  other  book  or  writing  in  the  world.  When 
the  Bible  speaks,  God  speaks ;  and  what  the  Bible  says  is  to  be 
regarded  as  the  word  of  God. 

It  is  lawful  for  us  to  investigate  the  evidences  of  divine  revela- 
tion ;  it  is  lawful  for  us  to  criticise  copies  and  versions,  and  to 
arrive,  if  possible,  at  the  very  mind  and  meaning  of  the  Spirit : 
but  when  we  have  reached  tliis,  or  have  come  to  be  satisfied  that 
we  have,  then  we  are  to  stop.  We  are  to  ask  no  further  ques- 
tions.     We  are   to  say  with   ChiUiagworth,  "  No  demonstration 


PECULIARITIES   OF   THE   SACRED   HISTORY.  57 

can  be  stronger  than  this.     God  hath  said  it :  therefore  it  must  be 
ti-ue."  • 

May  the  remarks  which  have  been  made  as  to  the  pecuharities 
of  the  sacred  history  prepare  us  to  look  into  it  with  attention  and 
interest !  May  we  study  its  inspired  narratives,  and  scan  its  dif- 
ficulties, and  investigate  its  reasonings  and  its  facts,  earnestly  seek- 
ing that  it  may  be  "  profitable  to  us  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for 
correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness  " ! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INTEODUCTORY. THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

THE  enemies  of  divine  revelation  have  usually  commenced 
their  assaults  upon  it  with  the  Old  Testament,  and  more 
especially  with  the  first  five  books.  Perceiving  the  intimate  con- 
nection of  these  books  with  those  that  follow,  they  have  thought, 
that,  if  they  could  destroy  the  credit  of  these,  the  conquest  of  the 
remainder  would  not  be  difficult. 

The  first  to  assail  the  Old  Testament,  and  particularly  the  writ- 
ings of  Moses,  were  the  Gnostics  of  the  second  century,  and  the 
Manicheans  of  the  fourth.  Regarding  matter  as  essentially  evil, 
and  as  the  source  of  all  evil,  they  could  not  beheve,  with  Moses, 
that  the  Supreme  Being  created  tliis  material  world  or  the  gross 
bodies  of  men.  The  material  creation,  in  all  its  parts,  must  have 
been  the  work  of  some  inferior  and  malicious  being ;  and  Moses' 
account  of  the  matter  was  rejected. 

After  the  disappearance  of  these  heresies,  and  the  overthrow  of 
Paganism  in  the  Roman  Empire,  we  hear  of  little  direct  opposition 
to  the  Scriptures  for  the  next  thousand  years.  Numerous  other 
errors  and  controversies  arose ;  but  the  great  controversy  respect- 
ing the  fundamental  documents  of  our  faith  was  permitted  to 
slumber. 

By  the  EngUsh  infidels  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  question 
was  revived  as  to  the  authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  books 
of  Moses.  Mr.  Hobbes  says,  in  his  "  Leviathan,"  "  It  is  sufficiently 
evident  that  the  five  books  of  Moses  were  written  after  his  time." 
Spinoza,  who  was  a  Jew,  advanced  the  same  sentiment.  The  Pen- 
tateuch, he  thought,  could  not  have  been  written  before  the  time 
of  Ezra.  Others  followed  in  a  similar  strain,  such  as  Bloimt, 
Toland,  Morgan,  and  Bohngbroke. 

But  the  most  violent  assaults  upon  the  Mosaic  writings  in 
modern  times  have  come  from  Germany.     Near  the  close  of  the 

58 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH,  59 

last  century,  commenced  in  that  country  the  era  of  what  has  been 
called  "  historical  criticism."  This  demolishing  criticism  was  first 
employed  upon  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics.  In  the  year  1795, 
Wolf,  the  philologist,  pubhshed  his  "  Prolegomena  to  the  Homeric 
Poems,"  in  which  he  endeavored  to  show  that  the  "  Ihad  "  and  "  Od- 
yssey "  are  not  the  works  of  Homer  or  of  any  one  else,  but  are  made 
up  of  fragments  loosely  put  together,  and  are  to  be  ascribed  to 
different  authors.  He  next  took  in  hand  the  Orations  of  Cicero, 
and  declared,  in  regard  to  four  of  these,  that  "  Cicero  could  never 
have  written  them,  sleeping  or  waking."  Niebuhr,  the  historian, 
followed  in  the  same  strain,  and,  after  "  demohshing  Livy's  beauti- 
ful fabric  in  regard  to  the  early  history  of  Rome,  attempted  to 
reconstruct  it  on  a  more  durable  basis."  From  this  period,  dis- 
credit or  contempt  was  continually  heaped  upon  some  of  the  most 
valuable. remains  of  antiquity.  Herodotus  was  a  garrulous  story- 
teller, pleasing  enough  to  children,  but  imworthy  the  study  or  the 
belief  of  men.  The  genuineness  of  some  of  the  most  undoubted 
of  Plato's  Dialogues  was  called  in  question.  Even  Thucydides  did 
not  entirely  escape  this  destructive  criticism. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  the 
sacred  books  of  the  Old  Testament  would  be  unmolested.  All 
sorts  of  theories  were  invented  to  account  for  the  origin  of  some 
of  them,  more  especially  the  five  books  of  Moses.  Wliile  it  was 
insisted,  generally,  that  Moses  could  not  have  written  them,  no  two 
could  agree  as  to  the  real  author  or  authors,  or  as  to  the  period  to 
which  they  should  be  assigned.  All  periods  were  proposed,  fi-om 
Joshua  to  the  Maccabees;  and  all  writers  mentioned,  whether 
known  or  unknown  in  Jewish  history.  The  famous  document 
and  fragment  theories  were,  for  a  time,  immensely  popular,  rep- 
resenting the  Pentateuch,  like  the  Homeric  poems,  as  a  sort  of 
patchwork,  originated  at  different  periods  and  by  different  hands, 
and  put  together  by  some  one,  —  nobody  could  tell  who. 

The  fragments  of  wliich  the  books  of  Moses  were  composed  were 
many,  and  were  designated  by  various  names  ;  the  more  prominent 
of  which  were  the  Elohistic  and  the  Jehovistio.  In  the  former,  the 
name  given  to  the  Supreme  Being  is  constantly  Elohim;  but,  in 
the  latter,  it  is  Jehovah.  Much  labor  was  employed  m  parcelling 
out  the  sacred  text  according  to  this  principle  ;  assigning  one  por- 
tion to  the  one  class  of  fragments,  and  another  to  another. 

But,  after  all,  it  appears  that  there  is  no  real  ground  for  this 
division ;  since,  parcel  out  the  fragments  as  we  may,  the  two  names 


60  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

of  the  Deity  occur  promiscuously  in  both.  Thus  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis,  which  is  said  to  be  Jehovistic,  the  two  names 
of  God  occur  together  no  less  than  ten  times,  —  Jehovah-Mohim, 
the  Lord  God.  So  in  Gen.  v.  29,  which  is  Elohistic,  we  have 
Jehovah.  Also  in  Gen.  vii.  9-24,  which  is  pronounced  Elohistic, 
the  word  Jehovah  appears  again.  We  give  but  one  example  more. 
The  forty-ninth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  throughout  Elohistic  ;  but, 
in  verse  eighteen,  we  have  these  words  of  Jacob  :  "  I  have  waited 
for  thy  salvation,  O  Jehovah !  " 

Difficulties  such  as  these  divided,  for  a  time,  all  Germany,  array- 
ing critic  against  critic  in  strange  confusion ;  no  one  seeming 
to  suspect  that  the  theory  which  had  been  assumed  was  a  baseless 
one,  contradicted  perpetually  by  the  sacred  text. 

One  of  the  last  specimens  of  the  document  theory  comes  to  us, 
not  from  Germany,  but  from  a  writer  i^  "  The  Princeton  Review." 
Without  thinking  to  detract  aught  from  the  authority  or  inspira- 
tion of  what  is  commonly  called  the  Book  of  Gfenesis,  this  writer 
represents  it  as  made  up  of  eleven  distinct  books,  each  complete  in 
itself,  and  all  of  them  anonymous,  with  which  Moses  seems  to  have 
had  nothing  to  do.* 

This  scheme,  however,  did  not  originate  at  Princeton.  It  was 
first  broached  by  Astruck,  a  French  physician,  in  1753 ;  and  was 
adopted,  in  part,  by  Eichhorn,  Ilgen,  and  various  other  German 
critics. 

If  Genesis  is  really  made  up  of  eleven  or  twelve  distinct  books, 
it  is  singidar  that  readers  of  the  Bible  for  the  last  three  thousand 
years  have  not  discovered  the  lines  of  demarcation  between 
them.  The  truth  is,  there  are  no  such  lines.  There  are  differ- 
ent subjects  treated  of  in  Genesis,  and  corresponding  to  them  are 
sectional  divisions,  as  there  are  in  other  books ;  but  the  Book  of 
Genesis  is  evidently  one.  It  has  a  beginning,  a  jDrogress,  a  plan,  an 
end ;  and  is  as  well  entitled  to  be  considered  one  book  —  the  work, 
under  God,  of  one  individual  mind  —  as  any  of  our  canonical 
Scriptures. 

The  authorship  of  the  last  four  hooks  of  the  Pentateuch  is  expressly 
ascribed  to  Moses.  "  When  3Ioses  had  rr\ade  an  end  of  writing  the  words 
of  this  law  in  a  book,  until  they  were  finished.,  he  said  to  the  Levites 
which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  Take  this  book 
of  the  law,  and  put  it  in  the  side  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the 
Lord  your  God,  that  it  may  be  there  for  a  witness  "  (Deut.  xxxi. 

*  No.  for  January,  1861,  p.  51. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE   PENTATEUCH.  61 

24-26).  "  We  have  found  Him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the 
prophets,  did  write,  —  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph  "  (John 
i.  45).  "  Had  ye  beheved  Moses,  ye  would  have  beheved  me ;  for 
he  wrote  of  me  "  (John  v.  46). 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  Book  of  Crenesis  is  not  so  expressly 
ascribed  to  Moses  as  the  remaining  four  books :  but  then  it  is  evi- 
dent, if  he  wrote  the  last  four  of  these  books,  he  must  also  Ivdxe 
written  the  first ;  for  the  books  manifestly  belong  together.  They 
were  originally  one  book,  and  they  constitute  one  connected  whole. 
They  were  appropriately  classed  together  by  the  Hebrews,  and  col- 
lectively called  the  Law.  They  were  classed  together,  too,  by  the 
Seventy,  and  called  the  Pentateuch,  or  the  volume  of  five  books. 
To  this  one  volume,  one  work,  the  Book  of  Genesis  is  the  proper 
introduction.  The  other  books,  without  this,  would  be  irretrieva- 
bly imperfect,  —  a  column  without  a  base  ;  while  this,  without  the 
others,  would  be  a  base  without  a  column ,  a  porch,  an  entry, 
without  a  house. 

The  design  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  was  to  introduce  the  history 
of  God's  ancient  covenant  people  ;  while  the  other  books  continue 
the  history  of  the  same  people  until  their  entrance  into  the  prom- 
ised land.  Such  being  the  character  and  design  of  the  Pentateuch, 
it  is  obvious  that  it  can  have  had  but  one  author.  If  Moses  wrote 
the  last  four  books,  the  inference  is  that  he  wrote  also  the  first. 
There  is  no  resisting  this  conclusion,  unless  there  is  some  positive 
evidence  to  the  contrary ;  which  evidence  cannot  be  found. 

The  Jews,  from  the  earliest  periods  of  their  history,  have  as- 
cribed the  entire  Pentateuch  to  Moses.  They  have  called  the  whole 
collectively  "  the  law  of  Moses,'''  implying  that  Moses  wrote  it  all.* 
Josephus,  speaking  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Jews,  says,  '■'■Five 
belong  to  Moses,  which  contain  liis  laws,  and  the  traditions  of  the 
origin  of  mankind,  until  his  death."  f  So  Philo,  in  his  treatise  on 
Rewards  and  Punishments,  says,  "  In  the  oracles  delivered  by  the 
prophet  Moses,  there  are  three  species :  one  concerning  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world ;  the  second,  historical ;  and  the  third,  legislative." 

The  internal  evidence  in  favor  of  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the 
Pentateuch  is  conclusive.  The  work  is  precisely  such  a  one  as  a 
writer  of  the  age,  character,  and  circumstances  of  Moses  might  be 
expected  to  produce.  The  style  is  archaic.  Even  the  English 
reader  feels  that  he  is  here  brought  into  contact  with  a  greater  sim- 

*  See,  Luke  xxiv.  44.  t  Contra  Apion,  book  i.  sect.  8. 


62  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

plicity,  a  more  primitive  cast  of  thought  and  speech,  than  he  meets 
with  anywhere  else.  The  hfe  described,  the  ideas,  the  characters, 
have  about  them  the  air  of  a  remote  antiquity.  Then  the  writer 
shows  a  familiar  acquamtance  with  Egypt,  —  its  general  aspect,  its 
history,  geography,  manners,  customs,  productions,  and  language, 
—  all  perfectly  natural  to  Moses,  but  which  cannot  be  shoAvn  to 
belong  to  any  other  Israelite  down  to  the  captivity. 

And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  writer's  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  and  with  the  names  and  condition  of 
the  primitive  races  of  Canaan ;  such  as  the  Rephaim,  the  Zuzim, 
the  Emim,  the  Horim,  the  Avim,  and  Anakim.  These  were  all  well 
known  to  Moses ;  but  at  a  later  period  they  had  either  perished,  or 
were  reduced  to  insignificance. 

On  the  whole,  the  evidence,  external  and  internal,  in  favor  of 
the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch,  is  such  as  never  can  be 
set  aside.  It  has  been  often  assailed ;  it  is  violently  assailed  at  the 
present  day:  but  it  is  so  abundantly  supported,  so  rooted  and 
grounded  in  the  word  of  God,  that  we  may  be  sure  it  will  stand 
forever. 

The  principal  objections  to  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch are  the  following :  — 

1.  Alphabetic  writing  was  unknown  in  the  time  of  Moses  :  it 
was  the  invention  of  a  later  period.  This  objection,  wliich  was 
once  urged  with  great  confidence,  is  now  pretty  much  abandoned. 
It  is  generally  admitted  at  this  day  that  the  art  of  writing  was 
known  in  Egypt,  in  Chaldsea,  and  in  some  other  countries,  long  be- 
fore the  time  of  Moses.  The  Egyptians  attribute  the  discovery  of 
letters  to  Thoth,  or,  in  other  words,  to  divine  inspiration.  Gesenius 
thinks  they  had  the  art  of  writing  some  five  hundred  years  before 
Moses  was  born.  Prof.  Olshausen  says,  that,  at  a  period  extending 
back  of  all  sure  chronology,  not  only  the  Egyptians,  but  the  Phoe- 
nicians and  Hebrews,  were  in  possession  of  an  alphabet.  Indeed, 
it  is  probable  that  alphabetic  writing  was  in  use  among  the  ante- 
diluvians, and  that  this,  like  many  other  arts,  survived  the  Flood. 

2.  It  is  insisted  that  Moses  could  not  have  written  the  books  as- 
cribed to  him,  because  the  style  is  so  very  like  to  that  of  the  later 
Hebrew  books.  It  would  have  exhibited  greater  peculiarities,  more 
frequent  archaisms,  had  it  belonge(\to  the  age  of  Moses.  To  this  we 
reply,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  style  of  the  Pentateuch  has  its  pecu- 
liarities. It  does  differ  somewhat  from  that  of  the  later  Hebrew  books. 
That  it  does  not  more  widely  differ  is  owing,  undoubtedly,  to  the 


THE   AUTHOR   OF  THE   PENTATEUCH.  63 

fixed  habits,  customs,  and  modes  of  speech,  which  prevail  in  Orien- 
tal countries.  In  this  respect,  the  Orientals  are  very  unlike  the 
Europeans.  "  Progress,"  it  has  been  said,  "  is  the  law  of  the  West ; 
stability,  of  the  East."  The  Occidental  languages  are  subject  to  the 
same  ceaseless  change  which  characterizes  all  other  things.  The 
Oriental  delights  to  rehearse  the  same  allegories  and  apothegms, 
expressed  in  the  same  terms,  which  gratified  his  earliest  progenitors. 
He  delights  to  do  the  same  things,  and  in  the  same  way.  The 
books  of  Samuel,  for  example,  must  have  been  written  hundreds 
of  years  before  the  prophecy  of  Malachi ;  yet  the  style  of  the  two 
is  not  essentially  different.  Some  of  the  Psalms  were  written  after 
the  captivity ;  and  yet  the  style  and  idiom  are  much  the  same  as 
of  those  which  are  ascribed  to  David. 

This  fixedness  of  character,  which  attaches  to  the  Hebrew  of 
different- ages,  belongs  also  to  the  other  Semitic  languages.  For 
many  centuries,  the  Syriac  and  Arabic  underwent  very  little 
change. 

3.  It  is  confidently  insisted  that  there  are  anachronisms  in  the 
books  before  us ;  that  events  are  referred  to,  and  names  given, 
which  were  not  known  until  long  after  the  death  of  Moses.  It 
will  be  necessary  to  exan;iine  some  of  these. 

The  writer  of  Genesis  represents  Abraham  as  residing  in  Hebron 
(Gen.  xiii.  18,  xxiii.  2)  ;  but  it  is  insisted  that  the  place  was 
not  called  Hebron  until  after  the  death  of  Moses,  and  after  the 
entrance  of  the  Israelites  into  Canaan.  Its  more  ancient  name  was 
Kirjath  Arba  (see  Josh.  xiv.  15,  xv.  13).  But  this  is  not  a  true 
representation  of  the  case.  The  most  ancient  name  of  the 
place  seems  to  have  been  Hebron.  It  was  also  called  Mamre, 
from  an  Amorite  prince  who  resided  there,  and  was  confederate 
with  Abraham.  At  a  later  period,  the  Anakim  got  possession  of 
it,  one  of  whose  chiefs  was  Arba.  From  him  it  took  the  name 
Kirjath  Arba,  or  city  of  Arba  ;  but,  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan 
by  the  Israelites,  they  restored  the  ancient  name  of  the  place,  and  - 
called  it  Hebron.  It  became  the  possession  of  Caleb,  the  son  of 
Jephunneh. 

In  Gen.  xiv.  14,  Abraham  is  said  to  have  pursued  the  confederate 
kings,  who  had  captured  Lot,  unto  Dan.  It  is  assumed  that  this 
was  the  place  long  afterwards  called  Dan,  from  its  being  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Danites,  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel ;  but  it  seems,  from 
2  Sam.  xxiv.  6,  that  there  was  another  city  in  Sjrria,  not  far  <" 
from  Damascus,  which  was  called  by  the  ancients  Dan,  or  Dan- 


64  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Jaan.     This  may  have  been  so  called  in  the  time  of  Abraham,  and 
is  very  likely  to  be  the  place  referred  to  in  Gen.  xiv.  14. 

In  Gen.  xii.  6,  it  is  said,  that,  when  Abraham  first  went  into 
Canaan,  "  the  Canaanite  was  then  in  the  land ; "  imj)l}ing  that 
the  Canaanite  was  not  in  the  land  at  the  time  when  this  passage 
was  written.  But  the  Canaanites  kept  possession  of  the  land  until 
after  the  death  of  Moses  ;  consequently,  he  could  not  have  written 
this  part  of  Genesis.  But  tliis  difficulty  is  obviated  by  a  slight 
change  in  the  translation.  God  had  promised  to  give  the  land  of 
Canaan  to  the  seed  of  Abraham.  But  the  Canaanites  had  settled 
there  before  the  promise  was  made,  and  probably  before  Abraham 
was  born.  The  design  of  the  sacred  writer  is  to  show,  that,  when 
Abraham  came  to  the  land  of  promise,  the  Canaanites  had  antici- 
pated him  :  they  were  there  before  him.  Accordmgly,  the  passage 
may  be  rendered,  "  The  Canaanite  was  already  in  the  land." 

Another  alleged  anachronism  occurs  in  Gen.  xiv.  7,  where  the 
confederate  kings,  before  the  capture  of  Sodom,  are  said  to  have 
smitten  "  all  the  country  of  the  Amalekites."  These  Amalekites 
are  assumed  to  have  been  the  descendants  of  Esau  (who  had  a  son 
named  Amalek),  and  who,  of  course,  could  have  had  no  existence 
until  many  years  subsequent  to  this  invasion.  But  the  Amalekites 
of  Arabia  were  not  all  of  them  the  descendants  of  Esau.  Wander- . 
ing,  plundering  hordes,  called  Amalekites,  roamed  the  deserts  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Abraham.  They  were  the  same  who  attacked 
the  Israelites  at  Rephidim,  and  against  whom  a  terrible  curse  was 
pronounced :  "  I  will  utterly  put  out  the  remembrance  of  Amalek 
from  under  heaven  "  (Exod.  xvii.  14).  These  Amalekites  could  not 
have  been  the  descendants  of  Esau.  The  children  of  Esau  dwelt 
together  at  this  period  in  Mount  Seir,  and  the  Israelites  were  not 
permitted  to  molest  them  (see  Num.  xx.  14).* 

It  has  been  often  said  that  the  catalogue  of  the  dukes  and 
kings  of  Edom,  recorded  in  Gen.  xxxvi.,  comes  down  much  later 
than  the  time  of  Moses  ;  but  recent  investigations  have  refuted 
these  pretences.  It  now  appears  that  the  kings  of  Edom  here 
spoken  of,  and  the  dukes  of  Edom,  were  contemporaries ;  the 
-kings  having  the  chief  command,  and  the  dukes,  or  sheiks  (as 
they  are  now  called),  being  princes  under  them.     The  names  of 

*  From  time  immemorial,  the  Arabs  have  been  divided  into  two  races:  the  elder,  the 

Yemenites,  claiming  descent  from  Joktan,  the  son  of  Heber;  and  the  other,  the  Maudites,  being 

descended  from  Abraham  in  the  line  of  Lshmael  and  Esau  and  the  sons  of  Keturah.    The  first 

y  of  these  were  called  Amalekites  in  the  time  of  Abraham;  and  Amalek,  the  son  of  Esau,  may 

have  derived  his  name  from  them. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  THE  PENTATEUCH.  65 

only  eight  kings  occur  in  the  catalogue;  and  surely  there  was 
time  enough  between  Esau  and  Moses,  a  period  of  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  for  these  eight  to  have  reigned  and  passed  away. 

I  shall  notice  but  another  alleged  anachronism,  and  that  occurs 
in  connection  with  the  same  subject.  In  Gen.  xxxvi.  31  it  is  said, 
"  These  are  the  kings  that  reigned  in  Edom  before  there  reigned 
any  king  over  the  childi'en  of  Israel."  This  language  is  thought  to 
imply,  that,  at  the  time  when  it  was  written,  a  king  had  reigned 
over  the  children  of  Israel :  of  course,  it  could  not  have  been 
written  by  Moses,  or  by  any  one  previous  to  the  time  of  Saul.  But 
this  conclusion  is  not  so  strong  as  at  first  view  it  appears  ;  for, 
although  no  long  had  reigned  over  Israel  in  the  tune  of  Moses, 
kings  had  been  predicted  and  promised.  In  Deut.  xvii.  14-20, 
Moses  tells  the  people  that  the  time  will  come  when  they  will 
desire  a  king,  and  will  have  one ;  and  he  goes  on  to  give  directions 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  their  king  shall  live  and  rule.  Moses 
knew,  therefore,  that,  in  process  of  time,  the  Israelites  would  have 
a  king ;  and  he  merely  says  in  the  passage  before  us  that  eight 
kings  had  reigned  in  Edom  before  any  one  should  reign  in  Israel,  — 
before  the  time  should  come  for  Israel  to  be  made  a  kingdom. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  question,  whether  Moses  wrote  the 
Pentateuch,  is  one,  after  all,  of  little  consequence.  The  more 
important  inquiry  is,  Are  these  writings  reliable  ?  Are  the  state- 
ments, by  whomsoever  written,  to  be  received  as  truth  ? 

It  ma}^  be  admitted,  indeed,  that  the  truth  of  the  statements  is 
the  point  chiefly  to  be  regarded  ;  but  then  it  often  happens  that 
the  genuineness  of  an  historical  work  is  the  best  possiljle  guaranty 
of  its  truth.  How  entirely  would  it  change  our  estimate,  say  of 
Xenophon's  "Anabasis"  or  the  "Annals"  of  Tacitus,  to  find  that 
they  were  written,  not  by  those  whose  names  they  bear,  but  (as 
some  have  pretended)  by  the  monks  of  the  middle  ages  !  Given 
the  i^'enuineness  of  an  historical  work  like  the  Pentateuch,  and  its 
truth  follows  almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  unless  it  can  be  shoAvn 
that  the  author  is  unreliable,  and  intended  to  deceive.  Who  can 
suppose  that  Moses  would  have  written  such  a  work  as  the  Penta- 
teuch, and  published  it  among  the  Hebrews,  his  contemporaries, 
giving  an  account  of  their  deliverance  from  Egypt,  and  of  their 
journeyings,  their  rebellions,  and  corrections  in  the  wilderness, 
unless  he  had  known  that  it  was  true  ?  Would  he  have  dared, 
under  the  circumstances,  to  publish  statements  which  were  not 
true,  and  which,  he  might  be  sure,  thousands  of  voices  would 

5 


6Q  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

instantly  be  raised  to  contradict  ?  Or,  if  Moses  had  had  the 
effrontery  to  publish  falsehoods  under  these  circumstances,  would 
his  contemporaries  have  had  the  stupidity  to  receive  them  ?  Moses 
often  appeals  to  the  senses  of  those  for  whom  he  wrote :  "  Your 
eyes  have  seen  all  the  great  acts  of  the  Lord  which  he  did " 
(Deut.  xi.  7).  Would  not  those  into  whose  hands  these  writings 
first  came  have  known  whether  their  eyes  had  seen  the  events 
described  ?  and,  if  they  had  not  seen  them,  who  can  suppose 
that  they  would  have  received  and  believed  the  books  ?  We  see, 
in  these  remarks,  that  the  question  of  authorship,  in  the  case 
before  us,  is  really  one  of  very  great  importance ;  since  on  the 
decision  of  this  depends,  most  materially,  the  ulterior  question  of 
reliableness  and  truth. 

But,  admitting  Moses  to  have  written  the  first  five  books  of  the 
Bible,  how,  it  may  be  inquired,  did  he  become  acquainted  with 
many  of  the  facts  there  recorded  ?  He  was  not  an  eye-witness  of 
them  all.  Many  of  them,  such  as  the  creation  of  the  world  and 
the  events  of  antediluvian  history,  took  place  long  ages  before  he 
was  born. 

To  this  question  I  answer,  Some  of  these  facts  were  made  known 
to  Moses  by  direct  revelation.  He  could  have  become  acquainted 
with  them  in  no  other  way.  During  the  last  forty  years  of  his 
life,  Moses  was  in  continual  communication  Avith  God.  He  con- 
versed with  him  as  a  man  with  his  friend.  God  undoubtedly 
revealed  to  his  servant  Moses  many  things  of  which  otherwise  he 
could  have  known  nothing. 

Some  of  the  facts  recorded  in  Genesis  may  have  come  down  to 
him  by  tradition.  Nor,  in  coming  to  him  in  this  way,  need  they 
have  passed  through  many  hands.  Adam  was  two  hundred  and 
forty-three  years  contemporary  with  Methuselah,  Methuselah  may 
have  conversed  a  hundred  years  with  Shem.  According  to  the 
Hebrew  chronology,  Shem  was  for  fifty  years  contemporary  with 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  may  have  conversed  with  the  parents  of 
Moses.  We  thus  see  that  traditions  of  the  earhest  times  may  have 
come  to  Moses  through  only  four  or  five  different  hands. 

If  any  are  of  the  opinion,  that,  in  composing  the  Book  of  Genesis, 
Moses  availed  himself  of  records  which  were  made  in  antediluvian 
and  patriarchal  times,  I  have  no  objection  to  such  a  supposition  ; 
nor  would  it  militate  at  all  against  the  divine  authority  of  the 
book.  The  writers  of  the  Books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles  certain- 
ly availed  themselves  of  such  records ;   they  continually  refer  to 


THE   AUTHOR   OF   THE   PENTATEUCH.  67 

them  :  and  yet  those  books  are  of  divine  authority.  Whatever 
assistance  of  this  kind  Moses  may  have  had  in  composing  Genesis, 
he  was  directed  by  the  Spirit  of  God  just  what  to  take,  and  what 
to  omit  or  correct ;  and  the  whole  is  as  much  of  divine  origin  and 
authority  as  though  it  had  been  penned  directly  by  himself. 

In  ascribing,  as  we  do,  the  Pentateuch  to  Moses,  we  except,  of 
course,  the  last  chajDter  of  Deuteronomy.  This  records  the  touch- 
ing scene  of  the  death  and  burial  of  Moses,  and  of  the  mourning 
which  was  had  for  him  in  the  congregation  of  Israel.  It  was  prob- 
ably written  by  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Joshua. 

On  the  whole,  we  have  much  reason  to  be  thankful  that  we  have 
the  first  five  books  of  our  Bible  ;  that  they  were  written  by  Moses  ; 
and  that  they  carry  with  them  such  indubitable  evidence  of  having 
come  from  God.  Let  us  gratefully  receive  them,  hold  them  fast, 
and  not  suifer  them  to  be  wrested  from  us  by  a  remorseless  and 
infidel  criticism.  They  are  an  undoubted  record  of  God's  truth 
and  will ;  and  their  inspired  author  was  one  of  those  "  holy  men 
who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 


CHAPTER  V. 

INTRODUCTORY. THE    CHRONOLOGY    OF    THE    OLD   TESTAMENT. 

THE  chronology  of  the  Old  Testament  is  rendered  uncertain, 
chiefly  on  account  of  a  diversity  of  readings  in  the  original 
Hebrew  and  in  the  Septuagint.  According  to  the  Hebrew,  the 
Deluge  occurred  in  the  year  of  the  world  1656 ;  according  to  the 
Septuagint,  in  the  year  22dt2.  According  to  the  Hebrew,  Abraham 
was  born  in  the  year  of  the  world  2008  ;  according  to  the  Septua- 
gint, in  the  year  3334.  According  to  the  Hebrew,  our  Saviour  was 
born  in  the  year  of  the  world  4000,  or  thereabouts ;  according  to 
the  Septuagint,  in  the  year  5426. 

It  is  certain  that  these  differences  in  chronology  are  the  result, 
not  of  accident,  but  of  design.  This  appears  from  the  very  nature 
of  them.  Either  the  Masorites  designedly  lessened  the  chronology 
of  the  Old  Testament  after  the  Septuagint  translation  was  made, 
or  the  Septuagint  translators,  or  some  of  their  successors  and  copy- 
ists, designedly  lengthened  this  chronology  beyond  that  of  the 
original  Hebrew  text. 

The  differences  between  the  Hebrew  and  the  Septuagint  occur 
chiefly  in  the  ages  of  the  patriarchs  ;  and  they  are  in  this  wise  :  The 
Septuagint  makes  the  life  of  the  patriarch  at  the  birth  of  his  genea- 
logical son  a  hundred  years  longer  than  the  Hebrew  ;  and  then 
it  makes  his  life  subsequent  to  the  birth  of  this  son  a  hundred 
years  shorter  than  the  Hebrew :  so  that  the  whole  life  of  the 
patriarch,  in  both  copies,  is  the  same.  Thus  the  Hebrew  makes 
Adam  a  hundred  and  tliirty  years  old  at  the  birth  of  Seth ; 
while  the  Septuagint  makes  him  two  hundred  and  thii'ty.  The 
Hebrew  makes  Seth  a  hundred  and  five  years  old  at  the  birth 
of  Enos ;  the  Septuagint,  two  hundred  arid  five.  The  Hebrew 
makes  Enos  ninety  years  old  at  the  birth  of  Cainan ;  the  Sep- 
tuagint, a  hundred  and  ninety.  The  Hebrew  makes  Cainan 
seventy  years   old   at   the  birth  of  Mahalaleel;   the   Septuagint, 

68 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT.  69 

two  hundred  and  seventy.  And  so,  with  few  exceptions,  the  dif- 
ferent accounts  proceed  —  the  Septuagint  adding  a  hundred  years 
to  the  age  of  the  patriarch  at  the  birth  of  the  genealogical  son, 
—  almost  to  the  time  of  Abraham.  Meanwliile,  a  hundred  years 
are  taken  from  the  age  of  the  patriarch  after  the  birth  of  his  son ; 
leaving  the  wljole  period  of  his  life,  in  both  copies,  the  same. 
Now,  it  is  certain  that  alterations  such  as  these  could  never  have 
been  made  accidentally.  Whichever  copy  may  have  been  changed, 
the  change  must  have  been  effected  for  a  purpose,  and  with  design. 

Which,  then,  of  these  copies  is  to  be  preferred  ?  Which  account 
is  to  be  accepted  as  the  true  chronology  of  the  Old  Testament  ? 

In  favor  of  the  Septuagint  chronology,  it  is  urged  that  it  agrees, 
in  general,  with  that  of  Josephus  ;  and  as  Josephus  was  acquaint- 
ed with  both  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  had  both  copies  before 
him  at  the  time  of  writing  his  history,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
both  were,  at  that  time,  what  the  Septuagint  now  is.  But  this  ar- 
gument, though  plausible,  is  far  from  being  conclusive.  It  is  true 
that  the  chronology  of  Josephus,  as  recorded  in  his  "  Antiquities," 
book  i.  chap.  3,  agrees  generally,  though  not  entirely,  with  that  of 
the  Septuagint.  But  Ernesti  and  MichaeUs  both  tell  us  that  the 
passage  in  Josephus  has  been  altered,  to  make  it  agree  with 
the  Seventy,  by  transcribers  who  had  been  accustomed  to  read 
the  Scriptures  only  in  the  Greek  version  ;  and  we  have  this  evi- 
dence that  what  these  critics  tell  us  is  true,  —  that  Josephus  in  an- 
other place,  where  he  has  escaped  correction,  makes  the  time  which 
elapsed  between  the  Creation  and  the  Deluge  almost  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Hebrew.  He  says  that  the  building  of  Solomon's  tem- 
ple was  commenced  in  the  year  of  the  world  3102,  and  1440  years 
after  the  Flood.*  Now,  if  we  take  1440  from  3102,  the  remainder  will 
be  1662,  —  the  years  which  must  have  elapsed  between  the  creation 
and  the  Deluge  ;  and  this  differs  only  six  years  from  the  chronolo- 
gy of  the  Hebrew.  But  if  Josephus  wrote  this  latter  statement, 
upon  which  no  suspicion  of  alteration  has  ever  fallen,  then  he  can- 
not be  supposed  to  have  written  the  former.  It  must  have  been  the 
work  of  some  ignorant  transcriber. 

In  short,  the  chronology  of  Josephus,  as  it  now  stands  in  his 
history,  is,  in  many  points,  inconsistent  with  itself.  In  the  language 
of  Dr.  Hales,  "  His  dates  have  been  miserably  mangled,  and  per- 
verted, frequently  by  accident,  and  frequently  by  design."  The 
younger  Spanheim  too,  in  his  "  Chronologia  Sacra,"  devotes   an 

*  Antiquities,  book  viii.  chap.  3. 


70  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

entire  chapter  to  the  errors,  anachronisms,  and  inconsistencies  of 
Josephus,  the  most  of  which  he  attributes  to  the  mistakes  of  tran- 
scribers, or  the  hypotheses  of  interpreters  ;  and  concludes  with 
saying,  that  "  the  recovery  of  his  genuine  computations  is  a  matter 
of  great  hazard  and  difficulty."  But  if  all  this  be  true,  then  it  is  not 
much  in  favor  of  the  Septuagint  chronology,  that  flosephus,  as  he 
noiu  stands,  is,  for  the  most  part,  in  accordance  with  it. 

It  is  urged  again  in  favor  of  the  Septuagint  chronology,  that  it  was 
accepted  by  most  of  the  early  Christian  fathers.  That  this  state- 
ment is  true,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and  for  the  very  good  reason, 
that  most  of  the  Cluistian  fathers  used  the  Septuagint  version  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  nothing  else.  They  had  never  looked  into 
a  Hebrew  Bible,  and  had  no  knowledge  of  the  language.  They 
were  familiar  with  the  Septuagint  chronology,  and  quoted  it,  and 
quoted  one  from  another.  No  wonder,  then,  that  they  agree  with 
the  Septuagint. 

I  say  that  this  is  true  of  most  of  the  early  Christian  fathers,  but 
not  of  them  all.  Origen,  the  greatest  biblical  scholar  of  the  third 
century,  and  Jerome  of  the  fourth  (both  of  whom  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  Hebrew),  dissent  from  the  chronology  of  the  Septua- 
gint. Jerome  agrees  almost  entirely  with  that  of  the  Hebrew  as 
settled  by  Archbishop  Usher. 

It  is  urged  yet  again  in  favor  of  the  Septuagint  chronology, 
that  the  Hebrew  does  not  afford  sufficient  time  for  connected 
events,  and  cannot  be  made  to  harmonize  with  the  chronologies  of 
the  Chinese,  the  Egyptians,  the  Chaldseans,  and  Hindoos.  This 
objection  can  lie  only  against  the  period  following  the  Deluge. 
The  term  of  a  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six  years,  which 
the  Hebrew  allows  between  the  Creation  and  the  Deluge,  was  long 
enough,  surely,  to  account  for  all  events  occurring  between  those 
two  great  epochs  ;  and,  if  we  look  at^  the  subject  considerately,  we 
shall  find  that  the  Hebrew  chronology  after  the  Deluge  furnishes 
ample  time  and  opportunity  for  all  connected  events. 

It  has  been  confidently  urged,  that  the  Pyramids,  according  to 
the  Hebrew  chronology,  could  not  have  been  built  after  the  Deluge. 
But  this  is  more  than  the  objector  knows.  The  probability  is,  and 
recent  investigations  go  to  show,  that  they  were  built  subsequent 
to  the  Deluge,  —  about  two  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ.  But  suppose  they  were  not:,  what  objection  to  the  idea 
that  they  ^ere  built,  or  that  some  of  them  were,  before  the  Deluge  ? 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  Egypt  was  inhabited,  densely  inhabited. 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT.  71 

before  the  Deluge ;  and,  for  augiit  we  know,  these  huge  structures 
may  have  been  built  in  those  long  ages,  and,  like  the  great  moun- 
tains, may  have  resisted  the  ingulfing  waters.* 

Dr.  Hales  says,  that,  according  to  tlie  Hebrew,  Noah  lived  almost 
to  the  time  of  Abraham,  and  Shem  lived  almoat  to  the  birth  of 
Esau  and  Jacob.  And  suppose  they  did :  what  objection  to  all 
this  ?  Where  Noah  resided  after  the  Deluge,  we  are  not  informed. 
No  mention  is  made  of  him  subsequent  to  the  disgraceful  affair 
which  occurred  in  his  tent.  Shuckford  supposes  that  he  remained 
somewhere  in  the  east,  where  he  and  his  sons  first  settled  when 
they  came  forth  from  the  ark.f  We  are  told  expressly  that  his 
sons  "journeyed  from  the  east"  when  they  came  into  the  land 
of  Shinar.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  father  remained  in  the 
east ;  that  he  had  other  children  there ;  and  that  some  parts  of 
Eastern  Asia  were  settled  directly  from  him,  and  not  through  the 
line  of  his  former  sons :  and  this  accounts  for  it,  if  the  supposition 
be  admitted,  that  we  hear  nothing  more  of  him  in  the  sacred 
history. 

I  am  aware  that  it  is  said  of  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth,  that  "  of 
them  was  the  whole  earth  overspread"  (Gen.  ix.  19);  but  this 
may  refer  only  to  the  historical  earth,  of  which  alone  the  sacred 
writer  had  knowledge,  or  had  occasion  to  speak. 

Dr.  Hales  further  insists,  that  it  is  impossible  to  account  for  the 
populousness  of  the  countries  in  which  Abraham  dwelt,  as  Meso- 
potamia, Canaan,  and  Egypt,  on  the  supposition  that  he  lived  only 
from  four  to  six  hundred  years  after  the  Flood.  But  it  is  clearly 
intimated,  in  the  same  history,  that  these  countries  were  not  very 
thickly  settled  in  the  time  of  Abraham.  When  he  migrated  into 
Canaan,  that  country  seems  to  have  been  generally  open  to  him. 
He  found  there  only  a  few  scattered  families  and  tribes ;  ^  and, 
when'  he  wandered  into  Egypt  in  time  of  famine,  he  found  the 
Egyptians  comparatively  a  small  people.  Indeed,  long  after  this, 
so  late  as  the  birth  of  Moses,  the  King  of  Egypt  assigned  it  as  a 
reason  for  oppressing  the  Israelites,  and  destroying  all  their  male 
infants,  that  "  the  children  of  Israel  are  more  and  mightier  than 
we  "  (Exod.  i.  9). 

*  Berosus  speaks  expressly  of  ten  generations  who  lived  in  Clialdaa  before  the  Flood,  —  the 
precise  number  given  in  Genesis.  He  mentions,  in  order,  the  kings  who  reigned  in  those  times 
(ten  in  number),  from  Alorus  the  first  to  Xisuthrus,  in  whose  reign  the  Deluge  came  (see 
Rawlinson's  Evidences,  p.  274).  t  Connection,  vol.  i.  pp.  99-101. 

t  "  It  is  everywhere  intimated,"  says  Dr.  Stanley,  "  that  the  population  of  Canaan  was  then 
but  thinly  scattered  over  its  broken  surface."  —  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,  p.  29. 


72  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

There  is  yet  another  event  in  the  history  of  Abraham  which 
shows,  that,  in  his  time,  the  people  of  the  surrounding  countries 
were  few  and  weak.  Four  kings  came  out  of  the  east,  —  among 
whom  were  the  Kings  of  Elam  and  Shinar,  or  what  was  afterwards 
Persia  and  Chaldsea,  —  and  wasted  the  land  of  Canaan  and  the 
adjacent  countries,  and  then  attacked  and  carried  captive  the  five 
kings  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  and  the  neighboring  cities.  Among 
the  rest,  they  conquered  and  carried  captive  Lot  and  his  family. 
How  powerful  these  four  victorious  kings  were,  and  the  kings 
whom  they  conquered,  and  the  countries  they  had  wasted,  may 
be  learned  from  the  fact,  that  Abraham,  assisted  by  a  few  of  his 
friends  and  by  his  household  servants,  pursued  them,  overcame 
them,  and  brought  back  all  the  goods  and  captives  which  they 
had  carried  away. 

In  short,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  from  four  to  six  hundred 
years  was  time  enough  for  all  the  people  to  be  born  and  to  die  of 
whom  we  hear  in  the  days  of  Abraham.  New  England  has  been 
settled  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ;  and  yet  its  native  popu- 
lation has  almost  filled  the  land,  and,  by  successive  emigrations, 
has  contributed  not  a  little  to  fill  other  lands.  We  see,  from  what 
has  taken  place  among  ourselves,  that  the  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  years  intervening  between  the  Deluge  and  the  death  of 
Abraham  furnished  a  sufficient  time  for  the  countries  where  he 
dwelt  to  become  settled,  at  least  to  the  extent  in  which  he  found 
them. 

But  we  are  told  that  the  chronology  of  our  Hebrew  Bibles  can 
never  be  reconciled  with  that  of  the  Chinese,  the  Egyptians,  the 
Chaldseans,  and  Hindoos.  I  have  heard  too  much  of  the  pretended 
antiquity  of  these  nations  to  be  greatly  moved  by  an  objection  of 
this  nature.  Their  chronology,  like  that  of  other  ancient  countries, 
may  be  divided  into  three  parts,  —  the  fabulous^  the  traditional,  and 
the  historical  Of  these,  the  two  former  may  be  passed  over  as  of 
no  account.  The  Chinese  are  an  ancient  nation,  —  more  ancient, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  now  existing  on  the  globe.  But  "  that 
their  empire  dates  back  to  a  period  before  the  Flood  is  as  extrava- 
gant," says  Mr.  Gutzlaff,  "  as  any  of  the  mythological  stories  of 
the  Greeks  or  Hindoos."  They  have  no  reliable,  authentic  history 
before  the  time  of  Confucius,  which  was  only  five  hundred  and  fifty 
years  before  Christ.    All  preceding  this  is  fabulous  and  uncertain. 

The  Egyptians  lay  claim  to  a  very  higli  antiquity ;  but  their 
claims,  like  those  of  the  Chinese,  are  chiefly  fal>ulous.    Their  monu- 


THE  CHRONOLOGY   OF  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT.  73 

ments  contain  no  continiions  chronology,  and  no  data  from  which 
such  a  chronology  can  be  framed.  Manetho  tells  us  of  thirty 
dynasties  of  kings  which  reigned  between  Menes  and  Alexander  ; 
but,  if  his  account  is  to  be  accepted,  these  kings,  or  many  of 
them,  seem  to  have  reigned  contemporaneously,  some  in  one  part 
of  Egypt,  and  some  in  another :  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  compute 
any  system  of  chronology  from  them.  The  Menes  of  Manetho 
m-Aj  have  been  the  same  as  Mizraim,  the  son  of  Ham ;  and  the 
Egyptian  government,  or  rather  governments  (^patriarchates'),  may 
have  commenced  about  two  hundred  years  after  the  Flood. 

Of  the  Chaldiean  kingdoms,  the  Bible  lays  the  foundation  in  the 
times  of  Ashur  and  Nimrod,  — from  one  to  two  hundred  years  sub- 
sequent to  the  Deluge.  No  other  history  traces  it  farther  back  than 
this,  or  so  far  by  several  hundred  years. 

Of  the  Hindoos,  with  all  their  fables  and  mythologies,  we  have 
no  reliable  historical  accounts  previous  to  the  time  of  Alexander. 

On  the  whole,  the  arguments  which  have  been  urged  in  favor 
of  the  Septuagint  chronology  seem  to  me  to  have  little  weight ;  and 
I  feel  inclined  to  rest  in  the  accuracy  of  our  Hebrew  Bibles. 

Whether  the  chronology  of  the  Hebrew  was  altered  by  the  Sev- 
enty, or  by  succeeding  copyists,  I  pretend  not  to  say.  It  is  well 
known,  however,  that  these  translators  themselves  had  a  great 
desire  to  stand  well  with  their  heathen  neighbors,  and  that,  in  some 
instances,  they  did  not  scruple  to  vary  their  translation,  having  this 
object  in  view.  This  is  specially  true  of  the  translator  of  the 
Pentateuch.  "  Being  anxious,"  says  J.  D.  Michaelis,  "  to  render  his 
author  agreeable  not  only  to  Jews,  but  to  foreigners,  he  sometimes 
puts  forced  meanings  upon  words,  and,  with  still  greater  audacity, 
absolutely  corrupts  the  reading.  For,  lest  the  Egyptian  philosophers 
should  draw  something  from  the  sacred  writer  in  support  of  their 
own  errors  or  to  the  discredit  of  the  Jews,  he  sometimes  substi- 
tutes his  own  sentiments  for  those  of  Moses ;  sometimes  changes 
the  text  (making  it  to  conform  to  Egyptian  history),  and  alters 
whatever  might  be  likely  to  offend  foreigners  by  its  improbability. 
Now,  he  who  has  once  or  twice  corrected,  when  he  should  have 
translated,  the  original  text,  may  well  be  suspected,  in  other  in- 
stances, of  doing  the  same."  *  Thus  far  Michaelis.  The  particular 
motive  of  the  translator  in  changing  the  Hebrew  chronology  (if 
he  did  change   it)  may  have  been  to   increase  the   age   of  the 

*  Syntagma,  vol.  ii.,  disc.  13. 


74  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

world  and  of  his  own  nation,  and  thus  render  them  more  respecta- 
ble in  the  eyes  of  the  Egyptians. 

Those  who  altered  the  Hebrew  chronology  seem  to  have  done  it 
in  accommodation  to  certain  hypotheses  which  they  had  adopted, 
but  which  have  no  foundation  in  truth.  One  of  these  was,  that  in 
the  antediluvian  ages,  when  people  lived  almost  a  thousand  years, 
they  were  not  capable  of  having  cliildren  until  they  were  at  least 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  old.  They  were  a  long  while,  it  was 
thought,  in  coming  to  maturity,  —  as  much  longer  than  we  in  propor- 
tion as  their  entire  age  was  longer  than  ours.  They  were  children 
till  they  were  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  and,  as  such,  were 
incapable  of  procreation.  That  such  an  idea  prevailed  among  the 
Greeks,  and  with  some  of  the  Christian  fathers,  Ave  have  the  full- 
est proof.  In  accommodation  to  this  hypothesis,  it  was  natural 
that  the  Seventy,  or  those  who  copied  from  them,  should  add  a 
hundred  years  to  the  lives  of  the  patriarchs  previous  to  the  birth 
of  their  first-born  sons.  In  most  cases,  they  must  do  this  in 
order  to  make  the  patriarch  of  a  suitable  age  to  have  chil- 
dren at  all.*  But  the  hypothesis  before  us  is  a  mere  assump- 
tion, entirely  without  proof,  or  so  much  as  probability.  What  rea- 
son have  we  to  suppose  that  human  nature  before  the  Flood  was 
not  essentially  the  same  as  now,  and  that  men  did  not  come  to  he 
men,  and  to  have  families,  as  early  in  life  as  at  the  present  time  ?  At 
a  later  period  in  the  history  of  the  patriarchs,  we  find  this  hypoth- 
esis contradicted  by  facts.  The  children  of  Jacob  married  much 
younger  than  would  be  deemed  advisable  at  this  day.  Dinah  could 
not  have  been  more  than  sixteen  years  old  when  her  hand  was 
sought  by  Shechem  (Gen.  xxxiv.  4).  Nor  could  Benjamin  have 
been  more  than  twenty-five  when  he  went  with  his  father  into 
Egypt ;  yet  he  took  with  him  ten  sons,  whose  names  are  given 
in  Gen.  xlvi.  21. 

Another  groundless  assumption,  having  an  influence  in  the  same 
direction,  Avas,  that  the  son  mentioned  in  the  genealogy  was  uni- 
formly the  first-born ;  but  of  this  the  Scriptures  furnish  no  proof. 
In  one  instance,  indeed,  they  expressly  contradict  it.  Seth,  Avhose 
name  occurs  in  the  genealogy,  was  far  from  being  the  first-born  son 
of  Adam.     And  the  supposition  is  in  itself  improbable,  that,  for 

*  Augustine  thinks  that  the  Hebrew  chronology  was  changed  by  some  copyist  who  wished 
to  render  the  sacred  writings  more  credible  by  the  supposition  that  ten  antediluvian  years  were 
equivalent  to  one  of  ours.  The  age  of  the  patriarchs  is  therefore  altered ;  a  hundred  years  being 
added  to  them,  that  so  they  might  be  old  enough  to  have  children.  —  City  of  God,  book  xvi. 


THE  CHRONOLOGY   OF  THE   OLD  TESTAMENT.  75 

fifteen  successive  generations,  the  first-born  should  uniformly  be  a 
son,  and  a  son  that  lived  some  hundreds  of  years. 

Another  Jewish  hypothesis  which  led  to  the  lengthening  of 
their  chronology  was,  that  the  Messiah  could  not  come  until  the 
world  had  stood  at  least  five  thousand  years.  Five  thousand  years 
must  pass  before  the  Messiah  ;  during  the  sixth  thousand,  his  king- 
dom would  be  advancing  in  the  earth ;  while  the  seventh  would  be 
a  season  of  rest  and  peace.  But,  according  to  the  Hebrew  predic- 
tions and  chronologies,  the  Messiah  would  come  in  about  the  four 
thousandth  year  of  the  world ;  and  this  was  a  thousand  years  too 
soon.  Hence  the  chronology  of  the  Old  Testament  must  be 
lengthened.  The  mode  of  lengthening  it  was  that  adopted  by  the 
Seventy,  or  their  transcribers,  which  has  been  before  explained. 

Still  another  Jewish  hypothesis,  which  led  to  the  lengthening  of 
their  chronology,  was,  that  the  first  six  thousand  years  of  the  world 
were  to  be  equally  divided  in  the  days  of  Peleg,  whose  name  signi- 
fies division;  and  that  the  first  three  thousand  years  were  to  end 
with  the  hundred  and  thirtieth  year  of  Peleg's  life.  But  the  length- 
ening of  the  chronology,  as  we  find  it  in  the  Septuagint,  would 
not  alone  accomplish  this  purpose ;  and  so  the  name  of  a  new 
and  fictitious  patriarch  (the  post-diluvian  Cainan)  was  thrust  in 
between  Arphaxad  and  Salah,  and  a  generation  of  a  hundred  and 
thirty  years  was  given  to  him.  This  second  Cainan  is  certainly  a 
fictitious  character.  The  strongest  advocates  of  the  Septuagint 
admit  as  much  as  tliis.*  And  if  the  Seventy,  or  their  transcribers, 
would  thrust  him  in  to  carry  out  a  favorite  hypothesis,  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  they  would  not  scruple  to  make  all  other  needful 
alterations. 

The  evidence,  so  far  as  manuscripts  and  versions  are  concerned, 
is  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Hebrew  chronology.  Indeed,  almost 
no  important  evidence  of  this  kind  can  be  urged  in  favor  of  the 
Septuagint ;  for  although  the  ancient  Latin  and  Coptic  versions, 
and  most  of  the  Greek  fathers,  agree  with  the  Seventy,  they  are 
none  of  them  independent  supporters  and  witnesses.  They  copied 
from  one  another  and  from  the  Septuagint,  and,  of  course,  might 
be  expected  to  agree  with  it. 

In  favor  of  the  Hebrew  chronology,  we  have,  in  the  first  place, 

*  This  second  Cainan  was  entirely  unknown  to  Philo,  Josephus,  Eusebius,  and  Theophilus  of 
Antioch.  It  shows  the  obsequiousness  with  whicli  the  early  Christian  fathers  followed  the  Sep- 
tuagint, that  they  foisted  the  second  Cainan  into  the  genealogy  of  Luke,  chap.  iii.  36.  It  is  not 
at  all  likely  that  Luke  ever  placed  it  there. 


76  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  Targums  of  Onkelos  and  of  Jerusalem.  These  are  Chaldee 
paraphrases  upon  the  Pentateuch,  written,  both  of  them,  before  the 
coming  of  Christ.  The  Targum  of  Onkelos  is  the  most  esteemed. 
It  is  so  short  and  simple,  that  it  can  hardly  be  suspected  of  being 
corrupted.  The  Targum  of  Jerusalem  is  less  reliable ;  but  both 
agree  with  the  chronology  of  our  Hebrew  Bibles.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  old  Syriac  version  and  of  two  Arabic  versions.  Je- 
rome, in  the  fourth  century,  found  in  the  Hebrew  books  the  same 
readings  that  we  now  have,  and  from  them  corrected  the  Vulgate, 
or  Latin  translation.  Besides  the  Septuagint,  there  were  three 
other  ancient  Greek  translations  of  the  Old  Testament ;  viz.,  those 
of  Aquila,  Theodotian,  and  Symmachus.  Respecting  the  first  two, 
we  have  no  information  touching  the  question  before  us  ;  but  the 
version  of  Symmachus  is  known  to  agree  with  the  Hebrew. 

The  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  as  it  now  stands,  agrees  in  part  with 
the  Hebrew,  in  part  with  the  Septuagint,  and  in  part  it  differs  from 
both.  But,  if  we  may  believe  the  testimony  of  Jerome,  the  Samari- 
tan chronology  in  his  day  agreed  entirely  with  that  of  the  Hebrew. 
Of  course,  it  must  have  been  altered  and  corrupted  since. 

It  may  be  urged,  finally,  against  the  chronology  of  the  Septua- 
gint, that  it  is  inconsistent  in  one  important  point  with  the  narra- 
tive of  Moses :  it  makes  Methuselah  to  have  lived  several  years 
after  the  Flood ;  whereas  the  history  assures  us  that  the  whole  human 
race,  Avith  the  exception  of  Noah  and  his  family,  at  that  time  per- 
ished. According  to  the  Septuagint,  Methuselah  was  167  years 
old  when  he  begat  Lamech  ;  and  Lamech  was  188  years  old  when 
he  begat  Noah ;  and  Noah  was  600  years  old  when  the  Flood  came.* 
Putting  these  numbers  together,  1674-188-|-G00,  gives  us  955 
years  after  the  birth  of  Methuselah  as  the  date  of  the  Flood.  But 
the  Septuagint  agrees  with  the  Hebrew  in  stating  that  Methuselah 
lived,  in  all,  969  years  :  consequently,  he  must  have  lived  fourteen 
years  after  the  Flood.  This  shows  conclusively  (unless  there  is 
some  error  iii  the  reading)  that  the  Septuagint  chronology,  at  least 
in  this  particular,  is  unreliable  and  defective. 

•  According  to  the  Hebrew  chronology,  Methuselah  died  in  the 
very  year  of  the  Flood,  —  whether  by  old  age,  or  by  the  deluge  of 
waters,  we  are  not  informed.  Lamech,  the  father  of  Noah,  died 
five  years  earlier.  None  of  the  patriarchs  whose  names  occur  in 
the  narrative  are  represented  in  the  Hebrew  as  living  beyond  the 

*  There  is  some  diversity  of  reading,  in  respect  to  these  numbers,  in  the  Septuagint.  I  have 
followed  that  which  seemed  the  most  probable. 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT.  77 

Flood.  All,  with  the  exception  of  Noah  and  his  family,  had  passed 
away. 

Having  thus  expressed  our  preference  of  the  Hebrew  chronology 
before  that  of  the  Septuagint,  and  assigned  our  reasons  for  so  doing, 
we  repeat  the  statement  already  made,  that,  according  to  the  He- 
brew, the  Flood  came  in  the  year  of  the  worlfl  1656.  The  patriarch 
Abraham  was  born  352  years  later,  —  in  the  year  of  the  world  2008. 
We  have  no  contemporary  history,  as  yet,  with  which  to  compare 
and  rectify  our  dates.  Mizraim,  a  son  of  Ham,  migrated  into  Egypt, 
and  founded  a  kingdom  there,  about  two  hundred  years  after  the 
Flood.  Two  hundred  and  thirty  years  later,  Abraham  went  into 
Egypt,  and  found  an  organized  government,  and  a  Pharaoh  on  the 
throne.  Ample  time  had  now  been  furnished  for  events  and  changes 
such  as  these.  After  about  two  hundred  and  ten  years,  Jacob  goes 
into  Egypt  to  meet  his  lost  son  Joseph.  He  finds  there  a  rich  and 
powerful  kingdom  under  the  rule  of  a  monarch  who  goes  by  the 
common  name  of  Pharaoh.  The  children  of  Israel  remain  in  Egypt 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  years ;  making,  in  all,  four  hundred  and 
thirty  since  Abraham  came  to  sojourn  in  the  land  of  Canaan.* 
And  now  they  come  out  under  the  direction  of  Moses  ;  and  Pha- 
raoh, their  persecutor,  is  destroyed. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  whether  we  can  identify  the  Pharaohs 
with  Avhom  Abraham  and  his  descendants  came  in  contact  with 
any  of  those  Egyptian  kings  whose  names  occur  in  the  catalogues 
of  Manetho  and  other  ancient  historians.  My  own  opinion  is,  that 
this  cannot,  with  any  degree  of  certainty,  be  done.  The  slightest 
inspection  shows  that  these  old  catalogues  are  wholl}^  unreliable. 
They  are  little  more  than  bare  lists  of  names,  commencing  at  no  fixed, 
assignable  period,  and  not  agreeing  with  themselves  or  with  one 
another.  There  is  nothing  in  them  to  contradict  the  history  and 
chronology  of  Moses ;  nor  is  there  any  thing  which  can  enable  one 
to  say  confidently,  This  is  the  Pharaoh  who  entertained  Abraham, 
and  that  the  king  who  promoted  Joseph,  and  that  the  one  who  was 
drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.  Hence  we  find  that  those  Christian 
writers,  from  Eusebius  downward,  who  have  undertaken  to  har- 
monize the  Mosaic  and  Egyptian  chronologies,  and  to  identify  the 
Pharaohs  of  Scripture  with  the  kings  of  Manetho,  have  differed 
continuously  and  variously.  Hardly  any  two  of  them  have  agreed 
together.  The  truth  is,  there  are  no  existin;:;^  catalogues  of  tlie 
ancient  kings  of  Egyj)t  which  are  at  all  reliable.     Several  of  the 

*  Compare  Exod.  xii.  40  and  Gal.  iii.  17. 


7'8  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

names  are  mentioned  twice ;  and  the  more  ancient  kings,  if  tliey 
reigned  at  all,  were  contemporary,  patriarchal  chieftains,  who  reigned 
over  different  parts  of  the  country.  .  What  may  yet  be  discovered 
in  the  catacombs  of  Egypt  we  pretend  not  to  say.  We  have  no 
fear  of  any  discoveries  to  contradict  the  Bible. 

After  the  time  of  Moses,  the  Israehtes  had  no  historical  connec- 
tion with  Egypt  for  a  long  period.  The  next  that  we  hear  of  them 
is  in  the  time  of  Solomon.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Pharaoh, 
King  of  Egypt,  and  carried  on  a  commerce  with  him  in  horses  and 
chariots  and  linen  yarn.  In  the  reign  of  Rehoboam,  the  son  of 
Solomon,  Shishak,  the  King  of  Egypt,  came  up  against  him,  and 
conquered  him,  and  carried  away  all  the  treasures  of  his  house. 
This  Shishak  or  Sheshonk  was  the  first  king  of  Mantheo's  twenty- 
second  dynasty ;  but  his  name  does  not  occur  in  the  other  cata- 
logues. His  tomb  was  opened  by  ChampoUion,  who  found  in  it  a 
pictorial  representation  of  his  victory  over  the  Jews.  This  event 
occurred  about  the  year  970  before  Christ,  or  five  hundred  and 
twenty  years  after  the  exodus  from  Egypt. 

From  tliis  time,  we  frequently  hear  of  the  interference  of  the 
kings  of  Egypt,  and  also  of  the  Idngs  of  Syria,  Assyria,  and  Baby- 
lon, with  the  affairs  of  the  Israehtes ;  until  at  length  Jerusalem 
was  taken,  the  Temple  was  destroyed,  and  both  Israel  and  Judah 
were  carried  into  captivity.  Solomon's  Temple  was  destroyed  in 
the  year  588  before  Christ,  when  it  had  stood  four  hundred  and 
seventeen  years. 

After  this,  we  find  the  children  of  Israel  subject,  first  to  the 
Babylonians,  then  to  the  Medo-Persians,  and  then  to  Alexander 
and  his  successors,  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt.  From  these  they 
were  delivered  by  the  Maccabees,  and  lived,  for  a  time,  under  their 
own  native  princes,  subject  to  the  inspection  and  interference  of 
the  Romans.  At  length  they  fell  under  the  power  of  Herod  the 
Great,  who  was  an  Idumsean  by  birth,  but  by  profession  a  Jew. 
He  was  set  over  them  by  the  Romans,  and  reigned  as  a  tributary 
king.  It  is  needless  to  trace  their  chronolog}^  through  the  long, 
dark  period  intervening  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New. 
It  is  easily  reckoned,  and  harmonizes  perfectly  with  all  that  we 
know  of  the  history  of  the  surrounding  nations. 

Near  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Herod,  the  Great  Light  of  the, 
World  appeared.  Our  Saviour  was  born,  according  to  Archbishop 
Usher,  in  the  year  of  the  world  4004.  But  this,  we  know,  was 
three  or  four  years  too  late.     He  was  certainly  born  before  the 


THE   CHRONOLOGY   OF   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT.  79 

death  of  Herod  ;  but  Herod  died  in  the  year  of  Rome  749  or  50, — 
three  or  four  years  earlier  than  the  commencement  of  our  vulgar 
era. 

We  have  another  datum  in  the  New  Testament  which  leads 
to  the  same  conclusion.  According  to  Lul^e  iii.  1,  2,  our  Savioiu- 
was  thirty  years  old  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius 
Csesar  ;  and  this  would  bring  the  birth  of  Christ  in  the  year  of 
Rome  749,  as  before,  —  three  or  four  years  earlier  than  the  com- 
mencement of  our  era.  The  probability  is,  —  we  do  not  pretend 
to  perfect  accuracy,  —  that  Christ  was  born  in  the  year  of  the  world 
4000 ;  and  that  four  years  more  have  passed  since  his  birth  than 
is  commonly  supposed. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


THE    CREATION    OF   THE   WORLD. 


THE  event  which  first  meets  us  in  sacred  history  is  the  creation 
of  the  workl.  This  occupies  the  first  chapter  of  the  Bible, 
and  a  portion  of  the  second ;  and  as  tliis  world  was  made  by 
Christ,  and  for  him,  —  to  be  the  theatre  of  his  redemptive  work, 
and  the  home  of  his  Church  in  the  earlier  part  of  its  existence,  — 
it  seems  proper,  that,  in  a  history  of  the  Church,  we  should  begin 
with  some  account  of  the  creation.  My  principal  object  will  be  to 
explain  and  vindicate  the  statements  of  Scripture  in  regard  to  this 
great  work. 

By  the  creation  of  the  world,  we  understand  something  more 
than  the  making  of  one  thing  from  another.  We  can  make  one 
thing  from  another.  With  the  appropriate  materials,  we  can  make 
many  things  ;  and,  by  most  of  the  ancient  heathen  philosophers, 
creation  was  supposed  to  be  nothing  more,  in  kind,  than  this. 
Assuming  the  axiom,  Ex  nihilo  nihil  fit,  they  maintained  the  exist- 
ence of  two  eternal,  independent  principles,  —  God,  and  elemental, 
chaotic  matter,  —  and  taught,  that,  fi'om  these  chaotic  elements,  God 
(or  some  inferior  divinity)  made  the  world.  But  it  is  evident  that 
a  world  thus  made  would  not  be  a  proper  creation.  It  would  be 
no  more  than  a  transformation  or  fabrication.  It  might  be  a  great 
work,  but  not  a  creation  in  the  sense  in  which  we  here  use  the 
term. 

Again  :  by  creation  we  mean  something  more  than  the  emanation 
of  all  existing  things  from  the  very  substance  of  God.  This 
doctrine  was  held  by  some  of  the  ancients,  and  it  has  its  advocates 
in  modern  times :  but  it  has  no  foundation,  either  in  reason  or 
Scripture ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  refuted  by  both.  If  all  things 
are  from  the  substance  of  God,  then,  as  to  their  substance,  they  are 
independent  and  indestructible,  like  God ;  which  Ave  have  no  reason 
to  suppose  is  true.     They  are  also  parts  of  God ;  and  this  involves 


THE    CREATION    OF   THE    WORLD.  81 

the  absurdity,  that  the  infinite  God  is  divisible  into  parts.  It 
involves,  also,  the  mutability^  the  changeableness,  of  God ;  for  cer- 
tainly there  are  continual  changes  going  on  in  the  world  around 
us :  and  if  the  world,  and  all  it  contains,  are  of  the  substance  of 
God,  then  there  are  continual  changes  in  his  substance.  In  short, 
the  doetrine  before  us  is  but  saying  that  every  thing  is  God,  and 
God  every  thing ;  which  is  j^antheism^  atheism.  It  is  denying  the 
existence  of  a  personal  God,  who  made  the  world,  and  governs 
it ;  and  this  is  to  deny  that  there  is,  properly  spealdng,  any  God 
at  all. 

By  creation,  we  understand  the  making  of  all  created  things 
from  7iothing.  God  made  them  all,  not  out  of  himself,  or  from 
eternal,  elemental,  chaotic  matter,  but  from  notliing.  He  brought 
them  into  being.  He  gave  them  existence  when  before  they  had 
none.  This  is  what  ive  understand  by  the  work  of  creation.  This 
is  the  proper,  original  signification  of  the  word  5*13,  translated 
create.,  in  the  first  verse  of  the  Bible.  The  apostle  Paul  also 
gives  us  the  same  idea  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews :  "  Through  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  God ;  so  that  the  things  which  are  seen 
were  not  made  of  things  which  do  appear,"  or  of  things  already 
existing :  which  is  the  same  as  to  say  that  they  were  made  from 
nothing. 

The  Jews  seem  to  have  held  this  idea  of  creation  in  all  periods 
of  their  history.  Thus  it  is  said  in  the  Maccabees :  "  Look  upon 
the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  all  that  is  therein,  and  consider  that 
God  made  them  of  things  that  were  not;''''  i.e.,  from  nothing" 
(2  Mace.  vii.  28).  Philo  also  says,  "  The  things  that  were  not, 
God  called  into  being." 

And  this  is  the  only  reasonable  view  of  the  subject.  The 
elements  of  material  things  were  either  created  in  the  sense  above 
explained,  or  they  are  eternal.  But  against  the  eternity  of  matter, 
even  in  its  elementary  ingredients,  there  are  insuperable  objections. 
To  suppose  matter  eternal  is  to  invest  it  with  some  of  the  more 
essential  attributes  of  Jehovah,  such  as  self-existence,  independ- 
ence, omnipresence,  unchangeableness ;  not  one  of  which  can  it 
be  supposed  to  possess.  It  is  also  to  take  it  out  fi'om  the  rightfid 
domain  and  providence  of  God.  If  God  did  not  create  material 
atoms,  then  they  are  not  his  ;  and  he  has  no  right  to  meddle  with 
them,  or  to  make  any  thing  out  of  them.  On  this  ground,  his 
government  over  the  material  world  is  no  better  than  a  usurpation. 


82  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

But,  if  tliis  world  was  created  from  nothing,  it  was  created  in 
time  ;  and  it  has  been  insisted  that  the  date  of  its  creation,  as  fixed 
in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Bible,  can  never  be  made  to  harmonize 
with  the  facts  of  geological  science. 

It  is  assumed  by  those  who  urge  this  objection,  that  the  Scrip- 
tures make  the  age  of  the  world  to  be  something  less  than  six 
thousand  years  ;  that,  at  the  time  of  the  placing  of  our  first  parents 
upon  it,  the  world  itself  was  created  from  nothing.  But  geologists 
have  demonstrated  that  this  world  has  existed  for  much  more  than 
six  thousand  years ;  that  its  existence  runs  back  to  a  vastly  remote 
period  ;  that  the  placing  of  the  first  human  pair  upon  it  is  a 
comparatively  recent  event  in  its  history.  I  need  not  here  exhibit 
the  proof  on  which  this  geological  conclusion  is  based.  To  my 
own  mind,  it  is  perfectly  satisfactory.  There  is  no  accounting  for 
innumerable  facts  which  meet  us  as  we  penetrate  into  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  or  even  walk  upon  its  surface,  but  by  supposing  that 
the  earth  itself  has  existed  for  a  very  long  period,  —  a  period 
remotely  anterior  to  the  origin  of  our  race. 

Here,  then,  it  is  said,  is  a  manifest  contradiction  between  the 
deductions  of  geology  and  the  declarations  of  Scripture.  The  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  are  contradicted  by  plain  matters  of  fact,  and,  of 
course,  cannot  be  true. 

But  let  us  look  at  this  subject  again.  Let  us  be  sure  that  we 
understand  some  of  the  first  verses  of  the  Bible  before  we-  declare 
them  inconsistent  with  facts,  and  unworthy  of  confidence. 

I  have  said  that  those  who  urge  the  objection  we  are  considering 
assume  that  the  Scriptures  make  the  whole  age  of  the  world  to  be 
something  less  than  six  thousand  years ;  but  have  they  any  right 
to  this  assumption  ?  Where  is  it  said  in  the  Scriptures  that  the 
world  we  inhabit  was  made  from  nothing  at  the  time  of  the  crea- 
tion of  our  first  parents  ?     I  answer  confidently.  Nowhere. 

"  In  the  heginning,  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth." 
This  sentence  I  regard  as  a  paragraph  by  itself.  It  is  an  independ- 
ent, a  most  important,  and  I  will  add,  —  considering  the  circum- 
stances under  which  it  was  written,  —  a  most  wonderful  declara- 
tion ;  announcing  that  at  some  time,  at  some  remote  period  of  anti- 
quity, in  the  beginning  of  his  works,  God  did  create  the  heavens 
and  the  earth.  There  is  not  a  verse  in  the  Bible  which  bears  the 
impress  of  divine  inspiration  more  strongly  than  this.  At  what 
period  in  the  lapse  of  eternal  ages  this  great  event  took  place,  we 
are  not  informed ;  what  was  the  appearance  or  consistence  of  the 


THE   CREATION   OF  THE   WORLD.  83 

earth  at  its  first  creation,  we  are  not  informed ;  nor  have  we 
the  slightest  information  as  to  tlie  changes  and  revolutions  of  the 
world,  nor  as  to  the  form  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  which  it 
bore  upon  its  surface  during  the  remoter  ages  of  its  history.  The 
geologist  has  space  enough  here  for  his  deepest,  widest  researches. 
He  has  scope  enough  for  any  conclusions  to  which  he  may  reason- 
ably come,  without  the  remotest  danger  of  trencliing  on  any  of  the 
annunciations  of  revealed  truth. 

That  a  vastly  long  period  intervened  between  the  proper  crea- 
tion of  the  world  spoken  of  in  the  first  verse  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  commencement  of  the  six-days'  work  recorded  in  the  follow- 
ing verses,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.  It  was  during  this 
period  that  the  earth  assumed  a  solid  form.  Its  heated  masses  were 
cooled  and  conglomerated  ;  the  primary  rocks  were  crystallized  ; 
the  transition,  the  secondary,  and  the  deeper  portion  of  the  ter- 
tiary rocks  were  deposited  and  petrified ;  the  lower  forms  of 
animal  and  vegetable  existence  appeared  and  perished ;  multi- 
tudes of  marine  and  amphibious  animals  —  some  of  them  of  huge 
and  terrific  forms  —  lived  and  died,  and  their  remains  lie  embedded 
in  the  solid  rocks.  Vast  quantities  of  vegetable  matter  also  accu- 
mulated on  the  earth,  and  was  treasured  up  beneath  its  surface,  in 
the  form  of  coal,  for  the  future  use  and  benefit  of  man. 

It  is  evident  that  the  earth,  during  this  long  period,  underwent 
frequent  and  terrible  revolutions.  Its  internal  fires  were  raging  in 
their  prison-house,  and  often  bursting  through  the  crust  which  con- 
fined them.  The  mountains  were  upheaved  from  their  deeper  than 
ocean-beds  ;  trap-dikes  were  formed  ;  and  the  stratified  rocks  were 
tilted  from  their  original,  horizontal  positions,  —  as  we  now  see 
them,  —  in,  every  direction. 

It  was  subsequent,  as  I  think,  to  one  of  these  terrible  convul- 
sions, which  had  torn  the  earth  to  its  very  centre,  merged  the 
greater  part  of  it  beneath  the  ocean,  and  destroyed  almost  every 
trace  of  animal  and  vegetable  existence,  that  mention  is  made  of  it 
in  the  second  verse  of  our  Bible.  It  was  then  "  without  form,  and 
void ;  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep."  The  earth 
was  dark  at  that  period,  not  because  there  was  no  sun,  but  because 
caliginous  gases  and  vapors  had  utterly  obscured  the  light  of  the 
sun,  and  shut  it  out  from  the  desolate  world.  It  was  like  the  dark- 
ness of  Egypt  in  one  of  the  plagues  of  that  smitten  country. 

But  God  had  not  abandoned  the  work  of  his  own  hands.  He 
had   nobler  purposes  to   answer  by  tliis  seemingly  ruined  world 


84  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.   ' 

than  any  which  it  had  hitherto  accomplished.  It  was  no  longer  to 
be  the  abode  of  sauriaus  and  mastodons,  and  other  hiis^e  and  ter- 
rific  monsters,  but  was  to  be  fitted  np  and  adorned  for  a  new  and 
nobler  race  of  beings.  Accordingly,  the  Spirit  of  God  began  to 
move  upon  the  turbid  waters  ;  and  order  and  j)eace  were  gradually 
restored. 

"  And  God  said.  Let  there  be  light ;  and  there  was  light."  The 
dense  clouds  and  vapors  which  had  enveloped  the  earth,  and  shut 
out  entirely  the  light  of  heaven,  were  so  far  dissipated,  that  it  was 
easy  to  distinguish  between  day  and  night. 

On  the  second  day,  God  said,  "  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the 
midst  of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters. 
And  God  called  the  firmament  Heaven."  The  work  here  denoted 
was  the  elevation  of  the  clouds,  and  the  separation  of  the  aerial 
waters  by  a  visible  firmament  —  the  seeming  canopy  of  heaven  — 
from  those  which  rested  on  the  earth. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be  gathered 
together  unto  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear ;  and  it  was 
so.  And  God  called  the  dryland  Earth ;  and  the  gathering-togeth- 
er of  the  waters  called  he  Seas.  And  God  said.  Let  the  earth 
bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yield- 
ing fruit  after  his  kind  ;  and  it  was  so.  And  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were  the  third  day."  In  the  course  of  this  day,  vast  por- 
tions of  the  earth's  surface  were  elevated ;  others  were  depressed ; 
continents  and  islands  were  raised  up  ;  and  the  seas  and  oceans  were 
made  to  know  their  bounds.  As  soon  as  the  dry  land  appeared,  it 
began  to  be  clothed  with  vegetation.  The  forming  hand  of  the 
Creator  covered  it  (without  doubt,  by  miracles)  with  new  species 
of  vegetables  in  place  of  those  which  had  been  destroyed- 

"  And  God  said.  Let  there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven 
to  divide  the  day  from  the  night.  And  God  made  two  great 
lights ;  the  greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule 
the  night :  he  made  the  stars  also.  And  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were  the  fourth  day."  The  language  here  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  that  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  now  first  created, 
but  only  that  they  were  first  made  to  shine  out  upon  the  renovated 
earth.  They  now  became  visible  lights  to  the  forming  world.  The 
dark  clouds  and  vapors  had  been  so  far  dissipated  on  the  first  day, 
that  it  was  easy  to  distinguish  between  day  and  night.  But  now 
they  were  entirely  dissipated,  and  the  lights  of  heaven  shone  down 
upon  the  earth  "  in  full-orbed  splendor." 


THE   CREATION   OF  THE   WORLD.  85 

It  should  be  remarked  here,  that  the  representation  throughout 
this  chapter  is  phenomenal  rather  than  philosophical.  It  accords  to 
what  would  have  been  the  appearance  of  things  had  there  been 
any  spectator  on  the  earth  at  the  time  to  observe  them.  Thus, 
when  it  is  said  that  God  made  a  firmament,  we  are  not  to  under- 
stand that  the  seeming  canopy  above  us  is  a  literal  thing,  a  shining 
substance,  but  only  that  such  is  the  appearance  to  a  spectator  on 
the  earth ;  and  when  it  is  said  that  God  made  two  great  lights, 
and  set  them  in  the  firmament,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  sun 
and  moon  were  now  first  created,  and  fixed  in  the  blue  expanse, 
but  that  such  would  have  been  the  appearance  to  man  had  he  been 
in  existence  on  the  fourth  day,  when  the  sun  and  moon  commenced 
their  shining. 

On  the  fifth  day,  God  peopled  the  waters  with  fishes,  and  the 
air  with  birds  and  flying  fowls. 

On  the  sixth  day,  he  brought  forth  the  beast  of  the  earth,  the 
cattle,  and  every  creeping  thing,  after  his  kind.  He  also  created 
man  in  his  own  image.  Male  and  female  created  he  them  ;  and  he 
gave  them  dominion  over  all  the  creatures  that  he  had  made. 

On  the  seventh  day,  God  ended  his  work,  —  the  great  work  of 
re-organizing,  renewing,  a  desolate  world,  preparing  it  for  the  resi- 
dence of  man,  and  placing  man  and  the  other  creatures  upon  it. 
"And  he  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it,  because  that  in 
it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work."  We  have  here  the  institution 
of  the  weeldy  sabbath.  It  commenced  with  the  renewing  of  the 
world,  and  is  to  continue  to  the  end  of  it. 

I  have  given  this  running  commentary  on  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,  the  better  to  illustrate  the  distinction  between  the  original 
creation  spoken  of  in  the  first  verse,  and  the  six-days'  work  described 
in  the  remainder  of  the  chapter.  The  date  of  the  original  creation 
is  vastly  remote,  —  beyond  all  human  calculation.  The  six-days' 
work  took  place,  as  the  Scriptures  represent,  about  six  thousand 
years  ago.  Between  these  two  great  epochs  there  was  a  wide 
space,  —  wide  enough  to  account  for  all  the  phenomena  of  the  pre- 
Adamite  earth ;  for  all  that  geologists  have  ever  discovered,  or  ever 
will. 

It  will  be  seen,  that,  in  harmonizing  the  revelations  of  the  Bible 
with  the  facts  of  science  touching  the  creation  of  the  world,  I  have 
not  taken  the  ground,  with  some  of  my  brethren,  that  the  days 
spoken  of  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  were  not  literal  days,  but 
indefinitely  long  periods  of  time.  I  have  several  objections  to  this 
theory,  which  I  will  frankly  state  :  — 


86  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

1.  The  theory  rests  on  the  groundless  assumption,  that  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  and  all  the  changes  which  have  occurred  in  it, 
are  the  result  of  established  laws, — the  laws  of  Nature,  —  involving 
a  long  and  regular  process,  without  any  sudden  and  violent  revolu- 
tions, or  interpositions  of  Almighty  Power.  I  have  called  this  theo- 
ry a  groundless  assumption.  It  is  worse  than  that :  it  is  incon- 
sistent with  Scripture,  with  reason,  and  facts,  and  leads  naturally, 
if  not  necessarily,  to  pantheism  and  atheism.  Throughout  the 
Bible,  what  we  call  the  work  of  creation  is  represented  as  taking 
place  rapidly,  almost  instantly,  at  the  word  and  fiat  of  the  Creator : 
"  Let  there  be  light ;  and  there  was  light."  "  Let  there  be  a  firma- 
ment ;  and  a  firmament  was."  "  By  the  word  of  God  the  heavens 
were  of  old,  and  the  earth  standing  out  of  the  water  and  in  the 
water."  "  By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made,  and 
all  the  host  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth."  "  He  spake,  and 
it  was  done  ;  he  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast."  Scriptures  such 
as  these  clearly  indicate  that  what  we  call  the  work  of  creation 
was  accomplished,  not  by  a  long  process  in  accordance  with  estab- 
lished laws,  but  rapidly,  quickly,  at  the  will  and  word  of  the 
Creator. 

And  in  what  sense  can  it  be  true  that  creation  was  accomplished 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  Nature  ?  Did  Nature  create  the 
world  ?  or  did  the  creative  power  of  God  originate  that  established 
order  of  things  which  is  commonly  called  Nature  ?  Nature's  laws 
are  simply  God's  ordinary  mode  of  operation ;  and  creation  was 
his  extraordinary  work,  originating  those  laws,  and  setting  them  on 
their  course.  To  tie  up  creative  power  to  the  processes  of  Nature, 
is,  in  effect,  to  make  Nature  the  Creator,  —  to  deify  Nature,  and 
undeify  God. 

And  then  what  does  the  appearance  of  the  earth,  both  on  its 
surface  and  under  it,  indicate  on  the  question  before  us  ?  Is  it 
likely  that  the  great  mountains  —  the  Alps,  the  Andes,  the  Hima- 
layas, the  AUeghanies  —  were  raised  by  a  slow  and  gradual  move- 
ment ?  Or,  rather,  were,  not  the  deep  granite  foundations  broken 
up,  and  thrown  up,  to  the  height  of  miles,  as  we  now  see  them,  by 
some  violent  concussion  from  within  ?  Some  mountains  are  entire- 
ly of  volcanic  origin,  and  must  have  been  hurled  by  internal  fires 
from  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth. 

And  what  do  the  analogies  of  Providence  —  events  which  have 
occurred  since  the  world  was  created  —  teach  us  on  this  question  ? 
The  Deluge  of  Noah  —  was  that  a  slow  and  gradual  development  ? 


THE  CREATION   OF  THE   WORLD.  87 

or  was  it  a  sudden  breaking-up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep, 
and  an  opening  of  the  windows  of  heaven,  by  means  of  which  a 
wicked  world  was  drowned  ?  Or,  if  any  are  incredulous  as  to  the 
fact  of  such  a  Deluge,  what  shall  be  said  of  tornadoes,  inundations, 
volcanic  eruptions,  earthquakes,  which,  although  in  accordance 
with  Nature's  laws,  are  not  of  slow  and  gfadual  development,  but 
burst  upon  the  Avorld  with  sudden  and  overwhelming  power  ?  And 
what  shall  be  said  of  that  coming  day,  when  in  a  moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  the  dead  shall  be 
raised,  the  heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be  dissolved,  the  elements 
shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  with  all  its  contents 
shall  be  burned  up  ? 

I  have  said  that  this  development-theory  is  pantheistic  in  its 
tendencies.  It  is  clearly  so.  Its  advocates,  in  many  instances, 
make  so  much  of  established  laws,  that  they  forget  the  Almighty 
Lawgiver.  They  discard  miracles.  They  recognize  no  God  but 
Nature ;  and  Nature  is  no  God  at  all.  We  repudiate,  therefore, 
the  slow,  gradual  process  of  creation,  requiring  loiig  successive  pe- 
riods for  its  accomplishment ;  and  believe,  with  the  Scriptui"es,  that 
the  fitting-up  of  earth  for  the  residence  of  man  was  perfected  in 
six  natural  days. 

2.  We  reject  the  theory  of  long,  successive  periods  in  the  process 
of  creation,  from  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  it  with  the  facts 
of  the  case.  In  some  of  these  periods,  however  protracted,  very 
little  is  reported  to  have  been  accomplished.  In  the  first,  for  in- 
stance, nothing  was  done  except  to  produce  a  change  from  a  state 
of  total,  primeval  darkness  to  one  of  hazy,  misty  light ;  and  this 
was  interrupted  for  half  of  the  time  by  returning  darkness  :  for 
there  was  an  evening  as  well  as  morning  to  the  first  day.  And 
then,  through  the  second  long,  long  period,  naught  is  done  but  to 
create  what  is  called  a  _^rwamew^ ;  i.e.,  an  apparent  blue  expanse, 
separating  the  .vapors  in  the  sky  from  the  waters  on  the  earth. 

But,  without  insisting  on  this  consideration,  we  would  inquire  of 
the  advocates  of  the  theory  in  question,  whether  there  was  any 
sun  before  the  fourth  period.  If  there  was  a  sun,  why  Avas  it  so  long 
shut  out  from  the  earth  ?  Of  what  use  could  it  be  through  three 
successive  periods,  indefinitely  and  almost  immeasurably  long,  and 
yet  all  the  while  obscured  and  invisible  ?  Or  if  there  was  no  sun 
(as  it  is  generally  conceded  that  Ijhere  was  not),  then  how  could  the 
earth,  for  one  whole  period,  be  covered,  without  a  sun,  with  trees 
and  vegetables  ?  and  how  could  the  earth,  without  a  sun,  be  held 


88  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

in  its  orbit  ?  and  how  were  the  evenings  and  mornings  produced 
—  long  intervals  of  light  and  darkness  —  by  which  those  vast  pe- 
riods of  time  were  divided  ? 

3.  But  my  principal  objection  to  the  theory  under  consideration 
grows  out  of  the  language  of  Scripture.  I  know  that  the  word 
"  day  "  is  sometimes  used  in  Scripture,  as  it  is  in  common  life,  to 
denote  an  indefinite  period  of  time :  but  then  this  is  not  the  proper 
signification  of  the  word ;  and  there  are  connected  circumstances  in 
the  case  before  us  which  go  to  settle  its  meaning,  and  limit  it  to 
a  period  of  twenty -four  hours.  Not  only  are  days  spoken  of  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis,  but  the  morning  and  evening  as  constitut- 
ing the  day ;  a  manifest  indication  that  only  a  single  diurnal  revolu- 
tion is  intended.  Then  there  is  the  seventh  day,  —  a  season  of  holy 
and  blessed  rest.  Was  this,  also,  an  indefinitely  long  period  ?  And, 
if  so,  what  becomes  of  the  j)rimeval  institution  of  the  sabbath  ? 

And  how  are  we  to  account  on  this  ground  for  the  division  of 
time  into  weeks  of  seven  days,  which  we  know  prevailed  as  early 
as  the  Deluge,  and  probably  from  the  creation  of  man  ? 

And,  more  than  all,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  language  of  the 
fourth  commandment,  and  of  the  reason  assigned  for  its  observ- 
ance ?  Here  is  a  positive  reference  to  the  institution  of  the  sab- 
bath on  the  day  following  the  creation,  and  a  solemn  injunction 
that  we  are  to  labor  six  days,  and  rest  the  seventh,  in  commemora- 
tion of  that  great  event.  Does  not  this  prove  that  the  six  working- 
days  of  the  creation  were  no  more  than  literal  days,  as  the  seventh 
was  a  literal  day  of  rest  ? 

But  it  will  be  said  that  oiir  interpretation  of  the  six-days'  work 
is  equally  inconsistent  with  the  fourth  commandment,  which  says, 
"  In  six  days  the  Lord  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  sea, 
and  all  that  in  them  is ; "  whereas  u>e  have  said  that  the  six-days' 
work  was  only  the  renewing,  re-organizing,  and  repeopling  of  a 
previously-created  but  then  desolate  world. 

In  answer  to  this,  I  may  remark,  that  the  original  word  trans- 
lated 7nade  in  the  fourth  commandment  does  not  import,  like  Kiia  in 
the  first  verse  of  the  Bible,  a  literal  creation,  but  rather  a  trans- 
formation, ?i  fabrication,  the  shaping  and  making  of  one  tiling  from 
another.  In  this  sense,  the  world  was  literally  made  in  six  days ; 
not  created  from  nothing,  but  made  over,  —  made  what  it  now  is. 
It  was  fitted  up  for  the  residence  ^f  man,  and  the  present  races  of 
animals  and  vegetables  ;  and  the}^  were  placed  upon  it.  This  was 
the  work  of  the  six  days,  as  before  explained ;  and  it  was  a  great 


THE   CREATION   OF   THE   WORLD.  89 

work,  worthy  to  be  commemorated  in  a  succeeding  and  perpetual 
day  of  rest. 

It  will  be  objected  again,  that  six  literal  days  were  not  sufficient 
for  the  renewing,  re-organizing,  and  repeopling  of  the  world,  unless 
we  suppose  many  things  to  have  been  accomplished  almost  instant- 
ly and  by  miracle.  All  this  we  allow.  We  do  suppose  many 
things  to  have  been  accomplished  by  miracle  ;  and  all  who  hold 
rto  a  proper  creation  or  re-organization  of  the  world  must  admit  the 
same.  The  whole  work  was  an  almost  continual  succession  of  mir- 
acles. The  formation  of  every  new  species  of  animal  or  vegetable 
was  a  miracle.  There  is  a  natural  law,  by  which  a  species,  once 
created,  may  propagate  itself,  but  no  law  by  which  it  may  bring 
itself  into  being,  or  by  which  one  species  may  generate  another, 
or  may  grow,  develop,  into  another.  Hence  the  commencement 
of  every  new  species  involves  a  miracle,  in  whatever  time  or  man- 
ner the  work  may  have  been  performed.  It  is  as  much  a  miracle  to 
form  an  acorn,  and  let  it  grow  into  an  oak,  as  it  would  be  to  form 
the  oak  itself.  It  is  as  much  a  miracle  to  form  an  infant,  and  let  him 
grow  into  a  man,  as  it  would  be  to  form  a  man.  There  is  no  avoiding 
the  supposition  of  miracles  in  the  forming  and  peopling  of  the 
world,  in  whatever  manner  the  work  may  have  been  done  ;  and 
if  we  allow  the  intervention  of  miracles,  then  six  da3^s  —  or  even 
a  shorter  period,  if  such  had  been  the  pleasure  of  the  Almighty  — 
would  have  been  amply  sufficient  for  the  work  performed. 

It  is  objected  to  the  creation  of  man  at  the  time  supposed  in  the 
Scriptures,  that  his  existence  may  be*  traced  to  a  much  earlier  peri- 
od. This  is  a  recent  objection  of  geologists  ;  *  and  we  have  exam- 
ined all  the  facts  which  have  been  adduced  in  support  of  it,  —  the 
flint  implements,  the  jaw-bones  and  skeletons,  the  brick  and  pot- 
tery of  the  Nile,  the  lake-buildings,  &c.  We  might  remark  upon 
them  at  length  ;  but  really  they  do  not  deserve  so  much  attention. 
The  things  discovered  may  be  the  relics  —  or  some  of  them  may 
—  of  antediluvian  men,  but  not  of  pre-Adamite  men.  They  fail 
entirely  to  prove  the  point  for  which  they  are  adduced ;  and  this 
has  been  often  shown  by  scientific  men.  Those  who  urge  them 
will  ere  long  be  as  much  ashamed  of  them  as  they  are  now 
earnest  in  bringing  them  forward. 

We  adduce  two  facts  for  the  consideration  of  those  who  claim 

*  Only  a  few  years  ago,  Mr.  Lyell,  the  great  advocate  of  pre-Adamite  men,  was  opposed  to 
the  progressive-development  theory,  an<l  advocated  the  comparatively  recent  origin  of  man  on 
the  earth.  —  See  Marwirs  of  Prof.  Silliman,  vol.  ii.  p.  63. 


90  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

that  this  earth  has  long  been  inhabited  by  human  beings,  —  some 
think  for  a  hundred  thousand  years.  The  first  relates  to  the  pres- 
ent population  of  the  earth.  There  is  no  law  of  Nature  more 
certain  than  that  of  the  increase  of  population  in  a  geometrical 
progression,  doubling  its  numbers  at  ascertainable  periods.  These 
periods  vary  in  different  circumstances  and  countries,  varying  from 
twenty-five  to  a  hundred  years.  But,  supposing  the  earth's  popu- 
lation to  double  only  once  in  a  hundred  years,  the  whole  number  . 
in  a  hundred  thousand  years  would  be  mcalculable.  It  would  not 
leave  a  square  foot  of  surface  to  each  individual. 

The  other  fact  which  we  wish  to  present  is  this  :  On  supposition 
that  men  have  been  living,  growing,  improving,  on  the  earth  for  a 
hundred  thousand  years,  or  fol*  half  that  time,  why  is  it  that  the 
historical  period  of  Uie  race  is  of  so  recent  a  date  ?  Why  have  we 
not  authentic  records  of  some  of  these  long  ages  ?  Why  do  our 
histories  commence  so  near  to  us  ?  Why  have  we  no  history  of 
Persia  earlier  than  Herodotu^,  and  of  Egypt  than  Manetho,  and 
of  Greece  than  Thucydides,  and  of  China  than  Confucius,  and 
of  India  than  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great  ?  Previous  to  these 
times,  we  have  myths  and  fables,  but  no  authentic  history.  And 
why  have  we  not  ?  Let  those  answer  who  insist  upon  an  indefi- 
nitely long  period  for  the  existence  of  man  upon  the  earth  beyond 
that  assigned  to  him  in  the  Bible. 

It  is  further  objected  to  our  view  of  creation,  that  geology  shows 
no  such  break  in  the  continuous  chain  of  organic  life  as  the  cha- 
otic period  immediately  preceding  the  six-days'  work  would  re- 
quire, but  that  all  the  different  tribes  of  the  vegetable  and  animal 
world  have  beeil  gradually  introduced,  in  unbroken  succession, 
connecting  the  present  with  the  pre-Adamite  periods.  But  this 
statement,  urged  by  one  class  of  geologists,  is  positively  contra- 
dicted by  other  and  more  respectable  classes.  They  tell  us  that 
such  breaks  have  repeatedly^  occurred ;  that  convulsions  have  fol- 
lowed convulsions,  in  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  has  been, 
broken  up,  and  nearly  every  living  thing  on  its  surface  has  per- 
ished, to  be  followed  by  new  and  more  perfect  species  when  the 
world  was  prepared  for  them.  The  tertiary  period,  in  particular, 
was  closed  by  such  a  catastrophe.  "  Between  the  termination  of 
this  period  and  the  beginning  of  the  recent  or  human  period," 
says  Archdeacon  Pratt,  "  there  is  a  complete  break  ; "  and  Prof. 
Huxley  (who  has  no  particular  respect  for  the  Bible)  says  that 
"other   similar  breaks,   answering  to   other  chaotic   periods,  are 


THE   CREATION   OF  THE   WORLD.  91 

indicated,  followed  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  new  genera  and 
species." 

Some  have  thought  that  what  we  have  called  the  six-days'  work 
was  not  universal ;  that  it  did  not  extend  over  all  the  earth,  but 
was  confined  to  that  part  of  the  world  where  the  human  pair  were 
originally  placed.  But  I  see  not  how  any  Christian  can  hold  such 
an  opinion.  The  language  of  Scripture  on  the  subject  is  intensely 
universal,  as  much  so  as  the  heavens  and  the  earth ;  and  we  find 
no  necessity  for  any  limitation,  unless  it  be  in  the  exigencies  of 
some  geological  hypothesis,  hastily  formed,  perhaps,  and  wliich  may 
be  as  hastily  abandoned.  If  it  is  an  extreme  of  statement  to  con- 
found the  original  creation  with  the  six-days'  work,  and  suppose 
that  the  whole  took  place  together  about  six  thousand  years  ago, 
it  is  equally  an  extreme  of  statement  to  suppose  the  six-days' 
work  not  to  have  extended  to  the  whole  earth,  but  only  to  some 
little  part  of  Asia. 

I  trust  it  will  appear,  from  what  has  been  said,  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  scriptural  account  of  creation  which  conflicts  at  all 
with  any  of  the  revelations  of  modern  science.  I  am  not  one  of 
those  who  stand  in  fear  of  the  deductions  of  true  science.  The 
world  and  the  Bible  are  from  the  same  Author.  The  inscriptions 
on  the"  embedded  rocks  and  on  the  sacred  page  are  from  the  same 
Hand.  They  cannot  contradict  each  other :  they  never  did,  and, 
properly  interpreted,  they  never  will.  Let  science  be  faithfully 
aiM  thoroughly  pursued,  —  the  more  thoroughly  the  better,  —  and 
its  conclusions  will  always  serve,  not  to  refute,  but  to  confirm,  the 
declarations  of  revealed  truth. 

The  science  of  geology,  wliich  infidels  once  boasted,  and  Chris- 
tians feared,  would  contradict  the  Bible,  goes  rather  to  establish  it. 
It  removes  entirely  some  of  the  more  plausible  objections  which 
were  once  urged  against  the  Bible  ;  and,  in  many  particulars, 
its  teachings  and  those  of  the  Bible  are  the  same.  The 
Christian  world  is  really  under  great  obligations  to  the  science  of 
geology,  and  to  those  men  who  have  so  diligently  and  successfully 
pursued  it.  But  let  not  these  men  be  too  confident,  or  proceed  too 
far.  Let  them  not  frame  theories  upon  slight  and  insufiicient 
grounds,  and  then  turn  their  theories  against  the  decisions  of 
revealed  truth.  Such  a  course  may  prejudice  religion  for  the 
time  ;  but  it  will  be  sure,  in  the  end,  to  injure  the  cause  of  science, 
and  bring  it  into  contempt. 

The  work  of  creation,  which  we  have  considered,  is  one  highly 


92  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

honorable  to  tlie  Supreme  Being.  It  displays  his  infinite  wisdom 
and  goodness,  liis  uncontrollable  sovereignty,  his  almighty  power, 
and  his  perfect  fitness  to  reign  over  all  the  works  of  his  hand. 
The  creation  of  the  world  was  an  event  so  honorable  to  God,  that 
it  became  an  occasion  of  great  rejoicing  to  intelligent  creatures 
who  were  in  existence  to  behold  it.  "  When  I  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  earth,  when  I  stretched  out  the  line  upon  it,  when  I 
placed  the  corner-stone  thereof,  the  morning-stars  sang  together, 
and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy."  This  great  event  is  still 
the  occasion  of  rejoicing  and  praise,  both  to  saints  on  earth  and  to 
angels  in  heaven.  "  While  I  live,"  says  the  devout  Psalmist,  "  I 
will  praise  the  Lord ;  I  will  sing  praises  unto  my  God  while  I 
have  any  being :  for  thou  hast  made  the  heavens  and  the  earthy  the 
sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is."  "  Thou  art  worthy,"  sing  the  angelic 
choirs,  "  to  receive  glory  and  honor  and  power :  for  thou  hast  cre- 
ated all  things  ;  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are,  and  were  created." 

If  God  has  created  all  things,  then  his  intelligent  creatures  are 
bound  to  love  him,  to  confide  in  him,  to  acquiesce  in  his  glorious 
sovereignty,  to  submit  to  his  will,  to  serve  and  glorify  him  forever. 
This  may  be  thought  a  long  inference  ;  but  it  is  a  just  one.  Every 
part  and  member  of  it  is  indisputably  just.  The  work  of  creation 
shows,  not  only  that  God  is  the  absolute  proprietor  of  his  crea- 
tures, and  has  a  right  to  do  what  he  will  with  his  own,  but  that 
he  is  worthy  of  their  supreme  love  and  confidence.  They  ought  to 
love  liim  for  what  he  is.  They  ought  to  trust  in  liim,  to  obey  and 
serve  liim,  to  submit  to  his  will,  to  rejoice  in  his  sovereignty, 
and  that  forever.  Their  duty  in  this  respect  is  as  clear  as  hght ;  and 
to  discharge  it  faithfully  is  their  highest  privilege  and  glory. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE    GARDEN    OF    EDEN. 


EDEN  was  the  name  of  a  country,  or  section  of  country.  The 
garden  of  Eden  was  some  apx^ropriate  locality  in  that  coun- 
try which  God  had  prepared  for  our  first  parents,  and  in  which  he 
placed  them  immediately  after  the  creation. 

Is  it  possible,  from  the  description  of  the  sacred  writer,  to  fix 
upon  this  locality  ?  —  to  determine  where  Eden,  or  the  garden  of 
Eden,  was  ?  In  order  to  answer  this  question,  we  must  first 
answer  another ;  viz..  Does  the  description  of  Moses  apply  to 
the  country  as  it  was  in  his  day,  or  as  it  was  originally  before  the 
Flood  ?  If  the  latter,  we  may  well  despair  of  being  able  to  fix  at 
all  the  locality  of  the  garden  of  Eden  :  for  the  Flood  undoubtedly 
made  great  changes  on  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  and,  if  the  rivers 
and  lands  spoken  of  in  the  narrative  were  antediluvian,  they  may 
all  have  been  obliterated,  or  washed  away. 

But  two  considerations  go  to  assure  us  that  the  description  of 
Moses  ajiphes  to  the  rivers  and  countries  spoken  of  as  they  were 
after  the  Flood,  and  as  they  were  known  to  be  in  his  own  age. 
1.  On  the  other  supposition,  his  description  would  be  perfectly  use- 
less. It  could  convey  no  knowledge  or  idea  of  the  locality  what- 
ever. 2.  The  names  of  the  countries  described  are  such  as  must 
have  been  given  to  them  after  the  Flood.  How  came  any  country 
to  be  called  Havilah  ?  It  was  named  for  Havilah,  who  was  a  son 
of  Gush,  a  grandson  of  Ham,  and  a  great-grandson  of  Noah  (Gen. 
X.  7).  And  why  was  any  country,  in  those  early  times,  called 
Gush,  improperly  rendered,  by  our  translators,  Ethiopia?  The 
answer  is  easy.  It  was  named  for  Gush,  the  father  of  Havilah, 
and  the  son  of  Ham.  We  thus  see  that  both  the  countries  referred 
to  in  the  description  of  Eden  were  named  for  individuals  who 
lived  after  the  Flood.     We  infer  assuredly  that  the   description 

93 


94  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

applies  to  these  countries  as  they  were  subsequent  to  the  Deluge, 
and  probably  in  the  days  of  Moses. 

We  come  back,  then,  to  the  question  first  proposed.  Allowing 
the  description  of  the  sacred  writer  to  apply  to  the  rivers  and 
countries  spoken  of  as  they  were  in  his  own  time,  is  it  possible  to 
determine,  from  this  description,  where  Eden,  or  the  garden  of 
Eden,  was  located  ? 

Eden  literally  signi^es  pleasure,  delight;  and  seems  to  have  been 
anciently  appropriated  to  several  places  whose  situation  was 
delightful.  Thus  we  find  it  written  in  the  first  chapter  of  Amos  : 
"  I  will  cut  off  the  inhabitants  from  the  plain  of  Aven,  and  him 
that  holds  the  sceptre  from  the  house  of  Eden ;  and  the  people  of 
Syria  shall  go  into  captivity."  "  The  house  of  Eden  "  here  spoken 
of  was  somewhere  in  Syria,  not  far  from  Damascus,  and  cannot 
have  been  the  Eden  of  which  we  are  in  search.  There  are  several 
places  in  Arabia  Felix  which  formerly  bore  the  names  of  Aden,  or 
Eden ;  but  in  none  of  them  was  the  garden  of  Eden,  the  abode 
of  our  first  parents  before  the  fall. 

There  is  hardly  a  country  in  the  world  which  has  not,  at  some 
time,  been  thought  to  contain  the  garden  of  Eden,  —  the  earthly 
paradise.  Some  have  found  it  in  Euroj^e,  some  in  Asia,  some 
in  Africa,  and  some  in  America.  Some  have  placed  it  on  the 
banks  of  the  Danube  ;  some  on  the  Ganges  ;  some  in  the  Island 
of  Ceylon ;  some  in  Persia,  Armenia,  Chalda3a,  Arabia ;  some  in 
Palestine  and  Syria.  Amid  such  a  diversity  of  opinions,  we  ask 
again,  Is  it  possible  to  fix  the  locality  with  any  degree  of  satis- 
faction ? 

It  is  certain,  from  the  description  in  Genesis,  that  Eden  must 
have  been  contiguous  to  the  Rivers  Hiddekel  and  Euphrates.  The 
Hiddekel  is  undoubtedly  the  Tigris.  It  was  so  considered  by  the 
ancients  generally,  and  is  so  translated  in  the  Septuagint.  It  agrees 
also  to  the  Tigris  in  that  "  it  goes  before  Assjaia."  Moses  calls 
the  Euphrates  the  Phrat ;  and  so  it  has  been  called  from  the 
most  ancient  times.  The  little  word  Eu,  signifying  water,  has  been 
prefixed  to  it :  so  that  Euphrates  is  literally  the  waters  of  the 
Phrat.  From  the  account  thus  far,  we  may  be  sure  that  Eden  was 
somewhere  on  the  Rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris.     But  where  ? 

As  these  rivers  rise  not  remote  from  each  other  in  the  mountains 
of  Armenia,  some  have  been  inclined  to  place  the  garden  of  Eden 
there.  But  there  are  two  objections  to  this  supposition.  1.  The 
garden  of  Eden  was  eastivard  from  the  place  where  Moses  was 


THE   GARDEN   OF  EDEN.  95 

when  he  wrote  the  account :  "  The  Lord  God  planted  a  garden 
easttvard  in  Eden."  Now,  if  we  suppose  Moses  to  have  written 
the  Pentateuch  during  the  sojourn  of  the  Israehtes  in  the  wilder- 
ness, the  mountains  of  Armeiiia  would  have  been  not  easttvard 
from  him,  but  far  to  the  north.  2.  We  shall  look  in  vain  for  the 
lands  of  Havilah  and  Cush  (translated  Ethiopia)  in  the  mountains 
of  Armenia. 

Moses  speaks  in  the  narrative  not  only  of  the  Rivers  Euphrates 
and  Hiddekel,  or  Tigris,  but  of  two  others,  the  Pison  and  Gihon. 
The  Pison,  he  says,  "  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where 
there  is  gold."  Where,  now,  is  this  land  of  Havilah  ?  or  where 
did  Havilah,  the  great-grandson  of  Noah,  and  his  posterity,  settle  ? 
I  answer,  Havilah  was  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  Arabia,  near 
the  Persian  Gulf;  opposite  to  Shur,  in  the  north-western  part, 
which  bordered  on  the  Red  Sea.  Thus  it  is  said  of  the  Ishmael- 
ites  that  "  they  dwelt  from  Havilah  unto  Shur,  that  is  before 
Egypt "  (Gen.  xxv.  18).  In  other  words,  they  inhabited  the  north- 
ern part  of  what  is  now  Arabia,  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Red. 
Sea.  We  have  a  parallel  expression  in  1  Sam.  xv.  7  :  "  And  Saul 
smote  the  Amalekites  from  Havilah  until  thou  comest  to  Shur, 
that  is  over  against  Egypt."  If  there  is  any  doubt  as  to  the  situa- 
tion of  Shur,  we  have  it  explained  in  another  passage.  When  the 
Israelites  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea,  they  came  out  immediately 
"into  the  wilderness  of  Shur"  (Exod.  xv.  22).  Shur,  then,  was 
in  the  north-western  part  of  Arabia,  touching  upon  the  Red  Sea ; 
and  opposite  to  it,  in  the  north-eastern  part,  was  Havilah,  which 
was  compassed  by  the  ancient  Pison. 

We  inquire  next,  Wliere  was  the  land  of  Cush  (translated 
Ethiopia)  which  the  Gihon  compassed?  In  other  words.  Where 
did  Cush,  the  grandson  of  Noah,  originally  settle  ?  I  answer, 
Cush  and  the  Cushites,  or  Ethiopians,  seem  to  have  been  a  migra- 
tory people.  At  a  later  period,  we  find  them  in  the  south-eastern 
part  of  Arabia ;  and  still  later  in  Africa,  in  the  country  now  called 
Ethiopia.  But  their  original  settlement,  after  the  Flood,  seems  to 
have  been  on  the  eastern  mouth-branch  of  the  Euphrates,  where 
it  enters  into  the  Persian  Gulf.*  The  Euphrates,  it  will  be 
remembered,  after  it  receives  the  Tigris,  flows  on,  in  one  channel, 
about  two  hundred  miles,  when  it  divides  into  two  rivers,  forming 

*  Bunsen  denies  that  the  Cushites  ever  settled  in  Asia:  "An  Asiatic  Cush  exists  only 
in  the  imaginations  of  the  interpreters,  and  is  the  child  of  their  despair."  But  Sir  Henry 
Rawlinson  has  demonstrated  that  the  original  settlement  of  the  Cushites  was  on  the  Lower 
Euphrates,  as  stated  above.  —  See  BawUnsoii's  Evidences,  p.  279. 


96  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

a  delta  like  the  Nile.  The  westernmost  of  these  delta-streams, 
called  the  Pison,  compassed  the  ancient  HavUah ;  and  the  eastern- 
most, called  the  Gilion,  compassed  the  ancient  Gush ;  both  enter- 
ing into  the  Persian  Gulf.  That  the  Cushites  originally  dwelt  on- 
this  mouth-branch  of  the  Euphrates  is  evident,  because  they  have 
left  their  name  there.  The  country  is  expressly  called  Cuth^  or 
Cush^  and  the  inhabitants  Ctithai,  or  Cushites,  in  2  Kings  xvii. 
24,  30.  A  province  of  this  country  still  bears  the  name  of  Chu- 
zasthan. 

We  have,  then,  found  the  four  rivers  spoken  of  by  Moses,  —  the 
Euphrates ;  the  Tigris  ;  the  Gihon,  watering  the  land  of  Gush ; 
and  the  Pison,  compassing  the  land  of  Havilah,  where  is  gold,  — 
pure  gold ;  where  also  is  "  the  bdellium  and  the  onyx  stone." 
Diodorus  says  that  in  Arabia  "  was  found  natural  gold  of  so  lively 
a  color,  that  it  was  very  much  like  the  brightness  of  fire,  and  so 
pure  that  it  wanted  neither  fire  nor  refining  to  purify  it."  *  This 
country  was  also  famous,  in  ancient  times,  for  its  precious  stones, 
aromatic  gums,  and  pearls. 

If,  now,  we  have  succeeded  in  identifying  the  localities  above 
described,  it  cannot  be  difficult  to  fix  pretty  nearly  the  situation 
of  the  primitive  Eden.  It  must  have  been  on  the  Euphrates, 
between  its  junction  with  the  Tigris  and  its  separation  into  the 
Pison  and  Gihon.  And  somewhere  in  this  land  of  Eden  was 
the  garden,  the  paradise  of  our  first  parents.  The  great  River 
Euphrates  ran  through  the  land  of  Eden,  and  "  went  out  of  it 
to  water  the  garden ;  and  from  thence,"  i.  e.,  from  the  land  of 
Eden,  "  it  was  parted  into  four  heads,"  or  streams,  — two  coming 
down  from  above,  and  dividing  itself  into  two  below. 

We  have  further  evidence  that  the  land  of  Eden  was  where  we 
have  supposed  in  that  the  country  about  there  continued  to  be 
caUed  Eden  long  after  the  time  of  Moses.  Thus,  when  Sen- 
nacherib sent  a  threatening  message  to  King  Hezekiah,  he  boasted 
that  he  had  destroyed  the  countries  of  Gozan  and  Haran  and 
Rezeph,  and  of  the  children  of  Eden,  which  are  in  Telassar.  Now, 
these  are,  all  of  them,  countries  of  Mesopotamia ;  and  Telassar, 
or  Talatha,  is  placed  by  Ptolemy  at  the  bottom  of  the  common 
channel  of  the  Euphrates,  just  before  it  parts  to  form  its  delta. 
Here,  then,  was  the  country  of  "  the  children  of  Eden,"  in  the 
days  of  Sennacherib, — precisely  where  we  have  supposed  the  land 
of  Eden  to  be  placed. 

*  Lib.  ii.,  iii. 


THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN.  97 

In  the  account  I  have  here  given  of  the  location  of  Eden,  I 
claim  not  the  merit  of  a  new  discovery.  I  have  merely  revived, 
and  as  I  hope  confirmed,  the  accounts  given  long  ago  by  our  best 
writers,  such  as  Huet,  Shuckford,  Wells,  Stackhouse,  and  the 
authors  of  "  The  Universal  History."  Other  hypotheses  have 
been  urged  since  their  time ;  but,  upon  a  careful  review  of  much 
that  has  been  said,  I  revert  to  the  old  account  of  the  matter,  as 
the  one  most  probable  and  best  established.  Indeed,  I  know  no 
other  spot  on  the  face  of  the  earth  which  agrees  at  all  with  the 
description  of  Moses,  except  that  which  has  been  here  assigned  as 
the  locality  of  the  primitive  Eden. 

It  follows  from  the  statements  which  have  been  made,  that, 
whatever  changes  may  have  occurred  in  other  parts  of  the  earth, 
the  localities  of  which  we  have  spoken  were  not  broken  up,  or 
very  much  disturbed,  at  the  time  of  the  Deluge.  The  great  rivers 
seem  to  have  flowed  ui  the  same  channels  as  before,  and  the  land 
of  Eden  was  known  to  be  the  same  country. 

Having  now  finished  all  I  propose  to  say  as  to  the  site  of  the 
garden  of  Eden,  let  us  turn  to  consider  some  of  its  contents.  Its 
very  name  imports  that  it  was  a  delightful  place.  The  imagination 
of  a  Milton  could  hardly  have  exceeded  it.  In  it  was  "  every  tree 
that  was  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food.  The  tree  of  life 
also  was  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
between  good  and  evil."  Both  of  these  trees  were  fruit-trees ;  but 
as  to  the  kind  of  fruit  which  either  of  them  bore,  we  have  no  knowl- 
edge. Without  doubt,  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  was 
tempting  and  beautiful.  It  was  placed  in  the  garden  for  the  trial 
of  our  innocent  first  parents.  They  needed  a  trial.  They  must 
have  a  trial.  God  tries  all  his  intelligent  creatures  before  he  fixes 
them  in  their  eternal  state.  As  our  first  parents  were  unlearned  and 
inexperienced,  it  was  proper  that  their  trial  should  be  of  the  plainest, 
simplest  kind.  The  prohibition  enjoined  upon  them  was  one  which 
they  could  not  misunderstand,  and  wliich  they  could  not  ignorantly 
or  inexcusably  violate. 

The  tree  of  which  we  now  speak  was  appropriately  called  "  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge  between  good  and  evil."  It  was  so  caUed, 
because,  by  means  of  it,  our  first  parents  came  to  know,  experi- 
mentally, the  difference  between  good  and  evil.  But  for  this 
tempting,  seductive  tree,  they  never  had  known  in  their  own  expe- 
rience what  sin  or  pain  or  any  form  of  evil  was,  and  consequently 
had  not  known  the  difference  between  evil  and  good. 
7 


98  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Of  the  results  of  tlieir  trial,  I  shall  speak  more  fully  in  another 
place.  Suffice  it  to  say  now,  that  it  was  a  perfectly  fair  one  ;  and 
that,  for  their  sin  in  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  there  was,  there  could 
be,  no  excuse. 

But  there  was  another  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  called  the 
tree  of  life.  What  are  we  to  suppose  as  to  the  design  and  object, 
the  import  and  use,  of  this  remarkable  tree  ? 

Some  have  thought  that  the  tree  of  life  was  the  token  of  the  first 
covenant^  —  the  covenant  of  works.  It  has  been  said,  that,  "  when 
God  created  man,  he  entered  into  a  covenant  of  life  with  him  upon 
condition  of  perfect  obedience."  In  other  words,  God  proposed  to 
man,  if  he  would  continue  perfectly  obedient,  that  he  would  give 
him  eternal  life.  The  man  consented  to  the  proposal ;  and  thus  a 
proper  covenant  of  works  was  formed.  The  token  of  this  covenant 
was  the  tree  of  life,  which,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  garden, 
was  a  pledge  and  an  assurance  of  that  endless  life,  which,  on  condi- 
tion of  obedience,  God  had  promised. 

In  reference  to  this  theory,  I  remark,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to 
discover  any  evidence  in  the  Scriptures  of  a  proper  covenant-trans- 
action between  God  and  Adam  previous  to  the  fall.  God  created 
our  first  parents  intelligent  beings,  —  free,  moral,  accountable 
agents,  the  proper  subjects  of  law  and  government.  As  such,  he 
placed  them  at  once  under  laiv :  the  necessary  imjoort  of  which  was, 
that,  if  they  obeyed,  they  should  be  rew,arded ;  if  they  disobeyed, 
they  should  be  punished.  'The  language  of  God  to  Adam  was  not 
that  of  proposition,  of  covenant,  but  rather  that  of  positive  law : 
"  The  Lord  God  commanded  the  man,  saying.  Of  every  tree  of  the 
garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat ;  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
between  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for,  in  the  day  that 
thou  eatest  of  it,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  This,  certainly,  is  the 
language  of  Zaw,  — positive  laiv  ;  and,  except  as  law  is  sometimes 
called  covenant  in  the  Scriptures,  there  was  no  covenant  with 
Adam  before  the  fall.  But  if  there  was  no  proper  covenant  made 
with  Adam  in  the  garden,  then  the  tree  of  life  could  not  have  been 
the  token  of  such  a  covenant ;  and  the  theory  above  stated  as  to  the 
object  and  import  of  this  tree  is  without  foundation.  Man  needed 
no  public  pledge  or  token  to  assure  him  that  God  would  reward  the 
obedient,  and  punish  the  disobedient.  Such  is  the  necessary  import 
of  law.,  — pure  law.,  —  under  which  our  first  parents  were  placed, 
and  to  confirm  which  no  public  pledge  or  token  was  necessary. 

Others  have  supposed  a  connection  between  the  tree  of  life  and 


THE  GARDEN   OF   EDEN,  99 

llie  trials  \h.e  probation,  on  wliich  man  was  placed.  If  he  persevered 
in  holiness  to  the  end  of  his  trial,  he  was  then  to  be  confirmed  in 
holiness ;  and,  in  assurance  of  such  confirmation,  he  should  be 
permitted  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life.  Its  fruit  should  be  to  him  a 
pledge  that  his  probation  was  happily  accomplished,  and  that 
a  confirmed  state  of  holiness  and  happiness  was  now  before  him. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  Adam  was  on  trial  before  the  fall ;  and  that, 
if  he  had  persevered  in  holiness  for  a  limited  time,  he  would  have 
been,  like  the  angels,  confirmed  in  a  state  of  holiness  and  happiness 
forever.  But  I  much  doubt  whether  the  real  object  of  the  tree  of 
life  is  correctly  stated  in  the  above  theory.  This  theory  supposes 
that  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  might  not  be  eaten  until  the  proba- 
tion of  our  first  parents  was  accomplished ;  whereas  it  is  plain 
from  the  narrative  that  this  fruit  might  be  eaten  at  any  time. 
There  was  but  one  prohibited  tree  in  the  garden ;  and  that  was  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Of  every  other  tree,  and  con- 
sequently of  the  tree  of  life,  it  is  expressly  said  that  our  first  parents 
might  freely  eat.  How,  then,  can  it  be  made  to  appear  that  they 
might  not  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  life  until  their  trial  was 
accomplished,  and  their  confirmed  state  of  holiness  and  happiness 
commenced  ? 

But,  if  neither  of  the  above  theories  as  to  the  import  and  design 
of  the  tree  of  life  is  to  be  admitted,  what  are  we  to  suppose  in  rela- 
tion to  it  ?  What  was  its  object  ?  For  what  was  it  planted  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden  ? 

Before  answering  these  questions,  let  it  be  observed  that  temporal 
death  —  the  dissolution  of  the  connection  between  soul  and  body  — 
is  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  bitter  consequences  of  the  fall.  So 
it  is  represented  in  the  Scriptures  :  "  By  man  came  death."  "  In 
Adam  all  die."  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death 
by  sin.''  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  man  would  ever  have  been 
called  to  suffer  the  pains  of  temporal  death  if  he  had  not  sinned.  • 
He  might  not,  indeed,  have  lived  in  this  world  always ;  but  some 
easier  exit  out  of  it  would  have  been  provided  for  him  than  through 
the  iron  gate  of  death.  He  might  have  been  translated  as  were 
Enoch  and  Elijah.  At  any  rate,  he  would  not  have  been  called  to 
endure  the  pains  of  temporal  dissolution. 

I  speak  here  of  man,  and  not  of  mere  animals.  Animals,  I  have 
no  doubt,  died  before  Adam  hved ;  and  would  have  continued  to 
die,  though  he  had  never  sinned.  J^ut  not  so  the  human  race  :  to 
them,  death  was  a  bitter  fruit  of  sin. 


100  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

But  if  man  in  his  innocence  was  not  subject  to  death,  then  some 
provision  must  have  been  made  for  counteracting  and  removing 
the  sources  of  disease  and  dissolution  within  him,  —  the  ordinary 
causes  of  death.  As  he  was  not  to  lead  a  life  of  indolence,  but 
one  of  cheerful,  healthful  industry,  dressing  the  garden  of  Eden, 
and  keeping  it,  he  was  subject,  as  man  now  is,  to  casualties  and 
injuries.  He  was  subject,  inherently  and  necessarily,  to  hunger, 
thirst,  lassitude,  weariness,  disease,  decay ;  and  these  must  have 
ultimately  worn  him  out,  and  resulted  in  death,  had  not  some 
method  been  devised  to  counteract  their  influence,  and  repair  those 
wastes  in  the  physical  constitution  which  they  were  sure  to  make. 

And  here,  I  think,  we  may  discover  the  precise  use  and  object 
of  the  tree  of  life.  It  was  placed  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  in  a 
situation  easy  of  access,  that  it  might  be  a  perfect  and  universal 
restorative  ;  that  it  might  heal  all  maladies,  overcome  all  the  causes 
of  disease  and  decay,  and  preserve  innocent  and  happy  man  in  a 
state  of  perpetual  health,  strength,  and  maturity,  until  his  trial  was 
ended,  and  he  should  be  removed  to  his  final  and  glorified  state  in 
heaven. 

That  this  was  the  proper  design  and  use  of  the  tree  in  question 
is  evident  from  the  name  given  to  it.  It  was  the  tree  of  life; 
importing  that  life  was  to  be  perpetuated,  and  death  averted,  by 
its  means. 

The  same  is  further  evident  from  what  was  said  of  this  tree 
subsequent  to  the  apostasy.  Of  the  curse  pronounced  upon  fallen 
man,  temporal  death  constituted  an  important  part  :  "  In  the 
sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread  till  thou  return  unto 
the  ground ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :  for  dust  thou  art,  and 
unto  dust  shalt  thou  return^  Of  the  infliction  here  denounced, 
there  was  to  be,  there  has  been,  no  remission.*  The  dread  decree 
has  been  rigidly  executed,  and  will  be  to  the  end  of  time.  But 
the  tree  of  life  is  in  the  garden ;  and  how  is  fallen  man  to  die  if 
he  may  have  free  access  to  it  ?  If  he  may  pluck  and  apply  its 
healing  leaves,  and  partake  of  its  life-giving,  health-restoring  fruit, 
how  is  the  inexorable  decree  of  temporal  dissolution  ever  to  be 
executed  ?  It  cannot  be.  Man,  then,  must  be  shut  out  from  the 
tree  of  life,  or  he  will  never  return  to  the  dust.  He  must  be  rigidly 
excluded  from  it,  or  he  will  live  forever.  Accordingly,  we  find 
him  instantly  driven  out  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  debarred 

*  With  the  exception  of  Enoch  and  Elijah. 


THE   GARDEN   OF  EDEN,  101 

from  entering  it ;  and  all  for  this  specific  reason :  "  Lest  lie  put 
forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live 
forever.''''  What  propriety  or  force  in  the  reason  here  assigned  for 
the  shutting  of  Adam  out  of  paradise  but  upon  the  ground  that 
the  purpose  and  use  of  the  tree  of  life  were  such  as  have  been 
stated?  If  this  tree  was  provided  as  a  universal  restorative^  a 
catholicon,  in  the  use  of  which  men  could  feel  no  disease,  would 
suffer  no  decay,  could  never  die,  then  was  it  necessary  that 
doomed  man  should  be  driven  away  from  it,  and  kept  away.  On 
this  supposition,  and  no  other  that  I  can  conceive,  was  it  necessary 
that  there  should  be  placed  "  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden 
cherubim,  and  a  flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep 
the  way  of  the  tree  of  life." 

In  strict  accordance  with  the  import  which  we  have  given  to  the 
tree  of  life  is  the  figurative  use  of  this  phraseology  in  different 
parts  of  the  Bible.  In  several  instances,  we  find  the  tree  of  life 
spoken  of  figuratively  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs ;  and  in  every  case 
it  has  the  sense  of  healthful^  saving^  health-restoring.  Thus  of  Wis- 
dom it  is  said,  "  She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold  upon  her." 
That  is,  she  is  saving^  healthful.,  to  them :  she  will  be  a  means  of 
preserving  and  prolonging  their  lives  in  this  world,  as  well  as  of 
conferring  inimortal  life  in  the  next.  Again  it  is  said,  "  The  fruit 
of  the  righteous  is  a  tree  of  life."  By  the  fruit  of  the  righteous 
may  be  understood  their  good  example,  their  pious  discourse,  their 
wise  instructions,  and  their  fervent  prayers.  And  these  are  "  a 
tree  of  life."  In  other  words,  they  are  saving.,  salutary :  they  tend 
to  the  salvation,  temporally  and  spiritually,  of  those  who  enjoy 
them.  Still  again  Solomon  says,  "  A  wholesome  tongue  is  a  tree 
of  life."  Here  the  same  leading  idea  is  manifest.  A  wholesome 
tongue,,  full'  of  wise  and  good  counsel,  is  exceedingly  salutary  : 
it  preserves  from  a  thousand  ills  in  tliis  life,  and  confers,  often, 
immortal  blessings.  From  these  instances,  taken  from  the  Book 
of  Proverbs,  it  is  evident  that  Solomon  must  have  had  the  same 
idea  as  to  the  purpose  and  use  of  the  literal  tree  of  life  with  that 
given  above.  Here  is  no  intimation  of  its  being  the  token  of  a 
covenant,  or  an  appendage  to  Adam's  probation  ;  but  it  was  health- 
ful, salutary,  designed  for  the  indefinite  prolongation  of  physical 
life ;  since,  on  this  specific  meaning,  all  his  figurative  uses  of  the 
words  are  based. 

We  come  to  the  same  conclusion  from  the  symbolical  use  of  the 
phrase   tree   of  life  in  the   Scriptures.      In  the  last   chapter  of 


102  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

the  Revelation,  we  have  a  description  of  the  celestial  paradise,  in 
which  the  drapery,  the  imagery,  is  borrowed  extensively  fi-om  the 
terrestrial  paradise,  or  garden  of  Eden:  "In  the  midst  of  the 
street  of  "  the  heavenly  paradise,  "  and  on  either  side  of  the  river," 
—  for  there  is  a  river  here,  as  there  was  in  Eden,  —  "  was  there  the 
tree  of  life,  which  bare  twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  yielded  its 
fruit  every  month  ;  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  healing 
of  the  nations,"  —  yes,  '•'•for  the  healiyig  of  the  natio7is.''  Who  can 
doubt,  after  this,  as  to  the  design  of  the  literal  tree  of  life  ?  It  must 
have  been  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  —  for  the  preserving,  pro- 
longing, and  perpetuating  of  the  natural  life  which  God  had 
imparted  to  his  innocent  offspring.  The  symbohcal  tree  of  life  in 
the  heavenly  paradise  is  equivalent  to  an  assurance,  that,  in  that 
blessed  world,  there  shall  be  no  more  disease,  no  pain,  no  death. 
So  the  literal  tree  of  life  assured  our  first  parents,  that,  so  long  as 
they  had  access  to  it  in  their  innocency,  they  should  never  die. 

We  have  a  parallel  passage  to  this  in  the  Revelation,  in  which 
the  same  idea  as  to  the  purpose  of  the  literal  tree  of  life  is  shad- 
owed forth.  It  is  in  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  holy  waters  issuing 
out  from  the  sanctuary,  on  the  banks  of  which  "  grow  trees,"  — 
trees  of  life,  —  "  whose  leaves  never  fade,  and  the  fruit  thereof 
shall  be  for  meat,  and  the  leaf  thereof /or  medicine  "  (Ezek.  xlvii. 
12).  The  imagery  here,  as  in  the  Revelation,  is  borrowed  from  the 
garden  of  Eden,  through  which  flowed  a  river,  and  in  the  midst  of 
which  grew  the  literal  tree  of  life.  Its  design  was  —  if  there  is 
any  appropriateness  in  these  symbols  —  to  prevent  all  disease, 
decay,  and  suffering  in  the  innocent  beings  who  partook  of  it,  and 
secure  them  in  the  possession  of  an  endless  life.  Hence,  as  before 
remarked,  when  our  first  parents  lost  their  innocency,  and  were 
doomed  to  revert  to  their  parent  dust,  they  were  sternly  debarred 
from  the  tree  of  life,  lest  they  should  put  forth  their  hand,  and  eat, 
and  the  curse  denounced  against  them  should  never  be  executed. 

The  garden  of  Eden  has  long  since  been  desolated,  and  the 
literal  tree  of  life  has  ceased  from  the  earth.  Its  healing  leaves 
have  fallen,  and  its  root  has  decayed  and  mouldered  away.  It 
could  not  l6ng  flourish  in  this  infected,  doomed,  accursed  world  ; 
and,  while  it  remained,  there  was  no  approach  to  it  for  apostate 
man.  Cherubim  and  a  flaming  sword  guarded  every  avenue,  and 
forbade  all  access  to  the  literal  tree  of  life.  The  curse  pronounced 
upon  our  race  must  be  executed.  Dust  we  are,  and  to  the  dust  we 
must  return. 


THE   GARDEN   OF  EDEN.  103 

But  let  US  be  thankful  that  there  is  another  tree  of  life,  the 
approaches  to  which  are  guarded  by  no  flaming  sword  ;  whose  leaf 
does  not  wither ;  whose  fruit  does  not  fail ;  which  lives  and  flour- 
ishes and  blooms  forever.  It  is  planted,  not  in  Eden,  but  in  the 
paradise  of  God  above  ;  and  the  way  to  it  is  open  and  easy  to  all 
the  obedient  children  of  God  :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  com- 
mandments, that  they  may  have  a  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may 
enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city." 


CHAPTER    Vm. 


THE    FALL   OF    MAN. 


MY  last  chapter  was  on  the  garden  of  Eden.  I  am  now  to 
speak  of  an  event  which  early  occurred  in  the  garden,  — 
an  event  in  which  we  all  have  a  melancholy  interest,  —  the  apostasy 
of  our  first  parents.  We  have  a  narrative  of  this  event,  and  of  its 
immediate  consequences,  in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis. 

Our  first  parents  were  created  in  the  image  of  G-od.  By  this 
we  understand  that  they  were,  in  their  measure  and  capacities, 
like  God.  They  bore  his  image,  or  were  hke  him,  in  two 
respects.  And,  first,  in  respect  to  his  natural  image.  God  is  a 
spirit;  and  so  were  they:  God  has  intelligence,  reason,  con- 
science, and  will ;  and  so  had  they :  God  is  a  free  moral  agent ; 
and  so  were  they.  And,  secondly,  our  first  parents  bore  at  the 
first  the  moral  image  of  God.  They  were  holy,  like  God.  Their 
holiness  was  the  same  —  not  in  degree,  but  in  hind  —  as  that  of 
their  Maker. 

Being  free,  moral,  responsible  agents,  they  were  proper  subjects 
of  law  and  government,  and  came  at  once  under  the  law  and 
government  of  God.  They  were  subject  to  the  great  law  of  love, 
and  to  all  those  outward  exempHfications  of  it  which  are  discov- 
erable by  the  hght  of  reason  and  nature.  They  were  subject 
also  to  a  few  plain,  positive  precepts.  They  were  to  dress  the 
garden  of  Eden,  and  to  keep  it.  They  were  to  observe  and  sanc- 
tify the  sabbath.  And  from  one  of  the  trees  of  the  garden  — 
the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  —  they  were  to 
abstain  entirely,  under  penalty  of  death:  "Ye  shall  not  eat  of 
it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die."  This  injunction  seems 
to  have  been  laid  upon  our  first  parents  more  especially  for  their 
trial.  They  were  on  trial  to  see  if  they  would  keep  all  the  divine 
commands,  but  more  especially  this.  This  was  a  plain,  positive 
command,  the  import  of  which  they  could  not  misunderstand,  and 

104 


THE   FALL  OF  MAN.  105 

the  reasons  of  wliich,  probably,  they  did  not  fully  comprehend ; 
so  that  obedience  to  it  would  be  a  suitable  trial  of  their  faith,  as 
well  as  of  their  moral  strength. 

The  death  which  was  threatened  to  our  first  parents,  in  case  of 
disobedience,  they  would  naturally  understand  to  be  the  proper 
penalty/  of  the  divine  law  under  which  they  were  placed, — the 
same  which  was  executed  on  the  apostate  angels  when  they  sinned  ; 
in  other  words,  spiritual  and  eternal  death. 

That  temporal  death,  though  a  consequence  of  sin,  constitutes 
no  part  of  the  proper  penalty  of  the  law,  is  evident  from  two  con- 
siderations :  1.  Christ  does  not  redeem  his  people  from  temporal 
death.  He  came  to  redeem  them  from  the  curse  of  the  law ;  and 
he  does  redeem  them  from  it.  He  redeems  them  from  spiritual 
and  eternal  death.  But  from  temporal  dissolution  Christ  does 
not  redeem  his  people.  They  die,  in  this  sense,  as  well  as  others ; 
a  fact  which  fully  shows  that  temporal  dissolution  constitutes 
no  part  of  the  curse  and  penalty  of  the  law.  2.  If  the  proper 
penalty  of  the  law,  involving  the  eternal  destruction  of  soul  and 
body  m  hell,  had  been  immediately  executed  upon  our  first 
parents,  there  had  been  no  room  for  temporal  death :  it  had  been 
entirely  precluded.  Soul  and  body  must  have  gone  to  destruc- 
tion together,  and  could  not  have  been  separated. 

These  considerations  make  it  certain  that  temporal  dissolution 
(though,  as  I  said,  a  consequence  of  sin)  is  yet  no  part  of  the 
proper  penalty  of  the  law,  and,  consequently,  was  not  included  in 
the  original  tlireatening  to  Adam.  Our  first  parents  were  placed 
originally  under  a  dispensation  of  pure  law.  Their  probation  was 
one  of  law,  and  not  of  grace ;  and  the  death  with  which  they 
were  threatened  in  case  of  transgression,  was,  wilhout  doubt,  the 
proper  penalty  of  the  law,  wliich  is  eternal  and  spiritual  death. 

Thus,  then,  were  our  first  parents  situated  in  the  garden  of 
Eden, — intelligent  beings,  free  moral  agents,  under  a  dispensa- 
tion of  law  which  they  had  never  transgressed,  and  on  trial  to  see 
whether  they  would  persevere  in  holiness,  and  thus  secure  ever- 
lasting life ;  or  whether  they  would  transgress  the  law,  and  incur 
the  penalty  which  hung  suspended  over  them.  The  result  of  their 
probation  we  too  well  know.  The  serpent  persuaded  the  woman, 
and  she  persuaded  her  husband,  to  "eat  of  that  forbidden  tree, 
whose  mortal  taste  brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe." 
Two  or  three  questions  arise  hpre,  which  demand  consideration 
before  we  further  proceed  with  the  subject :  — 


106  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

1.  T\Tiat  are  we  to  iiuderstand  by  the  serpent,  which  is  said  to 
have  beguiled  Eve  ?  "Who  was  he  ?  What  was  he  ?  That  he  was 
an  animal  of  the  serpent  kind,  and  not  (as  some  have  supposed) 
a  baboon  or  monkey,  is  indubitable.  He  is  expressly  called  oqpt^,  a 
serpent,  by  the  apostle  Paul :  "  I  fear,  lest  by  any  means,  as  the 
serpent  beguiled  Eve  thi'ough  his  subtlety,  so  your  minds  should  be 
corrupted  from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ ''  (2  Cor.  xi.  3).  He 
probably  had  other  means  of  locomotion  besides  what  serpents 
now  have,  —  feet  or  wings,  or  something  of  the  kind,  of  which  he 
was  divested  in  consequence  of  his  assault  upon  our  unsuspecting 
first  parents.     Still  he  was  a  species  of  serpent. 

And  yet  he  was  not  a  mere  serpent.  He  displayed  an  artifice,  a 
cunning,  a  subtlety,  a  mahce,  of  which  no  mere  brute  animal  was  ever 
capable.  His  body  and  faculties  were  possessed,  for  the  time,  by 
that  old  Serpent,  the  Devil,  the  Wicked  One.  De^"ils  sometimes  pos- 
sessed the  bodies  of  animals,  as  well  as  of  men,  in  the  time  of  our 
Sa^doiu'.  A  legion  of  them  once  entered  into  a  herd  of  swme, 
which,  in  consequence,  ran  ^-iolently  down  a  steep  place  into  the 
sea,  and  were  di'owned.  That  the  Devil  was  the  real  agent  in  de- 
ceiving our  first  mother,  and  di'awing  her  into  sin,  is  eAident  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  and  is  implied  in  many  Scriptures.  Accord- 
ingl}-,  the  curse  pronounced  upon  the  serpent  extended  farther 
than  to  the  literal  animal :  it  reached  to  that  old  Serpent,  the 
Devil,  and  portended  the  victory  which  our  Saviour  was  to  achieve 
over  him  upon  the  cross. 

2.  Our  second  inquiry  relates  to  the  speaking  of  the  serpent. 
Did  he  hterally  speak  to'  the  woman  ?  K  so,  was  not  his  speaking 
a  miracle,  and  a  miracle  performed  for  a  had  purpose,  —  for  the 
purpose  of  di-awing  our  first  parents  into  sin  ?  I  suppose  the  ser- 
pent did  hterally  speak  to  the  woman.  He  held  a  hteral  conversa- 
tion with  her.  We  must  suppose  this,  imless  we  regard  the  entire 
narrative  as  an  allegory,  —  a  supposition  which  the  connection,  and 
many  other  Scriptures,  forbid.  Nor  do  I  think  the  speaking  of 
Satan  through  the  organs  of  the  serpent  a  proper  miracle,  invohing 
(as  all  miracles  do)  a  suspension  of  the  powers  and  laws  of  Nature, 
and  a  direct  interposition  of  the  power  of  God.  The  probability 
is,  that  Satan  was  able,  by  his  0"v\ti  natural  powers,  to  speak  audi- 
bly and  intelligibly  through  the  organs  of  the  serpent.  We  know 
that  he  often  spoke  tln-ough  the  human  organs  in  the  time  of 
Christ.  He  enabled  the  poor  frantic  demoniacs,  in  repeated  in- 
stances, to  utter  truths  concerning  which,  of  themselves,  they  had 


THE   FALL  OF  MAN.  107 

no  knowledge.  For  example,  one  of  these  demoniacs  made  an 
open  profession  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  in  advance  even  of 
his  disciples  and  followers :  "  I  know  thee  who  thou  art,  the  Holy 
One  of  God  "  (Mark  i.  24:).  This  must  have  been  an  utterance  of 
the  demon  through  the  organs  of  the  possessed  person.  Nor  have 
we  any  reason  to  think  it  a  miraculous  utterance.  But  if  Satan 
could  speak,  of  his  own  power,  through  the  hiunan  organs,  why 
might  he  not  through  the  organs  of  the  serpent  ? 

3.  My  third  inquiry  relates  to  the  possibility  of  our  first  parents 
falling  in  the  manner  they  did.  Some  have  thought  their  apostasy 
wholly  unaccountable.  They  were  perfectly  holy.  Their  propen- 
sities, feehngs,  and  habits  were  all  holy.  How,  then,  could  tempta- 
tion reach  such  minds  ?     How  could  it  overcome  them  ? 

Certainly  no  good  reason  can  be  given  for  the  fall  of  our  first 
parents.  Their  act  of  transgression  was  altogether  unreasonable  and 
inexcusable.  Still  I  have  never  supposed  that  there  was  any  thing 
inexplicably  mysterious  or  unaccountable  in  the  matter.  Their 
fall,  I  tliink,  may  be  explained  as  well  as  many  other  wicked 
tilings  which  have  been  transacted  in  the  world.  Being  free  moral 
agents,  our  first  parents  must  have  had  the  susceptibilities  appro- 
priate to  such  agents  :  they  must  have  been  susceptible  to  motive- 
influences,  both  to  good  and  evil,  to  the  right  and  the  wrong. 
Such  susceptibilities  imply  nothing  wrong  in  the  person  possessing 
them,  but  only  that,  as  a  moral  agent,  he  is  capable  of  wrong.  Our 
Saviour  must  have  had  them,  else  he  could  not  have  been  tempted 
any  way.  Our  first  parents  had  them,  else  they  could  have  had 
no  trial  at  all.  Indeed,  every  moral  agent  has  them,  else  he  could 
not  be  a  moral  agent,  and  responsible  for  his  actions. 

But  our  first  parents  were  not  only  moral  agents,  and  had  the 
susceptibilities  of  such  agents :  they  were  also  on  probation,  or  trial. 
Hence  it  was  necessar}'  that  they  should  have  something  to  try 
them ;  because  a  state  of  trial  in  which  there  was  nothing  to  try 
them  would  be  no  trial  at  all.  Being  susceptible  to  motive-influ- 
ences both  to  good  and  to  e^Hl,  it  was  involved  in  their  very  proba- 
tion that  such  motives  should  actually  be  presented. 

In  order  that  they  might  be,  the  Tempter  was  permitted  to  enter 
the  garden.  Embodied  in  the  wily  serpent,  he  approaches  the  wo- 
man, whom  he  finds  alone,  somewhere  near  the  forbidden  tree,  and 
enters  into  conversation  with  her  :  "  Yea,  hath  God  said  that  ye 
shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ?  Is  God  dealing  thus 
hardly  with  you  ?     Is  he  thus  arbitrarily  interdicting  your  free- 


108  .        ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

dom  ?  "  And  the  woman  said,  "  We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the 
trees  of  the  garden  ;  but  of  the  fruit  of  tliis  one  tree,  which  stands 
here  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  God  hath  said  that  ye  shall  not 
eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die."  But  the  serpent 
said  unto  the  woman,  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die.  No  such  evil  is  to 
be  apprehended.  I  have  often  eaten  of  it ;  and  I  am  not  dead.  But 
God,  it  seems,  is  jealous  of  you.  He  is  arbitrarily  restraining  you, 
to  your  hurt ;  for  he  well  knows,  that,  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof, 
your  eyes  shall  be  opened  as  mine  are,  and  ye  shall  become  as  gods, 
knowing  good  and  evil." 

In  this  artful  address,  we  see  how  the  serpent  appeals  to  the 
moral  susceptibilities  of  the  woman,  and  plies  his  motive-influence 
upon  her.  First  he  undertakes  to  shake  her  confidence  in  God, 
and  weaken  her  sense  of  obligation  to  him,  so  that  the  motives  to 
disobedience  may  find  little  or  no  resistance.  He  flatly  lies  to  the 
woman :  he  bhnds  and  deceives  her  as  to  the  dreaded  consequences 
of  transgression.  Then  he  appeals  to  her  senses :  "  See  how  beau- 
tiful tliis  fruit  is,  and  how  delicious  to  the  taste  !  "  He  appeals 
also  to  her  natural  curiosity,  to  her  desire  of  knowledge,  and  her 
desire  of  happiness,  —  all  of  them  powerful  principles  of  action : 
and  by  all  he  urges  her  to  make  the  experiment ;  assuring  her  that 
it  can  do  no  harm,  but  good ;  that  it  will  make  her  instantly  wise 
and  happy.  And  the  confiding,  inexperienced  creature  believes 
him.  He  so  presents  the  motives  to  transgression,  that  they  pre- 
dominate over  all  opposing  good  influences,  and  she  yields.  She 
puts  forth  her  hand ;  she  takes  ;  she  eats.  The  deed  is  done  :  the 
serpent's  malice  is  satiated,  and  he  retires  from  the  scene.  Eve 
soon  finds  her  husband ;  tells  him  what  she  has  done ;  tells  him 
how  delicious  the  fruit  is,  and  how  desirable  to  make  one  wise ; 
assures  him  from  her  own  experience  that  there  is  no  fear  of 
death ;  and  urges  him,  by  all  the  regard  which  he  ought  to  have 
for  his  own  good  and  by  all  the  love  which  he  bears  to  her,  to 
take  and  eat  likewise.  Nor  is  it  so  very  strange  or  unaccountable 
that  her  persuasions  prevailed  with  him  ;  for,  in  addition  to  all 
the  motives  which  had  overcome  her,  there  was  the  additional  one 
of  conjugal  affection.  Adam  could  not  be  separated  from  his  be- 
loved Eve.  He  preferred  to  be  united  with  her,  though  it  were  in 
transgression.  If  Eve  must  die,  he  chose  to  die  with  her.  He 
took  the  forbidden  fruit  from  her  hands,  and  did  as  she  required. 

That  our  first  parents  acted  unreasonably  and  wickedly  in  all 
this,  there  can  be  no  doubt.    They  committed  a  great  and  dreadful 


THE   FALL   OF    MAN.  109 

sin ;  but  that  there  was  any  thing  mysterious  or  inexplicable  in 
this  event,  I  see  no  reason  to  believe.  I  think  it  may  be  accounted 
for,  on  philosophical  princijoles,  as  easily  as  most  of  the  wickedness 
which  is  perpetrated  among  men. 

Having  followed  our  first  parents  through  their  original  trial  and 
their  fall,  we  now  tui'n  to  contemplate  some  of  the  consequences 
of  their  sin.  What,  then,  were  the  immediate  consequences  to  them- 
selves ? 

Their  eyes  were  indeed  opened,  but  in  a  way  which  they  did  not 
expect.  They  were  opened  to  their  own  sin  and  shame  and  guilt. 
They  had  come  to  a  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  such  as  they 
never  had  before.  They  stood  guilty  and  condemned,  without 
refuge  or  hope,  expecting  the  wrath  and  curse  of  their  Creator. 
They  were  afraid  to  meet  him ;  and  so  they  fled,  and  hid  them- 
selves among  the  trees  of  the  garden. 

But  vain  is  their  attempt  to  hide  themselves  from  God.  He  soon 
finds  them,  summons  them  forth,  and  calls  them  to  a  strict  account. 
They  can  offer  no  sufficient  excuse ;  and,  instead  of  taking  the 
blame  to  themselves,  they  endeavor  to  shuffle  it  off  upon  each 
other.     The  man  blames  the  woman ;  and  the  woman,  the  serpent. 

The  several  curses  are  now  pronounced ;  but,  before  proceeding 
to  a  consideration  of  these,  let  us  pause,  and  inquire  why  the 
threatened  penalty  was  not  at  once  inflicted.  Tliis  penalty,  we 
have  seen,  was  not  temporal,  but  spiritual  and  eternal  death.  With- 
out doubt,  our  first  parents  fell  at  once  into  a  state  of  spiritual 
death.  They  became  dead  to  all  good  impulses,  aspirations,  and 
impressions.  They  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  And  why 
were  they  not  treated  as  were  the  rebel  angels  when  they  sinned  ? 
Why  were  they  not  sent  immediately  away  to  that  eternal  destruc- 
tion which  they  deserved  ?  I  answer.  Not  because  their  sentence 
of  death  was  remitted  (for  it  was  not  remitted)  ;  but  the  execution 
of  it  was  for  a  time  suspended  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  dispen- 
sation of  grace.  Of  this  dispensation  of  grace  we  shall  have  more 
to  say  hereafter.  It  is  enough  merely  to  mention  it  here  ;  and, 
having  mentioned  it,  let  us  proceed  to  speak  of  the  curses  which 
were  now  severally  pronounced. 

And  first  the  curse  upon  the  serpent :  "  Because  thou  hast  done 
this,  thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of  the 
field :  upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all 
the  days  of  thy  life."  Thus  far,  the  curse  seems  to  rest  upon  the 
Kteral  serpent.     If  he  had  legs'  or  wings  before,  they  were  now 


110  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

( 
taken  from  him,  and  he  was  doomed,  henceforth,  to  creep  upon  his 
belly,  and  lick  the  dust. 

The  remainder  of  the  curse  upon  the  serpent  had  respect  more 
particularly  to  that  old  Serpent,  the  Devil,  whose  agency  AA^as 
chiefly  concerned  in  the  temptation  :  "  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed  :  it  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  We  have  here, 
in  the  curse  upon  the  serpent,  the  first  dawn  of  hope  for  the  fallen 
human  pair.  The  language  carries  with  it  an  assurance  that  they 
were  not  to  die  immediately ;  that  they  should  live  to  have  a  seed ; 
and  that  a  descendant  of  the  woman  should  utterly  vanquish  the 
old  Serpent,  and  put  an  end  to  his  usurped  dominion  over  man.  All 
this,  I  hardly  need  say,-  was  fulfilled  in  the  great  Seed  of  the 
woman,  —  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Satan  bruised  his  heel  Avhen  he 
brought  him  to  the  cross ;  but,  by  dying  on  the  cross,  he  utterly 
vanquished  Satan,  and  defeated  all  his  diabolical  designs  :  "  Through 
death  he  destroyed  him  which  had  the  power  of  death  ;  that  is,  the 
Devil." 

The  curse  upon  the  woman  has  rested  heavily  upon  the 
daughters  of  Eve  from  that  time  to  the  present.  In  sorrow  and 
pain  has  she  brought  forth  her  children.  Her  desire  has  been  unto 
her  husband ;  and  he  has  ruled  over  her.  The  degradation  of 
woman,  and  her  sufferings  from  the  other  sex,  more  especially  in 
those  parts  of  the  world  not  blessed  with  the  light  of  revealed 
truth,  have  been  dreadful.  She  has  not  been  punished  for  the  sin 
of  her  first  mother ;  but  her  sufferings  in  consequence-  of  it  have  been 
long  and  terrible. 

The  curse  upon  the  man  includes  two  things  :  1.  A  cm'se  upon 
the  ground,  involving  the  necessity  of  hard  and  wasting  labor  on 
his  part  in  order  to  procure  a  sustenance  from  it.  2.  Temporal 
dissolution  or  death :  "  And  unto  Adam  God  said,  Cursed  is  the 
ground  for  thy  sake ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of 
thy  life :  thorns  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  unto  thee  ;  and 
thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread  until  thou  return  unto  the  ground ;  for  out  of  it 
wast  thou  taken :  for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou 
return."  The  curse  upon  the  ground  involved  some  change  in 
regard  to  its  natural  productions.  What  this  change  was  precisely, 
and  how  it  was  produced,  we  cannot  tell.  As  much  as  this,  I 
think,  maybe  said,  —  that  whereas  the  spontaneous  productions  of 
the  earth  before  the  fall  were  nutritious  and  useful,  so  that  a  suste- 


THE    FALL   OF   MAN.  Ill 

nance  was  easily  procured,  the  case  was  very  different  after  the 
fall.  Then  the  ground  brought  forth  spontaneously  the  thorn  and 
the  thistle,  the  noxious  weed  and  herb ;  while  those  productions 
most  necessary  for  the  sustenance  and  use  of  man  could  be  pro- 
cured only  by  toil  and  labor.  Certainly  we  find  this  to  be  true 
now ;  and  all  the  generations  of  men,  from  Adam  downward,  have 
found  the  same.  In  the  sweat  of  their  face  they  have  been  con- 
strained to  eat  their  bread.  Such  an  order  of  things,  we  have 
reason  to  know,  was  entailed  upon  us  in  consequence  of  sin. 

I  have  said  that  a  part  of  the  curse  upon  man  was  temporal  dis- 
solution. In  the  verses  above  read,  we  have  the  first  mention  of 
temporal  death  which  occurs  in  the  Bible.  The  death  threatened 
to  Adam,  in  case  he  transgressed,  I  have  shown  was  not  temporal 
death  :  it  was  rather  the  proper  penalty  of  the  law,  which  is  eter- 
nal death.  The  execution  of  this  penalty,  as  I  have  said,  was  for 
a  time  suspended  in  order  to  ^ake  room  for  a  dispensation  of 
grace.  The  dispensation  of  grace  had  now  been  revealed  and 
entered  upon.  A  Seed  of  the  woman  had  been  promised,  who 
should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  Fallen  man  may  be  saved,  if  he 
will  repent,  and  trust  in  the  promised  Saviour ;  and,  consequently, 
he  must  have  a  space  for  repentance.  To  afford  him  such  a  space, 
the  execution  of  the  incurred  penalty  of  the  law  is  for  the  time 
suspended.  Man  has  the  offer  of  salvation  through  a  Redeemer. 
If  this  offer  is  accepted  in  time,  the  incurred  penalty  is  not  only 
suspended,  but  remitted.  The  transgressor  is  forgiven,  and  received 
back  into  the  favor  and  love  of  God.  But  if  the  gracious  offer  is 
not  accepted  in  time,  if  it  is  neglected  and  rejected,  then  the  sus- 
pended penalty  comes  down  upon  the  head  of  the  trangressor  with 
new  aggravations.  He  has  now  not  only  broken  the  law,  but  he  has 
trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God.  Upon  such  a  probation  as 
this  were  Adam  and  Eve  placed  immediately  upon  the  revelation 
of  a  Saviour.  Upon  just  such  a  probation  are  we  all  placed  during 
our  continuance  in  the  present  life.  Of  this  probation  of  grace, 
temporal  dissolution  is  the  proper  termination.  When  God  has  wait- 
ed to  be  gracious  long  enough,  and  can  consistently  wait  no  longer, 
he  breaks  the  brittle  thread  of  life,  and  turns  the  body  back  to  the 
dust  from  which  it  was  taken.  This,  then,  is  the  proper  significance 
of  temporal  death,  —  to  terminate  the  probation  of  fallen  man,  and 
settle  the  question,  whether  he  is  to  rise  or  sink,  be  happy  or  mis- 
erable forever.  Though  not  the^  proper  penalty  of  the  law,  it  is  yet 
a  fruit  and  a  consequence  of  sin,  but  such  a  consequence  as  can 


112  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

be  realized  only  under  a  dispensation  of  grace.  Hence  it  was  not 
till  the  dispensation  of  grace  had  opened,  and  a  Saviour  had  been 
promised,  that  we  first  hear  of  temporal  death  in  the  Bible. 

And  tins  view  of  the  subject  accounts  for  what  follows  in  the 
closing  part  of  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis :  "  The  Lord  God  drove 
out  the  man  from  the  garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  from 
which  he  was  taken.  And  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of 
Eden  cherubim,  and  a  flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to 
keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,"  lest  doomed  man  "should  put 
forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live 
forever."  The  purport  and  use  of  the  tree  of  life  I  have  shown 
m  the  previous  chapter.  It  was  to  remove  all  the  causes  of  disease 
and  death  in  innocent  and  happy  man ;  it  was  to  preserve  him  in 
perpetual  maturity  and  health  till  he  was  prepared  to  be  translated 
to  a  higher  sphere.  But  fallen  man  is  now  doomed  to  temporal 
dissolution.  His  body  must  die,  and  turn  to  dust.  But  this  doom 
can  never  come  upon  him  if  he  has  free  access  to  the  tree  of  life. 
Hence  he  must  be  driven  out  of  the  garden,  and  kept  out :  he 
must  be  sternly  kept  back  from  the  tree  of  life,  else  temporal  death 
can  never  overtake  him  ;  else  he  will  put  forth  his  hand,  and  eat, 
and  live  forever. 

We  have  seen  already,  that  the  consequences  of  our  first  parents' 
sin  extend  in  many  ways  to  their  posterity.  The  ground  brought 
forth  the  thorn  and  the  thistle  to  Adam  ;  and  so  it  has  done  to  all 
his  descendants.  He  ate  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face  ;  and 
so  have  they.  He  was  doomed  to  end  his  probation  of  grace  in 
the  dust ;  and  so  are  they.  The  curse  of  Eve,  too,  has  descended 
to  all  the  daughters.  They,  like  their  first  mother,  have  brought 
forth  their  offspring  in  travail  and  pain. 

But  the  consequences  of  Adam's  sin  have  come  down  to  his 
posterity  in  a  more  fearful  sense  than  all  this.  They  are  sinners 
in  consequence  of  his  sin :  like  him,  they  are  depraved,  corrupted 
creatures,  and  are  "  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath." 

The  fact  of  this  connection  between  our  sin  and  that  of  our  first 
parents  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures,  and  is  admitted  by  all 
evangelical  Christians.  Respecting  the  nature  of  the  connection, 
or  the  manner  of  it,  there  have  been  various  opinions,  which  we 
need  not  now  take  time  to  consider.  This  exercise  is  designed  to 
be,  not  theological,  but  historical.  Sufiice  it  to  say,  that  Adam  was, 
in  a  higher  sense  than  any  other  individual  ever  was,  a  representa- 
tive man  :  he  represented  the  human  race.    In  fact,  he  and  his  wife 


THE   FALL   OF   MAN.  113 

constituted  at  that  time  the  human  race.  They  constituted  it  all. 
There  were  no  others.  In  many  respects,  they  acted,  not  only  for 
themselves,  but  for  the  race.  What  was  said  to  them  was  said, 
through  them,  to  the  race.  What  was  done  for  them,  was  done 
through  them,  .in  like  manner,  for  the  race. 

I  have  said  before,  that,  when  Adam  sinned,  he  fell  at  once  into 
a  state  of  spiritual  corruption  and  death.  From  that  moment  his 
nature  was  depraved,  and  his  heart,  his  affections  and  actions,  were 
^inful.  In  this  state  he  begat 'children  in  his  own  image  and  like- 
ness. They  were  like  him  in  nature,  and,  as  soon  as  they  began  to 
act,  were  like  him  in  character.  •  They  were  actual  transgressors, 
sinners  against  God,  and  must  be  saved  by  the  promised  Seed  of 
the  woman,  or  be  lost  forever. 

The  great  law  of  likeness  runs  through  all  the  works  of  God. 
Every  seed  in  the  vegetable  world  produces  its  like.  Every  ani- 
mal wliich  is  cajiable  of  propagation  produces  its  like.  And  this 
law  of  universal  nature  is  a  good  law.  What  unspeakable  con- 
fusion and  misery  would  ensue  should  it  be  abrogated  ! 

In  accordance  with  this  general  law,  Adam  begat  a  son  in  his 
own  sinful  likeness  ;  and  that  son  begat  others  ;  and  these,  others  ; 
and  so  on  to  the  present  time.  This  order  of  things  could  not 
have  been  changed  without  a  miracle  ;  and  such  a  miracle  God  has 
never  been  pleased  to  perform.  Rather  than  change  or  contravene 
this  great  law  of  hkeness,  and  thus  perform  a  miracle  here,  when 
God  was  pleased,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  to  bring  a  sinless  man  into 
the  world,  he  preferred  to  perform  another  kind  of  miracle,  —  to 
give  him  conception  and  birth  without  a  human  father.  I  refer  to 
the  conception  and  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

You  see,  then,  that  we  are  all  sinners  in  consequence  of  the  sin  of 
our  first  progenitors.  You  see,  too,  how  this  has  come  to  pass.  It 
has  come  by  the  operation  of  a  great,  a  general,  and  a  benevolent 
law,  —  a  law  which  could  not  have  been  set  aside  but  by  miracle, 
and  a  kind  of  miracle  wliich  God  was  not  pleased  to  perform.  And 
now,  instead  of  murmuring  and  complaining,  that  "  by  one  man's 
disobedience  many  were  made  sinners,"  let  us  rather  repent  of  our 
sins,  and  forsake  them,  and  put  our  trust  in  that  Seed  of  the  woman 
who  has  come  and  crushed  the  old  Serpent's  head. 

8 


CHAPTER   IX.  ^ 

THE   UNITY   OF   THE    HUMAN    RACE. 

THE  Scriptures  assure  us  that  human  beings  everywhere  have 
a  common  ancestry,  and  are  one  race.  Moses  s]3eaks  of  the 
dispersed  nations  as  "  the  sons  of  Adam,"  and  of  Eve  as  "  the 
mother  of  all  living."  Of  Noah  and  his  sons  it  is  said,  "  By  them 
was  the  whole  earth  overspread,"  and  "  by  these  were  'the  nations 
divided  in  the  earth  after  the  Flood."  *  Nor  does  the  sacred  his- 
torian satisfy  himself  with  asserting,  in  the  general,  this  truth :  he 
traces  down  the  repeopling  of  the  earth  after  the  Deluge,  by  the 
sons  of  Noah,  almost  to  his  own  time.f 

In  the  New  Testament,  we  have  the  same  doctrine  as  to  the 
unity  of  the  human  species  and  their  descent  from  one  pair: 
"  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all, 
the  face  of  the  earth  "  (Acts  xvii.  26).  Paul  contrasts  our  rela- 
tions to  Adam  and  Christ,  and  shows  that  it  is  only  to  the  descend- 
ants of  the  former  that  the  benefits  of  the  latter  can  be  appropri- 
ated. $  Hence,  if  all  men  are  or  may  be  interested  in  Christ,  it 
follows  that  all  are  the  posterity  of  Adam. 

But,  notwithstanding  these  decisive  representations  of  Scripture, 
many  are  led  to  doubt  as  to  the  unity  of  our  race,  or,  at  least,  as  to 
their  descent  from  a  single  pair.  The  language  of  Scripture  is  to 
■  be  limited  to  only  a  part  of  mankind,  —  to  those  who  originated 
in  or_near  the  land  of  Shinar.  The  black  race  of  Africa,  the  red 
men  of  America,  the  native  tribes  of  New  Holland  and  of  the  islands 
of  the  sea,  and  probably  many  others,  are  not  referred  to  at  all  in 
the  sacred  history.  They  are  not  the  descendants  of  Adam  or  of 
Noah,  but  originated  (no  one  can  tell  when  or  how)  in  the  regions 
where  they  dwell.     "None  but  a  blind  man  can  doubt,"  says  Vol-- 

*  See  Gen.  iii.  20,  ix.  19,  x.  32;  Deut.  xxxii.  8.  t  Gen.  x.  11. 

X  See  Rom.  v.  18,  19;  1  Cor.  xv.  21,  22. 
114 


THE  UNITY   OF  THE   HUMAN   RACE.  115 

taire,  "  that  the  whites,  the  negroes,  the  Hottentots,  Chinese,  and 
native  Americans,  are  entirely  distinct  races."  The  arguments 
urged  in  proof  of  these  strange  positions  are  the  following  :  — 

1.  As  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  other  species  of  animals 
originated  each  from  a  single  pair,  and  in  the  same  place,  it  is  alto- 
gether probable,  reasoning  from  analogy,  that  the  same  is  true  in 
respect  to  man.  The  different  tribes  and  famihes  of  the  human 
race  are  not  from  one  and  the  same  original. 

Whether  the  different  species  of  animals  originated  each  from  a 
single  pair,  is  a  question  which  the  Scriptures  have  nowhere  de- 
cided, and  in  which  the  student  of  Scripture  feels  but  little  inter- 
est. Suppose  they  did  not  originate  from  a  single  j)air  :  what  then  ? 
Will  it  follow  that  the  same  is  true  of  the  human  species  ?  By  no 
means  ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  the  human  species  are  not  mere 
animals :  they  are  intelligent,  accountable,  immortal  beings ; 
having  the  power  of  thought,  of  reasoning,  of  forecast,  together 
with  the  faculty  of  speech ;  having  the  whole  class  of  moral  emo- 
tions, and  the  capacity  for  progressive  and  endless  improvement. 
They  are  so  widely  distinguished  in  these  respects  from  the  ani- 
mal creation,  and  so  vastly  superior  to  it,  that  there  is  no  reasoning 
analogically  from  the  one  to  the  other.  The  argument  from  analo- 
gy, which  in  no  case  amounts  to  more  than  a  strong  probability,  in 
this  case  utterly  fails. 

And  then  it  is  to  be  considered,  that,  so  far  as  man  partakes  df 
an  animal  nature,  it  is  one  adapting  him  to  all  countries  and  climes, 
and  to  all  the  different  modes  of  sustaining  life.  This  is  not  true 
of  most  other  animals.  Some  can  live  only  m  hot  climates,  others 
only  in  cold  ;  some  require  the  deep  forest,  others  the  open  plain ; 
some  the  rugged  mountain,  and  others  the  field  or  the  fen  ;  some 
feed  upon  grass,  others  upon  fruits,  and  others  still  upon  flesh. 
These  circumstances  lie  against  the  supposition  that  all  the  differ- 
ent species  of  animals  originated  from  single  pairs,  and  in  the  same 
region  of  country.  They  rather  indicate  that  the  animals  were 
created,  or  that  many  of  them  were,  in  the  sections  of  country 
where  they  are  found.  But  not  one  of  these  circumstances  applies 
to  the  human  race.  Man  is  a  cosmopolite^  —  capable  of  living  and 
flourishing  in  all  countries  and  in  all  climes.  He  has  reason  to 
guide  him  in  the  choice  of  a  settlement,  He  can  adapt  himself  to 
his  situation,  and  make  circumstances  seemingly  unfavorable  con- 
tribute to  his  safety  and  his  comfort.  He  can  live,  too,  upon  almost 
any  thing,  —  whether  a  vegetable  diet,  or  an  animal ;  whether  upon 


116  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

fruits  or  grains  or  flesh.  Hence  there  is  nothing  in  his  nature  to 
contradict  the  supposition,  or  even  to  render  it  improbable,  that  he 
originated  (as  the  Scriptures  assure  us  that  he  did)  from  a  single 
pair,  and  in  one  j)lace. 

2.  Another  argimient  against  the  scriptural  account  of  the  origin 
of  our  race  is  drawn  from  the  different  appearance  and  even  struc- 
ture of  men  in  different  parts  of  the  earth,  as  also  from  their  differ- 
ent languages.  We  admit  that  there  are  great  diversities  among 
men,  but  see  no  reason  to  infer  from  this  that  they  are  not  all  of 
one  race,  —  the  offspring  of  a  single  pair.  There  are  as  great  di- 
versities among  other  animals,  —  dogs,  cats,  cows,  horses,  &c. ;  each 
class  of  which,  we  know,  belongs  to  the  same  race.  Remove  some 
animals  fi'om  the  torrid  or  temperate  to  the  frigid  zone,  and  they 
change  theu-  color,  become  white,  and  their  coating  of  hah'  or  fur 
is  prodigiously  increased.  Animals  change  very  much  too,  in  size 
and  appearance,  by  a  change  in  their  mode  of  living,  —  by  being 
domesticated.  Is  it  strange,  then,  that  there  should  be  diversities 
among  men,  dwelling,  as  they  do,  in  different  climes,  and  living  in 
all  sorts  of  ways  ?  Would  it  not  be  marvellous,  I  had  almost  said 
miraculous,  if  there  were  not  diversities  ? 

We  find  often  the  most  marked  pecuHarities  among  men  which 
are  certainly  known  to  belong  to  the  same  race.  Take,  for  example, 
the  refined,  the  educated,  the  cultivated,  in  European  society,  and 
compare  them  with  the  peasants,  the  colliers,  the  beggars,  the  serfs. 
The  Buslunen  of  South  Africa  have  been  regarded  as  the  most 
degraded  of  human  beings,  if,  indeed,  they  are  human.  They*  are 
without  houses  or  huts  of  any  sort ;  kennelling  in  caves,  or  holes  in 
the  ground  ;  naked,  lank,  half  starved  ;  living  on  roots,  insects,  liz- 
ards, snakes,  and  the  larvse  of  ants.  Their  average  height  is  but 
little  more  than  four  feet.  Peculiar  abnormal  appendages  charac- 
terize the  sexes.  The  spine  is  curved;  and  deposits  of  fat  are 
grown  upon  the  hips,  resembling  them  to  the  fat-rumped  sheep  of 
the  Cape,  so  well  known  to  travellers  in  the  East.  Their  organs 
of  speech,  too,  are  quite  peculiar.  They  have  numerous  guttural 
sounds  in  their  language,  pronounced  with  a  peculiar  clack  of  the 
tongue.  For  a  long  time  after  they  were  discovered,  they  were 
claimed  and  referred  to  as  a  separate  race  of  beings.  And  yet  it 
is  known  now  that  their  strange  language  is  only  a  dialect  of  the 
Hottentot ;  and  Corannas  and  Caffres  have  been  discovered  in  the 
process  of  transition  from  their  comparatively  elevated  pastoral 
state  to  that  of  these  miserable  wrecks  of  human  beings. 


THE    UNITY   OF   THE    HUMAN   RACE.  117 

As  to  the  color  of  the  skha,  we  know  that  tliis  depends  very 
much,  if  not  altogether,  upon  climate,  and  modes  of  life.  In  the 
north  of  Europe,  for  example,  the  skin,  from  continuous  expo- 
sure to  excessive  cold,  is  chapped,  and  ahnost  red.  Farther 
south,  the  hair,  the  eyes,  the  complexion,  are  hght.  Still  farther 
south,  the  complexion  becomes  darker,  as  in  the  south  of  France. 
Proceeding  southward,  we  find  the  skin  becoming  tawny,  yellow, 
brown,  and  then  black ;  the  hair  being  crisped  and  woolly  from 
excessive  heat.  After  crossing  the  torrid,  equatorial  region,  the 
glossy  black  of  the  negro  disappears,  and  the  complexion  improves. 

It  will  not  be  doubted  that  the  Jews  are  all  of  one  race,  -:—  tl^e 
descendants  of  Abraham,"  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  Yet  there  are  Jews 
now  living  on  the  earth,  of  every  variety  of  color,  from  black  to 
white. 

But  it  is  said  that  negroes  have  had  the  same  color  and  features 
from  the  most  ancient  times,  as  appears  from  paintings  on  the  oldest 
Egyptian  monuments  ;  and  that  sufficient  time  was  not  afforded 
after  the  Flood  for  such  changes  of  complexion,  by  the  force  of 
climate  merely,  to  be  accomplished.  To  this  objection  I  have  two 
replies  to  make.  In  the  first  place,  the  chronology  of  ancient 
Egypt  is  altogether  unsettled.  No  two  of  those  who  have  tried 
to  investigate  it  are  able  to  agree.  Hence  it  is  impossible  to 
decide,  from  the  monuments  containing  pictures  of  negroes,  at 
what  time  those  negroes  lived. 

But  suppose  we  find  appearances  of  black  men,  dating  back 
almost  to  the  Flood  :  this  does  not  contradict  the  Bible  at  all,  but 
rather  confirms  it.  "  The  sons  of  Ham,"  says  the  sacred  writer, 
"  were  Cush  and  Mizraim  and  Phut  and  Canaan  "  (Gen.  x.  6).  Miz- 
raim  and  his  descendants  settled  Egypt.  The  children  of  Canaan 
were  the  original  Canaanites.  But  Cush  settled  Southern  Arabia ; 
and  in  a  little  time  his  descendants  passed  over  into  Africa,  and, 
wherever  settled,  they  were  known  as  Ethiopians  :  and  so  the  word 
is  rendered  in  our  Bibles.  But  the  Cushites  or  Ethiopians  are  repre- 
sented in  Scripture  as  a  colored  race.  "  Can  the  Ethiopian  change 
his  skin  ?"' implying  that  it  was  a  colored  skin.  The  primitive 
color  of  man  was,  probably,  not  white ;  and,  among  his  partially 
colored  brethren,  Cush  may  have  been  darker  than  the  rest ;  and 
settling  in  a  hot,  sunny  region,  he  and  his  descendants  soon  became 
still  darker.  From  him,  undoubtedly,  the  colored  races  of  Africa 
originated. 

As  to  difference  of  language,  the  Bible  fully  accounts  for  that. 


118  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  descendants  of  Noah  were  originally  of  one  language ;  but 
when  they  conspu^ed  together  against  the  Almighty,  and  undertook 
to  build  a  tower  that  should  reach  even  unto  heaven,  the  Lord 
came  down,  and  "  confounded  their  language,  that  they  could  not 
understand  one  another's  speech.  And  so  the  Lord,  scattered  them 
abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth  "  (Gen.  xi.  7,  8).  Such  is 
the  scriptural  account  of  the  matter ;  and  it  accords  entirely  with 
the  results  of  the  most  extended  philological  research.  On  this 
question,  I  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote  the  opinion  of  Baron 
Humboldt :  "  The  comparative  study  of  languages,"  he  says, 
"  shows  us,  that  races  now  separated  by  vast  tracts  of  land  are 
.allied  together,  and  have , migrated  from  one  common  primitive 
seat.  Even  now,  one  long  train  of  kindred  tongues  extends  from 
the  Ganges  to  the  Iberian  Gulf,  and  from  Sicily  to  the  North  Cape. 
Undoubtedly,  there  was  a  period  when  the  entire  family  of  man 
was  to  be  regarded  as  one  Hving  whole."  *  Such,  then,  is  the  opin- 
ion of  mere  philologists.  Every  one  can  see  how  strictly  accordant 
it  is  with  the  Scripture  narrative. 

3.  But  it  is  further  urged  against  the  common  origin  of  oiu'  race, 
that  the  race,  on  this  ground,  could  never  have  been  so  widely 
diffused ;  that  they  could  not  have  spread  themselves  so  entirely 
over  the  earth.  If  the  human  family  sprung  from  a  single  pair  in 
South-western  Asia  four  thousand  years  ago,  how  came  this 
Western  Contment  peopled,  and  New  Holland,  and  the  thousand 
islands  of  the  sea  ? 

To  aU  this  it  may  be  replied,  that  four  thousand  years  is  a  pretty 
long  period.  A  great  many  tilings  may  be  done  in  four  thousand 
years.  About  two  himdred  and  fifty  years  ago,  the  Enghsh 
commenced  their  settlements  in  this  country  ;  yet  how  widely  have 
they  spread  themselves  I  Where,  on  this  great  continent,  are  they 
not  found  ?  If  so  wide  a  dispersion  has'  been  effected  in  less  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  what  may  not  have  been  accomphshed 
in  four  thousand  years  ? 

The  aborigines  of  America  have  the  same  general  features  and 
character,  and  are,  undoubtedly,  of  Asiatic  origin.  Some  of  them 
may  have  come  here  by  the  way  of  Behring's  Straits,  and  (in  ac- 
cordance with  a  tradition  common  to  all  our  Indians)  spread  them- 
selves over  the  continent  from  the  north.  Their  wandering,  hunt- 
ing, migratory  habits  would  enable  them  to  do  this  with  great 
rapidity.     Others  were  wafted  to  the  American  coast  in  their  fi'ail 

*  Cosmos,  vol.  ii.  pp.  110,  111. 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE   HUMAN  RACE.  119 

vessels,  either  by  accident  or  design,  from  Northern  or  Eastern  Asia. 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  accidents  of  this  nature,  by  which 
most  of  the  islands  were,  in  all  probability,  peo^^led.  Navigators 
have  often  picked  up  frail  boats  on  the  ocean,  containing  people 
who  had  been  driven  from  five  to  fifteen  hundred  miles.  Quite  a 
number  of  such  instances  are  related  by  Mr.  Lyell.  So  late  as  the 
year  1833,  a  Japanese  junk  was  wrecked  on  the  north-west  coast 
of  America,  and  several  of  the  crew  got  safe  to  land.  In  1799,  a 
small  boat  containing  three  men  was  driven  to  sea  from  St.  Helena, 
and  reached  the  coast  of  South  America  in  about  a  month.  In 
1797,  twelve  negroes  escaped  in  a  boat  fi-om  a  slave-ship  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and,  after  a  voj^age  of  five  weeks,  came  ashore  at 
Barbadoes.  The  native  missionaries  visiting  the  difi'erent  Pacific 
islands  frequently  meet  with  their  countrymen  who  have  been 
drifted  in  like  manner. 

Instances  like  these  show  us,  that  man,  even  in  a  rude  state  of 
society,  is  liable  to  be  scattered  involuntarily,  by  the  winds  and 
waves,  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  We  ought  not,  then,  to  wonder, 
that,  in  thousands  of  years,  nearly  the  whole  earth  should  have 
become  peopled  either  by  civilized  or  savage  men. 

The  principal  objections  to  the  common  origin  of  our  race  being 
removed,  I  proceed  to  a  consideration  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of 
such  a  supposition.  The  scriptural  argument  is  decisive,  and  has 
already  been  briefly  stated.  In  what  fallows,  I  shall  confirm  and 
illustrate  the  scriptural  statement  by  a  variety  of  considerations.  I 
remark,  — 

1.  That,  to  account  for  the  facts  in  the  case,  only  one  original 
human  pair  is  necessary ;  and  hence  to  suppose  more  than  one 
would  be  to  multiply  causes,  and  even  miracles,  without  necessity. 
I  have  shown  already,  that  neither  the  diversities  in  human  appear- 
ance and  language,  nor  the  present  wide  dispersion  of  the  human 
race,  argue  any  thing  against  a  common  origin.  Notwithstanding 
all  that  has  been  said  on  these  and  the  like  points,  we  may  all  be 
the  offspring  of  a  common  father  and  mother.  Hence  to  suppose 
more  than  one  original  father  and  mother  is  to  multiply  causes, 
and  even  miracles,  without  necessity ;  for  certainly  the  produc- 
tion of  a  human  pair,  except  in  the  ordinary  way,  would  be  a 
miracle.  It  follows,  that  to  depart  from  the  common  view  of  this 
subject  would  be  as  unphilosophical  as  it  is  unscriptural. 

2.  The  fact  that  the  human  race  everywhere  can  intermingle 
and  reproduce  their  own  species,  —  human  beings, — beings  capa- 


120  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY, 

ble,  like  themselves,  of  reproducing  others,  —  is  proof  that  they 
are  all  of  one  race,  and  have  a  common  origin.  Were  the  whites 
and  the  blacks,  for  example,  distinct  species,  like  the  horse  and  the 
ass,  the  result  of  a  union  between  them  would  be,  not  a  man,  but 
a  mongrel,  a  hybrid,  —  a  being  incapable,  hke  the  mule,  of  reproduc- 
tion. This  seems  to  be  a  general  law  of  animal  nature.  If  there  are 
any  exceptions  to  it,  they  are  but  few.  It  is  a  law  wisely  instituted 
by  the  great  Creator  to  keep  the  different  species  of  animals  which 
he  has  formed  distinct  from  each  other,  —  to  prevent  their  com- 
mmgling  and  running  together  till  they  could  no  longer  be  distin- 
guished. The  fact,  therefore,  that  the  human  race  can  everywhere 
intermingle  and  reproduce  their  own  species — beings  fruitful,  hke 
themselves,  and  capable  of  reproducing  others  —  is  proof  conclu- 
sive, as  I  said,  that  they  are  all  one  race,  and  have  a  common  origin. 
On  any  other  supposition,  the  mulatto  would  be,  not  a  man,  but  a 
hybrid ;  and,  hke  other  hybrids,  would  be  barren  and  unfruitful. 

3.  The  scriptural  account  of  the  common  origin  of  our  race  is 
confirmed  by  an  almost  universal  tradition.  The  most  of  these  tra- 
ditions, though  not  all,  stand  connected  with  a  universal  Deluge,  in 
which  almost  the  entire  race  of  man  was  destroyed ;  and  refer  to 
the  consequent  repeopling  of  the  earth  by  the  few  that  survived. 
These  traditions  are  found  among  the  Egyptians,  the  Chaldseans, 
the  Chinese,  the  Hindoos,  the  Greeks,  the  Scythians,  and  many 
tribes  of  American  Indians.'  Thus  the  Cree  Indians  tell  of  "  a  uni- 
versal Deluge,  from  which  one  family  alone  escaped,  with  all  kinds 
of  birds  and  beasts,  on  a  huge  raft."  The  Iroquois  have  a  tradi- 
tion which  reaches  still  farther  back.  "  They  beheve  that  the  first 
woman  was  seduced  from  her  obedience  to  God ;  and  that,  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  she  was  driven  out  of  heaven.  She  afterwards  bore 
two  sorts.  The  one  of  these,  having  armed  himself  with  a  deadly 
weapon,  attacked  and  slew  the  other.-  More  children "  afterwards 
sprang  from  the  same  woman,  who  were  the  progenitors  of  all 
mankind." 

Sir  William  Jones,  after  speaking  of  the  Deluge,  and  of  the  de- 
struction which  it  brought  upon  all  mankind  except  four  human 
pairs,  adds,  "  This  is  admitted  as  true  by  every  nation  to  whose 
literature  we  have  access,  and  particularly  by  the  ancient  Hindoos, 
who  have  allotted  an  entire  Purana  to  the  detail  of  that  event, 
which  they  relate,  as  usual,  in  symbols  and  allegories."  * 

Mr.  Mitford,  in  his  learned  "  History  of  Greece,"  thus  expresses 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iii.  p.  425. 


THE   UNITY   OF  THE   HUMAN   RACE.  121 

himself:  "  The  tradition  of  all  nations,  and  appearances  in  every 
country,  bear  a  testimony  scarcely  less  explicit  than  that  of  Moses 
to  that  general  Flood  which  destroyed  nearly  the  whole  human 
race ;  and  those  Greek  authors  who  have  attempted  to  trace  the 
history  of  manldnd  to  its  source  all  refer  to  such  an  event  as  the 
beginning  of  the  present  system  of  things  on  earth."  *  Dr.  Red- 
ford  says,  "  Traditions  of  a  general  Deluge  have  been  found  among 
all  nations  of  the  ancient  world,  and  are  disseminated  among  modern 
nations  in  the  most  distant  and  opposite  parts  of  the  earth,  and  in 
all  their  different  degrees  of  civilization.  Wherever  there  is  any 
attempt  to  account  for  the  existence  of  the  present  population,  it 
begins  with  the  preservation  of  one  pair  of  human  beings,  or  of  a 
single  family,  in  some  floating  vessel.  This  is  usually  connected 
with  a  previously-existing  race,  with  the  anger  of  the  Supreme 
Being  against  their  sins,  and  with  the  desolation  of  the  earth  and 
of  mankind  by  a  general  inundation.  There  are  no  conflicting  tra- 
ditions. The  harmony  among  all  nations  is  such  as  could  only  have 
arisen  from  the  fact  itself."  f  Speaking  of  these  traditions,  Baron 
Humboldt  says,  "  They  appear  to  refute  the  hypothesis  of  an  origi- 
nal gregarious  condition  of  mankind,  and  concur  in  ascribing  the 
generations  of  the  whole  human  race  to  the  union  of  one  pair. 
The  general  prevalence  of  this  idea  has  caused  it  to  be  regarded 
as  a  traditionary  record,  transmitted  from  the  primitive  man  to  his 
descendants."  $ 

In  these  decisions  of  Bedford  and  Humboldt  we  fully  coincide. 
"We  can  come  to  no  other.  Certainly  the  traditions  of  which  I 
have  spoken  "  concur  in  ascribing  all  the  generations  of  men  to 
the  union  of  a  single  pair."  Such  a  harmony  of  tradition  among 
the  nations  "  could  only  have  arisen  from  the  fact  itself." 

4.  The  common  depravity  and  wickedness  of  men  mark  them  as 
the  descendants  of  one  fallen  father.  The  Scriptures  tell  us  of  the 
fall  of  Adam  and  Eve,  and  of  the  lamentable  effects  which  followed 
to  their  posterity :  "  By  one  man  (Adam),  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin."  And  so,  "in  Adam,  all  die."  "The 
judgment  was  by  one  to  condemnation."  "  By  one  man's  disobe- 
dience, many  were  made  sinners."  These  Scriptures  assure  us 
that  the  posterity  of  Adam  are  corrupted  and  depraved :  they  sin 
and  they  die  in  consequence  of  their  connection  with  him.  And 
now,  with  these  passages  before  us,  let  us  look  out  into  the  world, 

*  Hist,  of  Greece,  vol.  i.  sect.  1,  p.  3.  f  Holy  Scrip.  Verified,  pp.  112,  113. 

J  Cosmos,  vol.  i.  p.  355. 


122  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  see  who  and  how  many  are  the  posterity  of  Adam.  Who  bear 
the  marks  of  being  his  posterity  ?  How  many  of  those  who  are 
commonly  regarded  as  human  beings  are  corrupted  and  depraved  ? 
If  any  portion  of  our  race  are  not  the  children  of  Adam,  we  may 
expect  to  find  them,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  in  a  state  of  inno- 
cence. They  are  free,  or  they  are  very  likely  to  be,  from  the  taint 
of  sin  ;  they  love  their  Creator  ^vith  pure  hearts  fervently ;  they 
lov6  their  fellow-creatures  as  themselves ;  they  obey  the  divine 
law  so  far  as  they  understand  it,  and  lead  lives  of  hoHness  and 
purity.  The  way  of  holiness  is  easy  and  natural  to  them  :  they 
run  in  it  fi'om  the  first  with  cheerfulness  and  delight,  and  continue 
in  it  as  long  as  they  live.  And  why  should  not  such  creatures  hve 
always  ?  Why  should  they  ever  die  ?  Death  is  confined  to  the 
posterity  of  Adam,  —  is  a  fruit  of  sin.  But  these  creatures  —  if 
there  be  any  such  —  have  not  sinned  ;  and  wh}-  should  the}^  die  ? 
Why  should  they  not  live  here  on  earth  forever,  or,  at  least,  till 
they  were  translated  to  some  higher  sphere  ?  Such  kinds  of  human 
beings  we  might  exj)ect  to  find,  at  least  in  some  portions  of  the 
earth,  on  supposition  that  any  are  here  who  are  not  the  posterity 
of  fallen  Adam.  But  where  do  we  find  them?  Are  there  any 
such  ?  In  what  undiscovered  portion  of  the  earth,  in  what  islands 
of  the  blessed,  do  they  reside  ?  The  answer  is  a  painful  one,  but 
it  is  necessary :  They  are  nowhere.  There  are  no  such  human 
beings  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  surface  of  the  globe  has  now 
been  pretty  fully  explored.  The  numerous  isles  that  dot  the  ocean 
have  nearl}^  all  been  visited.  In  general,  they  are  found  teeming 
with  inhabitants ;  and  what  are  they  ?  Are  they  innocent,  pure, 
holy,  heavenly  ?  Oh,  no  !  but  the  reverse  everywhere  :  they  are  de- 
graded, polluted,  corrupt,  vicious.  In  their  heathen  state,  they  are, 
what  Paul  found  them  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  "•  filled  with  aU 
unrighteousness,  fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  malicious- 
ness ;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity."  Such  is  their 
character  universally.  "  There  is  none  that  understandeth ;  there 
is  none  that  seeketh  after  God ;  they  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way ; 
they  are  together  become  unprofitable :  there  is  none  that  doeth 
good ;  no,  not  one."  The  Scriptures  account  for  tliis  melancholy 
state  of  things  by  connecting  human  beings  everywhere  with  one 
fallen  father.  But  reject  this  explanation  ;  suppose  men  not  to  be 
of  a  common  origin,  and  not  to  possess,  in  consequence,  a  common 
depraved  and  corrupted  nature ;.  and  how  are  these  facts  to  be 
accounted  for  ?     No  one  can  tell  how.     As  I  said  in  introducing 


THE    UNITY    OF   THE    HUMAN    RACE.  123 

t 

this  argument,  the  common  depravity  and  wickedness  of  men 
mark  them  indubitably  as  the  descendants  of  one  common  and 
depraved  progenitor. 

The  adaptation  of  the  gospel  to  the  recovery  and  salvation  of 
mankind  everywhere  is  another  proof  of  their  common  origin. 
The  gospel  is,  confessedly  and  obviously,  intended  only  for  the 
descendants  of  apostate  Adam :  it  supposes  those  to  whom  it  is 
addressed  to  be  fallen,  guilty,  ruined  creatures,  corrupted  in  their 
very  nature,  and  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  And  it  comes  to 
them  with  a  method  of  recovery,  of  pardon,  and  eternal  life.  Such 
is  the  very  nature  and  aim  of  the  gospel,  adapted,  as  I  said,  only 
to  fallen  human  beings,  —  the  children  of  apostate  Adam.  The 
question  before  us,  then,  is  precisely  this  :  Is  the  gospel  adapted 
to  human  beings  the  world  over  ?  Does  it  meet  them  in  their 
wants  and  woes  everywhere  ?  Is  it  fitted  for  the  recovery  and 
salvation  of  all  aUke  ?  Our  Saviour  commanded  that  his  gospel 
should  be  preached  to  every  creature^  implying  that  it  was  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  all.  Was  our  Saviour  right  in  this  injunction  ?  and 
has  this  been  proved  by  actual  experiment  ?  I  hardly  need  answer 
that  it  has.  The  universal  adaptation  and  efficacy  of  the  gospel 
have  been  fully  tested.  They  were  pretty  fully  tested  in  the  apos- 
tolic age,  when  the  glad  sound  of  the  gospel  "  went  out  into  all  the 
earth,  and  its  words  to  the  end  of  the  world ; "  and,  wherever  it 
went,  light  and  joy  and  salvation  followed  in  its  train.  But  the 
power  of  the  gospel  is  more  fully  tested  in  our  own  times,  because 
it  is  now  published  m  regions,  and  in  the  ears  of  human  beings  of 
whom  the  ancients  had  no  knowledge  ;  and  wherever  it  is  carried 
by  modern  missionaries,  —  among  the  civihzed  and  uncivilized, 
among  Negroes,  Hottentots,  Caffres,  Bushmen,  Chinese,  Hindoos,* 
American  Indians,  Australians,  and  the  islanders  of  every  sea,  — 
as  it  finds  human  nature  everywhere  alike,  so  it  is  adapted  to  all 
alike.  It  raises  the  fallen,  comforts  the  afflicted,  puts  an  end  to 
savage  wars  and  other  inhuman  practices,  and  is,  to  human  beings 
everywhere,  as  light  in  darkness,  as  life  from  the  dead.  To  those 
who  have  read  the  history  of  modern  missions,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  on  this  point.  The  facts  of  the  case  are  perfectly  obvious ; 
and  they  all  go  to  demonstrate  that  mankind  universally  are  the 
children  of  Adam,  since,  as  I  said,  it  was  only  for  his  corrupted, 
depraved  childTen  that  Jesus  died,  and  that  the  gospel  provision 
is  adapted. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  fact  established  and  vindicated  in  the 


124  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

foregoing  discussion  as  to  the  common  origin  and  ancestry  of  the 
human  race  is  not  one  of  mere  historical  speculation,  but  it  stands 
in  close  connection  with  much  Bible  truth,  and  is  fundamental  in 
that  scheme  of  mercy  which  is  proposed  in  the  gospel.  If  our  first 
parents  fell  as  the  Scriptures  relate,  and  if  mankind  universally 
are  their  fallen  and  degenerate  children,  then  it  is  easy  to  account 
for  the  general  prevalence  of  wickedness  in  the  old  world ;  for  the 
infliction  of  a  deluge  to  purge  and  punish  it ;  and,  on  its  being 
repeopled  by  the  descendants  of  righteous  Noah,  for  its  speedy 
relapse  into  terrible  wickedness.  It  is  easy  to  account  in  this 
way  for  the  strong  language  of  Scripture,  setting  forth  the  invet- 
eracy and  the  extent  of  human  wickedness ;  and  for  the  perpetu- 
ally downward  course  of  things,  in  a  moral  view,  which  has  been 
witnessed  in  the  earth  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time. 
It  is  easy  to  account,  too,  for  the  interposition  of  the  greal  Son  of 
God  to  recover  and  save  the  world  ;  for  the  descent  of  his  Spirit ; 
for  the  calls  and  warnings  and  motives  of  the  gospel ;  and  for  all 
the  provisions  of  his  grace.  But  reject  the  fact  we  have  been 
laboring  to  establish  as  to  the  common  origin  of  our  race,  and  not 
only  are  some  few  passages  of  Scripture  directly  contradicted,  but 
the  great  system  of  Bible  truth  is  subverted,  nearly  all  history  is 
falsified,  and  the  fomidation  of  the  gospel  method  of  salvation 
is  taken  away.  Let  us,  then,  hold  fast  the  great  truth  announced 
by  Paul  on  Mars'  Hill,  and  rejoice  in  it :  "  Crod  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth." 


CHAPTER    X. 


CAIN    AND    ABEL. 


IMMEDIATELY  following  the  expulsion  of  our  first  parents 
from  the  garden  of  Eden,  we  are  told  that  "Adam  knew  his 
wife  ;  and  she  conceived,  and  bare  Cain."  And,  in  the  joy  of  deliv- 
erance, she  said,  "  I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord  ;  "  or,  more 
literally  rendered,  "  I  have  gotten  a  man,  the  Lord  ;  "  thinking  him, 
perhaps,  to  be  the  promised  Seed  which  was  to  bruise  the  serpent's 
head.     "  And  she  conceived  again,  and  bare  his  brother  Abel." 

The  birth  of  Cain  is  supposed  to  have  occiuTed  in  the  first  year 
after  the  apostasy,  —  perhaps  within  a  year  of  the  time  of  the  crea- 
tion :  the  birth  of  Abel  took  place  soon  after,  —  perhaps  in  the  fol- 
lowing year.  The  brothers  grew  up  together ;  but  their  occupa- 
tions were  different :  "  Abel  was  a  keeper  of  sheep  ;  but  Cain  was 
a  tiller  of  the  ground."  These  brief  intimations  show  us  that  the 
original  condition  of  the  human  race  was  not  one  of  barbarism,  but 
of  comparative  civilization.  Savages  are  not  farmers  or  shepherds  : 
they  follow  the  chase,  and  subsist  chiefly  on  the  spontaneous  pro- 
ductions of  the  earth.* 

*  It  is  the  pretence  of  naturalists  and  infidels  at  this  day,  that  the  primitive  state  of  the  hu- 
man species  was  one  of  the  lowest  barbarism,  —  little,  if  at  all,  superior  to  that  of  the  brutes, 
fi-om  some  of  which  we  were,  peradventure,  developed;  from  which  state  man  has  emerged  by 
slow  degrees,  until  he  has  come  to  be  what  he  now  is.  This  view  of  the  case  is  contradicted, 
not  only  by  Scripture,  as  above  shown,  but  by  purely  scientific  investigation.  I  refer  to  recent 
discoveries  in  philology.  Prof.  Wilson  is  engaged,  with  others,  in  tracing  back  words  to  their 
remotest  origin,  —  their  roots;  and  he  finds  from  these,  that,  in  their  first  use  of  names  and 
words,  men  were  not  savages,  but  were  in  a  partially-civilized  state.  The  words  they  used,  the 
names  they  employed,  prove  this  conclusively.  "  The  primitive  tribe,  which  spoke  the  mother- 
tongue  of  the  Indo-European  fiimily,  was  not  nomadic  alone,  but  had  settled  habitations,  towns, 
and  forts,  and  addicted  itself  to  the  rearing  of  cattle  and  the  cultivation  of  the  earth.  It  pos- 
sessed our  chief  domestic  animals,  —  the  horse,  the  ox,  the  sheep,  the  goat,  the  swine,  the  dog. 
There  were  the  bear  and  the  wolf,  which  ravaged  its  flocks  ;  also  those  domestic  pests,  the 
mouse  and  the  fly.  Barley,  and  perhaps  wheat,  was  raised,  and  converted  into  meal.  The  use 
of  certain  metals  was  known;  and  the  art  of  weaving  was  practised.  The  weapons  employed 
were  the  sword,  the  spear,  the  bow,  the  shield.  The  governmint  was  of  a  patriarchal  cast. 
The  art  of  numeration  was  learned,  at  least  up  to  a  hundred.  Some  of  the  stars  were  noticed 
and  named.  The  moon  was  the  chief  measurer  of  time.  The  religion  was  polytheistic,  —  a 
■worship  of  the  personified  powers  of  Nature."  — See  Wilson's  Lectures  on  Language,  p.  207. 

125 


126  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

The  history  of  Cain  and  Abel  further  shows  that  they  had  a 
knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  were  his  professed  worshippers. 
God  had  revealed  liimself  to  them,  and  instructed  them  as  to  the 
manner  of  his  worship ;  and,  at  stated  seasons,  they  brought  their 
offerings  unto  the  Lord.  And  we  are  told  what  they  brought : 
"  Cain  brought  the  fruit  of  the  ground ;  but  Abel  brought  the  first- 
lings of  his  flock,  and  the  fat  thereof."  In  other  words,  he  brought 
a  bloody  sacrifice.  He  slew  a  lamb,  and  presented  it,  with  the  fat, 
as  a  burnt-offering  unto  the  Lord.  I  regard  this  as  a  very  impor- 
tant item  in  primitive  church  history.  It  shows  us  that  the  insti- 
tution of  bloody  sacrifices  reaches  back  to  the  time  of  Cain  and 
Abel,  and  probably  earlier,  —  even  to  the  expulsion  from  paradise. 
The  skins  with  which  it  is  said  God  clothed  our  first  parents  when 
he  drove  them  from  the  garden  were  undoubtedly  the  skins  of 
beasts  which  had  been  offered  in  sacrifice.  For  what  other  pur- 
pose should  beasts  have  been  slain  and  skinned  at  that  day  ?  —  not 
for  food  ;  for  our  first  parents  did  not  eat  flesh  :  they  were  express- 
ly limited  to  the  herb  of  the  field  (Gen.  i.  29). 

This  early  institution  of  bloody  sacrifices  shows  that  our  first 
parents  and  their  immediate  descendants  had  other  and  clearer  inti- 
mations of  God's  plan  of  mercy  than  is  commonly  supposed.  They 
not  only  had  the  original  promise  in  regard  to  the  Seed  of  the  wo- 
man, but  bloody  sacrifices  were  immediately  instituted,  pomting 
typically  to  the  blood  of  the  cross,  and  inviting  the  worshipper  to 
make  that  blood  his  trust. 

,It  is  not  at  aU  likely  that  bloody  sacrifices  were  of  human  inven- 
tion. How  could  they  be  ?  How  should  man  ever  have  thought 
of  propitiating  the  Deity  by  slaying  and  burning  an  innocent  lamb, 
and  sprinlding  the  altar  with  its  blood,  unless  he  had  been  so  taught 
by  God  himself  ?  And  why  should  God  have  prescribed  such  a 
form  of  worship,  except  on  the  ground  of  its  typical  significance  ; 
except  as  it  shadowed  forth,  and  was  designed  to  shadow  forth,  the 
bloody  sacrifice  of  the  cross  ?  We  have,  therefore,  as  I  said,  in 
the  primeval  institution  of  bloody  sacrifices,  a  clear  intimation  that 
the  way  of  salvation  by  Christ  was  early  opened  to  our  first  par- 
ents and  their  descendants,  and  that  they  were  invited  to  put  their 
trust  in  him,  and  live  forever. 

Both  Cain  and  Abel,  at  the  time  appointed,  brought  their  offer- 
ings unto  the  Lord :  "  And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel  and 
his  offering ;  but  unto  Cain  and  his  offering  he  had  not  respect." 
Two  reasons  may  be  assigned  why  God  did  not  accept  the  offering 


CAIN   AND   ABEL.  127 

of  Cain.  The  first  is,  it  was  not  presented  in  faith :  "  B}-  faith, 
Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  acceptable  sacrifice  than  Cain  " 
(Heb.  xi.  4).  The  language  here  implies  that  the  offering  of  Cain 
was  not  presented  ih  faith ;  and  "  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to 
please  God,"  or  to  be  accepted  of  him 

But,  secondly,  Cain's  offermg  was  not  presented  in  the  appointed 
way.  God  had  instituted  a  bloody  sacrifice,  —  the  slaykig  of  the 
victim,  and  the  sprinkliag  of  the  altar  with'  its  blood.  But  Cain, 
either  from  pride,  self-will,  or  some  other  cause,  did  not  choose 
to  offer  such  a  sacrifice.  Perhaps  he  had  no  lamb  of  his  own,  and 
did  not  like  to  procure  one  of  his  brother  Abel.  He  could  not  see 
why  an  offering  of  corn,  or  fine  flour,  or  fruits,  would  not  do  as  well. 
At  any  rate,  he  would  make  the  experiment.  Cain  was  a  rational- 
ist in  religion,  and  a  fitting  type  of  others  of  the  same  class.  Abel 
presented  his  offering  in  faith,  and  in  the  appointed  way ;  and  it 
was  accepted  :  Cain  presented  his  without  faith,  in  his  own  way ; 
and  it  was  rejected. 

But,  although  there  were  the  best  reasons  why  Cain's  offering 
was  not  accepted,  still  he  was  not  satisfied.  He  was  angry  with 
God,  and  angry  with  his  innocent  brother :  therefore  God  conde- 
scends to  reason  with  him :  "  Why  art  thou  wroth  ?  and  why  is 
thy  countenance  fallen  ?  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  ac- 
cepted ?  and,  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin"  —  a  sin-offering  —  "  li- 
eth  at  the  door."  Still  Cain  was  not  satisfied.  His  en\y  and 
anger  burned  against  his  brother  ;  and,  as  they  walked  together  in 
the  field,  he  \dolently  assaulted  him,  and  slew  him. 

This  was  the  first  himian  blood  that  was  ever  shed  upon  the 
earth.  It  was,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  first  instance  of  mortality 
that  had  as  yet  occurred  among  men.  It  took  place,  probably, 
in  about  the  one  hundred  and  thirtieth  year  of  the  world.  We 
infer  this  from  the  fact  that  Seth,  who  is  said  to  have  been  given 
in  place  of  Abel,  and  was  given,  probably,  soon  after  Abel's 
death,  was  born  when  Adam  was  a  hundred  and  thirty  years 
old. 

Cain  seems  to  have  been  alone  with  Abel  when  he  slew  him, 
and  endeavored,  no  doubt,  to  conceal  his  death.  But  God  soon 
arraigned  him  for  his  wickedness,  and  pronounced  upon  him  a  ter- 
rible doom  :  "  What  hast  thou  done  ?  The  voide  of  thy  brother's 
blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the  ground.  And  now  art  thou  cursed 
from  the  earth,  which  hath   opened  her  mouth   to   receive  thy 


128  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

brother's  blood.  When  thou  tillest  the  ground,  it  shall  not  hence- 
forth yield  unto  thee  her  strength.  A  fugitive  and  a  vagabond 
shalt  thou  be  in  the  earth." 

Trembling  and  afraid,  with  the  murderer's  mark  and  curse  upon 
liim,  Caia  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  dwelt  on 
the  east  of  Eden,  in  the  land  of  Nod.  How  long  he  lived  after 
this,  we  are  not  informed.  We  laiow  that  he  buUded  a  city,  and 
called  it  after  the  name  of  one  of  his  sons.  Moses  gives  us  the 
names  of  Cain's  descendants  in  the  line  of  Enoch  to  the  seventh 
generation,  reaching  down  almost  to  the  time  of  the  Flood.  One 
of  Cain's  descendants  (Lamech)  was,  like  himself,  a  murderer. 
He  was  also  a  polygamist,  and  the  first  of  whom  we  have  any 
account  in  history  (Gen.  iv.  23). 

The  posterity  of  Cain  seem  to  have  lived  very  much  by  them- 
selves in  the  antediluvian  world,  and  to  have  b^en  distinguished 
for  their  ungodliness.  They  corrupted  one  another ;  and  when 
they  came,  at  length,  to  have  intercourse  with  the  other  descend- 
ants of  Adam,  they  were  a  means  of  corrupting  them  :  "  When 
the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were  fair, 
they  took  them  wives  of  all  that  they  chose."  These  daughters 
of  men  are  supposed  to  have  been  Cainites :  at  any  rate,  they 
were  wicked  women,  as  vile  as  they  were  beautiful,  with  whom 
the  professed  sons  of  God  should  have  had  nothing  to  do.  The 
result  of  the  union  was  giants  in  stature  and  giants  in  wickedness, 
who  filled  the  earth  with  violence,  and  provoked  the  Almighty  to 
come  out  in  wrath  against  it,  and  destroy  it.  So  long  as  God's 
people  could  be  kept  separate  from  the  wicked,  there  was  hope ; 
but,  when  they  came  to  be  mixed  up  with  them,  the  corruption 
spread,  and  soon  became  universal ;  and  nought  remained  but  that 
all  should  be  cut  off  together  except  the  few  that  were  sheltered 
in  the  ark. 

But  to  return  to  righteous  Abel.  Having  lived  more  than  a 
hundred  years,  —  long  enough  to  have  a  numerous  posterity,  though 
we  hear  nothing  of  them,  —  he  was  smitten  down  by  a  brother's 
hand  in  the  dreadful  manner  above  related.  He  was  taken  from 
the  earth,  and  received  up  into  heaven,  —  the  first  that  ever  went 
there  through  a  Redeemer's  blood. 

And  I  have  often  reflected  on  the  peculiarity  of  Abel's  condi- 
tion when  he  first  appeared  in  heaven,  and  of  the  wonder  and  joy 
which  his  presence  must  have  awakened  there.     Up  to  this  period, 


CAIN   AND   ABEL.  129 

heaven  had  been  mhabited  only  by  angehc  beings,  —  those  who  had 
kept  theb  first  estate,  and  liad  never  forfeited  their  Maker's  love. 
Their  foundation  was  that  of  a  perfectly  observed  and  honored  law  ; 
and  their  praises  were  only  those  of  creative  wisdom,  goodness, 
and  power :  "  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord !  to  receive  glory  and 
honor  and  power :  for  thou  hast  created  all  things ;  and  for  thy 
joleasure  they  are,  and  were  created."  But  now  there  is  a  wonder 
in  heaven.  The  first  of  a  new  race  of  beings  has  made  his  appear- 
ance there :  once  of  the  earth,  earthy,  but  now  a  pure  and  glori- 
fied spirit :  once  a  transgressor,  under  the  curse  of  a  broken  law, 
and  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  but  now  recovered,  redeemed, 
sanctified,  and  adopted  into  the  holy  family  of  God :  once  a  rebel, 
odious  and  defiled ;  but  he  has  washed  his  polluted  robe,  and  made 
it  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

Angels  had  heard  something  before  of  the  scheme  of  human 
redemption ;  for  it  had  begun  to  be  unfolded  in  heaven  as  well  as 
on  earth.  But  now  they  are  permitted  to  see  the  first-fruits  of 
redeeming  mercy,  —  the  incipient  travail  of  the  Saviour's  soul. 
The  new-comer,  they  perceive  at  once,  is  altogether  a  being  by 
himself.  He  has  views  and  feelings,  he  occupies  a  position  and 
sings  a  song,  of  which  the  angels  neither  have  nor  can  have,  exper- 
imentally, any  knowledge.  He  knows  what  it  is  to  sorrow  for  sin 
after  a  godly  sort,  and  to  offer  up  the  sacrifice  of  a  penitent  and 
broken  heart.  He  knows  what  it  is  to  renounce  altogether  his 
own  righteousness,  and  put  all  his  trust  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ. 
He  knows  what  it  is  to  be  regenerated  by  the  Spirit,  to  be  freely 
pardoned  for  Jesus'  sake,  and  to  be  justified  through  his  blood ; 
and,  being  thus  justified,  righteous  Abel  can  sing  a  song  in  heaven 
which  had  never  been  heard  there  before,  —  a  song  which  angels 
and  archangels  can  never  learn.  It  is  the  new  song  of  redeeming 
mercy :  "  Unto  Him  who  hath  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our 
sins  in  his  own  blood,  be  all  the  glory  of  our  salvation." 

The  redeemed  Church  in  heaven  —  amounting,  already,  to  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands,  and 
which,  ere  long,  shall  swell  to  a  multitude  which  no  man  or  angel 
can  number  —  was,  at  the  first,  embodied  in  a  single  person,  and 
that  person  was  righteous  Abel.  He  constituted  it  all.  How 
many  righteous  persons,  members  of  Christ's  spiritual  kingdom, 
Abel  left  upon  the  earth,  we  do  not  know ;  but  he  was  the  only 
saint  in  heaven.  Of  the  Church  of  God  in  heaven,  he  was,  at  that 
time,  the  only  member. 


« 
130  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Being  thus  situated  in  heaven,  perfectly  happy  in  himself,  and 
an  object  of  wonder,  love,  and  joy  to  all  around  him,  it  mattered 
little  to  righteous  Abel  that  his  mangled  body  was  rotting  in  the 
earth,  and  that  his  blood  was  crying  from  the  ground  to  God  for 
vengeance  :  he  had  risen  above  all  this  ;  had  triumphed  over  his 
last  enemy  ;  had  gone  to  his  eternal  rest.  And  there  we  leave  him, 
till  we  meet  him  above,  and  hear  him  tell,  better  than  we  can  now 
conceive  or  describe,  what  were  his  feelings  when  he  first  waked 
up  in  heaven,  and  found  himself  the  only  member  there  of  Christ's 
redeemed  family,  —  the  only  trophy  of  a  Saviour's  blood. 

There  are  several  questions  in  regard  to  Cain  and  Abel,  which 
may  be  regarded  as  rather  curious  than  useful,  but  which  are 
entitled  to  a  moment's  attention :  — 

1.  Were  Cain  and  Abel  married  before  the  murder  ?  and  did 
they  have  families  ?  and,  if  so,  whom  did  they  marry  ?  These 
questions  are  urged  by  men  who  would  insinuate  that  all  the 
human  race  are  not  descended  from  Adam ;  that  there  were  other 
men  and  women  co-eval  with  him  on  the  earth,  with  whom  his 
sons  must  have  intermarried. 

Whether  Abel  was  married,  and  had  children,  we  pretend  not  to 
say :  we  have  no  positive  information  on  the  subject.  He  lived 
long  enough  to  have  a  numerous  posterity ;  and  the  probability  is 
that  he  had  one.  Persons  who  live  to  the  age  of  a  hundred  years 
in  our  day,  sometimes  leave  as  many  as  five  hundred  descendants. 
Old  Thomas  Fuller  tells  us  of  a  woman  in  England,  Lady  Hester 
Temple  of  Buckinghamshire,  who  left  seven  hundred  descendants 
at  her  death.*  Supposing  Abel  to  have  lived  to  the  age  of  a  hun- 
dred and  thirty,  or  nearly,  he  may  have  left  more  than  this  by  a 
whole  generation. 

That  Cain  had  a  wife  and  children  we  do  know.  And  if  the 
question  be  asked,  "  Whom  did  he  marry  ?  "  I  answer,  A  sister,  a 
niece,  or  some  near  relative,  undoubtedly.  That  Adam  and  Eve 
had  sons  and  daughters  besides  those  whose  names  are  given  in 
the  Bible  is  certain.  How  many  they  had  we  are  not  informed ; 
though  the  probability  is  that  they  were  pretty  numerous.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-five,  Cain  may  have  married  a  sister ;  at  the  age 
.  of  fifty,  he  may  have  married  a  niece  :  at  any  rate,  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  finding  him  a  wife  without  resorting  to  the  unscriptu- 
ral  supposition  of  another  race  of  human  beings  on  the  earth 
distinct  from  the  family  of  Adam. 

*  Worthies  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  210. 


CAIN   AND   ABEL.  131 

2.  A  kindred  question  to  the  one  here  considered,  and  asked  for 
a  Hke  purpose,  relates  to  the  sayings  and  doings  of  Cain  subse- 
quent to  the  murder.  "  I  shall  be  a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  in  the 
earth ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  every  one  that  findeth  me 
shall  slay  me.  And  the  Lord  set  a  mark  upon  Cain,  lest  any  find- 
ing him  should  slay  him.  And  Cain  went  out  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  and  dwelt  in  the  east  of  Eden,  in  the  land  of  Nod. 
And  he  builded  a  city,  and  called  the  name  of  it  after  the  name  of 
his  son  Enoch."  This  language  implies  that  the  people  were  consid- 
erably numerous  in  the  vicinity  of  Cain's  residence,  else  he  would 
not  have  feared  that  every  one  finding  him  should  seek  to  kill  him. 
And  then  his  going  out  and  building  a  city  implies  that  his  own 
posterity  were  somewhat  numerous.  He  surely  would  not  have 
builded  a  city  only  for  himself  and  wife  and  his  son  Enoch. 

The  whole  difficulty  here,  if  there  be  any,  arises  from  the  sup- 
position that  the  entire  posterity  of  Adam  at  the  time  of  Abel's 
murder  amounted  to  only  a  few  persons  ;  whereas,  in  all  proba- 
bility, they  amounted  to  thousands.  Adam  and  Eve  were  created, 
not  infants,  but  in  the  maturity  of  their  powers,  and  became  par- 
ents, it  is  thought,  within  a  year  of  their  creation.  Abel  was  born, 
perhaps,  the  next  year,  as  he  and  his  elder  brother  seem  to  have 
been  nearly  of  the  same  age. 

We  hear  nothing  more  of  their  children  for  the  next  hundred 
years,  only  that  they  begat  sons  and  daughters.  They  may  have 
had  fifty  children  that  were  older  than  Seth.  Meanwhile,  by  the 
twenty-fifth  year  from  the  creation,  and  perhaps  earlier,  they  may 
have  had  grandchildren ;  and,  by  the  fiftieth  year,  great-grandchil- 
dren ;  and,  by  the  seventy-fifth  year,  great-great-grandchildren ;  and 
before  the  hundred  and  thirtieth  year,  when  Abel  is  supposed  to 
have  been  killed,  they  may  have  had  many  of  the  sixth  and  seventh 
generation.  Any  one  can  make  an  estimate  as  to  the  probable 
number  of  their  descendants.  In  my  own  opinion,  they  could 
hardly  have  been  less  than  a  hundred  thousand  souls,  —  enough, 
surely,  to  impress  Cain  with  some  fear  as  to  his  own  personal  safe- 
ty, especially  if  it  be  considered  that  some  hundreds  of  these 
may  have  been  the  descendants  of  Abel,  who  would  not  forget  the 
fate  of  their  ancestor,  and  would  be  inclined  to  avengre  it. 

After  the  murder  of  his  brother,  Cain  seems  to  have  separated 
himself  from  the  other  descendants  of  Adam,  and  to  have  taken 
his  posterity  with  him.  If  they  amounted,  as  they  probably  did, 
to  some  thousands,  they  would  want  a  city  in  which  to  dwell. 


132  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.     ' 

And  if  Cain  was  in  fear  of  his  life,  as  well  lie  might  be,  they  might 
think  it  prndent  to  build  a  fenced  city^  surrounded  with  walls"  and 
gates  and  bars,  for  their  protection.  The  whole  account  is  natural 
and  probable  on  the  supposition  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  the  pro- 
genitors of  all  the  living.  There  is  no  need  of  supposing  other 
races  to  support  the  credibility  of  the  Scripture  narrative. 

After  the  death  of  Abel,  the  banishment  of  Cain,  and  the  birth 
of  Seth  to  our  disconsolate  first  parents,  we  have  little  in  the  sacred 
history,  except  a  genealogy  of  the  patriarchs,  in  the  line  of  Seth, 
down  to  the  time  of  Noah.  Of  the  chronology  of  this  antediluvian 
period  I  have  already  spoken  :  *  of  Noah  and  the  Deluge,  I  pro- 
pose to  speak  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  most  prominent  recorded  event  between  Seth  and  Noah  is 
the  translation  of  Enoch,  —  not  Enoch  the  son  of  Cain,  but  Enoch 
the  seventh  from  Adam,  in  the  line  of  Seth.  Although  he  lived 
in  a  corrupt  and  degenerate  age,  Enoch  was  an  eminently  holy 
man.  He  walked  with  God ;  he  loved  God,  and  served  him ;  he 
had  strong  faith  and  confidence  in  him ;  and,  in  consequence  of 
his  faith,  "  he  was  translated,  that  he  should  not  see  death  "  (Heb. 
xi.  5).  He  was  transferred  from  earth  to  heaven  without  dying, 
as  Elijah  the  prophet  was  at  a  later  period. 

The  object  of  Enoch's  translation  seems  to  have  been  twofold : 
1.  It  was  a  visible  token  of  the  divine  approbation,  a  public  re- 
ward of  the  patriarch's  obedience.  2.  It  was  designed  and  calcu- 
lated to  impress  upon  a  thoughtless  world  the  doctrine  of  immortal- 
ity^ —  a  blessed  and  glorious  immortality  for  the  righteous.  It  has 
been  doubted  by  some,  whether  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life  is  in- 
culcated in  the  Avritings  of  Moses  ;  but  I  see  not  how  such  a  ques- 
tion can  be  entertained.  Where  did  those  antediluvians  think  that 
Enoch  went,  if  there  is  no  future  world  ?  He  did  not  die  like 
other  men;  nor  did  he  live  any  longer  on  the  earth.  Where,  then, 
was  he  ?  Wlmt  had  become  of  him  ?  To  what  other  conclusion 
could  the  men  of  that  age  come  than  that  he  had  passed  directly 
into  another  world,  —  had  been  transferred  from  earth  to  heaven  ? 
The  event,  then,  was  calculated  to  teach  them,  and  impress  upon 
them,  that  there  is  another  world,  —  a  world  of  joy  and  glory  for 
the  people  of  God. 

It  appears  from  the  apostle  Jude  that  Enoch  was  not  only  a 
devout  patriarch,  but  an  inspired  prophet ;  and  Jude  has  preserved 
to  us  one  of  his  predictions :  "  Behold  the  Lord  cometh,  with  ten 

*  Chap.  V. 


CAIN   AND   ABEL.  133 

thousand  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  con- 
vince all  that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their  ungodly  deeds 
which  they  have  ungodly  committed,  and  of  all  their  hard  speeches 
which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him  "  (ver.  14, 15). 

It  matters  little  how  the  apostle  Jude  came  in  possession  of  this 
fragment  of  antediluvian  prophecy,  —  whether  he  received  it  by 
tradition,  or  quoted  it  from  the  apocryphal  Book  of  Enoch  :  *  in 
either  case,  his  inspiration  is  a  sufficient  guaranty  of  its  genuine- 
ness and  truth.  I  regard  the  passage  as  a  prediction,  primarily^  of 
the  Deluge,  which  may  have  been  revealed  to  Enoch  even  sooner 
than  it  was  to  Noah.  Living  in  those  days  of  violence  and  wicked- 
ness, and  having  his  righteous  soul  vexed  with  the  horrible  deeds 
and  blasphemies  ivhich  he  witnessed  around  him,  it  was  revealed  to 
this  holy  man  that  the  Lord  was  about  to  come  and  avenge  him- 
self of  his  enemies.  He  was  about  to  come,  with  a  retinue  of  holy 
ones,  "  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all  that  were 
ungodly  among  them  of  their  ungodly  deeds."  Primarily^  I  tliink 
we  have  here  a  prediction  of  the  approaching  Deluge,  when  the 
earth  was  to  be  destroyed  by  water ;  but,  ultimately,  we  have  a 
prediction  of  the  final  judgment,  when  the  world  is  to  be  destroyed 
by  fire,  —  a  catastrophe  of  which  the  Deluge  was  an  eminent  type. 

*  The  Book  of  Enoch  (chap,  ii.)  contains  a  part  of  Jude's  quotation ;  but  it  is  not  certain  that 
the  apostle  took  it  from  this  book.  It  is  more  probable  that  both  took  it  from  a  tradition .  pre- 
served among  the  Jews. 


CHAPTER   XI. 


THE   DELUGE. 


THE  most  remarkable  event  in  the  history  of  the  church  and 
world  was  the  Deluge,  in  the  time  of  Noah.  This  occurred, 
according  to  the  received  chronology,  in  the  year  of  the  world 
1656.  "We  have  a  prediction  of  it  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis  : 
"  Behold,  I,  even  I,  do  bring  a  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to 
destroy  all  flesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from  under  heaven ; 
and  every  thing  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die."  We  have  an 
account  of  the  fulfilment  of  this  terrible  prediction  in  the  following 
chapter :  "  In  the  six  hundredth  year  of  Noah's  life,  in  the  second 
month,  and  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month,  the  same  day  were 
all  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of 
heaven  were  opened.  And  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  days 
and  forty  nights.  And  the  waters  increased,  and  bare  up  the  ark,  and 
it  was  lifted  up  above  the  earth.  And  the  waters  prevailed,  and 
were  mcreased  greatly  on  the  earth ;  and  the  ark  went  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters  ;  and  all  the  high  hills  that  were  under  the 
whole  heaven  were  covered.  Fifteen  cubits  upward  did  the  waters 
prevail ;  and  the  mountains  were  covered.  And  all  flesh  died  that 
moved  upon  the  earth,  both  of  fowl,  and  of  cattle,  and  of  beast,  and 
of  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  and  every 
man.  And  Noah  alone  remained  alive,  and  they  that  were  with 
him  in  the  ark.  And  the  waters  prevailed  upon  the  earth  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  days." 

We  find  frequent  references  to  this  great  event  in  other  parts  of 
the  Bible.  There  is  a  clear  reference  to  it  in  Job,  —  a  book  belong- 
ing to  the  patriarchal  age,  and  perhaps  the  oldest  writing  now  in 
the  world :  "  Hast  thou  marked  the  old  way  which  wicked  men 
have  trodden,  which  were  cut  down  out  of  time,  whose  foundation 
was  overflotvn  with  a  flood  f^  (Job  xxii.  15,  16.) 

Our  Saviour  refers  to  the  destruction  of  the  ungodly  in  the  days 

134 


THE   DELUGE.  135 

of  Noah,  and  by  it  illustrates  the  more  terrible  destruction  which 
shall  come  upon  the  wicked  in  the  final  day  :  "  As  were  the  days 
of  Noe,  so,  also,  shall  the  commg  of  the  Son  of  man  be.'  For  as, 
in  the  days  that  were  before  the  Flood,  they  were  eating  and  drink- 
ing, marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  until  the  day  that  Noe 
entered  into  the  ark,  and  knew  not  until  the  Flood  came,  and  took 
them  all  away  ;  so,  also,  shall  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be  " 
(Matt.  xxiv.  38).  The  representation  here  is,  that  the  Flood  came 
upon  the  old  world  suddenly,  unexpectedly.  The  coming  of  Christ 
to  judgment  is  to  be  as  the  lightning,  which  "  cometh  out  of  the 
east,  and  shineth  even  unto  the  west."  He  is  to  come  "  in  a 
moment,  in  the  twinlding  of  an  eye."  In  like  manner,  according 
to  the  representation  of  our  Saviour,  the  Deluge  rolled  its  waters 
over  the  ungodly :  "  They  knew  not  till  the  Flood  came  and  took 
them  all  away." 

This  event  is  also  referred  to  by  the  apostle  Peter  in  predict- 
ing the  final  and  general  conflagration :  "  By  the  word  of  God 
the  heavens  were  of  old,  and  the  earth  standing  out  of  the  water 
and  in  the  water  :  whereby  the  world  that  then  was,  being  over- 
flowed with  water,  perished  ;  but  the  heavens  and  the  earth  which 
are  now,  by  the  same  word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire 
against  the  day  of  judgment,  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men " 
(2  Pet.  iii.  5-7). 

I  quote  these  passages  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  the  fact 
of  the  Deluge  does  not  rest  merely  on  the  narrative  in  Genesis. 
It  appears  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  —  in  the  teachings  of  our 
Saviour  and  his  apostles.  It  is  an  integral  part  of  the  sacred  his- 
tory, and  can  never  be  set  aside  while  the  Scriptures  are  retained. 

The  account  in  Genesis,  it  will  be  seen,  is  somewhat  particular. 
It  tells  us  when  the  Flood  came,  and  how  it  came,  and  why  it  came. 
It  shows  the  extent  to  which  it  prevailed,  the  time  of  its  continu- 
ance, its  gradual  subsidence,  and  the  escape  of  Noah  and  his  family 
from  their  long  confinement  in  the  ark. 

It  was  in  the  five  hundredth  year  of  Noah  that  he  was  first 
informed  of  the  coming  Flood,  and  warned  to  prepare  an  ark  for 
the  saving  of  his  house.  A  htindred  years  were  now  granted  him 
for  the  building  of.  the  ark,  during  all  which  time  he  was  preaching 
and  denouncing  the  approaching  judgment,  and  calling  in  vain 
upon  a  thoughtless  world  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  Mean- 
while, all  the  venerable  patriarchs  whose  names  occur  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  Genesis  had  passed  away.     Methuselah,  the  grandfather 


136  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

of  Noah,  was  the  last.  He  died  in  the  first  month  of  the  patriarchal 
year,  agreeing  to  our  September,  aged  969.  .  Early  in  the  next 
month  (October),  Noah  and  his  famil}',  with  all  the  creatures  that 
had  been  collected  round  him,  entered  into  the  ark  ;  and,  on  the 
seventeenth  day,  the  Flood  came :  "  That  same  day  the  fountains 
of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
opened ;  and  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth  forty  da}'^  and  forty 
nishts : "  i.e.,  imtil  about  the  first  of  our  December.  The  waters 
had  now  reached  their  liighest  elevation,  overtopping  by  fifteen 
cubits  the  loftiest  mountains.  At  this  elevation  they  continued 
for  several  months,  until  every  living  creature  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  had  perished.  Early  in  the  following  March,  the  waters 
began  to  abate  ;  and,  on  the  seventeenth  day,  the  ark  rested  on  the 
mountaius  of  Ararat.  Noah  continued  in  the  ark,  however,  through 
the  entire  summer,  —  unto  the  2Tth  of  October ;  making  his  con- 
finement, in  all,  a  Httle  more  than  a  3'ear. 

One  of  the  first  questions  that  meets  us  in  regard  to  the  Deluge 
is  that  of  its  universality.  Was  it  a  mere  local  inundation,  cover- 
ing some  part  of  Western  Asia  and  Greece  ?  or  did  it  hterally  cover 
the  whole  earth  ?  The  Scriptures  speak  of  it  as  universal :  "  All  the 
high  liills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were  covered,"  and 
"  all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth." 

But  it  is  said  that  the  universal  language  of  Scripture  is  often 
used  with  limitations  ;  and  why  may  it  not  be  Hmited  here  ?  How 
can  it  be  shown  that  it  applies  hterally  to  the  whole  surface  of 
the  earth? 

In  replying  to  these  questions,  we  lay  down  the  following  rules 
of  bibhcal  interpretation  in  regard  to  universal  terms :  First,  the 
universals  of  Scripture  are  sometimes  limited  by  the  connections 
in  which  they  stand,  or  by  the  natm-e  of  the  subjects  to  which  they 
are  appHed.  Thus  it  is  said  of  the  famine  in  Egypt  in  the  time  of 
Joseph,  that  it  "  was  over  all  the  face  of  the  earth.^''  And  in  Luke 
it  is  said  that  "  a  decree  went  out  from  Csesar  Augustus,  that  all 
the  ivorld  should  be  taxed."  The  connection  shows  that  this  decree 
was  hmited  to  the  Roman  world,  and  that  the  famine  spoken  of 
reached  only  to  Egypt  and  some  of  the  surrounding  countries. 

We  have  a  like  instance  of  limitation,  as  it  seems  to  me,  in  regard 
to  the  animals  which  came  with  Noah  into  the  ark.  Of  every  liv- 
ing thing,  —  beasts  and  birds,  fowl,  cattle,  and  insects,  —  he  was 
to  take  two  of  every  sort,  male  and  female,  and  bring  them  with 
him  into  the  ark  to  keep  them  alive.     The  terms  here  employed 


THE   DELUGE.  137 

are  universal ;  and  some  think  that  they  are  to  be  applied  without 
any  limitation.  But  the  difficulties  of  such  a  supposition  are  appar- 
ently insuperable.  To  say  nothing  of  the  capacity  of  the  ark  to 
contain  such  a  multitude  of  living  creatiu'es,  the  idea  that  pairs  of 
every  species  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  —  from  every  conti- 
nent and  island,  every  zone  and  clime,  from  the  frozen  pole  to  the 
burning  line  —  were  brought  together  to  the  door  of  the  ark,  and 
placed  within  it,  and,  when  the  Flood  was  over,  that  they  were  taken 
out  and  dispersed,  each  to  its  appropriate  region  and  home,  —  to  my 
own  mind,  such  a  supposition  involves  not  only  a  difficulty,  but  an 
impossibility.  At  any  rate,  it  involves  a  greater  miracle  than  to 
suppose  many  of  the  perished  species  to  have  been  restored  by  an 
act  of  creation,  or  new  species  to  have  been  put  in  their  places, 
when  the  Deluge  was  past.  We  feel  constrained,  therefore,  to 
limit  the  universals  employed  in  this  case,  as  we  do  in  numerous 
other  cases  in  the  Scriptures.  They  are  limited  by  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  —  the  nature  of  the  subject  to  which  they  are  applied. 
Without  doubt,  a  great  multitude  of  living  creatures  were  shut  up 
with  Noah  in  the  ark ;  perhaps  all  that  he  knew,  or  had  access  to, 
or  that  he  felt  any  interest  in  preserving,  —  all  that  God  intended 
he  should  preserve,  —  enough  to  justify  the  expression,  as  words  are 
used  in  the  Bible,  that  he  had  pairs  of  "  every  living  thing." 

We  have  said  that  the  universals  of  Scripture  are  sometimes 
limited  by  the  connections  in  which  they  stand,  or  by  the  nature 
of  the  subjects  to  which  they  are  applied.  But  this,  our  first  rule 
of  interpretation,  is  complemented  by  another :  Where  there  is 
nothing  in  the  connection,  or  in  the  nature  of  the  subject  spoken  of, 
to  limit  the  universal  language  of  Scripture,  let  no  man  presume 
to  limit  it :  let  it  stand  as  God  has  written  it,  in  its  full  force  and 
import,  whatever  hypothesis  of  our  own  may  fall  before  it. 

Now,  there,  is  nothing  in  the  connection,  or  in  the  subject  treated 
of,  which  should  lead  us  to  limit  the  plain  language  of  Scripture 
in  regard  to  the  universality  of  the  Deluge.  Such  an  idea  may 
conffict  with  some  of  the  theories  and  inventions  of  men  ;  but  I  know 
not  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  any  of  the  ascertained  facts  of 
science,  or  with  any  other  of  the  revelations  of  God.  Hence  I 
must  regard  the  narrative  in  Genesis  as  establishing  the  fact  of  a 
universal  deluge. 

And  this  fact  is  confirmed  by  various  other  considerations.  On 
the  supposition  that  the  Deluge  was  only  a  local  inundation,  extend- 
ing over  South-western  Asia,  we  see  not  why  any  ark  was  needed. 


138  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  beasts  and  birds,  and,  more  especially,  birds  of  passage,  might 
easily  have  fled  before  the  invading  scourge  to  some  place  of  safety. 

Even  Noah  and  his  family,  and  as  many  others  as  were  so  dis- 
posed, might  have  passed  rapidly  over  the  Caucasian  Mountains, 
and  escaped.  The  space  allowed  between  the  denunciation  of  the 
Deluge,  and  its  infliction,  would  have  been  amply  sufficient  for  such 
a  purpose.  On  the  supposition  we  are  considering,  therefore,  it 
would  seem  that  the  time  and  labor  of  the  old  patriarch  in  prepar- 
ing an  ark  for  the  saving  of  his  house  might  well  have  been 
spared. 

There  is  still  another  consideration  which  requires  to  be  noticed 
in  this  connection.  On  supposition  that  the  waters  in  South-west- 
ern Asia  rose  high  enough  to  cover,  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  cubits, 
all  the  mountains  in  that  mountainous  region,  —  the  ancient  Imaus, 
the  lofty  Taurus,  the  Caucasian  range,  and  Ararat  itsoif,  towering 
to  the  height  of  eighteen  thousand  feet,  —  what  should  hinder  them 
from  spreading  over  all  the  earth  ?  A  deluge  such  as  this  could  not 
have  been  shut  up  in  a  corner.  By  its  flux  and  reflux,  it  must 
necessarily  have  reached  to  every  portion  of  the  globe.* 

The  universality  of  the  Deluge  is  indicated  in  the  passage  above 
quoted  from  the  apostle  Peter,  in  which  the  destruction  of  the 
world  by  a  flood  is  contrasted  with  its  final  destruction  by  fire. 
All  who  believe  in  a  final  conflagration  must  admit  that  that  catas- 
trophe will  be  universal.  But,  if  the  figure  of  the  apostle  is  of  any 
worth,  the  Flood  must  have  been  equally  universal :  if  the  fires  of 
the  last  day  are  to  spread  over  all  the  earth,  so  did  the  waters  in 
the  time  of  Noah. 

There  is  yet  another  consideration  which  is  conclusive  on  this 
point.  It  is  the  promise  to  Noah,  when  he  had  left  the  ark,  that 
there  should  no  more  be  a  deluge  of  waters  to  destroy  the  earth : 
"  The  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to  destroy  all  flesh  " 
(Gen,  ix.  15).  The  promise  imports  that  there  should  never  again 
be  such  a  deluge  as  had  just  been  witnessed.  But  there  have  been 
locals  partial  inundations  in  every  age ;  and,  if  Noah's  Flood  was 
but  a  partial  inundation,  the  promise  of  God  has  been  often  broken. 
It  has  not  been  fulfilled.  We  infer,  therefore,  from  the  solemn 
promise  to  Noah  and  his  posterity,  thrice  repeated,  and  attested  by 
the  bow  in  the  cloud,  that  the  Deluge  through  which  he  had^  just 
passed  was  universal. 

*  Bishop  Colenso  admits  "  that  a  partial  deluge  involves  a  universal  flood."  —  Vol.  ii.  p.  18. 


THE   DELUGE.  139 

But  if  the  Flood  was  universal,  destroying  every  living  thing, 
and  subjecting  the  human  race  to  the  necessity  of  beginning  the 
world  anew,  springing,  as  at  the  first,  from  a  single  pair,  we  might 
reasonably  expect  that  some  traditions  of  it  would  remain,  more 
especially  among  the  ancient  nations.  And  so,  in  fact,  they  do. 
We  find  them  in  all  parts  of  the  habitable  earth. 

In  Chaldsea,  the  very  country  where,  probably,  the  ark  was  built, 
they  had  the  following  tradition,  as  given  by  Berosus,  a  Chaldsean 
priest,  who  lived  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  before  Christ : 
"  Before  the  Flood,  there  was  a  great  city  of  giants,  called  ^no, 
situated  near  Libanus,  the  inhabitants  of  which  governed  the 
whole  world.  Though  they  were  dreadfully  corrupt,  there  was 
one  among  them  who  reverenced  the  gods,  and  was  more  wise  and 
prudent  than  all  the  rest.  His  name  was  Noa.  He  dwelt  in  Syria 
with  his  three  sons,  —  Sem,  Japhet,  and  Cham.  This  man,  fearing 
the  destruction  which  he  foresaw  from  the  stars  Avould  come  upon 
the  earth,  began,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  before  the  Deluge,  to 
build  a  ship,  covering  it  over  like  an  ark.  At  the  end  of  the  sev- 
enty-eight years,  the  ocean,  of  a  sudden,  broke  out ;  and  all  the 
lakes,  rivers,  and  fountains  burst  from  beneath,  attended  with  the 
most  violent  rains  from  heaven  for  many  days,  until  the  waters 
overflowed  all  the  mountains.  The  entire  human  race  was  buried 
in  the  waters,  except  Noa  and  his  family,  who  were  saved  by  means 
of  the  ship.  This,  after  floating  on  the  water  for  many  days, 
rested,  at  last,  upon  the-  top  of  the  Gordsean  Mountains,  where,  it 
is  reported,  some  fragments  of  the  vessel  still  remain  ;  and  men  take 
away  the  bitumen  of  it,  and  use  it  as  a  charm  for  the  averting  of 
evils.  We  see,  therefore,  the  truth  of  what  the  Chaldseans  and 
Scythians  tell  us,  that,  when  the  earth  was  dried,  there  were  no 
more  than  eight  persons  alive  in  all  Armenia ;  and  that  from  these 
all  men  on  the  earth  sprung.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Scythi- 
ans call  Noa  the  father  of  the  gods,  the  author  of  the  human  race, 
and  the  seed  of  the  world." 

Such  is  the  account  of  the  Deluge  given  by  Berosus,  gathered, 
not  from  our  Scriptures,  but  probably  from  the  Chalda3an  priests. 
The  following  is  a  tradition  of  the  Assyrians  on  the  same  subject, 
as  furnished  by  Abydenus :  "  Saturn  forewarned  Sisisthrus  that 
there  should  be  a  great  flood  of  waters  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
month  Desius.  Sisisthrus  set  sail  at  once  for  Armenia ;  and,  at 
the  time  appointed,  the  thing  came  to  pass  :  and  on  the  third 
day,  when  the  tempest  had  ceased,  Siristhrus  made  trial,  by  send- 


140  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

ing  out  birds,  to  see  if  they  could  find  any  land  uncovered  of  water. 
But  they,  finding  nothing  but  an  immense  ocean,  and  not  knowing 
which  way  to  go,  returned  to  Sisisthrus.  After  these,  he  sent  out 
others ;  and  the  third  time  the  birds  returned  with  mudded  feet. 
But  as  for  Sisisthrus,  the  gods  took  him  from  among  men.  The 
ship  was  floated  to  Armenia,  and  afforded  to  the  people  of  the 
country  amulets  of  wood  with  which  to  expel  diseases."  * 

Among  the  ancient  Persians,  the  belief  of  a  deluge  extensively 
prevailed.  Zoroaster  taught  that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  wicked- 
ness of  one  Malcus.  One  of  their  writers  relates  that  Noah  dwelt 
upon  the  very  momitain  from  which  the  waters  burst  forth. 

The  Noah  of  Egypt  appears  to  have  bqen  Osiris.  Typhon 
enticed  him  into  an  ark,  which,  being  closed,  went  out  to  sea.  And 
it  is  remarkable  that  he  embarked,  according  to  the  tradition,  on 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  month  Athyr,  —  the  very  day  on  which 
Noah  entered  into  the  ark. 

The  traditions  among  the  Greeks  of  Deucalion's  Flood  were  very 
common.  The  following  is  Lucian's  account  of  it,  contained  in  his 
work,  "  De  Dea  Syria :  "  "  The  present  race  of  men  are  different 
from  those  who  first  existed ;  for  those  of  the  antediluvian  world 
were  all  destroyed.  The  present  world  is  peopled  by  the  sons  of 
Deucalion,  having  increased  to  so  great  a  number  from  one  person. 
In  respect  to  the  former  brood,  they  were  men  of  violence,  and 
lawless  in  their  dealings.  They  regarded  not  oaths,  nor  observed 
the  rites  of  hospitality,  nor  showed  mercy  to  them  that  sued  for  it. 
On  this  account,  they  were  doomed  to  destruction :  and,  to  effect 
this,  there  was  a  mighty  eruption  of  waters  from  the  earth,  attended 
with  heavy  showers  from  above ;  so  that  the  rivers  swelled,  and 
the  sea  overflowed,  till  the  whole  earth  was  covered  with  a  flood ; 
and  all  flesh  was  drowned.  Deucalion  alone  was  preserved  to 
repeople  the  world  ;  which  mercy  was  shown  him  on  account  of  his 
piety  and  justice.  His  preservation  was  effected  in  this  way :  He 
put  all  his  family,  both  his  sons  and  their  wives,  into  a  vast  ark 
which  he  had  provided;  and  then  he  went  in  himself.  At  the 
same  time,,  animals  of  every  species,  boars,  horses,  lions,  serpents, 
whatever  lived  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  followed  him  by  pairs  ; 
all  which  he  received  into  the  ark,  and  experienced  no  evil  from 
them.  As  to  what  happened  after  this,  there  is  a  tradition  among 
those  of  Hierapolis,  that,  in  their  country,  a  great  chasm  opened, 

*  For  this  fragment  and  the  preceding,  see  Bryant's  Analysis  of  Ancient  Mythology,  vol.  ii. 
p.  212. 


THE   DELUGE.  141. 

and  received  all  the  water ;  whereupon  Deucalion  erected  altars, 
and  built  a  temple  over  the  chasm."  . 

Plutarch  adds  to  the  story  of  Lucian,  that  "  Deucalion  sent  out 
a  dove  from  the  ark,  whose  return  indicated  a  continuance  of  the 
Deluge ;  whereas  its  neglect  to  return  when  sent  out  the  second 
time,  or  its  return  (as  some  say)  with  muddy  feet,  showed  that 
the  Avaters  had  disappeared." 

Among  the  Romans,  Ovid  has  described  Deucalion's  Deluge  more 
fully  than  any  other  author.  We  give  the  substance  of  his  account 
in  the  translation  of  Dryden.  After  describing  the  assault  of  the 
giants  upon  heaven  by  piling  mountains  on  mountains,  and  then 
speaking  of  the  impious  brood  which  sprang  up  from  their  blood, 
the  poet  proceeds  to  say,  — 

"  But  Jove 
Resolved  to  pour  a  watery  deluge  down  ; 
And,  what  he  durst  not  burn,  concludes  to  drown. 

Impetuous  rain  descends. 
Nor  from  his  patrimonial  heaven  alone 
Is  Jove  content  to  pour  his  vengeance  down  : 
Aid  from  his  brother  of  the  seas  he  craves 
To  help  him  with  auxiliary  waves. 

Then,  with  his  mace,  the  monarch  struck  the  ground  : 
With  inward  trembling  earth  received  the  wound, 
And  rising  streams  a  ready  passage  found. 

Now  seas  and  earth  were  in  confusion  tost,  — 
A  A^orld  of  waters,  and  without  a  coast. 
A  mountain  of  stupendous  height  there  stands 
Betwixt  the  Athenian  and  Boeotian  lands  : 
Parnassus  is  its  name,  whose  forky  rise 
Mounts  through  the  clouds,  and  mates  the  lofty  skies. 

High  on  the  summit  of  this  dubious  cliff, 
Deucalion,  wafting,  moored  his  little  skiff. 
He  with  his  wife  were  only  left  behind 
Of  perished  man  :  they  two  were  human  kind. 
The  most  upright  of  mortal  men  was  he  ; 
The  most  sincere  and  holy  woman  she. 

When  Jupiter,  surveying  earth  from  high, 
Beheld  it  in  a  lake  of  waters  lie. 
He  loosed  the  northern  wind :  fierce  Boreas  flies 
To  puff  away  the  clouds,  and  purge  the  skies."  * 

Among  the  earliest  settled  parts  of  the  earth  subsequent  to  the 
Deluge  were  India  and  China.  We  might  expect,  therefore,  to 
find  traditions  of  this  great  catastrophe  in  those  countries.     And 

*  Metamorphoses,  book  i. 


142  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

SO  we  do.  Of  China,  Sir  William  Jones  says,  "  I  may  assure  you, 
after  full  inquiry,  that  the  Chinese  believe  the  earth  to  have  been, 
in  very  ancient  times,  wholly  covered  with  water,  which,  in  works 
of  undisputed  authority,  they  describe  as  flowing  abundantly,  and 
then  subsiding,  separating  the  higher  from  the  lower  age  of  man- 
kind. They  further  tell  us,  that  the  divisions  of  time,  from  which 
their  history  begins,  just  preceded  the  appearance  of  Fohi  (Noah) 
in  the  mountains  of  China."  * 

The  Hindoo  tradition  is  very  explicit.  The  following  is  Sir 
William  Jones's  abridged  account  of  it,  as  contained  in  the  poem 
of  the  Bhagavat.  At  some  remote  period,  the  Vedas  had  been 
stolen  from  Brahma  ;  and  the  world,  in  consequence,  became  insuf- 
ferably corrupt.  Vishnu  now  appears  to  Satyavrata,  one  of  the 
princes  of  the  country,  and  says ,  "  In  seven  days,  all  creatures 
who  have  offended  me  shall  be  destroyed  by  a  deluge ;  but  thou 
shalt  be  saved  in  a  capacious  vessel,  miraculously  prepared.  Take, 
therefore,  all  kinds  of  medicinal  herbs,  and  grain  for  food,  and  the 
seven  holy  men  with  their  wives,  and  pairs  of  all  animals,  and  enter 
the  vessel  without  fear.  Then  shalt  thou  know  God  face  to  fa,ce, 
and  all  thy  questions  shall  be  answered."  So  saying, Vishnu  disap- 
peared. And,  after  seven  days,  the  ocean  began  to  overflow  the 
coasts,  and  the  earth  to  be  flooded  with  constant  rains  ;  when  Saty- 
avrata saw  a  large  vessel  moving  towards  him  on  the  waters.  He 
entered  it,  having  in  all  things  conformed  to  the  instructions  of 
Vishnu.  When  the  flood  had  ceased,  Vishnu  instrut;ted  Satyavrata 
in  divine  knowledge,  and  honored  him  by  making  him  the  seventh 
Menu. 

The  Puranas  add  to  this  tradition,  that  "  the  vessel  rested  on 
the  mountain  Ayravarta,"  — the  same,  probably,  as  the  Ararat  of 
the  Scriptures. 

Sir  William  Jones  collected  some  further  traditions  concerning 
this  Satyavrata,  presenting  still  more  striking  coincidences  with 
the  history  of  Noah :  "  To  Satyavrata,  the  sovereign  of  the  whole 
earth,  were  born  three  sons,  —  the  eldest  Sharma,  then  Charma,  and 
the  third  Jyapeti.  They  were  men  excellent  in  virtue  and  in  vir- 
tuous deeds  ;  sldlled  in  the  use  of  weapons  to  strike  with  or  to  be 
thrown  ;  brave  men,  eager  for  victory  in  battle.  And  their  father, 
being  delighted  with  devout  meditations,  and  seeing  his  sons  fit  for 
dominion,  laid  upon  them  the  burthen  of  government,  while  he  re- 
mained honoring  and  satisfying  the  gods.     One  day,  Satyavrata, 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii. 


THE   DELUGE.  143 

having  drunk  mead  and  become  senseless,  lay  asleep,  naked.  In 
this  state  he  was  seen  by  Charma,  who  called  his  two  brothers,  and 
said,  '  What  has  now  happened  ?  In  what  condition  is  this  our 
sire  ? '  By  these  two  sons  was  the  father  covered  with  clothes,  and 
brought  again  to  his  senses.  Having  recovered,  and  perfectly 
knowing  what  had  passed,  the  king  cursed  Charma,  saying,  '  Thou 
shalt  be  the  servant  of  servants ;  and,  since  I  was  a  laughter  in 
thy  presence,  from  laughter  shalt  thou  acquire  a  name.'  Then 
he  gave  to  Charma  the  wide  domain  on  the  south  of  the  snowy 
mountains  ;  and  to  Jyapeti  he  gave  all  to  the  north  of  the  snowy 
mountains.*  Afterwards  the  king,  by  the  power  of  religious  con- 
templation, attained  to  supreme  bliss."  * 

I  only  add  further,  that  clear  traditions  of  an  ancient  universal 
deluge  are  found  among  the  natives  of  North  and  South  America. 
Acosta  says  that  the  Indians  generally  believed  in  a  deluge, 
and  that  "  all  men  were  drowned  in  it."  According  to  Herrera, 
the  Mexicans  believed  that  "  a  single  family  was  preserved,  during 
a  deluge,  in  an  ark,  with  a  sufficient  number  of  animals  to  people 
the  new  world.  While  confined  in  the  ark,  several  ravens  were 
sent  out,  one  of  which  returned  with  a  twig  from  a  tree." 

Herrera  further  states,  that  "  the  native  inhabitants  of  Cuba  have 
a  tradition,  that  an  old  man,  knowing  the  Deluge  was  to  come, 
built  a  great  ship,  and  went  into  it  with  his  family  and  an  abun- 
dance of  animals ;  that  he  sent  out  a  crow,  which  did  not  return 
for  a  time,  because  it  staid  to  feed  on  dead  bodies.  But  afterwards 
it  did  return  with  a  green  branch." 

The  native  Peruvians,  says  the  same  author,  have  a  tradition 
from  their  ancestors,  that  "  many  years  before,  when  the  country 
was  very  populous,  there  happened  a  great  flood.  The  sea  broke 
forth  beyond  its  bounds  ;  the  land  was  covered  with  water ;  and  all 
the  people  perished  excepting  six  persons,  who  were  saved  on  a 
float.  From  them  descended  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country." 
A  like  tradition  Herrera  found  in  Brazil,  in  Terra  Firma,  and  in 
other  parts  of  South  America. f 

It  is  impossible  to  account  for  these  various  and  wide-spread  tra- 
ditions without  referring  them  to  the  same  event,  —  the  Deluge 
described  by  Moses  in  Genesis.  Partial  and  local  inundations  have 
often  happened  ;  but  here  is  one  of  universal  prevalence,  brought 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iii.  p.  263,  vol.  vi.  p.  521. 

t  See  Acosta' s  History  of  the  Indies,  and  Herrera's  History  of  America,  as  quoted  by 
Calcott  on  the  Deluge,  pp.  71,  72. 


144  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

on  by  the  wickedness  of  men,  in  which  a  few  only  are  saved  in  a 
vessel  or  ark.  They  send  out  birds  to  see  whether  the  ground  is 
dry ;  and,  when  they  leave  their  vessel,  the  same  things  occur  as 
those  which  are  described  by  Moses.  The  story  too,  in  every  in- 
stance, is  thrown  back  into  the  earliest  times,  —  the  very  beginning 
of  the  nation's  history.  Admit  all  these  traditions  to  grow  out  of 
the  Deluge  of  Noah,  and  the  whole  is  plain  ;  but,  if  we  reject  this 
account  of  their  origin,  we  need  a  miracle  greater  than  that  of  the 
Deluge  in  order  to  explain  them. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE    DELUGE.  - —  CONCLUDED. 


IN  the  last  chapter,  I  showed  the  fact  of  the  Noachian  Deluge, 
and  its  universality.  We  noticed  also  the  various  traditions  of 
it  among  the  iiifferent  heathen  nations.  Let  us  next  inquire  as  to 
the  bearing  of  recent  geological  inquiries  on  the  question  of  a 
universal  deluge. 

Until  the  last  half-century,  or  a  little  more,  it  was  common  for 
theologians  and  biblical  antiquaries  to  refer  nearly  all  the  otherwise 
unaccountable  phenomena  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or  on  its 
surface,  to  the  action  of  the  Deluge.  Fossil  remains,  embedded  far 
doAvn  in  the  rocks,  the  relics  of  animals  and  vegetables  no  longer 
in  existence,  widely-extended  coal-fields,  sea-shells  on  the  tops  of 
mountains,  and  all  such  unusual  appearances,  were  supposed  to 
have  a  common  cause  in  the  Deluge  of  Noah  ;  but  the  recent 
geological  discoveries  have  effectually  refuted  all  such  theories. 
They  have  proved,  as  conclusively  as  facts  can  prove  any  thing, 
that  this  world  has  existed  from  a  very  remote  period ;  that  it  was 
the  home  of  various  species  of  animals  and  vegetables,  now  extinct, 
long  ages  before  the  creation  of  man  ;  and  that  organic  remains  are 
continually  exhumed,  which  could  never  have  been  deposited  by 
the  Deluge  of  Noah. 

Until  a  recent  period,  it  was  supposed  by  the  most  respectable 
geologists,  that  various  parts  of  tlie  upper  portion  of  the  earth's 
surface  —  that  commonly  called  the  diluvium^  or  drifts  and  which  was 
evidently  occasioned  by  the  washing  of  water  —  might  reasonably 
be  ascribed  to  the  Deluge  as  its  cause ;  but  later  discoveries  have 
led  many  to  doubt  in  regard  to  this  point.  In  many  places,  the 
diluvium,  or  drift,  seems  to  have  been  the  result  of  causes  more  an- 
cient, and  of  longer  continuance,  than  the  Deluge  of  Noah.  Be- 
sides, the  drift  contains  few  or  no  remains  of  the  bones  or  the  works 

10  "  145 


146  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

of  men,  —  a  fact  liard  to  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that 
this  was  deposited  by  the  Flood  of  which  we  speak.* 

Of  the  geological  facts  touching  the  question  before  us,  we  may 
safely  make  the  following  statements  :  — 

1.  This  earth  has  been  washed  by  several  deluges^  the  most  of 
which  were  of  a  vastly  liigher  antiquity  than  the  time  of  Noah. 
The  Scriptures  speak  expressly  of  one  deluge  almost  two  thou- 
sand years  anterior  to  Noah,  —  I  mean  that  which  lay  upon  the 
earth  at  the  commencement  of  the  six-days'  work  of  creation. 
The  earth,  at  that  period,  "  was  without  form,  and  void  ;  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep :  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  ivaters  ; "  importing  that  the  earth  was,  at 
that  time,  generally,  if  not  entirely,  covered  with  water. 

But  there  had  been  deluges  more  ancient  than  this.  It  was 
water  which  first  abraded  the  primary  rocks,  producing  not  only 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  but  the  materials  out  of  which  the  stratified 
rocks  were  formed.  And  these  stratified  rocks  generally,  if  not 
universally,  show  in  their  formation  the  action  of  water.  They 
were,  at  the  first,  mud,  lying  at  the  bottom  of  seas  or  lakes,  or  of 
the  ocean,  which  was  afterwards  petrified,  and  became  rock.  It 
was  water  which  first  smoothed  and  rounded  the  countless  myriads 
of  bowlders,  which  are  either  embedded  in  rocks,  or  scattered 
through  the  crust  of  the  earth,  or  spread  abroad  upon  its  surface. 
It  was  water  which  deposited  the  successive  layers  of  sand  and 
gravel,  and  loam  and  clay,  which  meet  us  everywhere  in  the  earth 
when  we  have  occasion  to  dig  beneath  the  surface.  The  drift,  the 
diluvium,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  is  all  of  it  a  deposit  of  water. 
We  encounter  it  in  every  sand  and  gravel  hill  of  our  country.  In 
short,  this  American  continent  seems  to  have  been  subjected,  at 
some  period,  to  a  tremendous  rush  of  waters  pouring  down  from 
the  north,  and  passing  oif  to  the  south,  abrading  the  mountains, 
scooping  out  the  valleys,  removing  and  scattering  the  rocks  and 
bowlders,  opening  beds  for  the  rivers,  and  smoothing  down  the 
fertile  plains.  It  is  for  this  reason,  in  part,  that  most  of  our  great 
mountain-ranges  in  this  country  run  in  a  northerly  and  southerly 

*  Until  within  a  few  years,  a  certain  class  of  geologists  were  decided  in  the  opinon  that  the 
drift  could  not  have  been  deposited  by  Noah's  Flood,  for  the  reason  above  assigned,  —  that  it 
contains  no  reHcs  of  the  human  species.  But  latterly,  when  some  such  relics  have  been  discov- 
ered, they  are  not  satisfied  to  refer  them  to  the  antediluvians,  but  choose  rather  to  bring  in  a 
class  of  pre- Adamite  men.  Their  treatment  of  this  subject  is  enough  to  satisfy  us  of  two  things: 
First,  the  science  of  geology  is  yet  far  from  being  in  a  settled  state ;  second,  the  men  of  whom 
we  speak  are  resolved  to  make  geology  contradict  the-Bible  one  way,  if  it  does  not  in  another. 


THE   DELUGE.  147 

direction  ;  almost  none  of  them  running  from  east  to  west.  In  fine, 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  this  earth  has  been  washed  by  successive 
deluges,  the  most  of  which  were  of  a  vastly  higher  antiquity  than 
the  time  of  Noah. 

2.  Whether  any  sure  marks  of  the  Noachian  Deluge  so  remain  at 
present  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  that  the  geologist  may  be  able 
to  trace  and  identify  them,  is  uncertain.  Only  a  few  years  ago, 
it  was  thought  by  such  men  as  Buckland,  Sillijnan,  Hitchcock,  and 
others,  that  such  traces  were  distinctly  visible ;  but  more  recent 
inquiries  have  rendered  the  matter  doubtful.  No  one  can  pretend 
to  say  that  it  may  not  he  so :  no  one  can  say  certainly  that  it  is 
so.  In  other  words,  no  one  can  point  to  any  particular  geological 
phenomena,  and  say  positively,  "  These  were  produced  by  Noalis 
Flood:'     But,  — 

3.  Whether  any  definable  traces  of  this  Flood  now  remain  on 
the  earth  or  not,  the  analogy  of  the  world's  history  clearly  shows 
that  such  an  event  is  neither  impossible  nor  iinprohahle.  If  re- 
peated deluges  have  swept  over  the  earth  in  the  remoter  periods 
of  its  history,  why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  that 
such  an  event  should  occur  in  the  time  of  Noah  ?  If  the  geologist 
can  furnish  no  certain  proof  of  such  an  occurrence,  he  surely  can 
furnish  none  against  it ;  and  when  the  Bible  declares  it  in  the  most 
explicit  terms,  and  the  traditions  of  all  nations  bear  witness  to  it, 
and  the  analogy  of  the  world's  history  is  rather  in  its  favor  than 
otherwise,  who  shall  presume  to  stand  up  and  say  it  is  not  so  ? 

Several  objections  have  been  raised  against  a  universal  deluge, 
Avhich  it  will  be  necessary  now  to  consider  :  — 

1.  It  is  inquired  where  the  water  could  have  come  from  in  suf- 
ficient quantity  to  deluge  the  earth,  and  overtop  the  highest  moun- 
tains. To  this  I  reply,  that  I  do  not  know  where.  We  are  only 
informed  that  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  the 
windows  of  heaven  were  opened,  the  rain  continued  forty  days 
and  forty  nights,  and  the  whole  earth  was  deluged.  God  could 
bring  to  pass  such  an  event  in  a  thousand  ways.  Having  made 
one  ocean,  he  oan  make  two,  or  ten,  if  he  is  so  disposed.  God 
has  all  the  materials  at  hand  for  composing  water ;  and  he  can 
compose  it,  or  decompose  it,  to  any  extent  he  pleases. 

If  any  one  thinks  that  this  answer  is  not  sufficient,  I  would 
inquire.  Where  did  the  waters  of  the  previous  deluges  come  from  ? 
Whence  came  those  dark  waters  on  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
moved  at  the  creation  ?     Whence  came  those  mighty  waters  wliich 


148  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

once  rolled  over  this  continent  from  north  to  south,  scattering  the 
drift  and  diluvium  everywhere  ?  When  the  objector  has  satis- 
factorily answered  these  questions,  he  will  have  little  occasion  to 
trouble  himself  respecting  the  cause  and  origin  of  the  waters  of 
Noah. 

2.  But  it  is  said,  as  the  Deluge  was  sent  in  judgment  for  the 
wickedness  of  men,  it  need  not  have  extended  farther  than 
the  habitations  of  men ;  and  these  seem  to  have  been  confined  to 
Southern  and  South-western  Asia.  But  how  does  the  objector 
know  that  human  habitations  were  confined,  at  that  period,  to  so 
small  a  space  ?  How  can  he  render  such  a  supposition  probable  ? 
A  very  long  time  had  passed  since  the  creation  of  man,  —  as  long, 
into  two  centuries,  as  has  intervened  since  the  birth  of  Christ. 
The  command  was  given  to  the  race  at  first :  "Be  fruitful,  and 
multiply,  and  replenish,"  i.e.  fill  "  the  earth ;  "  and,  whatever  other 
injunctions  may  have  been  broken,  we  have  reason  to  know  that 
this  was  obeyed.  Now  let  any  one  sit  down,  and  compute  (if  he 
can)  the  probable  increase  of  the  race  during  the  long  period  of 
1656  years,  when  families  lived,  and  had  sons  and  daughters,  for 
hundreds  of  years  together,  and  he  will  probably  be  surprised  at 
the  result.  If  the  household  of  Jacob,  who  went  into  Egypt,  in- 
creased there,  in  a  little  more  than  two  hundred  years,  to  two  mil- 
lions of  souls ;  if  the  first  settlers  of  New  England,  a  little  band, 
have  increased  here,  in  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  till  the  land 
is  full  of  them,  —  what  must  have  been  the  increase  of  the  posterity 
of  Adam  in  the  long  period  of  1656  years  ?  My  own  impression 
is,  that  the  earth  was  never  so  full  of  inhabitants  as  it  was  on  the 
day  when  Noah  entered  into  the  ark.  We  are  expressly  told  that 
it  "  was  filled  with  violence,"  and  with  violence  as  the  result  of 
human  wickedness.  It  follows  that  it  must  have  been  filled  with 
wicked  7nen ;  and  that  a  deluge  which  should  destroy  them  all 
must  have  been  universal.* 

I  will  add,  that  probably  the  arts,  or  some  of  them,  were  never 
carried  to  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  than  at  that  period ;  else 
such  a  structure  as  the  ark  could  never  have  been  built.  Nor  did 
a  knowledge  of  the  arts  perish  in  the  Flood :  it  survived,  and 
showed  itself  in  the  family  of  Noah.  Hence  we  found  men,  soon 
after  the  Flood,  engaged  in  cultivating  the  earth,  in  building  cities 

*  The  authors  of  the  Universal  History  have  constructed  tables  to  show,  that,  at  the  time 
of  the  Deluge,  the  earth  may  have  contained  thousands  of  millions  of  human  beings. —  See  vol.  i. 
p.  232. 


THE   DELUGE.  149 

and  towers,  in  practising  the  arts  both  of  war  and  peace,  just  as 
their  pride  and  ingenuity  prompted. 

3.  It  is  further  oljjected,  that  the  ark  was  incapable  of  holding 
pairs  of  all  the  different  species  of  fowls  and  animals,  of  insects 
and  creeping  things,  at  that  time  on  the  earth ;  that  they  could 
not  have  been  brought  together  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  go 
into  it ;  or,  if  they  could  have  been  crowded  in,  that  they  must  soon 
have  perished  for  tlie  want  of  food  and  light  and  air.  Tliis  objec- 
tion, it  will  be  seen,  is,  in  great  measure,  obviated  by  what  was 
said  in  our  last  chapter.  It  was  there  stated  that  the  universal 
language  of  Scripture  is  often  limited  by  the  connection  in  which 
it  stands,  or  by  the  subject  to  which  it  is  applied.  As,  for  example, 
when  it  is  said  of  the  great  sheet  let  down  in  vision  to  the  view 
of  Peter,  that  on  it  "  were  all  manner  of  four-footed  beasts  of  the 
earth,  and  wild  beasts,  and  fowls  of  the  air,  and  creeping  things," 
no  one  supposes  that  the  universals  here  employed  are  to  be  taken 
in  their  widest  sense.  The  necessity  of  the  case  forbids  it.  So, 
also,  when  it  is  said  that  "  the  fame  of  David  went  forth  into  all 
lands  ;  "  and  that  "  all  the  earth  sought  the  presence  of  Solomon 
to  hear  his  wisdom  ;  "  and  that,  at  the  Pentecost,  "  there  were 
dwelling  in  Jerusalem  Jews,  devout  men,  out  of  every  nation 
under  heaven,"  —  the  intelligent  reader  of  the  Bible  is  in  no  danger 
of  mistaking  the  sense.  Universal  terms  are  employed ;  but  then 
they  are  limited  by  the  very  nature  of  the  subjects  to  which  they 
are  applied.  And  so,  also,  in  the  case  before  us.  The  universal 
terms  employed  by  tlie  sacred  writer  in  speaking  of  the  animals 
which  went  into  the  ark,  when  limited,  as  we  think  they  must  be, 
by  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  import  only  that  very  many  kinds 
of  creatures  were  taken  in,  —  perhaps  all  that  Noah  knew,  or  had 
access  to,  or  that  he  felt  any  interest  in  preserving,  —  all  that  God 
intended  he  should  preserve. 

As  to  a  sufficiency  of  food,  air,  and  light  within  the  ark,  only  a 
few  words  need  be  said.  If  Noah  knew  enough  to  build  such  an 
ark,  the  presumption  is  that  he  knew  enough  to  make  provision 
for  necessities  of  this  kind.  Or,  if  Noah  did  not  understand  the 
matter,  most  certainly  God  did  ;  and,  in  his  directions  for  building 
the  ark,  items  so  important  as  these  would  not  have  been  over- 
looked. We  are  not  told,  indeed,  particularly  how  this  was  done  ; 
but  that  it  was  done,  and  done  effectually,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
The  preservation  of  the  creatures  alive  within  the  ark  is  full 
proof  of  this. 


150  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

4.  In  replying  to  the  foregoing  objection,  we  have,  in  effect,  re- 
plied to  others  connected  with  it ;  such  as  the  preservation  and 
universal  dispersion  of  all  kinds  of  seeds,  and  the  dispersion  of 
animals,  after  the  Deluge,  to  different  parts  of  the  earth.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  suppose  that  much  of  this  was  done.  The  Scriptures 
say  nothing  of  it.  It  is  far  from  certain  that  the  submerging  of 
the  earth  for  the  space  of  five  months  would  destroy,  root  and 
branch,  every  species  of  vegetables,  with  all  their  seeds;  and 
such  kinds  as  were  destroyed  God  could  easily  restore  by  creative 
power,  or  he  could  give  new  and  more  fitting  kinds  of  vegetables 
in  their  places.  And  so  of  the  different  species  of  animals : 
those  that  went  forth  from  the  ark  were  soon  dispersed,  and  mul- 
tiplied in  the  surrounding  region ;  while  those  which  had  been 
destroyed  in  remote  parts  of  the  earth  could  be  replaced  by  an 
act  of  creative  power. 

The  previous  deluges  furnish  examples  in  favor  of  this  supposi- 
tion. When  the  first  animal  and  vegetable  forms  that  appeared 
on  the  earth  were,  by  some  great  convulsion  of  Nature,  destroyed, 
other  and  more  perfect  species  were  created ;  and,  when  these 
again  were  destroyed,  species  still  more  perfect  were  raised  up ; 
and  so  on  up  to  the  time  of  the  creation  of  man.  And  now, 
when  the  earth  is  again  destroyed,  what  more  likely  (reasoning 
from  analogy)  than  that  —  with  the  exception  of  the  creatures 
preserved  in  the  ark  —  the  earth  should  be  re-vegetated  and  re- 
fitted by  creative  power  ? 

5.  It  is  further  objected  to  the  Scripture  account  of  the  Deluge, 
that  the  top  of  Ararat  is  no  place  for  the  resting  of  the  ark ;  that 
it  is  up  in  a  region  of  perpetual  ice  and  snow ;  and,  besides,  the 
mountain  is  so  steep  and  rugged,  that  Noah,  with  his  family  and 
his  animals,  could  never  have  made  the  descent. 

To  all  this  we  need  only  reply,  that  the  Scriptures  nowhere 
state  that  the  ark  rested  on  the  top  of  Ararat ;  nor  is  it  certain 
from  Scripture  that  it  rested  on  any  part  of  what  is  now  called 
Ararat.  Jerome  informs  us  that  the  name  Ararat  was  anciently 
given  to  the  whole  chain  of  Armenian  Mountains.  Dr.  Shuckford 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  ark  rested  on  some  mountain  farther 
east.  Hence  it  is  said  that  the  sons  of  Noah  "  journeyed  from  the 
east "  to  come  into  the  land  of  Shinar.  In  the  Syriac  version  of 
the  Old  Testament,  it  is  said  that  the  ark  rested  on  the  top  of 
Mount  Cardon.  This  is  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  great  range 
of  the  Taurus  ;  whereas  Ararat  proper  is  in  the  western  part. 


THE   DELUGE.  151 

6.  It  is  confidently  said  that  there  are  volcanoes  which  cannot 
have  been  covered  with  water  so  recently  as  the  time  of  Noah. 
For  example,  the  cinders  and  dust  on  the  sides  of  ^tna,  which, 
it  is  calculated,  are  older  than  Noah,  must  have  been  washed  away 
in  the  Deluge,  if  any  deluge  at  that  time  occurred.  But  how  is 
it  known  that  the  cinders  and  dust  of  ^tna  are  older  than  the 
time  of  Noah  ?  And,  if  they  are  older,  is  it  not  possible  that  they 
were  harder  then  than  now,  having  become  disiijtegrated  and  loos- 
ened by  atmospheric  agency  through  so  long  a  period?  There 
are  extinct  volcanoes  in  the  south-easterly  part  of  France,  where 
geological  formations  between  different  layers  of  lava,  and  the 
wearing  of  water-courses  through  great  depths  of  volcanic  matter, 
prove  a  much  higher  antiquity  than  the  time  of  Noah.  And  sup- 
pose them  to  have  a  higher  antiquity  than  Noah;  suppose  them 
to  have  been  in  active  operation  a  long  time  before  the  Flood :  does 
this  prove  that  there  was  no  flood  ?  For  aught  we  know,  their 
fires  may  have  been  quenched  in  the  waters  of  the  Deluge,  and 
they  may  have  had  no  eruptions  since. 

7.  It  is  said,  again,  that  there  are  trees  now  standing  in  some 
parts  of  Africa,  and  in  the  south-western  parts  of  North  America, 
which  have  been  growing  for  more  than  four  thousand  years.  But 
of  the  truth  of  this  statement  I  stand  in  doubt.  I  see  not  how 
the  fact,  if  it  be  one,  can  be  proved.  Have  any  of  these  old  trees 
been  cut  down,  and  their  trunks  examined  ?  or,  if  they  have,  can 
the  number  of  their  years  be  in  this  way  ascertained  ?  In  tropical 
regions,  there  are  some  trees,  we  are  told,  which  show  no  annual 
circles  at  all ;  wliile  in  others  the  circles  are  very  irregular,  the 
tree  producing  two  or  more  every  year. 

That  there  are  trees  great  and  old  now  standing  on  the  earth,  — 
the  boabab  of  Africa,  and  the  taxodium  of  Mexico,  —  I  do  not  doubt ; 
but  that  any  of  them  date  back  to  a  period  before  the  Flood,  is 
more,  I  am  sure,  that  can  with  certainty  be  affirmed.  Only  a  few 
years  ago,  the  Rev.  Dr.  BushneU  counted  the  rings  of  one  of  the 
great  trees  of  Cahfornia,  and  found  them  to  be  something  more 
than  two  thousand. 

8.  It  is  urged,  finally,  that  the  histories  of  some  ancient  nations 
—  the  Chinese,  the  Hindoos,  the  Chaldseans,  and  Egyptians  — 
reach  back  to  a  period  long  anterior  to  the  time  of  the  Deluge. 
I  examined  this  subject  in  the  chapter  on  the  chronology  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  need  not  go  into  it  at  any  length  here.  It 
was  then  remarked,-  that  the  chronology  of  most  ancient  nations 


152  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

may  be  divided  into  three  parts, — \hQ  fabulous,  the  traditionary,  and 
the  historic, — the  two  first  of  which  may  be  passed  over  as  of  very 
little  account  in  history.  The  Chinese  are  an  ancient  nation,  — 
more  ancient,  probably,  than  any  other  now  existing ;  but  that  their 
empire  dates  back  to  a  period  beyond  the  Flood,  says  the  mission- 
ary Guterlaff,  "is  as  extravagant  as  any  of  the  mythological  stories 
of  the  Greeks  or  Hindoos."  They  have  no  reliable,  authentic  his- 
tory before  the  time  of  Confucius,  which  was  only  five  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  Christ. 

Of  the  Hindoos,  the  late  Dr.  Allen  says,  "  We  have  no  means 
of  determining  the  date  of  any  event  previous  to  the  invasion  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  —  about  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  years 
before  Christ ; "  though,  previous  to  this,  it  is  well  known  that 
India  was  a  partially-civilized  and  populous  country. 

The  Bible  lays  the  foundation  of  the  Chaldsean  Empire  in  the 
times  of  Ashur  and  Nimrod,  —  from  one  to  two  hundred  years  after 
the  Flood.  No  other  history  traces  it  farther  back  than  this,  or  so 
far  by  several  hundred  years. 

Egypt  was  planted  soon  after  the  division  of  the  earth,  in  the 
days  of  Peleg,  —  about  two  hundred  years  after  the  Deluge.  "We 
have  no  authentic  history  of  Egypt  which  ascribes  to  it  a  higher 
antiquity.  Some  astronomical  calculations  have  recently  been  en- 
tered upon  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Poole,  which  go  to  show  that  "  the  whole 
Egyptian  chronology,  when  understood  and  reduced  to  order,  is 
entirely  consistent  with  the  chronology  of  the  Bible."* 

I  have  now  finished  all  that  I  propose  to  offer  in  explanation  and 
defence  of  the  plain  scriptural  account  of  a  universal  deluge.  This, 
it  is  well  known,  is  one  of  the  points  which  infidels  have  seized 
upon  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  discredit  on  the  Bible  :  but  their 
efforts  have  been  of  no  avail;  they  have  resulted  in  their  own 
defeat  and  discomfiture.  The  statements  of  the  inspired  Word  in 
regard  to  this  matter  stand  unrefuted.  There  is  not  a  page  of 
authentic  history,  there  is  not,  so  far  as  we  know,  an  appearance 
on  the  earth  or  under  ,the  earth,  which  goes  to  contradict  them. 
Let  us  learn,  then,  to  confide  in  the  truth  of  the  Bible.     What- 


*  See  Poole's  Horse  Egyptiacse,  p.  73.  Mr.  Poole  was  bred  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and 
spent  many  years  in  the  study  of  the  monuments.  He  found  on  tlie  monuments  a  variety  of 
astronomical  signs  and  records.  These  he  has  been  able  to  interpret,  and  from  them  draws  the 
conclusion  above  indicated.  Hon.  J.  P.  Smith,  astronomer  royal  of  Scotland,  has  proved,  astro- 
nomicalhj,  that  the  great  Pyramid  was  built  in  the  year  2170  before  Christ,  or  a  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  years  after  the  Flood. 


THE   DELUGE.  15^ 

ever  else   we   distrust,   we   must  never  lose   our   confidence   in 
this. 

The  Noachian  Deluge  is  one  of  the  greatest  events  in  the  history 
of  the  earth.  The  destruction  of  an  entire  world  for  the  guilt  of 
its  inhabitants  ;  the  submerging  of  it  in  a  flood  of  waters  to  put  an 
end  to  its  crimes,  and  wash  out  its  pollutions,  —  what  other  event 
in  human  history  can  bear  comparison  with  this  ? 

And  this  event  was  not  only  great :  it  is  instructive.  It  teaches 
many  important  lessons.  It  shows  us,  first  of  all,  the  dreadful 
depravity  of  the  human  race.  On  what  other  ground  than  this  can 
it  be  accounted  for  that  the  world  should  have  become  so  soon 
and  so  frightfully  wicked  ?  —  so  utterly  corrupt,  that  it  repented 
the  Lord  that  he  had  made  it,  and  it  only  remained  for  him  to 
destroy  it  ? 

This  event  also  teaches,  as  do  many  other  events  in  history, 
"both  the  goodness  and  the  severity  of  God,"  —  his  goodness.,  in 
bearing  so  long  with  ungodly  sinners,  and  using  with  them  such 
means  of  recovery,  when  they  only  rioted  on  his  mercy,  and  made 
his  forbearance  an  occasion  of  greater  sin ;  his  severity.,  in  at 
length  lifting  the  strong  hand  of  liis  justice,  and  overwhelming 
them  in  a  common  ruin. 

We  see  also,  in  the  event  before  us,  the  faithfulness  of  God  to 
his  people.  Never  was  the  Church  of  God  brought  into  such  ex- 
tremity before  or  since ;  never  was  it  apparently  so  near  destruc- 
tion. And  yet  it  was  not  destroyed :  it  was  saved.  God's  word 
of  promise  had  been  pledged  to  it ;  and,  though  heaven  and  earth 
seemed  passing  away,  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  that  word  could 
fail. 

Let  us  learn  from  the  example  of  Noah,  in  this  instance,  the  im- 
portance of  standing  up  for  God  and  truth,  though  we  may  be 
obliged  to  stand  alone.  Never  was  man  more  sorely  tried,  or  more 
strongly  tempted  to  hold  his  p^ace,  and  follow  a  multitude  to  do 
evn,  than  Noah  must  have  been  for  the  last  hundred  years  before 
the  Flood.  His  ease,  his  worldly  comfort,  his  credit,  his  property, 
every  thing  dear  to  him,  was  at  stake ;  and  all  were  urging  him 
together  to  stop  his  preaching,  to  suspend  his  work  ujDon  the  ark, 
and  follow  in  the  course  of  an  evil,  gainsaying  world.  But  no : 
he  had  received  a  message  from  God,  and  he  must  proclaim  it.  He 
must  stand  up  for  truth  and  right,  though  earth  and  hell  opposed. 
And  the  sequel  proved  that  the  path  of  duty  was  to  him,  as  it  is  to 


154  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

every  one,  the  path  of  safety.  God  took  care  of  him^  preserved 
and  blessed  him  ;  and,  when  the  whelming  ruin  came,  he  and  his 
family  were  safe. 

Let  us  learn  then,  from  his  example,  the  safety  of  trusting  and 
pleasing  God.  The  world  may  rise  up  in  arms  to  resist  us ;  but, 
"  if  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  " 


CHAPTER   XIII. 


EVENTS  FOLLOWING  THE  DELUGE. 


AS  the  waters  of  the  Deluge  subsided,  the  ark  rested,  we  are 
told,  "  on  the  mountains  of  Ararat."  As  before  remarked, 
it  is  hardly  hkely  that  the  Ararat  here  spoken  of  is  the  Ararat  of 
-modern  times,  but  rather  some  mountain-chain  to  the  east  of  it ; 
since  it  is  said  expressly  that  the  sons  of  Noah  "  journeyed  from 
the  east "  to  come  into  the  land  of  Shinar.  The  land  of  Shmar  is 
known  to  be  the  plain  of  the  Tigris,  —  almost  identical  with  the 
country  of  Eden,  in  which  the  human  race  were  first  planted.  It 
is  remarkable  that  the  peopling  of  the  world  should,  in  two  sepa- 
rate instances,  have  commenced  from  the  same  locality. 

The  first  work  of  Noah  after  leaving  the  ark  was  to  build  an 
altar  unto  the  Lord,  and  offer  upon  it  a  burnt-sacrifice,  —  full  proof 
that  the  institution  of  bloody  sacrifices,  wliich  commenced  with 
our  first  parents,  and  was  observed  by  righteous  Abel,  had  been 
continued  all  along  through  the  antediluvian  ages,  pointing  believ- 
ing worshippers  to  the  great  atoning  sacrifice,  which,  in  the  fulness 
of  time,  was  to  be  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  world. 

That  Noah's  offering  was  presented  in  faith,  we  have  the  fullest 
assurance  ;  for  God  accepted  it,  and  followed  it  with  the  richest 
promises  to  the  patriarch  and  his  posterity :  'i  I  will  not  again  curse 
the  ground  for  man's  sake,  neither  will  I  any  more  smite  every  liv- 
ing thing  as  I  have  done."  And  God  "  blessed  Noah  and  his  sons, 
and  said  unto  them,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the 
earth.  And  the  dread  of  you  shall  be  upon  every  beast  of  the 
earth,  and  upon  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  upon  all  the  fishes  of 
the  sea.  Every  moving  thing  that  liveth  shall  be  meat  unto  you. 
Even  as  the  green  herb  have  I  given  you  all  things  "  (Gen.  ix.  1-3). 

Here  was  a  new  grant  to  the  human  family,  —  permission  to 
take  the  life  of  animals,  and  to  eat  their  flesh.  The  antediluvians 
had  no  permission  from  God  to  eat  flesh.     Their  sustenance  was 

155 


156  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

to  be  the  herb  of  the  field  (Gen.  i.  29).  But,  while  flesh  was 
granted  to  the  sons  of  Noah,  the  blood  of  the  animal  was  strictly 
forbidden.* 

The  death-penalty  was  affixed,  at  this  time,  to  the  crime  of  mur- 
der. This  seems  not  to  have  been  exacted  before  the  Flood.  Cain 
was  not  put  to  death  for  his  murder  ;  and  neither  was  Lamech,  one 
of  the  posterity  of  Cain  (Gen.  iv.  24).  And  this  laxity  of  law  may 
be  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  earth,  at  that  time,  was  filled  with 
violence.  But  now  God  says,  "  At  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother 
will  I  require  the  life  of  man.  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by 
man  shall  his  blood  be  shed  "  (Gen.  ix.  6).  This  regulation  could 
not  have  been  intended,  as  some  have  thought,  for  the  Jews  alone ; 
for  it  Avas  made  hundreds  of  years  before  the  Jews,  as  a  distinct 
people,  had  an  existence.  Uttered  now,  at  the  very  re-organization 
of  the  world,  it  was  intended,  obviously,  for  the  race.  It  is  to  be 
regarded  as  of  universal  and  perpetual  obligation. 

God  established  a  covenant  with  Noah  and  his  posterity  at  this 
time,  and  set  his  bow  in  the  cloud  as  a  token  of  the  covenant,  that 
he  would  no  more  destroy  the  earth  with  a  flood.  We  are  not  to 
understand  from  this  that  the  rainbow  had  never  before  appeared 
unto  men.  If  there  were  clouds  and  rain  before  the  Flood,  we 
think  it  must  have  been  seen  occasionally.  But  a  new  significance  ■ 
was  now  given  to  the  rainbow :  "I  do  appoint  my  bow  in  the 
cloud  "  (for  the  word  rendered  set  may  well  signify  appoint')  ;  "  and 
it  shall  be  a  token  of  the  covenant  between  me  and  the  earth."  f 

How  long  Noah  and  his  sons  dwelt  near  the  spot  where  they 
had  left  the  ark,  we  are  unable  to  say,  —  probably  not  less  than 
twenty  years.  It  was  here  that  the  good  man  planted  a  vineyard, 
and  drank  too  freely  of  the  wine  thereof,  and  exposed  himself  to 
the  derision  of  a  son  and  grandson.  Canaan,  a  son  of  Ham,  born 
after  the  Flood,  was  now  old  enough  to  be  joined  with  his  father 
in  the  curse,  as,  in  all  probability,  he  had  been  in  the  transgression: 
"  Ciu'sed  be  Canaan ;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his 
brethren." 

We  hear  nothing  of  Noah  after  this  sad  affair,  except  that  he 
lived  three  hundred  and  fifty  years,  —  almost  to  the  time  of  Abra- 

*  The  reason  for  the  prohibition  of  blood  is  not  here  assigned ;  but  it  is  given  by  Moses  in 
Lev.  xvii.  10,  11:  "The  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood,  and  I  have  given  it  to  you  upon  the 
altar  to  make  an  atonement  for  your  souls ;  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh  atonement  for  the 
soul." 

t  The  rainbow  is  always  used  in  Scripture  as  the  symbol  of  grace,  returning  after  wrath. — 
See  Ezek.  i.  27,  28 ;  Rev.  iv.  3,  and  x.  1. 


EVENTS   FOLLOWING   THE   DELUGE.  157 

ham ;  but  where  he  hved,  and  of  what  he  did,  through  all  this 
long  period,  we  have  not  the  slightest  information  in  the  sacred 
history.  In  the  opinion  of  some,  he  did  not  migrate  with  his  three 
sons  to  the  land  of  Sliinar,  but  remained  in  the  East,  had  another 
family,  and  that  China,  and  perhaps  some  other  Eastern  countries, 
were .  settled  directly  by  him.*  Indeed,  many  have  thought  that 
Fohi,.  the  deified  patriarch  of  China,  was  no  other  than  Noah. 

This  supposition,  if  admitted,  will  account  for  the  utter  silence 
of  Scripture  respecting  Noah  during  the  last  three  hundred  years 
of  his  life,  —  a  fact  which  is  all  but  unaccountable  on  any  other 
supposition.  It  accounts,  also,  for  the  early  settlement  of  some 
'Oriental  countries.  China  seems  to  have  been  settled  as  early  as 
Egypt ;  and  yet  we  have  no  'account  of  its  having  been  so  early 
reached  by  any  of  the  descendants  of  Shem,  Ham,  or  Japheth. 

I  know  it  is  said  of  these  three  sons  of  Noah,  that  "  hy  them  was 
the  whole  earth  overspread  "  (Gen.  ix.  19).  But  then  the  earth 
in  this  passage  may  include  only  those  portions  of  it  with  which 
Moses  was  acquainted,  and  which  are  referred  to  in  other  parts  of 
the  sacred  history,  —  just  as  the  like  phraseology  is  used  in  other 
Scripture's  to  denote  a  vast  empire,  or  the  whole  world,  as  laiown 
to  the  writer  at  the  time.f 

But,  whatever  became  of  Noah,  we  know,  that,  after  a  time,  his 
three  sons,  with  their  wives  and  descendants,  "  journeyed  from  the 
,  east,"  and  came  and  settled  in  the  land  of  Shinar.  This,  as  I  be- 
fore said,  was  the  Valley  of  the  Tigris,  including,  probably,  the 
greater  part  of  Mesopotamia.  It  was  in  this  country  that  the  hu- 
man race  was  first  planted.  It  was  in  this  vicinity,  somewhere, 
that  the  ark  was  built.  Hence,  when  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth 
came  again  into  this  fertile  and  beautiful  valley,  they  found  them- 
selves at  home.  The  Flood,  no  doubt,  had  made  some  changes ; 
but  it  had  left  many  familiar  objects.  Here  were  the  old  rivers,  — 
the  Pison,  the  Gihon,  the  Hiddekel  or  Tigris,  and  the  Euphrates. 
Here  was  the  extended  plain,  the  valley  in  which,  perhaps,  they 
were  born. 

No  sooner  had  the  emigrants  arrived  here  from  the  east  than 
they  determined  to  make  this  their  permanent  abode.  Their  first 
labor  was  to  cultivate  the  soil,  and  prepare  habitations  for  them- 
selves and  their  families.  But,  in  process  of  time,  they  projected 
,  a  great  public  undertaking.     That  they  might  get  to  themselves  a 

*  See  Shuckford's  Connection,  vol.  i.  p.  101.  t  See  Ezra  i.  2;  Rom.  x.  18. 


158  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

name,  and  prevent  the  possibility  of  their  being  scattered,  or  de- 
stroyed by  another  flood,  they  resolved  to  build  a  city,  and  a  tower 
whose  top  should  reach  even  unto  heaven  (Gen.  xi.  4)  :  and  so 
they  set  themselves,  with  all  their  might,  to  erect  what  was  after- 
wards called  the  Tower  of  Babel ;  and,  as  the  plain  where  they 
dwelt  had  no  stones,  they  made  brick,  and  stuck  them  together 
with  slime,  or  bitumen,  with  which  the  country  abounded. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some,  that  the  descendants  of  Shem, 
Ham,  and  Japheth,  could  not  have  been  sufficiently  numerous,  at 
this  time,  to  engage  in  so  vast  an  undertaking  ;  but  this  has  been 
said  without  due  consideration.  Peleg,  in  whose  days  the  earth  was 
divided,  was  in  the  fourth  generation  from  Shem.  He  was  born- 
about  a  hundred  years  after  the  Flood,  and  lived  two  hundred  and 
nine'  years.  The  confusion  of  tongues,  and  the  dividing  of  the 
earth,  took  place  at  some  time  during  his  life,  —  say,  from  one  to 
three  hundred  years  after  the  Flood.  At  the  close  of  the  first 
hundred  years  after  the  Flood,  the  descendants  of  Shem,  Ham,  and 
Japheth,  may  be  supposed  to  have  amounted  to  several  thousands. 
At  the  end  of  two  hundred  years,  they  may  have  amounted  to 
millions.  They  had  a  knowledge  of  the  arts,  as  stated  in  the  last 
chapter ;  and  were  competent  every  way  to  undertake  the  work 
which  the  sacred  historian  has  ascribed  to  them. 

But  as  this  was  a  vain  work,  undertaken  in  pride,  selfishness, 
and  unbelief,  and  in  contradiction  to  the  designs  of  Heaven,  God 
was  displeased  with  it,  and  took  measures  to  frustrate  it.  Instead 
of  dwelling  together,  and  rallying  round  a  great  central  city  and 

tower,  God  designed  that  the  human  family  should  be  separated, 

scattered  abroad  over  the  face  of  the  earth :  and  in  order  to  accom- 
plish his  purpose,  and  defeat  their  own,  he  took  the  wisest  measure 
possible ;  in  the  words  of  Scripture,  he  "  came  down  and  con- 
founded their  language,  so  that  they  could  not  understand  one  an- 
other's speech."  Various  interpretations  have  been  put  upon  the 
words  here  used ;  but  their  meaning,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  very 
obvious.  God  gave  the  human  family  a  language  at  the  first.  It 
was  not  a  thing  of  human  invention,  but  the  gift  of  God.  God 
adapted  the  human  organs  to  the  use  of  a  language :  and  he  gave  a 
language,  undoubtedly,  to  the  first  human  pair ;  so  that  Adam  and 
Eve  could  converse  together,  and  converse  with  God,  and  teach 
their  children  to  talk,  as  we  do  ours.  And  the  God  who  gave  a 
language  could  easily  change  it,  or  (to  use  the  inspired  Word)  could 
confound  it.    He  could  cause  those  who  all  their  lives  had  used  one 


EVENTS  FOLLOWING  THE    DELUGE.  159 

language  to  forgetJt  ..instantly,  and  to  speak  another.  This  in- 
volved a  miracle,  no  doubt ;  but  God  is  able  to  perform  miracles, 
and  he  always  has  performed  them  when  occasion  required.  The 
change  here  experienced  was  very  like  to  that  which  was  wrought 
on  the  apostles  at  the  day  of  Pentecost.  They  were  endowed  in- 
stantly with  the  gift  of  tongues,  or  with  the  ability  to  converse  in 
languages  which  they  had  not  learned.  The  apostles  did  not,  in- 
deed, like  those  at  Babel,  forget  their  former  tongues ;  but  they 
received  the  greater  gift  of  speaking  in  new  tongues. 

This  measure  of  confounding  the  language  of  the  men  at  Babel 

was  effectual.    As  they  could  not  understand  one  another's  speech, 

it  was  clear  that  they  could  not  longer  labor  and  dwell  together ; 

—so  "  they  left  off  to  build  their  city  ;  and  the  Lord  scattered  them 

abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth." 

It  has  been  often  asked,  "  What  was  the  original  language,  —  that 
used  by  the  antediluvians,  and  by  the  descendants  of  Noah  down 
to  the  time  of  which  we  speak  ?  "  I  know  not  that  this  question  can 
be  answered  positively  ;  and  yet  I  have  a  strong  impression  that 
the  original  language  was  the  Hebrew.  In  support  of  this  opinion, 
I  will  urge  but  a  single  fact.  The  proper  names  of  many  of  the 
antediluvians  are  Hebrew,  —  derived  from  Hebrew  roots,  and  hav- 
ing Hebrew  significations.  Thus  Adam,  in  Hebrew,  signifies  red 
earth ;  because  it  was  from  such  earth  that  the  body  of  the  first 
man  was  formed.  So  Eve  signifies,  in  Hebrew,  living^  or  life-giving  ; 
because  she  was  to  be  the  mother  of  all  living.  Cain  signifies  a 
possession,  an  acquisition  ;  because  his  mother  said  at  his  birth,  "  I 
have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord."  Abel  signifies  mourning,  sor- 
row ;  because  of  the  sorrow  of  his  parents,  perhaps,  for  their  sins, 
or  for  their  hard  labor  in  subduing  the  earth.  Seth  signifies  some- 
thing put  or  substituted ;  because  Seth  was  given  in  the  place  of 
Abel,  who  had  been  killed.  I  might  proceed  in  this  way,  and  define 
most  of  the  antediluvian  names.  Now,  it  is  hardly  probable  that  these 
names  were  translated  into  Hebrew  from  some  other  lansruasre. 
But  if  they  were  not  translated  ;  if  they  were  originally  what  they 
now  are  ;  in  other  words,  if  the  Original  name  of  Adam  was  Adam, 
and  of  Eve,  Eve,  and  so  of  the  rest,  —  then  it  is  quite  certain  that 
the  original,  primeval  language  was  Hebrew.  This  language  seems 
to  have  descended  to  God's  chosen  people  in  the  line  of  Shem,  as 
all  the  Shemitic  languages  to  this  day  are  but  derivatives,  offshoots, 
from  the  original  Hebrew.* 

*  It  has  been  ascertained  that  the  most  ancient  fonn  of  the  Sanscrit  was  of  Semitic  origin.  — 
See  Princeton  Review  for  July,  1866,  p.  395. 


160  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

The  scriptural  account  of  the  confounding  of  languages  at  Babel 
is  confirmed  in  the  existing  languages  of  the  world.  These  lan- 
guages are  numerous,  and  variously  diversified.  The  most  of  them 
are  derivative  languages  ;  but  a  few  seem  to  have  been  originally-: 
distinct.  And  yet  —  as  was  remarked  in  a  previous  chapter  —  the 
elements,  the  laws,  the  general  structure  and  principles,  of  language, 
are  everywhere  the  same,  —  a  fact  pointing  us  back  to  a  period  when 
there  was  but  one  language,  as  the  Scriptures  represent. 

The  site  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  was,  undoubtedly,  the  same  as 
that  of  the  ancient  city  of  Babylon.  Indeed,  the  first  builders  of 
Babylon  seem  to  have  carried  out,  so  far  as  they  could,  the  original 
design  of  the  builders  of  Babel.  They  enclosed  the  Tower  of 
Babel  with  a  wall,  and  built  up  a  magnificent  city  around  it.  It 
stood  on  the  Euphrates,  in  north  latitude  35°.  The  remains  of  the 
tower  were  long  visible,  and  may  be  even  to  this  day.  They  are 
spoken  of  expressly  by  Berosus,  Herodotus,  and  other  ancient  his- 
torians. One  tells  us  that  "  the  first  race  of  men,  big,  with  a  fond 
ponceit  of  the  bulk  and  strength  of  their  bodies,  built,  in  the  place 
where  Babylon  now  stands,  a  tower  of  so  prodigious  a  height,  that 
it  seemed  to  touch  the  skies,  but  that  the  wind  and  the  gods  over- 
threw the  mighty  structure  upon  their  heads."  Another  says, 
"  The  city  of  Babylon  was  first  built  by  giants  who  escajDcd  from 
the  Flood ;  that  these  giants  erected  the  most  famous  tower  in  all 
history ;  that  the  tower  was  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  mighty  power 
of  God ;  and  that  the  giants  were  dispersed,  and  scattered  over  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth."  * 

When  the  language  of  these  Babel-builders  had  been  confounded, 
so  that  they  could  no  longer  have  intercourse  one  with  another, 
they  began  to  separate,  and  to  be  scattered  abroad.  And  yet  they 
were  not  scattered  accidentally  and  promiscuously.  There  seems 
to  have  been  method  in  their  dispersion.  They  are  said  to  have 
been  settled  "  after  their  tongues,  and  after  their  families,  in  their 
nations"  (Gen.  x.  5). 

In  the  times  of  the  patriarchs,  the  progenitor  of  a  family  or  tribe 
was  their  ruler  and  priest,  and  hccd  his  posterity  around  him.  In 
this  sense,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth  were  each  of  them  jpatriarchs  ; 
and  each  of  their  sons  was  a  patriarch  under  them.  And,  in  the 
confounding  of  tongues,  it  is  likely  that  the  members  of  each  large 
family  or  tribe  had  a  tongue  by  themselves.     They  could  under-  * 

*  See  Eusebhis's  Chronicon,  p.  24;  also  his  Preparatio  Evang.,  book  ix.  chap.  14. 


EVENTS   FOLLOWING  THE  DELUGE.  161 

stand  one  another,  but  could  not  understand  the  men  of  another 
tribe.  This  would  separate  the  different  families,  or  tribes,  while 
it  kept  the  members  of  each  particular  tribe  together. 

In  speaking  of  the  scattered  tribes,  I  shall  begin  with  that  of 
Japheth  ;  for  he,  though  commonly  mentioned  last,  was  really  the 
eldest  of  the  sons  of  Noah.*  Japheth  had  seven  sons  ;  viz.,  Gomer, 
Magog,  Madai,  Javan,  Tubal,  Meshech,  and  Tiras.  The  family 
of  Gomer  is  supposed  to  have  established  themselves  in  the  ancient 
Phrygia,  bordering  on  the  Hellespont,  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and 
the  Black  Sea.  From  Magog  descended  the  Scythians  and  modern 
Tartars,  inhabiting  Northern  and  Central  Asia.  Madai  was  the 
father  of  the  MedeSi  inhabiting  a  country  lying  south  of  the  Cas- 
pian Sea.  From  Javan  descended  the  lonians,  or  Greeks.  The 
settlement  of  Meshech  lay  east  of  that  of  Gomer,  on  the  south- 
eastern shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  colony  of  Tubal  was  farther 
east,  —  between  those  of  Meshech  and  Madai,  and  between  the 
Black  and  Caspian  Seas.  Tiras  settled  what  was  afterwards 
called,  from  his  name,  Thrace. 

Of  the  grandchildren  of  Japheth,  Moses  mentions  only  two 
families ;  viz.,  those  of  Gomer  and  Javan.  The  sons  of  Gomer 
were  Ashkenaz,  Riphath,  and  Togarmah.  The  sons  of  Javan  were 
Elishah,  Tarshish,  Kittim,  and  Dodanim.  "  By  these,"  says  the 
sacred  writer,  "  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  divided  in  their 
lands."  By  these  was  the  greater  part  of  Europe  peopled.  We 
are  ourselves  the  descendants  of  Japheth  in  the  lines  of  Javan 
or  Gomer.  Ashkenaz  gave  Iris  name  to  what  is  now  called  the 
Black  Sea.  It  was  called  by  the  Greeks  the  Sea  of  Axenos,  or 
the  Axene  Sea ;  from  whence  it  came  to  be  called  the  Euxine,  or 
Black  Sea.  Tarshish  gave  his  name  to  what  is  now  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.  "  The  ships  of  Tarshish,"  of  which  we  hear  so  much 
in  the  Scriptures,  were  ships  that  sailed  on  the  Mediterranean.! 
Germany  is  thought  to  have  received  its  name  from  Gomer. 

Shem,  the  second  son  of  Noah,  had  five  sons  ;  viz.,  Elam,  Ashur, 
Arphaxad,  Lud,  and  Aram.  Elam  was  the  father  of  the  ancient 
Persians.  Ashur  settled  Assyria ;  and  from  him  the  country  re- 
ceived its  name.      Arphaxad  seems  to  have  remained  with  his 

*  Ham  was  the  youngest  son  (see  Gen.  ix.  24).  Shera  was  a  hundred  years  old  two  years 
after  the  Flood  ;  at  which  time,  Noah's  first-bom,  Japheth,  was  a  hundred  and  two  years  old.  — 
Compare  Gen.  xi.  10,  v.  32,  and  vii.  6. 

t  There  was  doubtless  some  port,  perhaps  more  than  one,  called  Tarshish  ;  but  this  name 
also  belonged  to  the  sea.  — See  Ps.  xlviii.  7;  Isa.  Ix.  9. 
11 


162  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

father  in  the  laud  of  Shinar.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  Abraham  ; 
and  the  original  Hebrew  language  (if  that  was  the  original)  con- 
tinued in  his  family.  Josephus  assigns  Lud  to  Lydia  ;  but  of  this 
there  is  some  reason  to  doubt.  The  descendants  of  Aram  settled 
Syria  and  Armenia.  From  Aram,  the  name  Armenia  is  supposed 
to  be  derived.  Padan-Aram,  where  Laban  dwelt,  was  in  the 
country  assigned  to  Aram. 

Of  the  grandchildren  of  Shem,  as  of  Japheth,  only  two  families 
are  mentioned ;  viz.,  those  of  Arphaxad  and  Aram.  Arphaxad 
begat  Salah,  and  Salah  begat  Eber,  from  whom  the  Hebrews  had 
their  name.  Eber  had  two  sons,  —  Peleg  and  Joktan.  In  the  time 
of  Peleg,  the  languages  of  men  were  confounded,  and  the  earth  was 
divided.  Joktan  had  thnteen  sons,  who  all  migrated  eastward. 
It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  people  of  India,  and  of  all  South-eastern 
Asia,  were  originally  the  descendants  of  Joktan.  The  name  of 
one  of  Joktan's  sons  was  Ophir  ;  and  the  probability  is,  that  Ophir, 
the  ancient  land  of  gold,  was  somewhere  in  India. 

Aram,  another  of  the  sons  of  Shem,  had  four  sons ;  viz.,  Uz  and 
Hul  and  Gether  and  Mash.  These  all  settled  in  the  territory 
before  assigned  to  Aram  ;  viz.,  Syria  and  Armenia.  Uz  is  generally 
thought  to  have  founded  the  city  of  Damascus,  —  the  oldest  city, 
probably,  now  on  the  earth. 

Ham,  the  youngest  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  had  four  sons  ;  viz., 
Gush,  Mizraim,  Phut,  and  Ganaan.  Gush  first  Hved  east  of  the 
Euphrates,  near  its  mouth ;  and  his  country  was  watered  by  the 
ancient  Gihon.  But  he  afterwards  migrated  into  South-eastern 
Arabia,  and  then  over  the  Red  Sea  into  Africa.  Gush  had  six 
sons ;  viz.,  Seba,  Havilah,  Sabta,  Raamah,  Sabtecha,  and  Nimrod. 
The  first  five  of  them  settled  with  their  father  in  Arabia  and 
Africa,  and  are  called,  in  our  Bibles,  Ethiopians.  They  are  a 
colored  race,  which  spread  themselves  over  the  greater  part  of 
Africa,  Nimrod  seems  not  to  have  left  the  land  of  Shinar.  "  He 
was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord ;  and  the  beginning  of  his 
kingdom  was  Babel  and  Erech  and  Accad  and  Galnah."  He  was 
a  warrior  as  well  as  hunter,  and  a  leader  in  the  mad  project  of 
building  the  Tower  of  Babel. 

Egypt  was  early  settled  by  Mizraim  and  his  seven  sons ;  per- 
haps, also,  by  his  father  Ham.  Hence  Egypt  is  called,  in  the 
Scriptures,  "  the  land  of  Ham." 

The  descendants  of  Phut  are  supposed  also  to  have  migrated 
into  Africa,  and  to   have   settled   Lybia.      The   descendants   of 


EVENTS   FOLLOWING   THE   DELUGE.  163 

Canaan  were  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  who 
were  dispossessed  by  the  Israelites  when  they  came  out  of  Egypt. 
The  Philistines,  who  inhabited  a  part  of  Canaan,  were  not  among 
the  posterity  of  Canaan,  but  came  out  of  Egypt  at  an  early 
period. 

I  have  thus  traced,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  the  manner  in 
which  the  earth  was  originally  settled  by  the  sons  of  Noah.  Of 
these,  the  children  of  Ham  seem  to  have  been  at  the  first  the  most 
powerful.  Nimrod  ruled,  for  a  time,  Chaldsea,  or  the  land  of 
Shinar ;  also  in  Arabia,  -Egypt,  Ethiopia,  and  Canaan,  the  sons 
of  Ham  had  powerful  kingdoms. 

But  at  length  the  Shemites  began  to  distinguish  themselves,  and 
to  prevail.  Persia,  Assyria,  Syria,  Armenia,  and  India  were  settled 
by  the  sons  of  Shem.  At  length,  they  drove  out  the  posterity  of 
Ham  from  Arabia  and  Canaan,  and  possessed  those  countries. 
From  this  period,  the  Hamites  have  been  confined  chiefly  to 
Africa. 

In  later  times,  the  children  of  Japheth  have  distinguished  them- 
selves above  all  others.  Greece,  Rome,  Germany,  France,  Spain, 
England,  indeed  all  Western  and  Northern  Europe,  and  Northern 
Asia,  were  peopled  by  the  sons  of  Japheth.  God  has  greatly  en- 
larged Japheth,  and  caused  liim  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem.  In 
general,  it  may  be  said  that  Japheth  has  Europe  and  Northern 
Asia ;  that  the  descendants  of  Shem  have  the  rest  of  Asia ;  *  and 
that  Ham  has  Africa. 

Peleg,  in  whose  time  the  earth  was  divided,  was  in  the  fourth 
generation  from  Shem,  or  the  fifth  from  Noah.  Peleg  was  the 
father  of  Reu,  who  was  the  father  of  Serug,  who  was  the  father 
of  Nahor,  who  was  the  father  of  Terah,  who  was  the  father  of 
Abraham.  Abraham,  therefore,  was  in  the  fifth  generation  from 
Peleg,  and  the  tenth  from  Noah,  and  was  born  about  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty-two  years  after  the  Flood.  His  ancestors  had  always 
lived  in  Mesopotamia  or  Chaldsea  ;  and  there  Abraham  was  born, 
in  "  Ur  of  the  Chaldees."  It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  enter 
upon  a  life  of  Abraham :  that  will  be  the  subject  of  several  suc- 
ceeding chapters. 

The  tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  of  Genesis,  over  which  we  have 
passed,  may  seem  to  the  casual  reader  as  little  more  than  a  dry  list 


*  Excepting  China,  if  we  may  suppose  that  country  to  have  been  settled  by  a  younger 
family  of  Noah. 


164  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

"of  names ;  but  they  really  contain  the  seeds  of  all  subsequent 
history.  More  reliable  knowledge  of  the  different  races  of  men, 
and  of  the  early  settlement  of  the  earth,  —  more  true  ethnology, 
—  may  be  gathered  from  these  two  chapters  than  from  all  ancient 
history  besides. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


ABRAHAM    AND   HIS   TIMES. 


AT  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  it  was  remarked  that  the 
patriarch  Abraham  was  born  at  "  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,"  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty-two  years  after  the  Flood.  There'  has  been 
some  difficulty  in  fixing  the  location  of  the  ancient  Ur ;  but  I  see 
no  good  reason  for  questioning  the  universal  tradition  of  the  Jews, 
that  it  is  the  same  as  the  modern  Orfa,  situated  in  the  northern 
part  of  Chaldsea,  and  now  one  of  the  stations  of  the  American 
Board  of  Missions.  It  was  called  by  the  Greeks  Edessa,  and  was 
the  capital  of  King  Agbarus,  who  is  reported  to  have  received  a 
letter  from  our  Saviour  with  his  portrait,  and  became  the  first 
Christian  king.*  The  modern  city  lies  on  the  edge  of  one  of 
those  rugged  spurs  which  descend  from  the  mountains  of  Armenia 
into  the  Assyrian  plains.  The  place  is  easily,  almost  naturally, 
fortified  ;  and,  besides,  it  is  blessed  with  an  abundant  spring  of  the 
purest  water,  which  makes  the  spot  an  oasis,  —  a  paradise  in  the 
Chaldsean  wilderness.  In  this  beautiful  city,  from  which,  even 
now,  the  traveller  reluctantly  tears  himself  away,  the  patriarch 
Abraham  was  born,  and  spent  the  earlier  portion  of  his  life. 

Abraham  was  in  the  tenth  generation  from  Noah,  in  the  line  of 
Shem.  His  father  Terah  had  three  sons,  whose  names  are  given 
in  the  Bible  ;  viz.,  Haran,  Nahor,  and  Abraham.  Haran  was  sixty 
years  older  than  Abraham,  and  died  in  Ur,  leaving  two  daughters 
and  a  son.  The  daughters'  names  were  MUcah  and  Iscah :  the 
son's  name  was  Lot.  MUcah  was  married  to  her  uncle  Nahor  ;  f 
and  some  have  thought  that  Iscah  was  but  another  name  for 
Sarah,  the  wife  of  Abraham.  But  this  contradicts  the  account  of 
Abraham  himself,  who  makes  Sarah  to  be  a  half-sister,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Terah  by  a  second  wife :  "  She  is  the  daughter  of  my  father, 

*  It  hardly  need  be  said  that  no  credence  should  be  given  to  this  report, 
t  Gen.  xi.  27-29. 

165 


166  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

but  not  the  daughter  of  my  mother."  *  These,  then,  constituted 
the  family  at  the  close  of  their  residence  in  Ur,  —  Terah,  Nahor,  and 
Abraham,  with  their  wives,  and  Lot. 

Idolatry,  in  different  forms,  was  now  making  progress  in  the 
earth,  and  had  infected  the  family  of  Terah ;  for  Joshua  says  ex- 
pressly, "  Your  fathers  dwelt,  in  old  time,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
flood,"  i.e.,  beyond  the  Euphrates,  —  "  even  Terah,  the  father  of 
Abraham  and  the  father  of  Nahor ;  and  they  served  other  gods."  f 
It  does  not  appear  that  Abraham  ever  practised  idolatry ;  or,  if 
he  did,  he  was  early  weaned  from  it ;  for,  before  he  left  Ur,  we 
find  him  a  firm  believer  and  a  devout  worshipper  of  the  God  of 
heaven.  It  was  while  he  dwelt  at  Ur  that  he  received  his  first 
call  from  God  to  leave  the  land  of  his  nativity,  and  go  into  a 
foreign  country,  —  a  call  which  he  prepared  at  once  to  obey.  J  The 
object  of  this  call  undoubtedly  was  to  separate  him  and  his  family 
from  the  contamination  of  idols,  and  thus  preserve  and  perpetuate 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  in  the  earth.  How  the  call  was 
made  known  to  Abraham,  we  are  not  informed.  We  only  know 
that  it  was  an  intelligible  call,  — •  so  much  so  as  to  satisfy,  not  only 
Abraham,  but  the  other  members  of  the  family  ;  for  they  all  lis- 
tened to  it,  —  Terah,  Nahor  and  his  wife,  Abraham  and  his  wife, 
and  Lot,  —  and  removed  at  once  to  a  place  which  (in  honor  of 
the  eldest  son  and  brother  of  the  family,  now  deceased)  they  called 
Haran.§  If  we  have  been  right  in  the  location  of  Ur,  Haran  was 
about  a  day's  journey  south  of  it,  —  a  place  of  much  importance 
in  after-ages,  and  remarkable  for  its  wells.  Here  the  family  dwelt 
until  the  death  of  Terah,  at  the  advanced  age  of  two  hundi-ed 
and  five. 

Abraham  was  now  seventy-five  years  old ;  and,  soon  after  his 
father's  death,  he  received  another  call  from  God,  very  similar  to 
the  former :  "  Get  thee  out  from  thy  country,  and  from  thy  kin- 
dred, and  from  thy  father's  house,  unto  a  land  which  I  will  show 
thee.  And  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation,  and  I  will  bless 
thee,  and  make  thy  name  great ;  and  in  thee  shall  all  the  families 
of  the  earth  be  blessed."  || 

With  this  requisition,  as  in  the  former  instance,  Abraham  hesi- 
tated not  at  all  to  comply.  He  believed  God,  and  he  obeyed 
him.  Leaving  behind  him  his  brother  Nahot  and  family,  he  took 
his  wife,  and  Lot,  his  brother's  son,  and  all  the  substance  that  they 

*  Gen.  XX.  12.  t  Josh.  xxiv.  2.  t  Acts  vii.  2,  3. 

§  Also  called  Padan-Aram.  ||  Gen.  xii.  1-3. 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.  167 

had  gathered  in  Haran,  —  consisting  of  servants,  flocks,  and  herds, 
—  and  departe'd  to  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan. 

Canaan,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  far  to  the  south  and  west  of 
Haran,  and  was  thinly  inhabited  at  this  time  by  the  descendants 
of  Canaan,  a  son  of  Ham,  from  whom  the  country  received  its 
name.  The  Canaanites  were  mostly  idolaters  ;  and  yet  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God  was  not  entirely  lost  among  them.  Mel- 
chizedek,  and  several  others  with  whom  Abraham  had  intercourse, 
seem  to  have  feared  and  worshipped  the  same  God  as  himself. 

How  long  Abraham  was  on  his  journey  to  Canaan,  and  what 
were  the  incidents  of  it,  we  are  not  informed.  It  is  generally 
thought  that  he  touched  at  Damascus  ;  and  the  fact  that  his  most 
trusty  servant,  years  afterwards,  is  called  "  Eliezer  of  Damascus," 
gives  color  to  this  supposition.  Being  under  the  special  guidance 
and  blessing  of  Heaven,  his  path  was  undoubtedly  made  plain  and 
safe  to  him.  He  arrived  first  at  the  Plain  of  Morah,  near  to 
Sichem,  —  the  same  which  was  afterwards  Samaria.  Here  he  en- 
camped for  some  considerable  time,  and  builded  an  altar  unto  the 
Lord.  Here  also  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him,  and  gave  him  a 
promise  that  the  land  to  which  he  had  come  should  be  given  to  his 
posterity  for  a  possession. 

From  Sichem,  Abraham  removed  into  what  was  afterwards 
Mount  Ephraim,  and  pitched  his  tent  between  Bethel  and  Hai. 
Here  also  he  builded  an  altar,  and  called  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord. 

From  Bethel,  Abraham  proceeded  southward,  through  what  was 
afterwards  the  land  of  Judah  ;  but,  encountering  a  grievous  famine, 
he  was  constrained  to  go  into  Egypt  for  bread.  Josephus  has  a 
story  that  Abraham  went  into  Egypt,  partly  that  he  might  confer 
with  the  Egyptian  priests  in  respect  to  divine  things ;  and  that 
here  he  instructed  them  in  mathematics  and  astronomy.  But  of  all 
this,  the  Bible,  which  is  our  only  reliable  authority,  says  nothing. 
He  went  into  Egypt  because  of  the  famine,  and  for  the  temporary 
supply  of  his  wants.  Whether  or  not  he  had  any  intercourse  with 
the  priests,  we  are  not  informed.  He  found  a  Pharaoh  on  the 
throne,  at  the  head  of  an  organized  government.  The  Egyptians, 
however,  must  have  been  a  scattered  and  weak  people  compared 
with  what  they  were  at  a  subsequent  period. 

The  only  event  of  interest  pertaining  to  Abraham  in  Egypt, 
which  has  come  to  our  knowledge,  was  his  culpable  denial  of  his 
wife.     Sarah  was  a  beautiful  woman ;  and  Abraham  feared  to  be 


168  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

known  as  her  husband,  lest  the  king,  or  some  of  his  courtiers, 
should  destroy  him  for  her  sake  ;  and  so  he  passed  himself  off  as 
her  brother,  and  persuaded  her  to  be  to  him  as  a  sister.  She  was, 
indeed,  his  half-sister,  as  I  have  befere  said,  —  the  daughter  of  his 
father,  but  not  of  his  mother.  Still,  there  was  a  concealment 
practised,  a  crooked  and  inconsistent  policy  pursued,  a  manifest 
want  of  faith  in  God,  which  was  altogether  unworthy  of  Abraham, 
and  which  might  be  expected  to  involve  the  parties  in  trouble. 
And  so  the  event  very  shortly  proved;  for  Pharaoh,  being 
pleased  with  the  lady,  and  understanding  her  to  be  the  sister 
of  Abraham,  sent  and  took  her  to  himself.  He  also  entreated 
Abraham  well  for  her  sake,  and  made  him  presents  of  sheep  and 
oxen,  man-servants  and  maid-servants,  camels  and  asses.  But 
Pharaoh  was  not  long  deceived  in  regard  to  the  true  relation 
between  Sarah  and  Abraham.  He  learned  that  she  was  the 
stranger's  wife  ;  and  so,  sending  for  Abraham,  he  sharply  reproved 
him,  and  sent  him  away :  "  What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  unto 
me  ?  Why  didst  thou  not  tell  me  that  she  was  thy  wife  ?  Why 
saidst  thou,  She  is  my  sister  ?  So  I  might  have  taken  her  to  me 
to  wife.  Now,  therefore,  behold  thy  wife :  take  her,  and  go 
thy  way."  * 

So  Abraham  and  his  wife  and  Lot  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  being 
very  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold.  He  returned  through 
the  southern  part  of  Canaan  ;  and,  coming  to  his  former  residence 
between  Bethel  and  Hai,  he  repaired  the  altar  which  he  had  for- 
merly built,  and  devoutly  called  on  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

Lot  and  Abraham  had  hitherto  dwelt  together  ;  but  now  their 
substance  had  so  much  increased,  and  their  circumstances  were 
so  changed,  that  they  found  it  inconvenient  thus  to  live  any  longer. 
Their  cattle  mingled ;  their  herdsmen  quarrelled ;  and  their  flocks, 
when  together,  required  a  wider  extent  of  pasturage  than  they 
could  reasonably  claim  of  the  native  inhabitants.  In  this  emer- 
gency, Abraham  took  Lot  aside,  stated  the  case  to  him,  and  kindly 
proposed  that  he  should  make  choice  of  a  place  of  settlement  for 
himself :  "  Is  not  the  whole  land  before  thee  ?  Separate  thyself, 
I  pray  thee,  from  me.  If  thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I  will 
go  to  the  right ;  or,  if  thou  depart  to  the  right,  then  I  will  go  to 
the  left." 

This  generous  proposition  was  accepted  by  Lot ;  and  he  con- 
cluded to  remove  from  his  venerated  uncle  to  the  fertile  regions 

*  Gen.  xii.  18, 19. 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.  169 

of  the  east  and  south.  Perceiving  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  that 
it  was  well  watered,  even  as  the  land  of  Egypt  or  the  garden  of 
the  Lord,  he  resolved  to  go  and  settle  there.  Proceeding  gradu- 
ally down  this  fertile  valley,  he  came  at  length  to  the  Plain  of 
Sodom,  before  the  cities  built  upon  it  had  been  destroyed. 

After  the  separation  between  Lot  and  Abraham,  the  latter  was 
favored  with  another  divine  appearance  and  revelation.  God  re- 
newed his  promises  to  the  father  of  the  faithful  in  the  most  ample 
terms,  assuring  him  that  his  seed  should  yet  be  in  number  as  the 
dust  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  whole  surrounding  region,  from 
north  to  south  and  from  east  to  west,  should  be  given  to  them 
for  a  possession. 

Not  long  after  this,  Abraham  departed  from  Bethel,  and  jour- 
neyed southward  to  the  Plain  of  Mamre,  not  far  from  the  ancient 
city  of  Hebron  ;  and  here,  as  was  his  invariable  custom,  he  built 
an  altar  unto  the  Lord.  He  formed  an  acquaintance  too,  and  an 
alliance,  with  some  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  place,  —  with 
Mamre,  from  whom  the  locality  derived  its  name,  and  with  his 
two  brothers,  Aner  and  Eshcol. 

While  Abraham  dwelt  at  Mamre,  an  event  occurred  which 
served  to  exhibit  the  character  of  the  patriarch  in  a  new  Kght. 
Four  confederate  kings,  or  chieftains,  from  the  lands  of  Shinar  and 
of  Elam,  —  that  old  cradle  of  the  human  race,  —  sallied  forth  on 
a  war  of  conquest.  One  of  these  was  "  Chederlaomer,  king  of 
Elam;"  and  Mr.  Rawlinson  tells  us,  that,  "in  the  monumental 
records  of  Babylonia,  we  have  mention  of  a  king,  apparently  of 
Elamitic  origin,  as  reigning  at  this  time,  whose  name  is,  on  good 
grounds,  identified  with  Chederlaomer,"  who  is  also  called  "  the 
Ravager  of  the  West.''''  *  These  kings  swept  over  the  intervening 
countries,  conquered  the  Amorites  and  Amalekites  in  Northern 
Arabia,  and  came  to  a  pitched  battle  with  the  kings  of  Sodom  &,nd 
Gomorrah,  and  others  who  were  confederate  with  them.  In  this 
battle,  the  kings  of  the  east  were  victorious ;  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah and  the  neighboring  cities  were  taken ;  and  all  the  people 
(among  whom  were  Lot  and  his  family)  were  carried  away  cap- 
tives. When  the  news  of  this  disaster  reached  Abraham,  he  was 
greatly  distressed  by  it,  particularly  at  the  fate  of  Lot ;  and  he 
resolved  at  once  to  attempt  his  recovery.  He  armed  his  own 
servants,  three  hundi'ed  and  eighteen  men  ;  he  enlisted  his  con- 
federates, Mamre,  Aner,  and  Eshcol ;    and,  by  long   and  forced 

*  Gen.  xiv.  1  ;  Historical  Evidences,  p.  73. 


170  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY, 

marches,  he  overtook  the  freebooters  at  a  place  in  Syria  called 
Dan.*  He  came  upon  them  by  surprise  in  the  night,  and  smote 
them,  and  pursued  them  unto  Hobah,  which  is  nigh  to  Damas- 
cus. This  expedition,  which  involved  a  march  of  from  three  to 
four  hundred  miles,  was  entirely  successful.  Abraham  recovered 
and  brought  back  all  the  spoil  which  the  conquering  kings  had 
taken.  He  brought  back  Lot  also,  and  all  his  goods,  and  all  the 
captives,  male  and  female.  . 

One  of  the  first  persons  who  came  out  to  meet  Abraham  on  his 
return  was  the  subdued  and  humbled  king  of  Sodom.  ."  And  the 
king  of  Sodom  said  unto  Abraham,  Give  me  the  persons,  and  take 
the  goods  to  thyself."  But  Abraham  declined  the  offer,  saying, 
"  I  have  lifted  up  my  hand  unto  the  Lord,  the  most  high  God,  the 
possessor  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  I  would  not  take  any  thing 
that  is  thine,  —  not  so  much  as  a  thread  or  a  shoe-latchet,  —  lest 
thou  shouldst  say,  I  have  made  Abraham  rich." 

Another  great  personage  who  came  out  to  congratulate  Abraham 
on  his  victory  was  Melchizedek.  Much  inquiry  has  been  made  as 
to  this  Melchizedek.  Who  was  he  ?  What  was  he  ?  I  have  no 
doubt  that  he  was  just  what  he  is  represented  to  be  in  the  four- 
teenth chapter  of  Genesis,  —  king  of  Salem,  a  city  which  was  after- 
wards called  Jerusalem ;  and  also  a  priest  of  the  most  high  God. 
He  united  in  himself,  like  the  more  ancient  patriarchs  generally, 
the  offices  of  king  and  priest.  He  brought  forth  bread  and  wine 
to  refresh  the  conquerors  after  their  long  and  weary  march.  He 
also  blessed  Abraham  in  the  name  of  the  most  high  God ;  and, 
in  consideration  of  his  sacred  as  well  as  regal  character,  Abraham 
gave  him  tithes  of  all  that  he  possessed. 

This  Melchizedek  was  a  venerable  and  holy  man,  —  a  noble  speci- 
men of  patriarchal  piety  and  godliness.     He  was  an  eminent  type 
or  representative  of  Christ,  who,  like  him,  was  both  a  king  and  a ' 
priest.    Our  Saviour  is  expressly  said  to  have  been  "  made  a  priest 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek."  f 

In  regard  to  what  is  said  of  this  Melchizedek  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  that  he  was  "  without  father,  without  mother,  with- 
out descent,  having  neither  beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life,"  I 
acquiesce  entirely  in  the  opinion  of  the  most  judicious  interpreters, 
that  this  is  true,  not  hterally,  but  genealogically.  The  Jews  relied 
much  upon  their  genealogies.    Every  one  must  have  his  genealogy, 

*  Not  Dan  in  the  land  of  Israel,  but  a  much  older  city  in  Syria,  called  Dan-jaan  (2  Sam. 
xxiv.  6).  t  Heb.  vii.  17. 


ABRAHAM   AND    HIS   TLMES.  171 

and  must  have  his  place  in  it.  He  who  could  not  point  to  the 
name  of  his  father  and  mother,  to  his  origin  and  descent  in  the 
genealogies,  was  said  to  have  none.  He  whose  birth  and  death 
could  not  be  indicated  was  said  to  have  no  beginning  of  days, 
or  end  of  life.  And  all  this  was  true  of  Melchizedek.  He  bursts 
upon  us  suddenly,  unexpectedly,  in  the  history,  and  then  disap- 
pears forever  from  our  sight.  He  had  no  genealogy,  so  far  as  we 
know,  and  so  far  as  Moses  knew.  Genealogically  speaking,  he 
was  without  father,  mother,  or  descent ;  without  beginning  of  days, 
or  end  of  life.  And  in  this  respect  also  he  was  a  type  of  Christ, 
who,  as  to  his  higher  nature,  was,  literally,  what  Melchizedek  was 
genealogically,  —  without  a  proper  father  or  mother  or  descent; 
without  beginning  of  days,  or  end  of  life. 

But  to  return  from  Melchizedek  to  Abraham.  At  the  close  of 
his  successful  military  expedition,  he  seems  to  have  returned  to 
Mamre,  where  he  was  favored  with  another  divine  vision,  and  with 
the  most  comfortable  intercourse  and  communion  with  Heaven. 
Knowing  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  kings  he  had  so  recently 
vanquished,  he  might  reasonably  expect  another  invasion  from 
them.  But  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  "  Fear  not,  Abraham :  I  'am 
thy  shield,  and  thine  exceeding  reward." 

On  this  occasion,  Abraham  undertook  (what  he  had  not  at- 
tempted before)  to  expostulate  with  God,  and  to  inquire  of  him 
particularly  as  to  the  import  and  meaning  of  his  promises  :  "  Be- 
hold, to  me  thou  hast  given  no  seed  as  yet,  and  one  born  in  my 
house  is  my  heir."  But  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  "  This  shall  not 
be  thine  heir ;  but  thine  own  natural  son  shall  be  thine  heir.  And 
the  Lord  brought  him  forth,  and  said.  Look  now  towards  heaven, 
and  tell,  if  thou  canst,  the  number  of  the  stars.*  And  he  said 
unto  him.  So  shall  thy  seed  be."  And  Abraham  believed  the  word 
of  the  Lord  ;  and  his  faith  was  counted  unto  him  for  righteousness, 
i.e.  ioT  justification.^ 

The  Lord  next  proceeds  to  repeat  and  enlarge  his  promise,  that 
the  natural  seed  of  Abraham  should  inherit,  not  only  the  land  of 
Canaan,  but  the  whole  country  lying  between  the  eastern  boundary 
of  Egypt  and  the  great  River  Euphrates.  J  He  predicts,  indeed, 
that,  previous  to  the  fulfilment  of  this  promise,  the  children  of 

*  On  this  passage  the  Jews  seem  to  have  founded  their  tradition  as  to  Abraham's  great 
knowledge  of  astronomy, 
t  Gen.  XV.  6;  Eom.  iv.  3. 
J  This  promise  was  fulfilled  in  the  times  of  David  and  Solomon. 


172  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Abraham  must  be  brought  into  circumstances  of  great  trial  and 
affliction :  "  Thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs, 
and  shall  serve  them;  and  they  shall  afflict  them  four  hundred 
years.  But  that  nation  whom  they  shall  serve  will  I  judge ;  and 
afterward  shaU  they  come  out  with  great  substance.  But  thou 
shalt  go  to  thy  grave  in  peace." 

For  the  greater  assurance  of  Abraham,  God  was  pleased  to  con- 
firm all  these  promises  to  him  by  covenant,  after  the  most  ancient 
form  of  covenanting :  "  Take  me  a  heifer  three  years  old,  and  a 
she-goat  three  years  old,  and  a  ram  three  years  old,  and  a  turtle- 
dove, and  a  young  pigeon ;  and,  when  thou  hast  slain  them,  divide 
them  in  the  midst,  and  lay  the  pieces  one  over  against  another." 
between  the  severed  pieces  Abraham  is  supposed  to  have  passed, 
to  denote  his  acceptance  of  the  covenant ;  and,  when  the  sun 
went  down,  the  Lord  also  passed  between  them  in  the  appearance 
of  a  smoking  furnace  and  a  burning  lamp. 

This  is  the  most  ancient  form  of  ratifying  a  covenant  of  wliich 
we  have  any  knowledge.  The  parties  passing  between  the  severed 
pieces  of  the  slaughtered  victims  were  understood  to  invoke  the 
most  terrible  judgments  on  themselves  in  case  they  proved  un- 
faithful. The  language  of  the  transaction  was  virtually  this :  "  As 
the  limbs  of  these  animals  are  cut  asunder,  so  may  our  bodies  be 
torn  asunder  if  we  prove  perfidious." 

We  have  an  example  of  a  similar  form  of  covenanting  in  Homer. 
The  Greeks  and  Trojans  having  agreed  to  determine  the  quarrel 
between  them  by  single  combat,  and  the  terms  having  been  solemn- 
ly adjusted  and  consented  to  on  both  sides,  the  ratification  of  the 
covenant  is  thus  described :  "  The  Grecian  prince  drew  the  sacred 
knife,  and  cut  off  a  lock  of  wool  from  the  heads  of  each  of  the  de- 
voted lambs,  which  being  distributed  among  the  princes  of  the 
contending  parties,  with  hands  uplifted,  and  with  a  loud  voice,  he 
thus  prayed :  '  O  Father  Jove,  most  glorious  and  most  mighty  !  O 
thou  sun,  who  seest  and  hearest  every  thing  !  ye  rivers,  thou  earth, 
and  ye  powers  of  the  world  below  who  punish  the  false  and  the 
perjured !  be  ye  witnesses,  and  preserve  this  covenant  inviolate.' 
Then,  having  repeated  the  words  of  the  covenant  in  the  audi- 
ence of  all,  he  cleft  asunder  the  heads  of  the  consecrated  lambs, 
placed  their  palpitating  limbs  opposite  each  other  on  the  ground, 
poured  sacred  wine  upon  them,  and  then  prayed,  or  rather  impre- 
cated, as  follows  :  '  O  Jupiter  Almighty,  and  ye  other  immortals  I 
whoever  shall  first  transgress  this  solemn  oath,  may  his  brains  and 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS  TIMES.  173 

those  of  his  children  flow  upon  the  ground  like  this  wine  ;  and  let 
his  wife  be  severed  from  him,  and  be  given  to  another ! '  "  * 

Abraham  had  now  dwelt  ten  years  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  He 
had  received  the  promise  of  a  numerous  posterity,  who  were  to  be 
given  to  him  by  natural  descent.  His  wife  Sarah  had  as  yet  no 
child,  nor  had  she  any  prospect  of  being  ever  a  mother.  Her  faith, 
so  far  as  she  was  concerned,  began  to  fail ;  and  she  came  to  her 
husband  with  a  strange  proposal.  She  had  in  her  household  an 
Egyptian  maid-servant  named  Hagar,  —  probably  one  of  those 
which  Pharaoh  gave  to  her  when  she  came  out  of  Egypt,  —  and 
she  proposed  to  her  husband  to  take  Hagar  to  his  bed.  "  It  may 
be  that  I  may  obtain  children  by  her.  And  Abraham  listened  to 
the  voice  of  Sarah." 

But  this  expedient,  which  originated  in  unbelief,  soon  began  to 
bring  forth  the  bitter  fruits  of  sin.  Hagar  was  no  longer  the  quiet, 
submissive  servant  that  she  had  been.  She  began  to  be  lifted  up 
with  pride,  and  to  despise  her  mistress  ;  and  this  provoked  Sarah 
to  treat  her  harshly  and  cruelly.  In  consequence  of  such  treat- 
ment, Hagar  fled  from  her  mistress,  probably  with  a  design  of  re- 
turning into  Egypt.  She  was  found  by  a  fountain  of  water  in  the 
desert,  in  the  way  to  Shur.  Here  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared 
to  her,  promised  her  a  son  and  a  numerous  posterity,  told  her  what 
kind  of  character  her  son  would  be,  and  encouraged  her  to  return, 
and  submit  herself  to  her  mistress.  Accordingly,  she  did  return, 
and  brought  forth  a  son,  to  whom  the  angel  had  already  given  the 
name  of  Ishmael. 

The  next  thirteen  years  of  Abraham's  life  seem  to  have  passed 
quietly  at  Mamre.  A  prince  and  a  shepherd,  he  lived  at  ease, 
honored  and  beloved  by  all  his  acquaintance,  with  his  numerous 
flocks  and  his  household  around  him.  But,  when  he  was  ninety 
and  nine  years  old,  the  Lord  appeared  again  to  him,  renewed  to 
him  and  to  his  posterity  the  promise  of  Canaan,  and  assured  him 
that  he  should  have  a  numerous  seed  in  the  line,  not  only  of  Hagar 
and  Ishmael,  but  of  Sarah  :  "  She  also  shall  have  a  son,  and  I  will 
bless  her.  She  shall  be  a  mother  of  nations,  and  kings  shall 
spring  of  her." 

At  this  time,  God  proceeded  to  consummate  what  all  along  he 
had  kept  in  view  in  his  deahngs  with  Abraham,  —  the  formation 
of  a  visible  church,  a  covenant  people,  in  his  family,  of  which  he 
was  to  be  the  patriarchal  head. 

*  Eiad,  b.  iii.  1.  338. 


174  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

The  world  was  already  relapsing  into  idolatry.  Men  did  not 
like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge  ;  and  the  true  God  whom 
they  had  rejected  was  about  to  reject  them.  He  was  about  to  give 
them  up,  as  Paul  expresses  it,  "  to  vile  affections  "  and  a  "  reprobate 
mind."  *  Still,  God  will  have  a  covenant  people  on  the  earth  ;  and 
his  origmal  design,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  in  calling  Abraham 
from  the  land  of  his  nativity,  and  bringing  him  into  Canaan,  was 
to  save  him  and  his  house  from  the  contamination  of  idols,  and 
preserve  the  true  religion  in  his  family.  This  was  the  object  of 
all  the  trials  to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  and  of  the  revelations 
and  promises,  which,  from  time  to  time,  had  been  made  to  him. 
And  now,  when  he  was  almost  a  hundred  years  old,  the  great  design 
was  to  be  consummated.  Accordingly,  God  says  to  him,  "  I  am 
the  Almighty  God :  walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect.  And 
I  will  establish  my  covenant  between  me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed 
after  thee  in  their  generations,  to  he  a  Crod  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seect 
after  thee.  And  tliis  is  my  covenant,  which  ye  shall  keep  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee  :  Every  man-child  among  you 
shall  he  circumcised.  Ye  shall  circumcise  the  flesh  of  your  fore- 
skin, and  it  shall  be  a  tohen  of  the  covenant  betwixt  me  and  you. 
He  that  is  eight  days  old  among  you  shall  be  circumcised,  —  every 
man-child  in  your  generations.  He  that  is  born  in  thy  house,  and 
he  that  is  bought  with  thy  money,  must  needs  be  circumcised ; 
and  my  covenant  shall  be  in  your  flesh  for  an  everlasting  covenant. 
And  the  uncircumcised  man-child,  whose  flesh  of  his  foreskin  is 
not  circumcised,  shall  be  cut  off  from  his  people  :  he  hath  broken 
my  covenant. 

"  And  Abraham  took  Ishmael  his  son,  and  all  that  were  born  in 
his  house,  and  all  that  were  bought  with  his  money,  — every  male 
among  the  servants  of  Abraham,  —  and  circumcised  the  flesh  of  their 
foreskin  in  the  selfsame  day,  as  God  had  said  unto  him.  And 
Abraham  was  ninety  and  nine  years  old  when  he  was  circum- 
cised." f 

After  the  explanation  of  this  transaction  in  other  parts  of  the 
Bible,  more  especially  in  the  writings  of  Paul,  the  design  and 
import  of  it  can  hardly  be  mistaken.  God  here  propounds  a 
covenant  to  Abraham  and  to  his  household,  into  which  they  enter. 
A  visible  token  is  appended  to  the  covenant,  which  all  the  males 
of  the  family  receive.  They  are  thus  constituted  Grod^s  visible 
covenant  people  ;  or,  in  other  words,  his  church.     Hence,  from  this 

*  Rom.  i.  24-28.  f  Gen.  chap.  xvii. 


ABRAHAIVI   AND   HIS   TIMES.  175 

time,  God  begins  to  speak  of  the  posterity  of  Abraham,  or  such 
of  them  as  adhered  to  the  covenant,  as  his  people^  and  to  speak  of 
himself  as  their  covenant  Ciod. 

Circumcision,  though  apparently  a  strange  religious  rite,  was 
yet  a  very  significant  one  :  it  denoted  the  cutting -off  hom  the  heart 
of  all  carnal,  sensual  affections  ;  or,  in  other  words,  a  circumcision 
of  the  hearty  wliich  is  the  same  as  regeneration.  Thus  the  com- 
mand, "  Circumcise  the  foreskin  of  your  heart,"  is  equivalent  to 
another  divine  command,  "  Make  you  a  new  heart  and  a  new 
spirit."  In  this  view,  the  outward  rite  of  circumcision  has  the 
same  significance  as  zvater-baptism,  which,  we  are  told,  denotes 
"  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Circumcision  too,  like  baptism,  was  "  a  seal  of  the  righteousness 
of  faith:''  in  other  words,  it  sealed  a  covenant  which  promised 
the  righteousness  of  faith,  or  (which  is  the  same)  justification  by 
faith.* 

Thus  the  import  of  circumcision,  as  explained  in  other  parts  of 
the  Bible,  shows  it  to  have  been  a  church  ordinance,  —  as  really 
so  as  baptism  ;  and  the  receiving  of  it  at  the  command  of  God 
constituted  the  family  of  Abraham,  as  I  said,  a  visible  church,  and 
the  only  visible  church  for  a  long  time  existing  in  the  world. 

The  covenant  with  Abraham,  as  interpreted  in  other  parts  of 
the  Bible,  had  not  only  a  literal,  but  a  spiritual  import,  which  the 
patriarch  and  his  pious  descendants  undoubtedly  understood.  Thus 
the  promise  of  a  Seed  in  which  all  the  nations  and  families  of  the 
earth  should  be  blessed  was  understood  to  be  a  promise  of  Christ 
and  of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel.  So  the  promise  of  a  numer- 
ous, numberless  posterity  looked  beyond  the  literal  descendants 
of  Abraham,  and  included  all  true  believers  in  Christ.  Thus  Paul 
says,  "If  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs 
according  to  the  promise."  f  And  the  promise  of  Canaan  for  an 
everlasting  possession  included  sometliing  more  than  an  earthly  in- 
heritance: it  looked  to  "  a  better,  that  is,  a  heavenly  country,"  — 
to  the  Canaan  of  everlasting  rest. 

It  has  been  made  a  question,  whether  true  piety  was  required  in 
the  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  in  the  church  of  which  he  was 
the  head.  But,  in  view  of  the  remarks  which  have  been  made, 
I  see  not  how  such  a  question  can  be  entertained.  Can  a  covenant 
which  requires  the  circumcision  of  the  heart,  or   regeneration, 

*  Rom.  iv.  11.  t  Gal.  iii.  29. 


176  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  in  which  God  says,  "  Walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect," 
and  the  visible  token  of  which  is  represented  as  "  the  seal  of  the 
righteousness  of  faith,"  —  can  such  a  covenant  require  any  thing 
less  of  those  who  enter  into  it  than  true  piety  ?     That  there  were 

hypocrites  in  the  Church  of  Israel,  —  at  times  many  hypocrites, 

there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and  so  there  have  been  in  the  Christian 
Church :  but  this  does  not  unpair  the  validity  of  the  Church  or 
its  covenant.  All  those  who  unite  with  our  churches  must  be 
either  pious  persons  or  hypocrites  ;  and  the  same  was  true  of  those 
connected  with  the  Church  of  Israel. 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  this  covenant  transaction  between 
God  and  Abraham  on  account  of  its  high  importance  in  the  history 
of  the  Church.  I  do  not  say  that  there  was  no  visible  church  on 
the  earth  previous  to  this  time,  —  even  before  the  Flood.  Un- 
doubtedly there  was  a  church  :  but  all  the  old  patriarchal  institutes 
had  been  perverted  and  corrupted  ;  the  whole  world  was  relapsing 
together  into  idolatry ;  and,  if  the  Church  of  God  was  to  be  per- 
petuated, new  and  extraordinary  measures  must  be  adopted. 
Hence  the  call  of  Abraham  from  the  land  of  his  nativity,  and 
God's  repeated  appearances  and  revelations  to  him,  and  at  length 
the  formal  institution  of  a  church  in  his  family,  with  a  solemn 
covenant  and  a  new  and  significant  initiatory  rite. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ABRAHAM    AND    HIS    TIMES. CONTINUED. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  we  traced  the  history  of  Abraham  to  the 
time  of  the  establishment  of  a  church  in  his  family,  —  when  he 
and  his  house  became  the  visible  covenaTft  people  of  God.  At  this 
time,  God  promised  Abraham  that  Sarah  his  wife  should  bear  him 
a  son,  to  be  called  Isaac ;  and  that  the  everlasting  covenant  should 
be  established  in  his  family. 

After  a  short  period,  this  promise  was  renewed  in  a  still  more 
formal  and  solemn  manner.  As  Abraham  was  sitting  in  his  tent- 
door,  in  the  oak-grove  at  Mamre,  he  saw  three  strangers  coming 
towards  him.  He  rose  from  his  seat,  went  forth  to  meet  them,  and 
bowed  himself  to  the  ground ;  and,  addressing  himself  to  the  chief 
one  of  them,  he  said,  "  My  lord,  I  pray  thee,  turn  not  away  from 
thy  servant,  but  let  a  little  water  be  brought  to  wash  your  feet : 
and  rest  yourselves  under  this  tree ;  and  I  will  bring  bread,  and 
comfort  ye  your  hearts ;  and  afterwards  ye  shall  pass  on."  A  noble 
example,  this,  of  primitive  patriarchal  hospitality. 

The  strangers,  who  seemed  to  be  men,  acceded  to  the  request  of 
Abraham ;  and  a  bountiful  repast  was  soon  provided.  To  this  they 
sat  down ;  and,  while  the  patriarch  waited  on  them,  they  did  eat. 
If  it  be  asked  how  these  celestial  visitants  could  eat  natural  food, 
I  answer,  It  may  be  that  they  assumed  natural  bodies  for  the  occa- 
sion ;  in  which  case  they  really  ate,  like  other  men.  But  if  we 
suppose  them  to  have  had  no  other  than  spiritual  bodies,  then  their 
eating  could  have  been  only  apparent :  at  any  rate,  they  seemed 
to  eat.  And,  while  the  repast  was  going  on,  one  of  them  inquired 
for  Sarah :  and,  upon  being  told  that  she  was  in  the  tent,  he  said, 
"  I  will  surely  return  at  the  appropriate  time  ;  and  Sarah,  thy  wife, 
shall  have  a  son."  This  conversation  was  overheard  by  Sarah ; 
and,  considering  the  strangeness  and  the  improbability  of  the 
assurance,  she  laughed  at  it ;  and,  when  she  was  reproved  for  her 

12  177 


178  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

laughter  and  unbelief,  slie  denied  that  she  did  laugh.  But  the 
Lord,  who  now  plainly  discovered  himself  to  be  a  divine  messen- 
ger, said,  "  Nay,  but  thou  didst  laugh." 

Upon  this,  the  conversation  ceased ;  and,  the  repast  being  ended, 
the  strangers  rose  up  to  depart.  And,  as  they  seemed  to  be  travel- 
ling towards  Sodom,  Abraham  accompanied  them  to  bring  them 
on  their  way ;  and,  as  they  went,  the  chief  of  them  (who  was  now 
understood  by  Abraham  to  be  but  a  visible  manifestation  of  the 
Lord  Jehovah)  acquainted  the  patriarch  with  his  purpose  to 
destroy  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  for  their  wickedness, — grounding 
the  fearful  revelation  on  his  peculiar  favor  to  Abraham,  and  the 
assurance  he  had  that  he  would  command  his  children  and  his 
household  after  him,  and  that  they  would  keep  the  way  of  the 
Lord  to  do  justice  and  jucTgment. 

Meanwhile,  the  two  angels  had  left  them,  and  proceeded  towards 
Sodom  ;  but  Abraham  remained  communing  with  the  Lord.  And 
here  we  have  those  remarkable  intercessions  for  a  guilty,  debauched, 
and  abandoned  city,  which  we  find  recorded  in  the  eighteenth 
chapter  of  Genesis :  "  Wilt  thou  destroy  the  righteous  with  the 
wicked  ?  That  be  far  from  thee,  Lord,  to  do  after  this  manner, 
that  the  righteous  should  be  as  the  wicked.  Shall  not  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?  Peradventure,  there  be  fifty  righteous  in 
the  city ;  or,  if  not  fifty,  forty  ;  or,  if  not  forty,  there  must  be  thirty; 
or  twenty  certainly ;  or  at  least  iew."  And  the  Lord  said,  "  I  will 
not  destroy  the  city  if  only  ten  righteous  persons  are  found  in  it." 
Abraham  could  proceed  no  further.  He  could  ask  no  more.  He 
ceased  praying,  and  returned  to  his  place. 

Meanwhile,  the  two  angels  were  entering  Sodom.  They  were 
received  by  Lot  in  the  gate,  and  were  conducted  to  his  house ;  and 
here  they  were  beset  by  riotous  men,  whose  lust  and  passion  could 
by  no  means  be  restrained,  until  they  were  miraculously  struck 
with  blindness,  and  groped  in  vain  to  find  the  door. 

Lot  was  now  warned  of  the  impending  destruction,  and  directed 
to  get  his  family  and  his  substance  together,  and  be  ready  in  the 
morning  to  leave  the  city ;  and,  when  there  was  some  delay  in 
the  morning,  the  angels  hastened  Lot.  They  even  laid  hold  upon 
him,  and  upon  his  wife,  and.  upon  his  two  daughters,  and  brought 
them  forth  without  the  city,  and  said,  "  Escape  for  thy  life :  look 
not  behind  thee,  tariy  not  in  all  the  plain,  lest  thou  be  consumed." 
And  Lot  fled  into  Zoar  at  the  rising  of  the  sun ;  and  the  Lord  rained 
upon  Sodom  brimstone  and  iire  out  of  heaven,  and  overthrew  those 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.  179 

cities,  and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  all  that  grew  upon  the 
ground.  And  Lot's  wife,  who  was  a  heathenish,  wicked  woman, 
looked  back  from  behind  him,  and  she  became  a  pillar  of  salt. 

And  Abraham  gat  up  early  m  the  morning  to  the  place  where 
he  stood  before  the  Lord  (the  hill  is  still  pointed  out  amongst 
the  many  summits  near  Hebron,  commanding  a  view  down  into  the 
deep  gulf  which  separates  the  mountains  of  Judaea  from  those  of 
Moab  on  the  other  side)  ;  and  he  •  looked  towards  Sodom,  and 
towards  the  land  of  the  plain,  and,  lo !  the  smoke  of  the  country 
went  up  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace. 

Here,  now,  is  a  recorded  fact  in  regard  to  the  fate  of  the  ancient 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the  other  cities  of  the  Plain  of  Siddim. 
They  were  burned  up  in  a  storm  of  fire  from  heaven  ;  and  the  plain 
on  which  they  stood  became,  as  Moses  tells  us,  "a  salt  sea."*  The 
same  is  called  the  Asphaltites,  or  Dead  Sea.  The  Jordan  and  sev- 
eral smaller  streams  pour  their  waters  into  it ;  but  it  has  no  visible 
outlet.  The  waters  are  carried  off,  probably,  by  an  abundant 
evaporation.  This  remarkable  collection  of  water  is  about  seventy 
miles  long  from  north  to  south,  with  an  average  breadth  of  from 
ten  to  twenty  miles.  It  properly  consists  of  two  parts.  TJie 
northern  portion,  into  which  the  Jordan  empties,  is  very  deep : 
the  southern  part  is  shallow.  The  deeper  portion  was  probably  a 
sea  before  the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah :  the  southern 
or  shallow  portion  is  thought  to  have  been  the  ancient  Plain  of 
Siddim,  on  which  the  doomed  cities  stood.  On  the  eastern  shore 
of  this  southern  portion  is  the  site  of  the  ancient  Zoar,  into  which 
Lot  and  his  daughters  escaped.  Farther  east  are  the  mountains 
of  Moab,  into  which  they  wandered,  and  where  Lot  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  Near  the  same  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  was 
the  pillar  of  salt,  which  Josephus  assures  us  he  had  seen.f  A 
remarkable  pillar  of  mineral  fossil  salt  is  still  standing  there.  It 
was  seen  by  Lieut.  Lynch  and  his  party  in  the  year  1848,  and  has 
been  seen  by  many  others. 

The  burning  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  is  not  only  mentioned  by 
Moses,  but  is  referred  to  by  our  Saviour  and  other  inspired  men.:|: 
The  question  now  arises,  Are  there  any  traditions  of  this  event  in 
■other  writers  ?  and  do  appearances  around  the  Dead  Sea  indicate 
that  such  a  catastrophe  ever  occurred  there  ?  That  Josephus  and 
other  Jewish  and  Christian  writers  should  speak  of  it  is  a  matter 

*  Gen.  xiv.  3.  t  Antiquities,  book  i.  chap.  11.  f  Luke  xvii.  28,  29. 


180  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

of  course  :  but  do  we  find  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  ancient  heathen 
writers  ?  and  what  is  the  opinion  of  unprejudiced  modern  travel- 
lers and  explorers  ?  Diodorus  Siculus,  after  having  described  the 
Lake  Asphaltites,  says,  that,  in  his  day,  the  adjacent  country  was 
still  on  fire,  and  sent  forth  a  grievous  smell,  to  which  he  imputes  the 
sickliness  and  short  lives  of  the  neighboring  inhabitants.*  Strabo, 
having  made  mention  of  the  same  lake,  tells  us  that  the  craggy 
and  burnt  rocks  and  caverns  round  about,  and  the  soil,  all  turned 
to  ashes  and  dust,  give  credit  to  a  report  among  the  people,  that 
formerly  several  cities  stood  there,  of  which  Sodom  was  the  chief ; 
but  that  by  earthquakes,  and  fire  breaking  out,  some  of  them  were 
entirely  swallowed  up,  and  others  were  forsaken  of  their  inhabit- 
ants.! Tacitus  describes  the  lake  much  after  the  same  manner ; 
and  then  adds,  that  not  far  from  it  are  fields,  now  barren,  which 
are  reported  to  have  been  formerly  very  fruitful,  being  adorned 
with  large  cities  which  were  burnt  by  lightning,  and  that  the 
country  still  retains  traces  of  their  destruction.  J 

I  might  give  similar  quotations  from  other  ancient  writers;  but 
it  will  be  enough  to  add  the  testimony  of  Lieut.  Lynch,  an  Ameri- 
can officer  who  explored  the  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea,  under  a 
commission  fi*om  the  United-States  Government,  only  a  few  years 
ago.  Near  the  close  of  liis  journal,  tliis  gentleman  says,  "  We  en- 
tered upon  this  sea  with  conflicting  opinions.  One  of  our  party 
was  sceptical,  and  another  a  professed  imbeliever  of  the  Mosaical 
account.  After  a  close  investigation  of  twenty-two  days,  we  are 
unanimous  in  the  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  scriptural  account 
of  the  destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain.  I  record  with  diffi- 
dence the  conclusions  we  have  reached,  as  a  protest  against  the 
shallow  deductions  of  would-be  unbelievers."  § 

After  the  destruction  of  Sodom,  in  which  Lot  seems  to  have  lost 
all  his  substance,  he  retired,  with  his  two  daughters,  into  the 
moiuitams  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  dwelt  there  in  a  cave.  The 
Bible  faithfully  records  the  story  of  his  incest  with  his  daughters, 
and  of  the  two  sons,  Moab  and  Ammon,  which  were  born  unto 
him.  From  these  descended  the  Moabites  and  Ammonites,  who 
stood  in  close  relation  to  the  Israelites,  and  of  whom  we  hear  so 
much  in  the  sacred  history. 

Ahnost  immediately  after  the  destruction ,  of  Sodom,  Abraham 
removed  from  Mamre,  — perhaps  to  escape  the  sight  and  the  stench 

*  Lib.  xix.  t  Lib.  x.  |  Lib.  v.  §  Lynch's  Narrative,  p.  380. 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.  181 

of  the  ruined  cities,  —  and  came  and  dwelt  among  the  Philistines 
at  Gerar.  These  Philistines  were  the  descendants  of  Mizraim,  a 
son  of  Ham,  who  came  early  out  of  Egypt,  and  possessed  them- 
selves of  the  south-western  maritime  coasts  of  Canaan.  Gerar  was 
at  this  time  one  of  their  chief  cities,  whose  king  was  Abimelech. 

In  coming  here,  Abraham  fell  into  the  same  error  that  he  had 
formerly  committed  in  Egypt.  He  denied  his  wife,  passing  her  off 
as  his  sister ;  whereupon  Abimelech  took  her,  and  was  about  to 
make  her  his  own  wife.  But  God  warned  liim  of  his  danger  in  a 
dream,  forbade  him  to  have  intercourse  with  Sarah,  told  him  who 
she  was,  and  bade  him  restore  her  to  her  husband.  Then  Abimelech 
called  Abraham,  reproved  him  for  the  deception  which  he  had 
practised,  gave  him  back  his  wife,  and  with  her  valuable  presents, 
—  sheep  and  oxen,  man-servants  and  maid-servants.  He  also  gave 
him  full  permission  to  dwell  anywhere  in  his  country  that  he  chose. 

Not  long  after  these  occurrences,  the  divine  promise  to  Abraham 
was  fulfilled,  and  Sarah  brought  forth  a  son.  They  called  his 
name  Isaac,  as  the  Lord  had  commanded ;  and,  on  the  eighth  day, 
he  was  circumcised.  And  the  child  grew,  and  was  weaned;  and 
Abraham  made  a  great  feast  at  the  weaning  of  Isaac. 

It  was  at  this  time,  or  a  little  later,  that  Sarah  saw  Ishmael 
mocking  her  son,  and  treating  him  with  contempt.  At  this  she 
was  offended,  and  demanded  that  Hagar  and  Ishmael  should  be 
dismissed  from  the  family,  and  sent  away.  Abraham  loved  Ish- 
mael, and  was  unwilling  to  comply ;  but,  having  taken  counsel  of 
God,  he  yielded  to  what  he  found  to  be  the  divine  pleasure.  He 
directed  Hagar  to  take  her  son,  with  provisions  and  water,  and  to 
go  out  into  the  wilderness ;  intending,  no  doubt,  to  provide  for  her 
future  wants.  She  departed  into  the  Desert  of  Beersheba,  where 
she  and  her  son  came  nigh  perishing  with  thirst.  But  an  angel 
appeared  unto  her  as  he  had  done  on  a  former  occasion,  led  her 
to  a  fountain  of  water,  and  so  preserved  their  lives.  And  here 
Ishmael  remained  with  his  mother,  grew  up  to  manhood,  and  be- 
came a  very  skilful  archer  and  hunter.  His  mother  took  him  a 
wife  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 

It  had  before  been  predicted  of  Ishmael  that  he  would  be  a  wild 
man ;  that  his  hand  would  be  against  every  man,  and  every  man's 
hand  against  him ;  but  that  he  should  live  in  the  presence  of  his 
brethren.  It  had  been  predicted  that  he  would  be  fruitful,  and 
multiply,  ajjid  that  his  seed  should  become  a  great  nation.*     And 

*  Gen.  xvi.  10, 12. 


182  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

all  this  has  been,  and  is,  remarkably  fulfilled.  He  had  himself 
twelve  sons,  who  are  spoken  of  as  princes,  having  castles  and 
towns.*  Partly  by  overcoming  the  origmal  settlers  of  Arabia,  and 
partly  by  mingling  with  them,  Ishmael  is  justly  regarded  as  the 
patriarch  and  progenitor  of  the  Arabs, — a  people  that  have  never 
been  conquered,  and  perhaps  never  will  be.  When  Alexander 
and  his  victorious  army  overran  a  great  part  of  the  East,  the  Ara- 
bians were  the  only  nation  which  sent  him  no  ambassador,  and 
made  no  submission  to  him.  Antigonus,  one  of  Alexander's  suc- 
cessors, made  an  attempt  upon  the  Arabs;  but  he  was  repulsed 
with  the  loss  of  eighty  thousand  men.  The  Romans  and  Parthians 
were  long  rivals  for  the  empire  of  the  East ;  but  neither  of  them  could 
either  tame  or  subdue  the  wandering  hordes  of  Arabia.  The  Ro- 
mans made  repeated  and  vigorous  attempts  upon  this  people,  fron^ 
the  days  of  Pompey  to  those  of  Severus ;  but  all  in  vain.  Ish- 
mael's  hand  was  against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against 
him ;  and  still  he  lived  in  the  presence  of  his  brethren.  In  later 
times,  the  Arabs,  under  the  name  of  Saracens,!  attacked  the  Ro- 
mans, took  from  them  the  greater  part  of  their  dominion,  and 
erected  a  vast  empire  of  their  own.  The  hordes  of  Arabia  remain 
to  this  day  the  same  wild,  roving,  independent,  and  unconquerable 
people,  fulfilling  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  predictions  which 
were  uttered  respecting  them  almost  four  thousand  years  ago. 

Abraham  was  still  dwelling  in  the  country  of  Abimelech  when 
Isaac  was  born  and  was  growing  up  to  manhood.  Here  he  digged, 
for  his  own  convenience  and  that  of  his  flocks,  a  well,  which  the 
herdsmen  of  Abimelech  violently  took  away ;  and,  when  Abimelech 
came  to  him  to  form  a  treaty  of  perpetual  peace,  Abraham  told 
him  the  story  of  the  well.  Abimelech  at  once  restored  the  weU, 
and  then  entered  into  a  solemn  treaty  or  covenant,  and  confirmed 
it  with  an  oath.  In  commemoration  of  this  event,  the  well,  with 
the  country  round  it,  was  called  Beersheba,  or  the  well  of  the  oath. 
Here  Abraham  builded  an  altar,  and  planted  a  grove,  and  called 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  here  he  sojourned  in  the  land  of 
the  Philistines  many  days. 

It  was  while  he  resided  at  Beersheba  that  he  received  that  most 
trying  and  mysterious  injunction :  "  Take  now  thy  son,  thine  only 
son  Isaac,  and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah,  and  offer  him  there 
as  a  burnt-offermg  upon  one  of  the  mountains  that  I  shall  tell  thee 
of." 

*  Gen.  xsv.  16.  t  From  sarac,  to  plunder. 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS   TIMES.  183 

It  has  been  made  a  question  whether  such  a  command  as  this 
could  possibly  have  come  from  God;  and  whether,  if  it  did,  it 
could  have  been  the  duty  of  Abraham  to  yield  to  it.  But  I  see  no 
difficidty  in  the  case.  God  did  not  command  Abraham  to  murder 
his  son,  —  to  slay  him  with  malicious  intent.  Such  a  command  God 
could  not  have  given ;  or,  if  he  had,  it  could  not  have  been  the 
duty  of  Abraham  to  comply  with  it.  God  required  nothing  of 
Abraham  which  he  might  not  perform  in  the  exercise  of  the  holiest 
and  best  affections.  God  had  a  better  right  to  Isaac  than  Abraham 
had.  He  had  given  the  son ;  and  he  had  a  right  to  take  him  away 
in  any  manner  that  he  saw  best,  —  by  sickness,  by  wild  beasts,  by 
some  sudden  stroke  of  providence,  or  by  the  hand  of  his  own 
father.  "  Go  to  Mount  Moriah,  and  there  offer  up  thy  son  as  a 
burnt-sacrifice  upon  my  altar."  Abraham  saw  at  once  that  God 
had  a  right  to  lay  such  an  injunction  upon  him ;  and,  with  his 
usual  promptness,  he  prepared  to  obey.  He  was  cheered,  no 
doubt,  by  the  thought,  that  if,  in  obedience  to  the  divine  com- 
mand, he  took  the  life  of  his  son,  God  was  able  to  raise  him  from 
the  dead.  He  believed  that  God  would  raise  him  from  the  dead, 
and  fulfil,  through  him,  all  his  past  gracious  assurances  of  a  numer- 
ous posterity.* 

But,  whatever  the  result  might  be,  present  duty  was  clear.  He 
must  go  to  Mount  Moriah,  and  there  offer  up  Isaac  as  a  burnt- 
sacrifice.  Moriah  was  the  mountain  on  wliich  Solomon  afterwards 
built  the  temple. t  One  part  of  it  was  probably  Calvary,  where 
our  Lord  was  crucified.  It  could  not  have  been  less  than  a  hun- 
dred miles  from  Beersheba  to  this  place.  Accordingly,  we  are  told 
that  Abraham  did  not  reach  it  until  the  third  day  after  commencing 
his  journey. 

When  Abraham  came  near  to  the  place,  on  the  third  day,  he  left 
his  servants  and  his  beasts  behind,  while  he  and  Isaac  ascended  the 
hill  together.  As  they  walk  slowly  and  thoughtfully  on,  Isaac  says 
to  his  father,  "  Behold  the  fire  and  the  wood ;  but  where  is  the 
lamb  for  a  burnt-offering  ?  "  And  Abraham  said,  "  My  son,  God 
will  provide  himself  a  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering."  It  was  at  this 
dreadful  moment,  undoubtedly,  that  Abraham  explained  to  Isaac 
the  cause  and  object  of  the  journey ;  told  him  what  he  had  been 
commanded  to  do,  and  obtained  his  consent  that  the  sacrifice  should 
be  made.  So  they  came  to  the  place ;  and  Abraham  builded  an 
altar,  and  laid  the  wood  upon  it.     He  also  bound  his  son,  and  laid 

*  See  Heb.  xi.  19.  t  2  Chron.  iii.  1. 


184  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

him  upon  the  altar,  and  then  took  the  knife,  with  the  intent  and 
the  expectation  to  slay  his  son.  But,  as  the  trial  was  now  com- 
plete, the  Lord  interposed  to  prevent  the  sacrifice.  "  Lay  not 
thine  hand  upon  the  lad,  neither  do  thou  any  thing  unto  him ;  for 
now  I  know  that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld 
thy  son,  thine  only  son,  from  me.  And  Abraham  lifted  up  his 
eyes,  and  looked,  and,  behold,  behind  him  was  a  ram,  caught  in  a 
thicket  by  his  horns ;  and  Abraham  went  and  took  the  ram,  and 
offered  him  up  for  a  burnt-offering  in  place  of  his  son." 

The  design  of  this  whole  transaction  seems  to  have  been  two- 
fold :  1.  To  try  the  faith  and  the  obedience  of  Abraham.  As  he 
was  to  be  "  the  father  of  the  faithful,"  the  patriarch  and  visible 
head  of  God's  covenant  people,  it  was  proper  that  his  faith  should 
be  severely  tried.  2.  This  transaction  was  designed,  undoubtedly, 
to  furnish  to  Abraham,  and  through  him  to  the  whole  ancient 
Church,  a  type,  a  symbol,  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  As  Abraham, 
in  effect,  offered  up  his  son,  so  God  would,  in  fact,  offer  up  his. 
He  would  do  it  on  the  same  mountain,  —  perhaps  in  the  very  same 
place.  The  consent  of  the  victims  in  both  cases  was  gained. 
Isaac  was  willing  to  be  made  a  sacrifice  at  the  instance  of  his 
father,  and  at  the  command  of  God ;  and  our  Saviour's  life  was 
not  taken  against  his  will.  He  laid  it  down  of  himself.  A  more 
significant  emblem  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  could  liardly  have 
been  given  to  the  ancient  Church  than  was  furnished  in  the  trans- 
action of  which  we  have  spoken. 

Accordingly,  When  the  scene  was  over,  God  renewed  his  gra- 
cious assurances  to  Abraham  in  stronger  terms,  and  more  ample 
measure,  than  ever  before :  "  By  myself  I  have  sworn,  because 
thou  hast  done  this  thing,  and  hast  not  withheld  thy  son,  thine 
only  son,  that,  in  blessing,  I  will  bless  thee ;  and,  in  multiplying,  I 
will  multiply  thy  seed  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  as  the  sand 
which  is  upon  the  seashore ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

From  the  scene  on  Moriah,  Abraham  and  his  son  and  his  ser- 
vants returned  to  Beersheba,  where  he  dwelt  for  a  time,  and  then 
removed  to  Hebron,  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  here  Sarah  died, 
at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  —  thirty-seven  years 
after  the  birth  of  Isaac.  And,  when  the  mourning  for  Sarah  was 
ended,  Abraham  applied  to  the  children  of  Heth  —  the  native 
inhabitants  of  Hebron  — for  a  burying-place  in  which  to  deposit 
the  remains  of  his  long-loved  companion.    The  Hittites  generously 


ABRAHAM  AND   HIS   TIMES.  185 

proposed  to  him  to  occupy  any  of  their  sepulchres :  "  None  of  us 
will  withhold  his  sepulchre  from  thee,  but  that  thou  mayest  bury 
thy  dead."  Abraham  declined  theu-  proposal,  however,  and  asked 
that  he  might  purchase  the  CJave  of  Machpelah,  and  hold  it  as  a 
place  of  burial.  The  owner  of  the  cave  now  proposed  to  give  it 
to  Abraham,  with  the  field  adjoining  it,  without  money  and  with- 
out price :  "  The  field  give  I  thee,  and  the  cave  that  is  therein. 
Bury  thy  dead."  This  noble  generosity  on  the  part  of  the  Hit- 
tites  not  only  speaks  well  of  them  as  a  people,  but  is  in  the  highest 
degree  honorable  to  Abraham.  If  his  deportment  among  them 
had  not  been  uniformly  upright  and  kind,  they  never  had  dealt 
with  him  after  this  manner. 

Still,  the  generous  proposal  to  take  the  land  and  the  cave  as  a 
gift,  Abraham  felt  constrained  in  the  most  respectful  manner  to 
decline.  He  chose  to  purchase  it  at  its  full  value  ;  and,  to  gratify 
him  in  this  respect,  a  price  was  set  upon  it,  which  was  promptly 
paid :  "  Abraham  weighed  unto  Ephron,  the  owner  of  the  land, 
the  silver  which  he  had  named  ;  viz.,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver, 
current  money  with  the  merchant.*  And  the  field,  and  the  cave, 
and  all  the  trees  that  were  within  the  field,  were  made  sure  unto 
Abraham  in  the  presence  of  the  children  of  Heth." 

This  is  the  first  commercial  transaction  of  which  we  have  any 
account  in  history;  and  it  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  most 
equitable  and  honorable  that  ever  was  negotiated. 

When  the  business-transaction  had  been  amicably  settled,  Abra- 
ham buried  his  wife  in  the  Cave  of  Machpelah ;  and  there,  after  a 
time,  he  was  buried  himself.  And  so  were  Isaac  and  Rebekah  and 
Jacob  and  Leah  buried  there,  and  perhaps  others  of  the  same 
family,  f 

Abraham  was  now  an  old  man,  and  was  very  desirous  of  seeing 
his  son  Isaac  married,  and  settled  in  the  world,  before  his  death.  So 
he  called  his  eldest  servant  to  him,  the  chief  steward  of  his  house, 
and  charged  him  that  he  should  not  take  a  wife  for  his  son  of  the 
daughters  of  Canaan,  but  "go,"  says  he,  "to  my  country,"  i.e. 
to  Haran,  "and  to  my  kindred,  and  take  a  wife  unto  my  son  from 
thence."     And,  the  more  strictly  to  bind  his  steward  to  a  faithful 

*  About  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  of  our  money. 

t  Over  this  cavern  now  stands  a  Turkish  mosque,  into  which  no  Jew  nor  Christian  has  been 
permitted,  until  very  recently,  to  enter.  By  special  favor,  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  suite, 
on  their  late  visit  to  the  Holy  Land,  were  permitted  to  enter  the  mosque,  but  not  the  cavern  be- 
neath it.  This  is  entirely  closed,  and  has  never  been  seen  by  any  one  within  the  range  of 
memory  or  tradition.  —  See  Stanley's  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,  p.  37. 


186  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

performance  of  the  charge  enjoined,  he  administered  to  him  a  sol- 
emn oath ;  telling  him  at  the  same  time,  that  if  he  came  to  Haran, 
and  a  suitable  woman  of  their  kindred  would  not  return  with  him, 
he  should  be  clear  of  the  oath  which  he  had  taken.  Thus  charged 
and  sworn,  Eliezer  the  steward  set  out  at  once  on  his  long  journey, 
with  a  retinue  of  servants  and  camels  suitable  to  Abraham's  qual- 
ity and  estate.  Of  the  incidents  of  the  journey  we  are  not  in- 
formed. We  only  know,  that,  in  good  time,  he  arrived  at  Haran, 
whence  Abraham  removed  when  he  came  into  Canaan,  some 
sixty-five  years  before,  and  where  he  had  left  his  brother  Nahor. 
Here  he  rested  his  camels  at  evening  by  a  well  of  water,  and  lifted 
up  his  heart  in  prayer  to  God  for  his  direction  and  blessing.  He 
prayed,  that,  from  among  the  young  women  who  should  come  out 
of  the  city  to  the  well,  God  would  clearly  indicate  to  him  the 
one  whom  he  had  raised  up  to  be  the  wife  of  Isaac.  And  his 
prayer  was  heard.  Without  going  into  all  the  particulars  of  this 
wonderful  story,  suffice  it  to  say,  that,  while  he  was  yet  praying, 
Rebekah,  a  grand-daughter  of  Nahor,  and  a  second  cousin  of  Isaac, 
came  out  to  the  well  with  her  pitcher  for  water.  She  answered  to 
all  the  conditions  which  Eliezer  had  mentioned  in  his  prayer:  so 
that  he  knew  at  once  that  she  was  the  person  for  whom  he  was 
sent.  He  made  himself  known  to  her,  gave  her  valuable  presents, 
and  was  invited  to  her  father's  house.  He  here  told  his  story,  cir- 
cumstantially, from  beginning  to  end ;  and,  when  he  was  through, 
he  said,  "Now,  if  ye  will  deal  kindly  and  truly  with  my  master, 
tell  me ;  and,  if  not,  tell  me ;  that  I  may  turn  to  the  right  hand  or 
to  the  left."  And  Bethuel  the  father  of  Rebekah,  and  Laban  her 
brother,  answered,  and  said,  "  The  thing  proceedeth  from  the  Lord : 
we  cannot  speak  unto  thee  bad  or  good.  Behold,  Rebekah  is  before 
thee :  take  her  and  go,  and  let  her  be  thy  master's  son's  wife,  as 
the  Lord  hath  spoken." 

Although  the  consent  of  the  family  was  now  gained  as  to  Re- 
bekah's  marriage  to  Isaac,  they  would  fain  have  retained  her  a  few 
days  before  sending  her  away.  But  Eliezer  said  no  :  "Hinder  me 
not,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  prospered  me.  Send  me  away,  that  I 
may  go  to  my  master."  And  so,  with  the  consent  of  Rebekah,  she 
was  sent  away  on  the  morrow,  with  her  nurse  and  other  female 
servants,  and  with  the  blessing  of  her  father  and  brother :  "  Be 
thou  the  mother  of  thousands  of  millions,  and  let  thy  seed  possess 
the  gate  of  those  that  hate  them." 

Eliezer  is  now  on  his  way  back  to  Hebron,  with  his  camels,  his 


ABRAHAM   AND   HIS  TIMES.  187 

servants,  and  his  precious  charge.  And,  as  he  drew  near  to  his 
master's  home,  he  saw  Isaac  abroad  in  the  field,  where  he  had  gone 
to  meditate  at  eventide.  And,  when  Rebekah  saw  him,  she  alight- 
ed from  her  camel,  and  took  a  veil,  and  covered  herself.  And  Ehe- 
zer  told  Isaac  all  things  that  he  had  done.  And  Isaac  brought 
Rebekah  into  his  mother  Sarah's  tent,  and  she  became  his  wife.  The 
union  so  happily  consummated  was  a  source  of  mutual  satisfaction. 
Isaac,  we  know,  was  an  affectionate  husband:  he  loved  Rebekah; 
and  was  comforted,  by  means  of  her,  after  his  mother's  death. 

Though  Abraham  was  now  a  hundi-ed  and  forty  years  old,  yet 
it  may  be  said  of  him,  as  it  was  afterwards  of  Moses,  "His 
eye  was  not  dim,  neither  was  his  natural  force  abated."  He  was 
a  healthful  and  vigorous  old  man,  enjoying  in  peace,  plenty,  and 
honor,  the  fruits  of  a  temperate  and  upright  life.  Isaac  was  happily 
married  and  settled ;  and  the  father  began  to  think  that  it  might 
add  to  his  happiness  and  usefulness  to  be  married  also.  He  was  at 
this  time  only  ten  years  older  than  Terah  was  at  his  birth,  and  of 
the  same  age  with  Terah  at  the  birth  of  Sarah. 

The  second  wife  of  Abraham  was  Keturah,  —  a  pious  woman, 
probably,  of  his  own  household.  She  bare  him  six  sons ;  viz.,  Zim- 
ran,  Jokshan,  Medan,  Midian,  Ishbak,  and  Shuah.  Of  these,  Mid- 
ian  was  the  father  of  the  Midianites,  of  whom  we  hear  often  in  the 
sacred  history.  Shuah  may  have  been  the  progenitor  of  Bildad  the 
Shuhite,  one  of  the  three  friends  of  Job.  Among  the  grandsons 
of  Abraham  by  Keturah  was  Sheba,  whose  descendants  became  a 
nation,  and  whose  queen  made  a  visit  to  Solomon  in  the  time  of  his 
glory.  So  true  was  it  of  Abraham,  according  to  promise,  that  he 
became  the  father  of  many  nations. 

Where  Abraham  dwelt  after  his  second  marriage,  we  are  not 
informed;  only  we  know  that  it  was  in  the  extreme  south  of  the 
land  of  Canaan,  not  far  from  the  desert  which  separates  Canaan 
from  Egypt.  It  may  have  been  at  Hebron  or  Beersheba ;  or  still 
farther  south,  at  the  well  Lahai-roi.  At  this  latter  place,  we  know 
that  Isa'ac  dwelt  after  his  father's  death  (Gen.  xxv.  11). 

Although  a  young  family  was  now  growing  up  around  Abraham, 
he  well  knew  that  Isaac  was  the  child  of  promise.  It  was  through 
him  that  the  blessings  of  the  covenant  were  to  come  upon  the 
world.  Accordingly,  his  substance  in  the  land  of  Canaan  was  all 
given  to  Isaac;  while  to  his- other  children  he  gave  gifts,  and  sent 
them,  before  his  death,  into  the  east  country.  The  sons  of  Keturah 
seem   to  have   mingled  with  the   Ishmaelites  and  the  Moabites. 


188  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Their  relations  with  the  Israelites  were  intimate,  both  in  war  and 
peace.  When  Moses  fled  from  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  he  dwelt 
forty  years  among  the  Midianites,  and  married  the  daughter  of  a 
priest  of  Midian. 

'At  length,  laden  with  honors  as  with  years,  the  patriarch 
Abraham  left  the  world.  He  died  thirty-five  years  after  his  mar- 
riage with  Keturah,  —  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  seventy -five. 
It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  Ishmael  united  with  Isaac  in  paying 
honors  to  his  venerable  father  at  his  funeral.  He  was  buried,  as 
already  stated,  in  the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  where,  more  than  forty 
years  before,  he  had  deposited  the  remains  of  his  beloved  Sarah. 


CHAPTER     XVI. 


ABRAHAM    AND    ISAAC. 


IN  the  last  chapter,  we  continued  the  history  of  Abraham  to  his 
death.  It  might  be  expected  that  a  man  so  eminent  for  wis- 
dom and  goodness,  and  so  well  known  in  all  the  principal  countries 
of  the  East,  would  leave  some  memorial  of  himself  beyond  the 
line  of  his  own  posterity.  And  so  we  find  it.  The  name  of  Abra- 
ham was  long  known  among  not  only  the  Israelites,  but  other  an- 
cient nations.  Thus  Berosus,  the  Chaldsean,  speaks  of  him  as  "  a 
man  righteous  and  great,  and  skilled  in  celestial  science."  And 
Hecateus,  who  resided  at  the  court  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Eg}^t, 
wrote  a  work  in  his  praise.  Nicolaus  of  Damascus  tells  of  his 
coming  out  of  Chaldsea  into  Syria,  and  thence  removing  into  Ca- 
naan, where  his  posterity  became  exceedingly  numerous.*  Eusebius 
quotes  Eupolemus  and  Antipanus,  heathen  writers,  both  of  whom 
make  honorable  mention  of  Abraham,  and  note  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal events  in  his  history.f 

The  fame  of  Abraham  in  the  countries  where  he  lived  may  be 
learned  from  the  legends  which  are  still  current  respecting  him. 
The  first,  which  we  give  in  the  language  of  the  Koran,  shows  the 
manner  in  which  (amidst  prevailing  idolatries)  the  mind  of  Abra- 
ham became  established  in  the  doctrine  of  one  God :  "  When 
night  overshadowed  him,  he  saw  a  star,  and  said.  This  is  my  Lord. 
But,  when  the  star  set,  he  said,  I  will  not  have  this.  Then  the 
moon  arose,  and  he  said,  This  is  my  Lord.  But  the  moon  set  also ; 
and  he  said.  If  I  follow  this,  I  shall  be  led  astray.  Next  the 
sun  arose,  and  he  said.  This,  surely,  is  my  Lord.  But  the  sun  went 
down ;  and  he  exclaimed,  O  my  people !  I  am  clear  of  all  these 
things.  I  now  turn  vaj  face  to  Him  who  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth.'''' 

Another  Abrahamic  legend,  which  is  of  Persian  origin,  shows 

*  See  Antiquities  of  Josephus,  book  i.  chap.  8.  f  Prap.  Evan.,  lib.  ix.  chap.  17. 

189 


190  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

how  the  venerable  patriarch  obtained  the  idea  of  religious  tolera- 
tion. We  quote  from  Jeremy  Taylor's  "  Liberty  of  Prophesying: " 
"  When  Abraham  sat  at  his  tent-door,  according  to  his  custom, 
waiting  to  entertain  strangers,  he  espied  a  venerable  man,  stooping, 
and  leaning  on  his  staff,  weary  with  age  and  travel,  who  was  a 
hundred  years  old.  .  He  received  him  kindly  into  his  tent,  washed 
his  feet,  provided  him  a  supper,  and  caused  him  to  sit  down ;  but, 
observing  that  the  old  man  did  not  ask  a  blessing  on  liis  meat,  he 
inquired  why  he  did  not  worship  the  God  of  heaven.  The  old 
man  replied,  that  he  worsliipped  fire,  and  no  other  God.  At  this 
Abraham  grew  angry,  thrust  him  out  of  liis  tent,  and  exposed  him, 
unguarded,  to  all  the  evils  of  the  night.  Then  God  called  to 
Abraham  out  of  heaven,  and  asked  him  where  the  stranger  was. 
He  replied,  /  thrust  him  moay  from  me  because  he  did  not  worship 
thee.  But  Grod  anszvered,  I  have  suffered  him  these  hundred  years^ 
tJiough  he  dishonored  me ;  and'  couldst  thou  not  endure  him  for  a 
single  nighty  when  he  gave  thee  no  troiible  ?  Upon  this  Abraham 
took  him  back  again,  and  gave  him  hospitable  entertainment  and 
wise  instruction.     Go  thou,  and  do  likewise." 

The  history  of  Abraham,  over  which  we  have  passed,  is  of  great 
value  to  us  as  an  example.  He  was  an  example  to  his  spiritual 
children  of  nearly  every  grace  and  virtue  of  religion.  His  hfe  goes 
to  illustrate,  first  of  all,  the  nature  and  the  efficacy  of  faith,  —  that 
faith  which  springs  from  the  heart,  and  controls  the  life.  When 
Abraham  received  a  revelation  from  God,  he  believed  it ;  and  when 
a  command  was  issued,  growing  out  of  such  revelation,  he  knew 
no  other  way  than  to  obey  it.  Thus,  when  called  to  leave  his  coun- 
try and  go  to  a  foreign  land,  he  went,  asking  no  questions.  And, 
when  called  to  the  dreadful  act  of  sacrificing  his  son,  he  did  the 
same  :  he  prepared  at  once  to  make  the  sacrifice,  trusting  in  God 
to  fulfil  his  promise  in  raising  him  from  the  dead. 

Abraham  was  also  an  example  in  patient  waiting  upon  God. 
We  are  apt  to  be  in  a  hurry,  expecting  God  to  fulfil  .his  promises 
right  off,  —  in  our  own  way  and  time,  —  or  not  at  all.  But  Abraham 
understood  God's  method  of  dealing  with  his  creatures  better  than 
this.  He  had  early  a  promise  of  a  numerous  posterity ;  but  it  was 
twenty-five  long  years  after  he  entered  Canaan  before  the  child  of 
promise  was  born.  'He  had  promise  after  promise  that  the  land 
of  Canaan  should  be  given  to  liim  and  his  posterity  for  a  posses- 
sion ;  but  he  hved  not  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  these  promises. 
Still  he  doubted  not  that  they  would  be  fulfilled ;  and,  in  God's 
own  way  and  time,  they  were. 


ABRAHAM   AND   ISAAC.  191 

Abraham  was  an  example,  to  all  believers,  of  a  truly  devotional 
spirit.  He  loved  God,  and  loved  his  worship.  He  loved  to  have 
intercourse  and  communion  with  him.  Accordingly,  wherever  he 
pitched  his  tent,  —  at  Sichem,  at  Bethel,  at  Mamre,  at  Beersheba, 
—  from  the  time  of  his  coming  into  Canaan  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
we  find  him  erecting  an  altar,  and  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
Such  was  his  habit,  his  course  of  life,  everywhere.  No  man  could 
sojourn  a  day  in  the  family  of  Abraham  without  understanding 
that  he  was  a  friend  and  worsliipper  of  the  God  of  heaven. 

Abraham  was  an  example,  to  all  men,  of  strict  worldly  integrity 
and  generosity.  Witness  his  generous  treatment  of  Lot  when  he 
told  him  to  take  his  choice  in  what  part  of  the  land  to  dwell :  "If 
thou  wilt  take  the  right  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  left ;  or  if  thou 
depart  to  the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  right."  Witness  his 
generous  treatment  of  those  who  suffered  in  the  sacldng  of  Sodom  : 
"  I  will  not  take  from  thee  so  much  as  a  thread  or  a  shoe-latchet, 
lest  thou  shouldst  say,  I  have  made  Abraham  rich."  Witness  also 
his  persistent  uprightness  in  purchasing  the  field  of  Machpelah  of 
the  children  of  Heth.  How  much  have  Christians  in  our  own  time 
to  learn  of  the  patriarch  Abraham  in  respect  to  tliis  matter  of 
worldly  integrity  !  How  much  more  would  the  gospel  have  been 
honored,  how  much  less  disgraced,  if  all  Christians  had  been  as 
upright  as  he  ! 

I  might  speak  of  many  other  traits  in  which  Abraham  was  an 
example  to  us  all.  Witness  his  princely  hospitality  in  receiving 
the  strangers  who  came  to  him  at  Mamre,  when  he  had  the  honor 
of  "  entertaining  angels  unawares."  Witness  his  deep  feeling  and 
anxiety  for  sinful  men  who  were  about  to  be  destroyed,  as  evinced 
in  his  fervent  intercessions  for  the  Sodomites.  This  was  very  like 
Paul,  who  could  not  speak  without  weeping  of  those  who  were 
enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ ;  or,  rather,  it  was  like  the  great 
Seed  of  Abraham,  who  beheld  Jerusalem  from  the  brow  of  Olivet, 
and  wept  over  it. 

And,  when  he  came  to  the  close  of  life,  Abraham  was  an  exam- 
ple to  all  heads  of  families  in  making  a  satisfactory  disposition  of 
his  worldly  estate.  He  set  not  only  his  heart,  but  his  house,  in 
order.  He  made  large  gifts  to  Ishmael  and  to  the  sons  of  Keturah, 
and  sent  them  away  into  the  east  country ;  while  Isaac,  as  the 
son  of  promise,  he  retained,  and  richly  endowed  in  the  land  of 
Canaan. 

After  all,  Abraham  was  not  a  perfect  man.     He  did  not  claim  to 


192  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

be,  nor  is  he  so  set  before  us  in  the  Scriptures.  His  denial  of  his 
wife  on  two  separate  occasions  was  strangely  inconsistent  with 
his  general  character,  and  was  followed  (as  such  expedients  com- 
monly are)  with  unpleasant  results.  His  consenting  to  the  pro- 
posal of  Sarah  in  regard  to  Hagar  was  also  a  blot  upon  his  char- 
acter, which  produced  the  appropriate  fruits  of  bitterness  and 
sorrow.  God  is  faithful  to  correct  his  children  when  they  wander 
from  him,  and  thus  restore  them  to  the  right  way. 

Abraham,  though  he  Hved  to  a  good  old  age,  could  not  live 
always.  Though  he  sustained  his  probation,  and  performed  his 
part  nobly  on  the  earth,  and  left  a  name  behind  him  second  to  that 
of  no  mere  man  in  point  of  honor  and  influence,  yet  he  could  not 
be  exempted  from  the  stroke  of  death.  Like  the  long  line  of  patri- 
archs who  had  gone  before  him,  he  died.  His  dust  still  reposes  in 
the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  awaiting  the  resurrection  of  the  just. 

From  Abraham,  we  now  turn  to  contemplate  briefly  the  life  of 
Isaac.  For  twenty  years  after  his  marriage,  he  continued  child- 
less ;  when  Rebecca  was  delivered  of  two  sons  at  a  birth.  Esau 
and  Jacob  had  been  the  subjects  of  much  prayer,  and  of  divine 
predictions,  before  they  were  born.  It  had  been  foretold  that  they 
would  be  the  fathers  of  two  nations,  —  of  two  sorts  of  people,  — 
and  that  the  elder  should  serve  the  younger.  Esau,  the  elder,  was 
a  hairy  man,  a  cunning  hunter,  a  man  of  the  field ;  but  Jacob  was 
a  plain  man,  a  shepherd,  dwelling  in  tents.  Esau  was  the  special 
favorite  of  his  father ;  but  Jacob,  of  his  mother.  These  boys  were 
fifteen  years  old  when  their  grandfather  Abraham  died.  They, 
no  doubt,  had  often  seen  him,  and  had  the  benefit  of  his  counsels 
and  his  prayers. 

While  Jacob  and  Esau  were  in  early  manhood  (though  we  know 
not  the  precise  year),  an  event  occurred  which  had  an  important 
influence  on  their  future  lives.  Jacob  had  prepared  a  mess  of 
pottage ;  and  Esau,  coming  home  faint  and  hungry  from  the  field, 
asked  that  he  might  partake  of  it.  And  Jacob  said,  "  Yes,  if  you 
will  consent  to  seU  me  your  birthright."  To  this  Esau  consented, 
under  oath,  saying,  "  I  am  faint,  and  ready  to  die  ;  and  what  good 
shall  this  birthright  do  me  ? "  So  he  sold  his  birthright  unto 
Jacob,  ate  of  the  pottage,  and  went  his  way. 

The  question  has  been  asked.  What  was  it,  precisely,  which 
Esau  sold,  and  Jacob  purchased,  at  this  time  ?  It  was,  undoubt- 
edly, the  peculiar  privileges,  which,  according  to  patriarchal  usages, 
belonged  to  the  first-born.     Among  these  pre-eminently,  in  the 


ABRAHAM   AND   ISAAC.  193 

case  before  us,  were  those  covenant  blessings  which  had  been  prom- 
ised to  Abraham  and  Isaac.  These  were  what  Esau  despised; 
these  were  what  he  sold  for  a  mess  of  pottage  ;  these  were  what, 
when  the  blessing  had  been  given  to  Jacob,  he  could  not  recover, 
though  he  "  sought  them  carefully  with  tears."  It  was  the  selling . 
of  these  rich  covenant  blessings  for  a  mess  of  pottage  which  led 
the  apostle  to  speak  of  him  as  "  a  profane  person."  *  He  might 
have  bartered  away  any  mere  temporal  privileges  without  incur- 
ring such  a  charge ;  but  to  seU  for  such  a  price  the  blessings  of 
the  everlasting  covenant  was  indeed  profane. 

Isaac  seems  never  to  have  travelled  far  from  his  birthplace,  in 
the  extreme  south  of  Canaan.  He  purposed,  in  a  season  of  famine, 
to  go  into  Egypt ;  but  the  Lord  prohibited  him,  saying,  "  Sojourn 
in  this  land,  and  I  will  be  with  thee,  and  bless  thee ; "  repeating 
at  the  same  time  the  rich  covenant  promises  which  had  been  so 
often  made  to  his  father.  So  Isaac  turned  aside,  and  dwelt  at 
Gerar,  which  was  only  a  short  distance  from  his  usual  abode. 

Here  he  found  an  Abimelech  on  the  throne, — probably  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Abimelech  who  reigned  there  in  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham. And  here  Isaac  fell  into  the  same  error  which  his  father  had 
committed  before  liim;  viz.,  the  denial  of  his  wife.  He  said  of 
Rebekah  that  she  was  his  sister ;  being  afraid  to  call  her  his  wife, 
lest  the  people  of  the  land  should  Idll  him  for  her  sake.  But 
Abimelech  soon  discovered  that  she  was  his  wife,  when  he  sharply 
reproved  Isaac  for  his  equivocation.  He  did  not,  however,  send 
him  away,  or  inflict  upon  him  any  punishment :  so  far  from  this, 
he  granted  him  protection,  saying  to  his  people,  "  Whoever  touch- 
eth  this  man  or  his  wife,  with  intent  to  injure  them,  shall  surely 
be  put  to  death." 

Isaac  abode  several  years  among  the  Philistines,  at  Gerar,  and 
was  remarkably  prospered  m  all  Ms  worldly  interests.  The  seed 
which  he  sowed  yielded  him  a  hundred-fold.  He  had  flocks  and 
herds,  and  great  store  of  servants.  His  prosperity  at  length  excited 
the  envy  of  the  Philistines,  and  they  began  to  annoy  him.  They 
filled  up  the  wells  which  his  father  had  digged ;  and,  when  the 
servants  of  Isaac  digged  new  weUs,  the  herdsmen  of  Gerar  strove 
with  them,  and  drove  them  away.  At  length,  Abimelech  came  to 
Isaac,  and  said,  "  Go  from  us ;  for  thou  art  mightier  than  we." 
So  Isaac  departed  unto  Beersheba,  and  built  an  altar  there,  and 

*  Heb.  xii.  le. 
13 


194  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

called  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  ;  and  the  Lord  appeared  to 
him,  and  blessed  him,  and  confirmed  to  hhn  the  promises  which 
were  so  often  made  to  Abraham  his  father. 

While  Isaac  abode  at  Beersheba,  Abimelech  and  his  chief  captain 
came  to  him,  and  entered  mto  a  treaty  of  perpetual  peace  and 
friendship.  They  were  led  to  do  this  under  the  impression  that 
the  Lord  certainly  favored  Isaac,  and  that  it  would  l)e  hazardous 
to  contend  with  him  further. 

When  Esau  was  forty  years  old,  without  consulting  his  parents, 
he  connected  himself  in  marriage  with  two  Canaanitish  women ; 
viz.,  Judith  and  Bashemath,  of  the  daughters  of  Heth.  And  these, 
it  is  said,  were  "  a  grief  of  mind  to  Isaac  and  Rebekah  ; "  or,  as  the 
Septuagint  translates  it,  "  they  quarrelled  with  Isaac  and  Rebekah." 
At  any  rate,  the  connection  was  an  unhappy  one,  which  sprved 
more  than  ever  to  alienate  the  heart  of  Rebekah  from  her  eldest 
son.  Still  they  seem  to  have  lived  together,  or  near  to  each 
other,  at  Beersheba  or  Mamre  or  Hebron,  for  a  series  of  years. 
Isaac,  a  quiet  old  gentleman,  was  at  the  head  of  the  household ; 
Esau  was  an  expert  hunter,  who  supplied  his  father  with  venison, 
of  which  he  was  very  fond ;  while  Jacob  had  charge  of  the  flocks 
and  herds. 

When  Isaac  was  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  years  old,  and  his 
eyes  were  dim  that  he  could  not  see,  he  one  day  directed  Esau  to 
take  his  quiver  and  bow,  and  go  out  into  the  field  and  procure 
some  venison :  "  And  make  me  savory  meat,"  said  he,  "  such  as  I 
love,  that  I  may  eat,  and  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee  before  I  die." 
And  Esau  did  as  his  father  had  commanded.  He  went  to  the  field 
to  hunt  for  venison. 

Meanwhile,  Rebekah  —  who  had  heard  what  had  passed,  and 
who  was  resolved  that  the  paternal  blessing  should  rest,  not  on  the 
head  of  Esau,  but  on  that  of  Jacob  —  called  her  younger  soil,  and 
concerted  with  him  a  plan  by  which  her  purpose  might  be  carried 
mto  effect :  "  Go  now  to  the  flock,  and  fetch  me  from  thence  two 
kids  of  the  goats,  and  I  will  make  of  them  savory  meat  such  as 
your  father  loveth  ;  and  thou  shalt  bring  it  to  him  that  he  may  eat, 
and  may  bless  thee  before  his  death."  But  Jacob  objected: 
"  Though  my  father  cannot  see,  he  can  feel ;  and  as  Esau  is  a 
hauy  man,  and  I  am  a  smooth  man,  he  will  put  forth  Ms  hand  to 
feel  of  me,  and  will  know  that  I  am  a  deceiver ;  and  so  shall  I 
bring  a  curse  upon  myself,  and  not  a  blessing."  But  Rebekah  said, 
"  Trust  me  for  that:  only  do  as  I  have  directed." 


ABRAHAM   AND   ISAAC.  195 

So  Jacob  went,  and  brought  the  kids  to  his  mother.  And  she 
made  the  savory  meat ;  and  she  took  Esau's  raiment,  and  put  it 
upon  Jacob,  and  put  the  skins  of  the  kids  upon  his  hands  and 
upon  the  smooth  part  of  his  neck,  and  told  him  to  take  the  meat 
and  carry  it  to  his  father.  He  did  so,  and,  by  dint  of  deception 
and  falsehood,  effectually  imposed  upon  the  good  old  man,  and 
secured  to  himself  the  blessing  which  was  intended  for  Esau : 
"  God  give  thee  of  the  dew  of  heaven  and  the  fatness  of  the 
earth,  and  plenty  of  corn  and  wine.  Let  peoples  serve  thee,  and 
nations  bow  down  to  thee.  Be  lord  over  thy  brethren,  and  let  thy 
mother's  sons  bow  down  to  thee.  Cursed  be  every  one  that 
curseth  thee,  and  blessed  be  he  that  blesseth  thee." 

Isaac  had  scarcely  done  pronouncing  this  blessing,  when  Esau 
came  in  with  his  savory  meat  that  he  might  receive  his  father's 
blessing.  The  deceit  which  had  been  practised  was  at  once  discov- 
ered, much  to  the  distress  of  both  Isaac  and  Esau.  But  the  bless- 
ing had  been  pronounced,  and  could  not  be  revoked.  And  Esau 
wept  aloud,  and  said,  "  Hast  thou  but  one  blessing,  my  father  ? 
Bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father !  "  Overcome  by  his  entrea- 
ties, Isaac  bestowed  upon  him  such  a  blessing  as  he  could,  —  not  to 
revoke  that  which  had  been  given  to  Jacob,  but  in  consistency  with 
it :  "  Behold,  thy  dwelling  shall  be  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  of 
the  dew  of  heaven  from  above.  By  thy  sword  thou  shalt  live,  and 
shalt  serve  thy  brother ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  thou 
shalt  have  the  dominion,  that  thou  shalt  break  his  yoke  from  off 
thy  neck." 

It  is  no  excuse  for  Rebekah  or  Jacob,  that,  in  securing  the  bless- 
ing as  they  did,  they  were  fulfilling  a  divine  purpose,  which  had 
been  disclosed  even  before  Jacob  and  Esau  were  born.  The  means 
which  they  used  were  altogether  unworthy  of  them.  They  were 
base  and  sinful ;  and,  in  resorting  to  them,  they  have  left  a  stain 
upon  their  characters,  which  no  length  of  years  can  wash  away. 
No  wonder  that  Esau  was  offended  with  his  brother;  and  we 
scarcely  wonder,  that,  in  the  heat  of  his  anger,  he  should  threaten 
his  brother's  life. 

Rebekah  heard  of  his  threats,  and  was  alarmed ;  and,  to  screen 
her  beloved  son  from  danger,  she  proposed  to  him  to  flee  to  Haran, 
to  the  house  of  her  brother  Laban,  and  there  remain  until  Esau's 
anger  should  be  appeased.  And,  to  secure  the  consent  of  Isaac  to 
the  proposal,  she  coupled  with  it  another  object,  —  the  procuring 
of  a  wife  for  Jacob  from  among  her  kindred :  "  I  am  weary  of  my 


196  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

life,"  said  she  to  her  husband,  "  because  of  the  daughters  of  Heth. 
If  Jacob  take  a  wife  from  among  them,  what  good  shall  my  life 
do  me  ?  " 

This  thought  struck  Isaac  most  agreeably.  So  he  called  Jacob 
to  him,  and  charged  him  not  to  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of 
Canaan ;  but  "  go  thou  to  Padan-aram,  to  the  house  of  Bethuel, 
thy  mother's  father,  and  take  thee  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of 
Laban,  thy  mother's  brother."  And,  having  renewed  his  blessing 
upon  Jacob,  he  sent  him  away. 

Jacob  was  now  about  seventy-five  years  of  age.*  The  particu- 
lars of  his  journey,  of  his  residence  in  the  family  of  Laban,  and  of 
his  return  to  Canaan  after  the  lapse  of  some  twenty  years,  will  be 
treated  of  in  another  place.  Rebekah  supposed,  "probably,  that 
he  would  be  absent  but  a  Httle  while.  She  expected  him  soon  to 
return,  with  one  of  her  nieces  for  his  wife,  to  be  a  comfort  to  her 
in  her*  declining  years.  But  the  probability  is  that  she  never  saw 
him  more.  She  seems  to  have  died  some  twenty  years  after  this, 
—  about  the  time  that  Jacob  left  Padan-aram  for  Canaan,  —  and 
was  buried  in  the  cave  at  Machpelah.f 

Of  Isaac  we  hear  very  little  after  this  time.  He  continued  to 
reside  at  Mamre  until  the  return  of  Jacob,  after  an  absence  of 
about  thirty  years,  twenty  of  which  were  spent  with  Laban,  and 
ten  at  Shechem  and  Bethel  and  in  the  more  northerly  parts  of 
Canaan. 

Supposing  Jacob  to  have  returned  to  Mamre  at  the  end  of  thirty 
years,  his  own  age  at  that  time  would  have  been  a  hundred 
and  five,  and  that  of  his  father  a  hundred  and  sixty-five.  Isaac 
lived,  after  this,  about  fifteen  yeats,  soothed  and  comforted,  no 
doubt,  by  the  kind  attentions  of  his  children  and  household.  He 
died  at  the  advanced  age  of  a  hundred  and  eighty,  and  was  buried 
by  his  sons  in  the  family  cemetery  at  Machpelah. 

Of  the  character  of  Isaac,  little  need  be  said.  That  he  was  truly 
pious,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  With  less  capacity  and  enterprise 
than  either  Abraham  or  Jacob,  he  was  distinguished  chiefly  for  the 
virtues  of  social  and  domestic  life.     If  he  never  startles  us  by  any 

*  Jacob  was  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  old  when  he  stood  before  Pharaoh  (Gen.  xlvii.  9). 
Joseph  was  at  this  time  about  forty  years  old  (compare  Gen.  xli.  46  with  Gen.  xlv.  11).  Hence 
Jacob  was  ninety  years  older  than  Joseph.  Joseph  was  born  about  fifteen  years  after  Jacob 
went  to  reside  with  Laban.     Hence  Jacob  was  seventy-five  years  old  when  he  went. 

t  We  infer  that  Rebekah  died  about  this  time,  since  we  find  Deborah,  her  nurse,  in  the  fami- 
.  ly  of  Jacob  soon  after  his  return  to  Canaan  (Gen.  xxxv.  8).    She  would  not  have  left  Rebekah 
while  she  lived. 


ABRAHAM   AND   ISAAC.  197 

stirring  adventures  or  great  undertakings,  he  was  one  whom  all 
about  him  must  have  respected  and  loved,  —  whose  name  is  still 
honored,  and  shall  go  down  with  honor  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

We  close  with  some  additional  notices  of  the  life  of  Esau.  After 
Jacob's  departure  to  Padan-aram,  Esau  married  Mahaleth,*  a  daugh- 
ter of  Ishmael,  thinking  thereby  to  gratify  Isaac  and  Rebekah.  He 
resided  for  a  time  either  with  his  father,  or  near  him,  in  the  land 
of  Canaan.  But,  before  Jacob's  return  fi-om  the  east,  he  had  mi- 
grated, with  his  family  and  dependants,  to  Seir,  a  mountainous  re- 
gion lying  south  of  the  Dead  Sea.  He  was  an  expert  warrior  as 
well  as  hunter;  for  he  conquered  the  Horites,  the  original  inhabit- 
ants of  Seir,  with  whom  his  descendants  afterwards  intermarried. f 
He  probably  visited  his  father  often  while  he  lived,  and  was 
present  to  assist  at  his  burial. 

Esau  seems  to  have  possessed  a  good  natural  disposition  and  a 
tender  heart.  He  exhibited  many  kind  and  estimable  social  quali- 
ties. But  his  idolatrous  connections  drew  him  and  his  descendants 
away  from  the  service  and  worship  of  the  true  God,  and  involved 
them  in  all  the  corru]3tions  of  heathenism. 

Esau  was  also  called  Edom^  i.e.  Red  ;  and  his  descendants  were 
commonly  called  Edomites.  They  became  numerous  and  powerful, 
possessing  the  whole  country  lying  immediately  south  of  Canaan, 
even  unto  the  borders  of  the  Red  Sea.^  Indeed,  it  was  from  Edom, 
the  Med,  that  the  Red  Sea  is  supposed  to  have  derived  its  name.§ 

We  have  no  account  in  the  Scriptures  of  Esau's  age  or  death.  He 
probably  died  in  Mount  Seir,  and  was  not  buried  in  the  family 
sepulchre  at  Machpelah. 

Ishmael  survived  his  father  Abraham  about  fifty  years,  and  died 
at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  —  fifty-six  years  before 
the  death  of  Isaac. 

*  This  Mahaleth  is  also  called  Bashemath.  The  other  -wives  of  Esau  seem  to  have  taken 
new  names  at  their  marriage.  Thus  Adah,  the  daughter  of  Elon  the  Hittite,  and  Aholibamah, 
the  daughter  of  Anah  the  Hivite,  are  also  called  Bashemath  and  Judith.  Anah,  the  father  of 
Aholibamah,  is  also  called  Beeri,  from  his  having  found  some  warm  springs  in  the  desert.  Com- 
pare Gen.  xxxvi.  2,  3,  with  xxvi.  34,  xxviii.  9,  xxxvi.  24. 

t  See  Deut.  ii.  12;  also  Gen.  xxxvi.  20-30. 

t  See  1  Kings  ix.  26. 

§  The  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  are  as  clear  and  pure  as  those  of  the  Mediterranean;  and  there 
is  no  sedge  or  seaweed,  or  reddish  vegetation,  growing  in  it  or  on  its  shores. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


JACOB    AND    JOSEPH. 


IN  the  last  chapter,  we  pursued  the  history  of  the  patriarch  Jacob, 
in  its  connection  with  that  of  Isaac  his  fatlier,  to  the  time  of 
his  being  sent  from  home  to  escape  the  wrath  of  his  brother  Esau. 
The  journey  from  Beersheba,  in  the  extreme  south  of  Canaan,  to 
Haran,  or  Padan-aram,  beyond  the  Euphrates,  cannot  be  less  than 
five  hundred  miles.  The  circumstances  of  the  case  required  that 
Jacob  should  be  sent  away  privately,  without  any  parade  or  expen- 
sive outfit.  He  entered  upon  his  long  journey  on  foot  and  alone. 
As  to  the  incidents  of  it,  we  only  know  what  took  place  at  Bethel. 
As  he  passed  along  in  weariness  and  solitude,  oppressed  with  a 
sense  of  his  cares  and  dangers,  night  overtook  him  in  a  certain 
place  where  was  no  dwelling  and  no  inhabitant.  The  sun  was 
set ;  and  with  a  stone  for  his  pillow,  and  the  canopy  of  heaven  for 
a  covering,  he  laid  him  down  to  rest.  In  his  sleep,  he  was  favored 
with  a  most  remarkable  vision.  He  saw  a  ladder  standing  upon 
the  earth,  the  top  of  which  reached  unto  heaven ;  and,  behold,  the 
angels  of  God  were  ascending  and  descending  upon  it.  And  the 
Lord  Jehovah  stood  above  it,  and  there  graciously  repeated  and 
confirmed  the  promises  which  had  before  been  made  to  Abraham 
and  to  Isaac  :  "  The  land  on  which  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give 
it,  and  to  thy  seed ;  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth ; 
and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  east,  and  to  the  west,  and  to 
the  north,  and  to  the  south ;  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families 
of  the  earth  be  blessed.  And  behold  I  am  with  thee,  and  will 
keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou  goest :  and  I  will  bring  thee 
again  unto  this  land  ;  for  I  will  not  leave  thee  until  I  have  accom- 
phshed  all  that  which  I  have  promised. 

"  And  Jacob  awaked  out  of  his  sleep,  and  said.  Surely  the  Lord 
is  in  this'place,  and  I  knew  it  not.  And  he  was  afraid,  and  said, 
How  dreadful  is  this  place  !  This  is  none  other  than  the  house 
of  God  and  the  gate  of  heaven." 

198 


JACOB   AND  JOSEPH.  199 

The  vision  wliicli  he  had  seen,  the  voice  he  had  heard,  filled 
the  mind  of  the  patriarch  with  holy  awe.  He  set  up  the  stone  on 
which  he  had  lain  for  an  anointed  pillar,  and  called  the  name  of  it 
Bethel^  —  the  house  of  Grod.  And  he  vowed  a  vow,  saying,  "If 
God  will  be  with  me,  and  will  keep  me  in  the  way  which  I  go,  and 
will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on,  so  that  I  come 
again  to  my  father's  house  in  peace,  then  shall  the  Lord  be  my 
God.  And  this  stone  which  I  have  set  for  a  pillar  shall  be  Bethel^  — 
GocCs  house  ;  and,  of  all  that  the  Lord  shall  give  me,  I  will  surely 
give  a  tenth  unto  thee." 

Encouraged  by  his  vision,  Jacob  went  joyfully  on  his  way,  and 
soon  came  to  the  place  of  his  destination.  Almost  the  first  person 
he  saw  was  Rachel,  the  daughter  of  his  uncle  Laban,  who  came  to 
water  her  father's  flock.  He  made  himself  known  to  her,  assisted 
her  in  watering  the  sheep,  was  at  once  invited  to  Laban's  house, 
and  became  a  memljer  of  his  ^family.  And  here  he  remained 
twenty  years,  having  the  principal  charge  of  Laban's  flocks.  Four- 
teen years  he  served  his  uncle  for  his  two  daughters,  Leah  and 
Rachel ;  and  six  years  he  tended  the  herds  and  flocks  upon  shares  ; 
a  certain  portion  of  the  increase  belonging,  by  contract,  to 
himself. 

During  these  six  years,  the  Lord  prospered  Jacob  greatly.  His 
substance  increased  so  rapidly  as  to  excite  the  envy  of  Laban  and 
his  sons.  They  said,  "  Jacob  hath  taken  away  all  that  was  our 
father's  ;  and  of  that  which  was  our  father's  hath  he  gotten  all  this 
wealth." 

Meanwhile,  Jacob's  family  had  increased.  He  had  become  the 
father  of  twelve  children,  —  eleven  sons  and  one  daughter.  He  began 
to  think  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  provide  more  distinctly  for  liis 
own,  and,  in  order  to  tliis,  that  he  must  return  into  Canaan.  In- 
deed, he  was  admonished  to  do  so  by  an  express  revelation  from 
God.  So  he  called  for  his  wives,  Leah  and  Rachel,  explained  to 
them  his  purpose,  and  readily  obtained  their  consent  and  approba- 
tion. 

Then  Jacob  took  his  wives  and  his  children,  his  flocks  and  his 
herds,  and  all  his  substance,  and  departed  secretly  from  Padan-aram 
while  Laban  was  absent  shearing  his  sheep.  Jacob  had  been  gone 
three  days  before  Laban  heard  of  it.  He  then  collected  a  great 
company,  and  pursued  after  Jacob,  and  on  the  seventh  day  over- 
took him  in  Mount  Gilead.  This  mountain  was  about  forty  miles 
east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  in  a  region  called  in  the  New  Testament 
Trachonitis. 


200  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  Laban,  undoubtedly,  to  capture  Jacob, 
and  by  force  to  take  him  back ;  but  the  Lord  appeared  to  hnn  in  a 
dream,  and  warned  him  to  desist :  "  Take  heed  that  thou  speak 
not  to  Jacob  either  good  or  bad."  So  they  met,  and,  after  some 
mutual  chiding  and  reproof,  entered  into  a  covenant.  And  they 
made  a  great  heap  of  stones,  and  called  it  Crilead,  that  is,  witness  ; 
because  it  was  to  remain  as  a  token,  a  witness,  between  the  con- 
tracting parties.  Hence  the  place  was  called  ever  afterwards  Mount 
Crilead.  And,  having  feasted  together,  Jacob  and  his  father-in-law 
parted  in  peace,  and  Laban  returned  to  his  place. 

One  of  the  complaints  of  Laban  against  Jacob  was,  that  he,  or 
some  of  his  company,  had  stolen  his  images,  his  houseJiold  gods. 
But  Rachel,  who  had  taken  them,  had  so  effectually  concealed  them, 
that  they  could  not  be  found.  We  learn  from  this  fact  that  Laban 
and  his  family  were  idolaters,  and  that  Rachel  herself  had  not  yet 
been  weaned  from  this  detestable  practice. 

No  sooner  had  Laban  departed,  and  Jacob  was  relieved  of  his 
fears  in  respect  to  him,  than  he  began  to  be  distressed  with  appre- 
hensions from  another  quarter.  He  was  now  approaching  the  land 
of  Canaan,  and  must  expect  soon  to  meet  his  brother  Esau ;  and, 
knowing  his  brother's  long-cherished  resentment,  he  dreaded'  the 
result.  And  though  he  was  encouraged  at  Mahanaim  by  a  vision 
of  angels,  still  his  mind  was  not  at  ease :  so  he  selected  some  of 
his  more  trusty  servants,  and  sent  them  to  Mouut  Seir  to  meet 
Esau,  that  they  might  tell  him  of  his  approach,  and  crave  his 
forgiveness  and  his  favor.  As  the  journey  from  Mahanaim  to  Seir 
was  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  the  embassage  must  have  occa- 
sioned Jacob  no  httle  delay ;  and,  when  the  messengers  returned, 
their  report,  instead  of  allaying  his  fears,  served  greatly  to  increase 
them :  "  Thy  brother  Esau  cometh  out  to  meet  thee,  and  four 
hundred  men  with  him." 

No  wonder  Jacob  was  alarmed.  Encumbered  as  he  was  with  his 
wives  and  his  children,  his  flocks  and  his  herds,  and  with  few  or 
no  means  of  defence,  what  could  he  do  against  such  a  force? 
Having  no  other  resource,  Jacob  betook  himself  at  once  to  prayer : 
"  O  Lord  God  of  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac ;  the  Lord 
which  said  unto  me.  Return  unto  thy  country,  and  I  will  deal  AveU 
with  thee :  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies  and  of 
all  the  truth  which  thou  hast  showed  unto  thy  servant ;  for  with 
my  staff  I  passed  over  this  Jordan,  and  now  I  am  become  two 
bands.     Deliver  me,  I  pray  thee,  from  the  hand  of  my  brother 


JACOB   AND   JOSEPH.  201 

Esau ;  for  I  fear  him,  lest  he  come  and  smite  the  mother  with  the 
children." 

Nor  did  Jacob  satisfy  liimself  with  mere  supplication.  He  felt 
the  importance  of  means  as  well  as  prayers  :  so  he  took  a  rich 
present  of  goats  and  sheep  and  camels  and  kine  and  asses,  and 
divided  them  into  several  companies,  and  sent  them  forward, 
one  after  another,  to  meet  his  brother,  that,  if  possible,  he  might 
appease  and  melt  him  by  these  successive  gifts.  And,  having 
arranged  all  things  in  the  best  possible  manner,  he  betook  him- 
self again  to  prayer.  He  remained  all  night  alone  with  God,  and 
seems  to  have  had  a  most  remarkable  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
Presence.  A  man  appeared  to  him,  —  whether  in  the  body  or  out 
of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell,  —  and  wrestled  with  him  the  greater 
part  of  the  night,  and  prevailed  not  against  him.*  This  wrestling, 
though  literal,  was  but  the  symbol  of  a  mightier  struggle  which 
was  going  on  in  Jacob's  heart.  Towards  morning,  the  stranger  — 
seeing  he  could  prevail  in  no  other  way  —  touched  the  hollow  of 
Jacob's  thigh,  and  instantly  maimed  him.  The  sinew  of  the  thigh 
contracted  and  shrank. f  By  this  Jacob  knew,  if  he  did  not  know 
before,  that  his .  companion  was  a  divine  person  ;  and  this  only 
rendered  him  the  more  importunate.  So  when  the  messenger  said, 
"  Let  me  go,  for  the  daf  breaketh,"  Jacob  replied,  "  I  will  not  let 
thee  go  except  thou  bless  me,"  —  a  remarkable  instance,  this,  of 
power  and  perseverance  in  prayer.  Jacob  obtained  the  desired 
blessing.  He  obtained  also  this  noble  testimony:  "As  a  prince 
hast  thou  power  with  God  and  with  man,  and  hast  prevailed."  It 
was  at  this  time,  too,  that  his  name  was  changed :  "  Thou  shalt 
no  more  be  called  Jacob "  (the  supplanter) ;  "  but  thou  shalt  be 
called  IsraeV  (the  prince  of  God}. 

Jacob's  prayer  and  his  success  are  beautifully  set  forth  in  one  of 
Wesley's  hymns,  beginning  thus :  — 

"  Come,  O  thou  traveller  unknown, 

Whom  still  I  hold,  but  cannot  see ! 
My  company  before  is  gone. 

And  I  am  left  alone  with  thee. 
With  thee  all  night  I  mean  to  stay, 
And  wrestle  till  the  break  of  day." 

*  From  the  most  ancient  times,  wrestling  has  been  regarded  as  a  symbol  of  prayer.  To 
this  day,  the  religious  exercises  of  some  Orientals  consist  in  wrestling,  and  are  conducted,  often, 
■^ith  such  vehemence  as  to  dislocate  the  joints. —  See  Wolff's  Travels  and  Adventures,  chap.  22. 

t  To  this  day,  the  Jews  abstain  from  eating  the  backs  of  animals.  —  See  Rosenmuller  in  loc. 


202  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  day  following  this  remarkable  transaction,  Jacob  and  Esau 
came  together,  and  the  interview  was  one  of  great  kindness  and 
tenderness  :  "  Esau  ran  to  meet  Jacob,  and  fell  on  his  neck, 
and  kissed  him ;  and  they  both  wept."  Jacob  introduced  him 
to  his  wives  and  children,  showed  him  his  flocks  and  herds,  and 
persuaded  him,  against  his  will,  to  accept  the  presents  which  had 
been  sent  to  him.  Esau,  on  his  part,  invited  Jacob  to  accompany 
him  to  Mount  Seir,  and  dwell  with  him,  or  at  least  to  accept  a 
body-guard  to  conduct  him  and  his  family  into  Canaan ;  both  which 
offers  Jacob  thought  proper  to  decline.  The  brothers  separated 
with  the  strongest  professions  of  friendship  and  love ;  and,  though 
they  must  often  have  met  afterwards,  they  seem  never  to  have 
quarrelled  more. 

Jacob's  first  remove  after  this  was  to  Succoth,  a  ford  of  the 
Jordan,  where  he  built  him  a  house,  and  made  booths  for  his  cattle. 
Hence  the  name  of  the  place,  "  Succoth"  (booths').  How  long  he 
remained  here,  we  know  not,  —  probably  but  a  little  while. 

He  next  passed  over  the  Jordan  into  Canaan,  and  settled  at 
Shalem,  near  to  Shechem,  where  he  bought  a  piece  of  ground,  and 
built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord.*  Here,  it  will  be  remembered, 
Abraham  encamped  when  he  first  came  from  Haran  into  Canaan. 
Here  Jacob  must  have  remained  some  ten  or  twelve  years.  Why 
he  was  not  in  more  haste  to  pass  into  the  south  of  Canaan,  and 
dwell  with  his  father,  we  do  not  know.  While  Jacob  abode  here, 
his  mother  died;  and  Deborah,  Rebekah's  nurse,  came  to  reside 
with  him  at  Shechem. 

We  infer  that  Jacob  must  have  remained  several  years  at  this 
place,  from  the  fact  that  his  daughter  Dinah,  who  could  not  have 
been  more  than  five  or  six  years  old  when  he  left  Padan-aram,  here 
came  to  be  marriageable ;  and  her  hand  was  earnestly  sought  by 
Shechem,  a  prince  of  the  country.  It  was  the  contemplated  match 
between  Shechem  and  Dinah  which  led  to  the  removal  of  Jacob. 
Shechem  had  got  possession  of  Dinah,  and  had  dishonored  her. 
This  so  provoked  her  brothers,  that  they  rose  upon  the  men  of  the 
place,  and  slew  them.  They  captured  their  city,  took  their  spoil, 
and  rescued  Dinah  out  of  their  hands. 

This  outrage  was  committed  without  the  knowledge  or  consent 
of  Jacob.    He  was  distressed  on  account  of  it ;  and,  for  fear  that  the 

*  In  Gen.  xlviii.  22,  Jacob  says  that  he  took  this  piece  of  ground  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
Amorite  with  his  sword  and  with  his  bow.  Probably  the  Amorites  took  possession  of  it  after 
the  purchase,  and  he  was  obliged  to  recover  it  by  force. 


JACOB   AND   JOSEPH.  203 

people  of  the  land  would  rise  upon  him  and  destroy  him,  he  yielded 
to  a  divine  monition,  and  removed  his  residence  to  Bethel.  Jacob 
had  another  reason  for  going  to  Bethel.  He  had  not  yet  fulfilled 
the  vow  which  he  made  when  on  his  way  to  Padan-aram,  that  if 
the  Lord  would  be  with  him,  and  return  him  in  safety  to  his  native 
land,  then  the  Lord  sJiould  be  Ms  G-od,  and  the  stone  which  he  had 
erected  should  be  to  him  as  the  house  of  Q-od,  and  a  sanctuary  for 
his  worship. 

As  preparatory  to  the  solemnities  to  be  performed  at  Bethel, 
Jacob  required  of  his  household  that  they  should  put  away  all  the 
strange  gods  that  were  among  them,  and  change  their  raiment, 
and  be  clean ;  and  they  gave  up  their  idols  and  their  ear-rings,  and 
Jacob  took  them,  and  buried  them  under  an  oak  at  Shechem. 
And  they  journeyed,  and  came  to  Bethel ;  and  Jacob  built  there 
an  altar  to  the  Lord,  who  appeared  to  hun  in  the  way  when  he 
fled  from  his  brother  Esau. 

From  the  occurrences  here  mentioned,  it  is  evident  that  idolatry 
had  long  been  practised  at  Padan-aram.  It  had  been  practised  by 
Terah  and  Nahor  and  Bethuel  and  Laban;  and,  when  Rachel  was 
about  to  leave  her  father's  house,  she  stole  his  images,  and  kept 
them  until  the  removal  to  Bethel,  when  Jacob  took  them  away 
and  buried  them,  and  we  hear  of  them  no  more. 

After  the  solemnities  at  Bethel,  God  appeared  again  to  Jacob, 
assuring  him  that  he  should  be  the  father  of  nations,  and  that  all 
the  land  of  Canaan  should  be  given  to  his  seed  for  a  possession. 
It  was  while  he  remained  at  Bethel  that  good  old  Deborah  died. 
She  had  been  given  to  Rebekah,  when  she  left  her  father's  house, 
to  be  her  nurse  and  the  nurse  of  her  children.  She  had  probably 
nursed  Jacob  in  his  infancy ;  and  now  she  had  come  to  end  her 
days  with  him.  She  was  buried,  in  great  honor,  under  an  oak  at 
Bethel. 

And  Jacob  and  his  company  journeyed  southward,  and  came  to 
Ephrath,  the  same  as  Bethlehem.  Here  Rachel  died  in  childbed, 
after  giving  birth  to  her  second  son,  Benjamin.  She  was  buried  at 
Ephrath ;  and  Jacob  set  up  a  pillar  upon  her  grave,  which  was 
standing  in  the  days  of  Moses,  and,  some  think,  is  standing  at  the 
present  time.  At  any  rate,  a  place  called  the  Tomb  of  Rachel  is 
still  shown  to  pilgrims  and  travellers  in  the  vicinity  of  Bethlehem. 

From  Bethlehem  Jacob  journeyed  still  farther  south,  and  came  to 
his  aged  father  at  Mamre.  He  may  have  personally  visited  him 
before ;  but  now  he  had  come,  with  his  family  and  household,  to 


204  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

reside  with  him  or  near  him,  —  to  be  his  support  and  comfort  in 
declining  years. 

Isaac  must  have  been,  at  this  time,  about  a  hundred  and  sixty -five 
years  old.  He  had  lost  his  eyesight,  and  had  been  bereaved  of  his 
wife :  still  he  seems  to  have  been  enjoying  a  quiet  old  age.  He 
Hved  fifteen  years  after  the  return  of  Jacob,  and  died  at  the  ad- 
vanced period  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  years,  —  five  years  older 
than  his  father  Abraham.  His  sons  were  both  present  at  his  burial, 
and  seem  to  have  come  to  an  amicable  division  of  his  estate. 
Esau  took  his  portion,  and  departed  to  Mount  Seir.  Their  riches 
were  too  great  for  them  to  dwell  together  :"•  The  land  wherein 
they  were  strangers  could  not  bear  them,  because  of  the  multitude 
of  their  cattle." 

When  Jacob  returned  to  his  father's  house,  he  must  have  been 
about  a  hundred  and  five  years  old.  His  sons  were  several  of  them 
grown  to  manhood.  As  his  numerous  flocks  could  not  be  accom- 
modated with  pasturage  where  they  were,  Jacob  trusted  his  sons 
to  drive  them  to  a  distance  from  home,  and  to  have  the  charge  of 
them. 

For  one  of  his  sons  Jacob  had  a  peculiar  affection, — I  may  even 
say,  a  dangerous  partiality.  Thi§  was  Joseph,  an  amiable  and  pious 
youth,  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  the  first-born  of  his  beloved 
Rachel.  He  did  not  suffer  Joseph  to  be  long  from  home  ;  though, 
when  the  older  sons  were  absent,  he  would  send  him  occasionally 
to  inquire  after  their  welfare. 

Jacob's  manifest  partiality  for  Joseph  excited  the  envy  of  his 
brethren ;  and  this  was  greatly  increased  by  the  prophetic  dreams 
of  Joseph,  which  he. had  the  simplicity  to  relate,  importing  that 
the  whole  family  would  some  day  be  subordinated  to  him.  Inflamed 
by  their  prejudices,  the  elder  brothers  meditated  mischief  against 
Joseph ;  and  Providence  soon  enabled  them  to  put  their  plans  in 
execution.  They  were  tending  the  flocks,  first  at  Shechem, — per- 
haps on  the  parcel  of  ground  which  their  father  had  purchased,  — 
and  afterwards  at  Dothan,  which  was  still  farther  from  Mamre. 
"  And  Jacob  said  to  Joseph,  Go,  I  pray  thee,  and  see  if  it  be  well 
with  thy  brethren  and  with  the  flocks,  and  bring  me  word  again. 
So  he  went  out  from  his  father  to  go  to  his  brethren ;  and,  when 
they  saw  him  at  a  distance,  they  said  one  to  another.  Behold,  the 
dreamer  cometh !  "  And  they  conspired  against  him  to  kill  him. 
They  were  dissuaded,  however,  from  this  bloody  purpose,  and 
concluded  to  sell  him  into  slavery.     So  they  sold  liim  to  a  com- 


JACOB   AND  JOSEPH.  205 

pany  of  Midianites,  who  were  going  into  Egypt,  for  twenty  pieces 
of  silver.  At  the  same  time,  they  took  his  coat,  —  a  beautiful  coat, 
which  a  father's  fondness  had  provided,  —  and  smeared  it  with  the 
blood  of  a  kid,  and  sent  it  to  their  father,  hoping  in  this  -way  to 
satisfy  him  that  Joseph  had  been  torn  in  pieces  by  ravenous  beasts ; 
and  this  was  the  conclusion  to  which  Jacob  naturally  came : 
"  Joseph  is,  without  doubt,  rent  in  pieces,  —  an  evil  beast  hath 
devoured  him."  And  Jacob  rent  his  clothes,  and  put  sackcloth  on 
his  loins,  and  mourned  for  his  son  many  days.  So  great  was  his 
grief,  that  he  refused  to  be  comforted,  saying,  "  I  will  go  down  to 
the  grave  to  my  son  mourning." 

We  cannot  pursue  this  sad  story  without  remarking,  that  these 
elder  sons  of  Jacob  must  have  been,  at  this  period,  very  wicked, 
unprincipled  young  men.  They  could  not  have  had  the  training 
and  instruction  which  Abraham  bestowed  upon  Isaac.  Their 
mothers  were  probably  idolaters,  envious  of  each  other,  and  often 
at  variance.  Their  father  was  much  from  home,  in  charge  of  Laban's 
flocks  and  his  own  ;  he  had  little  opportunity  to  command  his  chil- 
dren and  his  household  after  him ;  and  they  grew  up  in  the  prac- 
tice of  wickedness.  Witness  their  murder  of  the  Shechemites,  of 
which  I  have  already  spoken ;  witness  the  conduct  of  Reuben 
in  defiling  his  father's  bed;*  witness  their  unfeeling,  inhuman 
treatment  of  Joseph,  and  their  cold-blooded  hypocrisy  in  deceiv- 
ing and  distressing  their  venerable  father,  and  in  keeping  up  the 
deception  for  a  course  of  years. 

But  to  return  to  Joseph.  The  Midianites  who  bought  him  took 
him  with  them  into  Egypt,  and  sold  him  to  Potiphar,  one  of  the 
chief  officers  in  the  court  of  Pharaoh  ;  and  here  the  Lord  was  with 
him,  and  greatly  prospered  him.  His  conduct  was  so  judicious  and 
trustworthy,  that  Potiphar  set  him  over  his  house,  and  confided  to 
him  all  that  he  had. 

The  story  of  Joseph  in  Egypt  is  so  admirably  told  by  the  sacred 
writer,  that  I  will  not  undertake  to  paraphrase  or  abridge  it : 
I  would  rather  refer  the  reader  to  the  narrative  itself.  With  an 
■inimitable  simplicity,  and  ^vith  a  sufficient  degree  of  particularity, 
Moses  has  told  us  of  the  great  favor  which  was  shown  to  Joseph 
by  his  master ;  of  his  wife's  most  wicked  design  against  the  young 
man's  chastity  ;  of  her  wrath  and  revenge  when  she  found  herself 
defeated  ;  of  his  being  unjustly  cast  into  prison  ;  of  the  kind  regard 
of  the  keeper  of  the  prison  towards  him ;    of  his  interpreting  the 

*  Gen.  XXXV.  22. 


206  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

dreams  of  the  chief  butler  and  baker  ;  and,  finally,  of  his  being 
called  to  interpret  the  dreams  of  Pharaoh,  which  proved  the  occa- 
sion of  his  enlargement.  He  tells  Pharaoh  of  the  coming  seven 
years  of  plenty,  to  be  followed  by  seven  years  of  famine ;  and 
advises  liim  to  gather  together  in  storehouses  all  the  surplus  food 
of  the  first  seven  years,  and  lay  it  up  against  the  years  of  want, 
that  so  there  may  be  bread  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  people 
perish  not.  This  excellent  advice  was  accepted  by  Pharaoh ;  and 
Joseph  was  put  in  charge  of  the  whole  business  of  collecting, 
storing,  and  distributing  the  abundance  of  Egypt.  In  fact,  Joseph 
was  made  governor  over  all  Egypt ;  was  married  to  an  honorable 
woman,  a  daughter  of  the  priest  of  On,  and  rode  in  the  second 
chariot  of  the  kingdom  ;  while  subject  courtiers  ran  before  him, 
and  cried,  '•'■  Boio  the  knee!''^ 

Nor  did  the  high  advancement  of  Joseph  detract  at  all  from  his 
diligence  in  the  discharge  of  official  duty.  For  the  first  seven 
years,  the  earth  brought  forth  by  handfuls :  and  Joseph  gathered 
corn  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  very  much,  until  he  left  numbering; 
for  it  could  not  be  numbered.  Meanwhile,  two  sons  were  born  to 
him  in  Egypt  (Manasseh  and  Ephraim),  who  afterwards  became 
heads  of  distinct  tribes  in  Israel. 

Joseph  was  seventeen  years  old  when  he  was  carried  into  Egypt : 
when  he  was  taken  out  of  prison  to  interpret  the  dreams  of  Pha- 
raoh, he  was  thirty  years  old :  *  hence  thirteen  years  had  elapsed, 
which  time  he  had  spent  either  in  the  service  of  Potiphar  or  in 
prison.  Seven  years  more  were  spent  in  laying  up  corn  in  the 
storehouses  of  Egypt;  and  then  the  predicted  famine  came,  —  a 
famine  which  prevailed  not  only  in  Egypt,  but  in  all  the  surround- 
ing countries. 

As  the  fertihty  of  Egypt  is  caused  by  the  annual  overflow  of 
the  Nile  ;  so  when  the  rains  of  the  upper  country  are  withheld,  and 
the  river  is  confined  within  its  banks,  a  famine,  desolating  and  ter- 
rible, is  the  direct  result.  There  were  two  such  famines  in  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries :  the  first,  like  that  of  Joseph, 
lasted  for  seven  years  ;  of  the  other,  the  most  fearful  details  are 
given  l)y  an  eye-witness.  I  extract  the  passage,  that  we  may  see 
what  an  Egyptian  famine  is,  and  from  what  a  terrible  calamity 
Joseph  was  a  means  of  delivering  the  country :  "  When  the  famine 
began,  large  numbers  emigrated.  The  poor  ate  carrion,  corpses, 
and  dogs:    they  went  further,   devouring   even  little    children. 

*  See  Gen.  xxxvii.  2,  xli.  46. 


JACOB   AND   JOSEPH.  207 

The  eating  of  human  flesh  became  so  common  as  to  excite  no 
surprise.  The  people  spoke  and  heard  of  it  as  an  indifferent  thing." 
"  As  for  the  number  of  the  poor  who  perished,  God  only  knows 
how  great  it  was.  The  traveller  often  passed  through  a  large  vil- 
lao-e  without  seeing  a  single  inhabitant.  In  one  village,  we  saw 
the  dwellers  of  each  house,  —  husband,  wife,  and  children,  —  all 
dead.  In  another,  where,  till  lately,  there  had  been  four  hundred 
weaving-shops,  we  saw  the  weavers  dead  in  their  looms,  and  all 
their  famiUes  dead  around  them.  The  road  between  Egypt  and 
Syria  was  like  a  vast  field  sown  with  human  bodies,  or  rather  like 
a  plain  which  had  just  been  swept  by  the  mower's  scythe.  It  had 
become  as  a  banquet-hall  of  the  birds,  wild  beasts,  and  dogs,  which 
gorged  on  the  flesh  of  men."  Such  are  but  a  few  of  the  horrors 
which  an  Arabian  author  details ;  *  buf  they  are  enough  to  account 
for  the  strong  language  of  Scripture  in  describing  Joseph's  fam- 
ine :  "  The  land  of  Egypt  fainted  by  reason  of  the  famine.  Give 
us  bread ;  for  why  should  we  die  before  thine  eyes,  both  we  and 
our  land  ?  Buy  us  and  our  land  for  bread,  and  we  will  be  ser--' 
vants  to  Pharaoh ;  and  give  us  seed  that  we  may  not  die,  and  that 
the  land  be  not  desolate."  f 

But  it  is  time  that  we  turn  from  Joseph  and  Egypt,  and  notice 
the  state  of  things  in  the  south  of  Canaan.  Jacob  was  still  resid- 
ing at  the  old  homestead  at  Hebron,  or  Mamre,  or  in  that  vicinity. 
He  had  buried  his  aged  father,  and  also  Leah ;  both  of  whom  were 
laid  in  the  cave  at  Machpelah.  Joseph's  brethren  were  all  of  them 
married,  and  had  families  of  their  own.  Even  Benjamin,  the 
youngest,  had  a  family  of  sons.  He  was  the  darling  and  delight  of 
his  father  after  the  supposed  loss  of  Joseph. 

Meanwhile,  the  famine  began  to  pinch  them  in  the  land  of 
Canaan ;  and  Jacob  said  to  his  sons,  "  Behold,  I  have  heard  that 
there  is  corn  in  Egypt.  Get  you  down  thither  and  buy  for  us,  that 
we  perish  not."  So  the  ten  older  sons  of  Jacob  went  down  into 
Egypt  to  buy  corn,  leaving  Benjamin  at  home  with  his  father. 
And,  when  they  came  to  Joseph,  he  recognized  them  at  once, 
though  they  knew  not  him.  And  they  bowed  themselves  before 
him,  with  their  faces  to  the  earth  ;  thus  fulfilling,  unwittingly,  his 
early  dream  of  their  sheaves  doing  obeisance  to  his  sheaf.  And 
Joseph,  wishing  to  try  them,  spake  roughly  unto  them,  charged 
them  with  being  spies,  and  put  them  in  prison  three  days.     But 

*  Abd-el-Latif,  in  Miss  Martineau's  Eastern  Travels,  chap.  xx. 
t  Gen.  xlvii.  13-20. 


208  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

they  assured  him  that  they  were  not  spies.  They  told  him  truth- 
fully who  they  were,  and  whence  and  for  what  purpose  they  had 
come.  They  told  him,  too,  of  their  aged  father,  and  of  their 
younger  brother,  whom  they  had  left  at  home.  Joseph  thus 
learned,  without  being  suspected,  that  his  father  and  Benjamin 
were  still  ahve. 

It  was  finally  arranged  that  one  of  their  number,  Simeon,  should 
be  left  in  Egypt  as  a  hostage ;  that  the  rest  should  return  to 
Canaan  with  bread  for  their  households ;  and  that,  when  they 
came  again  for  corn,  their  youngest  brother  should  come  with 
them. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  treatment  on  the  part  of  Joseph 
should  have  had  the  effect  to  arouse  the  consciences  of  his  breth- 
ren as  to  their  past  cruel  treatment  of  him.  They  said  one  to 
another,  without  dreaming  that  the  governor  understood  them, 
"■  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother  Joseph,  in  that  we 
saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul  when  he  besought  us,  and  we  would 
iiot  hear :  therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us."  * 

Having  confined  Simeon,  Joseph  filled  the  sacks  of  his  other 
brethren  with  corn,  put  their  money  privately  into  their  sacks, 
gave  them  provisions  for  their  journey,  and  sent  them  away.  They 
returned  in  safety  to  their  father,  and  told  him  all  that  had  befallen 
them,  —  how  the  governor  had  treated  them,  had  imprisoned  them 
as  spies,  had  retained  Simeon  as  a  hostage,  and  charged  them,  on 
their  peril,  not  to  return,  unless  their  younger  brother  came  with 
them.  They  told  him,  also,  of  their  surprise  and  fear  when  they 
found  that  the  price  of  their  corn  had  been  returned  to  them. 

This  intelligence  was  perplexing  and  painful  to  the  good  old 
patriarch,  more  especially  that  part  of  it  which  related  to  Benja- 
min. "  Already,"  said  he,  "  am  I  bereaved  of  my  children.  Joseph 
is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not;  and  ye  will  take  away  Benjamin  also. 
No :  my  son  shall  not  go  down  with  you.  Should  any  mischief 
befall  him,  I  could  not  survive  it.  Ye  would  bring  down  my  gray 
hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave." 

In  this  perplexity  and  trial  we  leave  the  patriarch  and  his  fami- 
ly, to  resume  and  conclude  the  story  in  the- following  chapter. 

*  Gen.  xlii.  21. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


JACOB    AND    JOSEPH. CONCLUDED. 


IN  our  last,  we  followed  the  history  of  Jacob  to  the  time  of  the 
famine,  and  to  the  return  of  his  sons  from  their  first  journey 
into  Egypt  ^for  the  purchase  of  corn.  They  came  back  under  a 
solemn  injunction  from  the  governor  not  to  appear  again  in  Egypt 
without  their  youngest  brother.  And  Jacob  was  peremptory  in  his 
purpose  that  Benjamin  should  not  go. 

But  the  famine  continued  to  be  more  and  more  severe.  The 
corn  which  had  been  brought  from  Egypt  was  consumed.  Various 
arguments  had  been  used  to  induce  Jacob  to  part  with  Benjamin, 
but  to  no  purpose.  But  at  length  hunger  accomplished  what  per- 
suasion could  not :  Jacob  yields  the  point,  and  concludes  to  send 
Benjamin  with  his  brethren.  He  also  directs  that  the  returned 
money  should  be  carried  back  to  the  governor,  and  with  it  a  pres- 
ent such  as  they  in  their  distress  might  be  able  to  afford:  "And 
God  Almighty  bless  you,  and  give  you  mercy  before  the  man,  that 
he  may  send  you  back,  and  Benjamin  with  you." 

So  the  sons  of  Jacob  departed,  and  went  a  second  time  into 
Egypt.  And  Joseph  made  a  feast  for  them  in  his  own  house,  and 
inquired  kindly  after  the  health  of  their  father.  And,  when  he  saw 
Benjamin,  he  said,  "  Is  this  the  younger  brother  of  whom  ye 
spake  ?     And  he  said,  God  be  gracious  to  you,  my  son." 

By  this  tune,  the  feelings  of  Joseph  overcame  him.  He  was 
obliged  to  retire  to  his  chamber  and  weep.  He  soon  returned, 
however,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  his  unconscious  brethren, 
seated  them  at  table  according  to  their  respective  ages.  "  How 
should  the  governor  of  Egypt  know,"  tHey  thought,  "  what  our 
ages  are  ?  "  And  to  increase  their  astonishment,  when  he  filled 
their  plates,  he  sent  Benjamin  five  times  as  much  as  either  of  the 
rest. 

However,  tlie  dinner  passed  pleasantly  away ;  and,  when  it  was 

14  209 


210  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

over,  Joseph  commanded  his  steward  to  fill  the  men's  sacks  with 
food,  —  as  much  as  they  could  carry,  —  to  put  their  money  again 
into  their  sacks,  to  put  his  own  silver  cup  into  the  sack  of  Ben- 
jamin, the  youngest,  and  to  send  them  away. 

But  scarcely  had  they  left  the  city  when  Joseph  sent  his  servants 
after  them,  charging  them  with  stealing  his  cup,  and  ordering  them 
back  to  answer  for  their  fault.  They  solemnly  denied  the  charge, 
affirming  that  they  knew  nothing  of  the  matter.  They  even  con- 
sented that  he  on  whom  the  cup  was  found  should  be  put  to  death. 
Their  asses  were  at  once  unladed ;  their  sacks  were  searched ;  and 
the  cup  was  found  in  the  sack  of  Benjamin,  the  youngest. 

Their  mortification  and  distress  at  this  discovery  can  hardly  be 
conceived.  They  rent  their  clothes ;  they  returned  to  the  city ; 
they  fell  down  before  the  governor,  and  said,  "  What  shall  we  speak 
unto  thee  ?  or  how  shall  we  clear  ourselves  ?  Behold,  we  are  thy 
servants,  both  we,  and  he  with  whom  the  cup  is  found."  But  Jo- 
seph said,  "  No  :  God  forbid  !  He  only  in  whose  hand  the  cup  is 
found  shall  be  my  servant ;  but  as  for  you,  return  ye  in  peace  unto 
your  father." 

Then  Judah,  who,  by  common  consent,  seems  to  have  been  chie'f 
speaker  and  spokesman  among  his  brethren,  presented  himself  be- 
fore the  governor,  and  gave  utterance  to  one  of  the  most  touching 
and  powerful  speeches  that  ever  fell  from  mortal  lips.     For  sim- 
plicity, appropriateness,  and  melting  pathos,  I  know  nothing  lik6  it 
in  all  the  specimens  of  ancient  or  modern  oratory.     After  a  brief 
introduction,  Judah  recounts  to  the  governor  the  substance  of  what 
passed  at  their  first  interview,  —  how  the  governor  inquired  after 
their  father  and  their  younger  brother  ;  and  enjoined,  as  the  condi- 
tion of  seeing  him  again,  that  their  younger  brother  must  come 
with  them.     "  And  we  said,  He  is  the   child  of  our  father's  old 
age  ;  and  his  brother  is  dead,  and  his  father  loveth  him.    He  cannot 
leave  his  father ;  for,  if  he  should  leave  him,  his  father  would  die. 
But  thou  saidst,  Except  thy  younger  brother  come  down  with 
you,  ye  shall  see  my  face  no  more.     And,  when  we  came  to  our 
father,  we  told  him  the  words  of  my  lord.     And  "when  our  father 
said  again  to  us,  Go  down  to  Egypt,   and  buy  us  food,  we  an- 
swered. We  cannot  go  down  except    our  youngest   brother   be 
with  us.     And  our  father  answered,  Ye  know  that  my  wife  Ra- 
chel bare  me  two  sons ;  and  one  went  out  from  me,  and  was  torn  in 
pieces,  and  I  saw  him  no  more.     And  if  ye  take  this  also  from  me, 
and  mischief  befall  him,  ye  shall  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  with 


JACOB   AND   JOSEPH.  211 

sorrow  to  the  grave.  Now,  therefore,  when  we  be  come  to  our 
father,  and  he  seeth  that  the  young  man  is. not  with  us,  he  will  surely 
die,  and  his  life  will  be  set  to  our  account.  For  thy  servant  became 
surety  for  him  unto  my  father,  saying.  If  I  bring  him  not  unto 
thee,  then  shall  I  bear  the  blame  to  my  father  forever.  How,  then, 
shall  I  go  up  to  my  father,  and  my  younger  brother  is  not  with  me  ? 
How  can  I  see  the  evil  that  shall  come  on  my  father  ?  " 

At  this  point,  Judah  ceased  speaking ;  for  the  governor  could 
hear  no  more.  He  instantly  ordered  away  all  his  servants.  He 
wept  and  sobbed  aloud.  And  he  said  unto  his  brethren,  "  I  am 
Joseph,  whom  ye  sold  into  Egj^pt.     Doth  my  father  yet  live  ?  " 

The  feelings  of  his  brethren  at  this  moment  were  unutterable. 
They  stood  dumb,  confounded,  and  troubled  in  his  presence.  But 
he  encouraged  them  to  come  near  to  him,  and  said,  "  Be  not  grieved 
nor  angry  with  yourselves  that  ye  sold  me  into  Egypt ;  for  God  did 
send  me  before  you  to  save  your  lives  with  a  great  deliverance. 
Haste  ye  now,  and  go  up  to  my  father,  and  say  unto  him.  Thy  son 
Joseph  is  yet  alive  ;  and  God  hath  exalted  him,  and  made  him  lord 
over  all  Egypt.  Come  down  unto  me  ;  tarry  not.  Five  more  years 
of  the  famine  still  remain,  in  which  there  shall  be  neither  earins: 
nor  harvest.  Come  down  unto  me,  and  dwell  near  me  in  the  land 
of  Goshen,  thou,  and  thy  children,  and  thy  children's  children,  and 
thy  flocks  and  thy  herds,  and  all  that  thou  hast ;  and  there  will  I 
nourish  thee  ;  lest  thou  and  thy  household  come  to  poverty.  And 
Joseph  fell  upon  his  brother  Benjamin's  neck,  and  wept ;  and  Ben- 
jamin wept  upon  his  neck.  Moreover,  he  kissed  all  his  brethren, 
and  wept  upon  them ;  and  after  that  his  brethren  talked  with 
him." 

Some  critics  have  thought,  on  reading  this  narrative,  that  Joseph's 
object  in  putting  his  cup  into  Benjamin's  sack,  and  getting  him 
back,  was  to  separate  him  from  the  rest  of  his  brethren,  retain  him 
in  his  service,  and  let  the  others  go.  But  a  moment's  reflection 
must  have  satisfied  him  that  this  was  impossible.  How  could  he 
retain  Benjamin  with  him,  and  not  acknowledge  him  as  a  brother  ? 
And  how  could  he  make  himself  known  to  him,  and  keep  his  father 
and  his  other  brethren  in  ignorajrce  ?  No  :  the  object  of  Joseph's 
strange  treatment  of  his  brethren,  from  first  to  last,  was  undoubt- 
edly to  try  them.  He  wished  to  see  whether  adversity  had  humbled 
them ;  what  their  feelings  were  toAvards  their  father  and  towards 
their  younger  brother  ;  whether  they  were  men  to  be  trusted  ;  and 
whether  he  might  safely  bring  them  near  to  himself.     When  he 


212  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

had  satisfied  himself  on  points  such  as  these,  he  was  willing  to 
avow  his  relation  to  them,  —  to  own  and  treat  them  as  brethren. 

The  fact  that  Joseph's  brethren  had  come  to  him,  and  been  ac- 
knowledged by  him,  was  soon  known  in  the  house  of  Pharaoh ;  and 
it  pleased  Pharaoh  well  and  his  servants.  And  Pharaoh  command- 
ed that  the  men  should  return  at  once  to  their  father  with  car- 
riages, and  with  abundant  provision  for  the  way ;  and  that  they 
should  bring  their  father,  their  wives,  their  children,  and  all  their 
substance,  into  Egypt ;  promising  to  give  them  the  good  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  that  they  should  eat  the  fat  of  the  land.  Joseph 
also  gave  them  rich  presents,  and  sent  more  valuable  presents  to 
his  father ;  and  with  his  advice  and  blessing  he  sent  them  away. 

And  when  they  had  come  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  had 
saluted  their  father,  they  told  him  of  all  that  they  had  seen  and 
heard.  "  Joseph  is  yet  alive  !  He  is  governor  over  the  land  of 
Egypt !  You  are  invited  to  repair  to  him  without  delay  !  Behold 
the  rich  presents  and  the  carriages  which  he  has  sent !  " 

These  tidings  were  too  much  for  the  heart  of  Jacob.  He  fainted, 
and  was  for  a  time  as  one  dead.  But  he  revived,  and  said,  "  It  is 
enough.  Joseph  my  son  is  yet  alive  !  I  will  go  and  see  him 
before  I  die." 

Whether  the  sons  of  Jacob  confessed  to  him  at  this  time  their 
wickedness  in  selling  Joseph  into  Egypt,  we  are  not  informed ; 
though  it  is  to  be  presumed  they  did.  They  were  not  in  a  situa- 
tion to  keep  any  thing  back.  Besides,  if  they  had  been  disposed 
to  cover  up  their  guilt,  they  must  have  known  that  it  could  not 
long  be  concealed.  It  may  be  hoped,  therefore,  that  they  made  a 
full  confession,  and  were  forgiven. 

As  soon  as  possible,  Jacob  entered  upon  his  journey,  taking  Beer- 
sheba,  the  southernmost  point  of  Canaan,  in  his  way.  And  here,  to 
encourage  him,  the  God  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  appeared  unto  him, 
renewed  his  promises,  and  assured  him  of  divine  protection  and 
support :  "  Fear  not  to  go  down  into  Egypt ;  for  I  am  with  thee, 
and  will  make  of  thee  there  a  great  nation ;  and  I  will  bring  thee 
up  from  thence,  and  Joseph  shall  be  with  thee  to  close  thine  eyes 
in  death."  So  Jacob  and.  his  family  went  prosperously  on,  and 
soon  came  into  the  land  of  Egypt. 

There  is  some  discrepancy  as  to  the  number  of  Jacob's  family 
who  went  into  Egypt.  Moses,  in  one  place,  says  there  were  sixty- 
six  ;  in  the  following  verse,  he  says  there  were  seventy ;  *  while 

*  Gen.  xlvi.  26,  27. 


JACOB   AND  JOSEPH,  213 

Stephen  (Acts  vii.  14)  says  there  were  seventy-five.  But  this  di- 
versity results  from  the  different  ways  in  which  they  are  reckoned. 
Reckoning  only  the  lineal  descendants  of  Jacob,  —  those  who,  in 
the  language  of  the  sacred  writer,  "  came  out  of  his  loins,"  exclud- 
ing the  patriarch  himself,  and  Joseph  and  his  two  sons,  who 
were  already  in  Egypt,  —  and  the  number  is  sixty-six.  Adding  Ja- 
cob, Joseph,  and  his  two  sons,  and  the  number  is  seventy.  Exclud- 
ing these  last  four,  and  adding  nine  (the  number  of  Jacob's  sons' 
wives  who  went  into  Egypt),  and  the  number  is  seventy-five.  And 
that  the  sons'  wives  were  included  in  the  reckoning  of  Stephen,  is 
evident  from  his  language:  "All  his  kindred  were  threescore  and 
fifteen  souls."  The  sons'  wives,  surely,  were  in  the  number  of 
Jacob's  kindred. 

There  is  another  difficulty  respecting  Jacob's  family  which  went 
into  Egypt,  Avhich  has  been  much  insisted  on  by  infidel  writers. 
In  the  catalogue  of  this  family  (Gen.  xlvi.),  we  find  the  names  of 
Judah'^s  grandsons,  viz.  Hezron  and  Hamul  (ver.  12)  ;  whereas  it 
is  certain  that  Pharez,  the  father  of  these  children,  could  not  have 
been  at  this  time  more  than  four  or  five  years  old,  and  conse- 
quently was  incapable  of  having  children.  The  solution  of  the 
difficulty  is  obviously  this :  Certain  names  are  on  this  catalogue, 
ajnong  "  those  who  went  with  Jacob  into  Egypt,"  who  were  either 
in  Egypt  before,  or  who  were  born  there  afterwards.  Thus  the 
two  sons  of  Joseph  were  born  in  Egypt  before  Jacob  went  there ; 
yet  they  are  numbered  with  those  who  "  came  with  Jacob  into 
Egypt."  *  So  the  two  grandsons  of  Judah  were  put  in  the  cata- 
logue, although  they  must  have  been  born  after  the  migration. 
Perhaps  their  names  were  inserted  because  they  took  the  places 
of  Er  and  Onan,  two  of  Judah's  sons  who  died  in  the  land  of 
Canaan. 

The  design  of  the  catalogue  seems  to  have  been  to  exhibit  the 
family  of  Jacob  as  it  was  when  he  went  into  Egypt,  or  shortly 
after ;  although  three  of  the  family  were  already  there,  and  two 
must  have  been  born  after  the  patriarch  left  the  promised  land. 

It  is  likely  that  some  of  the  ten  sons  of  Benjamin  whose  names 
are  in  the  catalogue  (ver.  21)  were  born  after  the  journey  into 
Egypt,  as  Benjamin,  at  this  time,  could  not  have  been  more  than 
twenty-five  years  old,  and  (unless  he  was  a  polygamist)  could 
hardly  have  had  ten  sons. 

It  had  been  arranged  by  Joseph,  that,  on  the  arrival  of  his  father 

*  See  ver.  8  and  26. 


214  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

in  Egypt,  he  should  stop  iii  Goshen,  a  fertile  country  lying  east  of 
the  Nile,  in  a  part  of  Egypt  nearest  to  Canaan.  Mempliis,  the 
capital  of  Lower  Egypt,  and  the  residence  of  Pharaoh,  was  distant 
about  twenty  miles.  The  ancient  On,  or  Hehopolis,  of  which 
Joseph's  father-in-law  was  priest,  was  still  nearer  to  Goshen. 

When  Joseph  heard  of  his  father's  arrival,  he  made  ready  his 
chariot,  and  went  out  to  meet  •him ;  and,  when  he  saw  him,  he  fell 
on  his  neck,  and  wept  there  a  long  time.  And  Jacob  said  to  Joseph, 
"  Now  let  me  die  ;  for  I  have  seen  th}'  face,  and  thou  art  yet 
alive." 

And  Joseph  returned  to  the  city,  and  told  Pharaoh,  saying,  "  My 
father  and  my  brethren,  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  all  that 
they  have,  are  come  out  of  the  land  of  Canaan ;  and,  behold,  they 
are  in  Goshen."  And  Joseph  presented  five  of  his  brethren  unto 
Pharaoh,  who  inquired  after  their  occupation.  And  they  said,  "  Thy 
servants  are  shepherds,  both  we  and  our  fathers ;  and  we  have  no 
pasture  for  our  flocks  in  the  land  of  Canaan  because  of  the  famine. 
We  pray  thee,  let  thy  servants  dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen." 
Joseph  also  presented  his  father  to  Pharaoh ;  and  the  venerable 
patriarch  blessed  Pharaoh.  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  him,  "  How 
old  art  thou  ?  And  Jacob  answered.  The  days  of  the  years  of 
my  pilgrimage  are  one  hundred  and  thirty  years.  Few  and  evil 
have  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  hfe  been ;  and  I  have  not  attained 
unto  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers." 

Then  Pharaoh  said  to  Joseph,  "  Thy  father  and  thy  brethren  are 
come  unto  thee.  Behold,  the  land  of  Egypt  is  before  thee.  In 
the  best  of  the  land  make  thy  father  and  thy  brethren  to  dwell. 
In  the  land  of  Goshen  let  them  dwell."  So  Joseph  placed  his 
father  and  his  bretliren  in  the  land  of  Goshen,  otherwise  called  the 
land  of  Rameses,  as  Pharaoh  had  commanded  ;  and  there  he  nour- 
ished them,  and  all  that  pertained  to  them,  during  the  remaining 
years  of  famine. 

When  the  important  matter  of  receiving  and  settling  his  father 
and  brethren  had  been  despatched,  Joseph  returned  to  the  business 
of  his  station.  Under  the  pressure  of  famine,  he  first  gathered  up 
all  the  money  that  was  found  in  Egypt  and  Canaan,  in  payment 
for  corn.  Then  he  took  of  the  people  their  cattle,  their  horses, 
their  asses,  and  flocks,  for  which  he  fed  them  a  whole  year. 
After  that,  he  purchased  their  lands  for  Pharaoh,  excepting  such 
as  belonged  to  the  priests ;  and,  when  the  famine  was  over,  he  gave 
them  seed  to  sow  their  land,  reserving  a  fifth  part  of  the  product 


JACOB   AND  JOSEPH.  215 

for  Pharaoh,  and  leaving  four-fifths  to  the  cultivators  of  the 
soil. 

The  administration  of  Joseph  in  this  matter  has  often  been  made 
the  subject  of  reproach,  but  certainly  without  sufficient  reason. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  acting,  not  for  himself,  but  for 
Pharaoh.  A  man  may  be  generous  in  disposing  of  his  own  goods ; 
but  there  is  no  virtue  in  being  generous  with  the  property  of 
another.  Joseph  bought  the  corn  of  the  people  in  a  time  of  plenty, 
with  Pharaoh's  money ;  and  bought  it,  so  far  as  we  know,  at  a  fair 
price.  He  carefully  stored  it  and  kept  it  at  Pharaoh's  expense ; 
and,  when  the  famine  came,  he  sold  the  corn  for  Pharaoh  at  a  fair 
price.  The  people  came  to  him  voluntarily,  with  their  money, 
their  cattle,  and  their  lands  ;  and  he  took  them  for  Pharaoh,  thereby 
saving  the  people  alive ;  and,  when  the  famine  was  over,  he  gave 
them  seed  to  sow  the  land,  and  permitted  them  to  cultivate  it  upon 
shares,  reserving  only  a  fifth  part  of  the  produce  for  the  lawful 
owner,  and  leaving  four-fifths  for  themselves.  In  view  of  these 
facts,  we  submit  whether  Joseph  should  be  regarded  as  an 
oppressor  of  the  Egyptians,  and  not  rather  as  an  inestimable 
benefactor.  He  was  an  instrument,  in  the  hand  of  Providence, 
of  saving  their  hves,  —  of  saving  their  country  from  desolation, 
and  them  from  destruction ;  and  so  he  was  regarded  to  the  day  of 
his  death. 

Jacob  lived,  after  he  went  into  Egypt,  seventeen  years,  — perhaps 
the  most  quiet  part  of  his  life.  He  had  his  children,  his  grand- 
children, and  probably  his  great-grandchildren,  around  him  ;  for  it 
is  said  that  his  family  grew  and  multiplied  exceedingly.  He  saw 
Joseph  occasionally,  as  the  intervals  of  business  would  permit ; 
and,  at  one  of  his  visits,  he  took  an  oath  of  him  that  he  would  not 
bury  him  in  the  land  of  Egypt :  "  I  would  lie  with  my  fathers," 
said  he  :  "  bury  me  in  their  burying-place,  in  the  Cave  of  Mach- 
pelah." 

At  length,  the  time  came  for  Jacob  to  die  ;  and  Joseph,  hearing 
of  his  sickness,  went  up  to  him  to  Goshen,  carrying  his  two  sons 
with  him.  And  Jacob  blessed  Joseph,  and  blessed  his  sons,  adopt- 
ing them,  and  making  them  heads  of  tribes,  as  though  they  were 
his  own :  "  May  the  Angel  which  redeemed  me  from  all  evil 
bless  the  lads ;  and  let  my  name  be  named  on  them,  and  the  name 
of  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac ;  and  let  them  grow  into  a 
multitude  in  the  midst  of  the  earth."  At  this  time,  Israel  gave  to 
Joseph,  in  addition  to  his  portion  among  his  brethren,  the  parcel 


216  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

of  ground  which  he  had  purchased  of  Hamor,  the  father  of 
Shechem,  and  which  he  had  defended  with  his  sword  and  with 
his  bow.  Here  the  bones  of  Joseph  were  afterwards  buried,  and 
the  same  became  a  burying-place  for  the  children  of  Ephraim.* 

Jacob,  finding  that  death  was  near,  summoned  his  children 
around  his  bed  to  hear  his  last  words  :  "  Gather  yourselves 
together,  ye  sons  of  Jacob,  that  I  may  tell  you  what  shall  befall 
you  in  the  last  days."  It  would  be  interesting,  had  we  time,  to  go 
over  with  all  these  monitory  and  prophetic  words.  The  patriarch 
addresses  each  of  his  sons  successively,  according  to  their  ages,  — 
not  personally,  but  as  the  heads  of  tribes,  —  and  notes,  in  few 
words,  the  leading  characteristics  and  events  of  their  history. 
Addressing  Judah,  he  says,  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from 
Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come ; 
and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be."  Jacob  here 
predicts  that  one  from  the  tribe  of  Judah  should  have  supreme 
authority  in  Israel ;  which  was  fulfilled  in  David  and  Solomon. 
He  also  predicts,  that,  before  all  traces  of  royal  authority  should 
pass  away  from  Judah,  Shiloh,  the  great  Messenger  of  the  cove- 
nant, should  appear  ;  which  was  fulfilled  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  blessing  of  Joseph  was  specially  rich  and  abiding :  "  The 
blessing  of  thy  father  shall  prevail  above  the  blessings  of  my  pro- 
genitors unto  the  utmost  bound  of  the  everlasting  hills.  They 
shall  be  upon  the  head  of  Joseph  ;  upon  the  head  of  him  who  was 
separate  from  his  brethren." 

When  Jacob  had  ended  these  prophetic  sayings,  he  charged  his 
sons,  unitedly,  to  bury  him,  not  in  Egypt,  but  in  the  Cave  of 
Machpelah,  which  is  before  Mamre,  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 
"  There,"  said  he,  "  they  buried  Abraham,  and  Sarah  his  wife ; 
there  they  buried  Isaac,  and  Rebekah  his  wife  ;  and  there  I  buried 
Leah." 

And  now  the  venerable  patriarch  had  nought  to  do  but  to  die .: 
so  he  drew  up  his  feet  in  the  bed,  and  yielded  up  the  ghost,  and 
was  gathered  to  his  people  ;  and  Joseph  fell  upon  his  father's  face, 
and  wept  over  him,  and  kissed  him,  —  thus  testifying  in  death,  as 
well  as  in  life,  the  ardor  of  his  fihal  love. 

The  first  care  of  Joseph,  after  the  death  of  his  father,  was  to 

*  Stephen  says  in  our  English  Bible  that  Abraham  bought  this  piece  of  ground ;  but  the 
word  "  Abraham,"  in  our  copies,  is  undoubtedly  an  interpolation.  The  verse  should  read,  "  And 
Jacob  went  down  into  Egypt  and  died,  he  and  our  fathers;  and  they  were  carried  unto  Sychem, 
and  were  laid  in  a  sepulchre  which  he  (Jacob)  purchased,"  &c.  (Acts  vii.  16.) 


JACOB   AND  JOSEPH.  217 

have  his  body  embahned,  after  the  manner  of  the  Egyptians.  This, 
and  the  mourning  connected  with  it,  occupied  seventy  days.  Mean- 
while, Joseph  acquainted  Pharaoh  with  his  father's  wishes,  and 
with  his  own  oath  and  promise  to  him,  as  to  the  place  of  his  burial : 
"  My  father  made'  me  swear,  saying.  In  my  grave  which  I  have 
prepared  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  there  shalt  thou  bury  me.  Now, 
therefore,,  let  me  go  up,  I  pray  thee,  and  bury  my  father,  and  I  will 
come  to  thee  again."  And  Pharaoh  not  only  gave  consent,  but 
commissioned  a  great  company  of  his  servants,  and  of  the  elders 
of  his  house,  to  accompany  Joseph  and  his  brethren  and  their 
families  on  this  melancholy  expedition :  so  there  went  up  both 
chariots  and  horsemen,  a  great  multitude.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  there  ever  was  such  a  funeral  procession  before  or  since. 
Here  was  a  great  company, — how  many  we  know  not,  —  Egyptians 
and  Israelites,  chariots  and  horsemen  and  footmen,  moving  on, 
with  Oriental  pomp  and  magnificence,  a  distance  of  between  two 
and  three  hundred  miles  ;  and  all  for  what  ?  —  to  deposit  the 
remains  of  a  venerable  man,  a  holy  man,  the  sire  and  the  patriarch 
of  Israel,  in  their  last  resting-place,  —  the  grave  which  he  had 
himself  prepared.  And,  when  they  came  near  to  the  place,  they 
paused,  and  m'ourned  with  a  very  great  and  sore  lamentation  seven 
days ;  insomuch  that  the  Canaanites  took  notice  of  it,  and  said, 
"  This  is  a  grievous  mourning  to  the  Egyptians."  So  they  buried 
Jacob  by  the  side  of  his  father  and  mother,  his  grandfather  and 
grandmother,  in  the  Cave  of  Machpelah ;  and  then  they  returned 
into  Egypt. 

There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  route  taken  by  this  great  funeral 
cavalcade  in  going  from  Egypt  into  Canaan.  Some  have  thought 
that  they  passed  up  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  the 
Jordan ;  inasmuch  as  it  is  said  that  the  floor  of  Atad,  where  they 
mourned  seven  days,  was  "beyond  Jordan"  (Gen.  1.  10).  But 
this,  we  think,  is  said  in  reference  to  Moses,  who  was  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Jordan  when  the  narrative  was  written.  To  him,  the 
floor  of  Atad  would  be  "  beyond  Jordan." 

There  are  two  objections  to  the  supposition  that  the  funeral 
procession  of  Jacob  came  into  Canaan  by  crossing  the  Jordan  from 
the  east.  The  first  is,  that  this  would  greatly  increase  the  distance. 
The  other  is,  that  the  people  who  were  so  much  affected  by  the 
mourning  at  Atad  are  said  to  be  Canaanites ;  whereas,  if  we  place 
Atad  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  the  surrounding  people  would  be 
Moabites  or  Midianites.    On  the  whole,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 


218  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

tliis  great  funeral  procession  took  the  direct  route  from  Egypt  to 
Canaan,  —  the  same  which  the  sons  of  Jacob  repeatedly  passed 
over  seventeen  years  before.  This  would  be  a  long  journey  for  a 
funeral ;  whereas  the  other  route  would  increase  the  distance  more 
than  one-half. 

When  the  sons  of  Jacob  had  returned  from  burying  their  father, 
the  brethren  of  Joseph  were  afraid  lest  he  should  remember  their 
former  ill  treatment  of  him,  and  undertake  to  avenge  it ;  so  they 
sent  unto  him  the  following  message ;  "  Thy  father  did  command 
before  he  died,  saying.  Go  unto  Joseph,  and  say  unto  him,  Forgive, 
I  pray  thee  now,  the  trespass  of  thy  bretliren,  and  their  sin ;  for 
they  did  unto  thee  evil.  Now,  therefore,  we  come  unto  thee,  and 
implore  thy  forgiveness.  Forgive  the  trespass  of  thy  servants,  — 
the  servants  of  the  God  of  thy  father." 

The  sequel  showed  how  little  they  knew  the  heart  of  Joseph. 
He  had  long  before  forgiven  them.  He  wept  when  their  message 
was  laid  before  him.  Then  his  brethren  fell  down  before  him, 
and  said  with  the  utmost  submission  and  humility,  "  We  are  thy 
servants."  But  Joseph  cheered  and  comforted  them,  saying,  "  Fear 
not :  seek  God's  forgiveness,  and  you  may  be  sure  of  mine.  Ye 
thought  evil  against  me ;  but  God  meant  it  for  good,  to  save  much 
people  alive,  as  it  is  this  day.  I  will  nourish  you  and  your  little 
ones  :  fear  not." 

We  have  httle  account  of  Joseph  after  this  period.  We  only 
know  that  he  lived  in  Egypt  more  than  fifty  years,  enjoying,  as  he 
was  entitled  to,  the  favor  of  the  Idng.  He  lived  to  see,  not  only 
his  children  and  grandchildren,  but  his  great-grandchildren,  a 
numerous  posterity.     He  died  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  ten. 

Before  his  death,  he  sent  for  his  brethren,  and  said  unto  them, 
"  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  bring  you  out  of  this  land  unto  the 
land  which  he  sware  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob ;  and, 
when  ye  go  out,  carry  my  bones  with  you."  So  they  embalmed 
the  body  of  Joseph,  and  put  it  in  a  coffin,  and  it  remained  in 
Eg}^ot  until  the  departure  of  the  cliildren  of  Israel. 

We  see  in  the  narrative  over  which  we  have  passed  the  ivonders 
of  Grod's  providence,  and  the  safety,  under  all  circumstances,  of 
putting  our  trust  in  him.  He  is  able  to  bring  light  out  of  the 
deepest  darkness,  and  to  make  even  the  sins  of  men  contribute  to 
his  praise.  Without  furnishing  the  least  excuse  for  human  wicked- 
ness, he  overrules  it,   in  thousands   of  instances,  —  perhaps  we 


JACOB   AND  JOSEPH.  219 

should  say  in  every  instance  in  which  he  permits  it,  —  for  his  own 
glory  and  the  greatest  good.  Jacob  did  not  intend  or  expect  to 
marry  Leah.  By  a  vile  trick,  she  was  imposed  upon  him  ;  and  yet 
she  was  to  be  the  progenitress  of  the  Messiah.  Without  her  con- 
nection with  Jacob,  the  Saviour  of  the  world  had  not  appeared. 
Jacob  loved  Joseph,  and  did  not  intend  ever  to  be  separated  from 
him ;  and  yet  Joseph  must  be  torn  away  by  wicked  hands,  and 
sent  into  an  apparently  hopeless  exile,  in  order  to  save  Jacob 
and  his  family  from  destruction.  The  case  of  Joseph  was  hard 
enough  while  a  slave  in  the  house  of  Potiphar ;  but  it  must  be 
made  still  harder  and  darker  by  his  being  unjustly  accused,  and 
thrown  into  prison,  and  continued  there  for  a  course  of  years: 
and  all  this  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  future  high  advancement  and 
usefulness.  And  yet  who  thanks  Laban  for  liis  vile  imposition, 
or  Potiphar 's  wife  for  her  false  accusation,  or  Joseph's  brethren 
for  selhng  him  to  the  Midianites  ?  "  Ye  thought  evil  against  me  ; 
but  Gfod  meant  it  for  good."  A  voluntary  act  of  sin  is  one  tiling : 
God's  overruling  that  act,  in  opposition  to  all  its  natural  tendencies 
and  to  the  intentions  of  its  perpetrator,  for  his  own  glory  and  the 
greatest  good,  is  quite  another  thing.  The  perpetrator  is  without 
excuse  ;  but  the  overruling  providence  of  God  in  it  is  praiseworthy 
and  glorious. 

We  learn  from  the  case  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren  the  truth 
of  one  of  the  sayings  of  Moses,  "  Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you 
out."  Their  cruelty  to  Joseph  was  perpetrated  secretly :  it  was 
known  to  no  one  except  themselves.  They  took  effectual  means 
to  conceal  it  from  their  father,  and  to  quiet  any  suspicions  which 
he  might  otherwise  have  been  led  to  entertain.  They  had  heard 
nothing  of  the  matter  for  years,  and  thought  that  they  should 
hear  of  it  no  more ;  and  yet  they  did.  In  a  manner  the  most 
unexpected  and  overwhelming,  it  was  suddenly  brought  to  light : 
"I  am  Joseph,  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold  into  Egypt."  Oh, 
what  a  voice  was  that !  How  it  stunned  and  confounded  them ! 
What  could  they  say  ?  A  voice  from  the  eternal  throne  could  not 
have  startled  and  astonished  them  more !  It  is  for  us  to  learn  a 
lesson  from  this  disclosure  :  "  He  that  covereth  his  sins,"  or 
attempteth  to  cover  them,  "  shall  not  prosper."  "  Be  sure  your 
sin  will  find  you  out." 

The  narrative  before  us  has  a  lesson  for  the  young.  We  see  how 
God  is  wont  to  deal  with  those  young  persons  whom  he  is  preparing 
for  eminent  usefulness  m  the  church  and  world.    God  had  destined 


220  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY, 

Joseph  to  one  of  the  highest  stations  of  honor  and  usefulness  then 
on  the  earth.  But  he  does  not  immediately  advance  him  to  it. 
Joseph  is  not  yet  prepared  for  it.  He  must  first  be  tried  and 
proved,  instructed  and  humbled.  He  must  learn  lessons  in  the 
school  of  adversity  which  he  could  learn  nowhere  .else  :  and  so  he 
was  torn  from  the  embrace  of  his  father,  and  sold  by  his  own 
brothers  into  slavery ;  and  then  cast  into  a  loathsome  dungeon, 
where  he  was  confined  for  years.  Dark  days,  these,  for  afflicted 
Joseph !  Verily  he  had  reason  to  say  of  the  Almighty,  in  whom 
he  trusted,  "  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him."  And  yet 
all  this  was  but  a  necessary  discipline.  It  was  just  what  the  young 
man  needed  in  order  to  his  highest  good.  Without  it,  he  could 
not  have  been  prepared  for  his  future  advancement  and  glory. 

Let  not  the  young  in  our  day  shrink  from  trials,  or  be  disheart- 
ened under  them.  Trust  in  God,  wait  patiently  upon  him,  and 
do  his  will,  and  your  trials  will  not  injure  you.  You  will  come 
out  of  the  furnace  like  silver,  and  find  that  every  trial  has  been 
made  a  blessing. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


MOSES     AND    HIS    TIMES. 


THE  last  chapter  closed  with  the  death  of  Joseph.  He  lived, 
in  all,  a  hundred  and  ten  years,  —  fifty-four  years  after  the 
death  of  his  father. 

There  is  some  diversity  of  statement  in  Scripture  as  to  the  time 
of  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt.  It  is  said  in  Exod.  xii. 
40  that  "the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Israel^vho  dwelt  in 
Egypt}w^s  four  hundred  and  thirty  years."  It  does  not  follow 
from  the  language  here  used,  either  in  the  original  or  in  the  trans- 
lation, that  their  sojourning  in  Egypt  was  four  hundred  and  thirty 
years  ;  but  only  that  such  was  the  period  of  their  sojourning  in  a 
foreign  land,  without  any  settled  home.  Accordingly,  it  has  been 
ascertained  that  the  period  here  referred  to  commenced  with  the 
call  of  Abraham  to  leave  his  native  country  and  go  into  a  for- 
eign land.  Abraham  was  seventy-five  years  old  when  he  was  sum- 
moned to  go  into  Canaan.  Twenty-five  years  after  this,  Isaac  was 
born.  Sixty  years  later,  Jacob  was  born.  And  Jacob  was  a 
hundred  and  thirty  years  old  when  he  went  into  Egypt.  Putting 
these  numbers  together,  —  25+60-}-l'30,  —  makes  215  years.  And 
Josephus  tells  us  that  the  residence  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  was 
215  years ;  making  430  in  all.* 

And  this  agrees  with  the  statement  of  Paul  in  Gal.  iii,  17  :  "  The 
covenant  which  was  before  confirmed  of  God  in  Christ,  the  law, 
which  was/owr  hundred  and  thirty  years  after ^  cannot  disannul,  that 
it  should  make  the  promise  of  none  effect."  The  promise,  the 
covenant  here  spoken  of,  was  first  made  to  Abraham  when  he  was 

*  Antiq.,  book  ii.  chap.  15,  sect.  2.  This  statement  of  Josephus  is  altogether  probable,  since 
Moses,  who  brought  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  was  only  in  the  fourth  generation  from  Jacob. 
Jacob  begat  Levi;  and  Levi,  Kohath;  and  Kohath,  Amram;  and  Amram,  Moses  (Exoil.  vi. 
16-20.)  From  the  death  of  Levi  to  the  birth  of  Moses  was  only  fifty-eight  years.  And  this 
accords  with  God's  promise  to  Abraham:  "/n  the  fourth  generation,  they  (thy  posterity)  shall 
come  hither  agaiu"  (Geu.  xv.  16). 

221 


222  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

called  to  leave  his  native  land  (Gen.  xii.  1-3).  The  Mosaic  law 
began  to  be  delivered  the  same  year  in  which  the  Israelites  left 
Egypt ;  and  this  was  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  the 
original  promise. 

But  there  is  another  period  spoken  of  in  this  connection.  God 
says  to  Abraham,  "  Thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in  a  land  that  is 
not  theirs,  and  shall  serve  them  ;  and  they  shall  afflict  them  four 
hundred  years  "  (Gen.  xv.  13).  We  have  a  parallel  passage  in 
Acts  vii.  6 :  "God  spake  to  Abraham  on  this  wise,  that  his  seed 
should  sojourn  in  a  strange  land,  and  they  should  bring  them  into 
bondage,  and  evil  entreat  them  four  hundred  years."  It  will  be 
seen  that  both  these  passages  have  respect,  not  to  Abraham  per- 
sonally, but  to  his  seed.  The  period  indicated  could  not  commence, 
therefore,  until  Abraham's  child  of  promise  was  born,  —  which  was 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  years  after  Abraham  came  into  Canaan ; 
and  this  would  leave  four  hundred  years  to  be  accomplished  before 
the  exodus  from  Egypt.  So  much  in  the  way  of  harmonizing  these 
seemingly  discrepant  statements. 

After  the  death  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren,  and  all  the  men  of 
that  generation,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  revolution,  a  change 
of  dynasty,  in  Egypt.  A  king  arose  that  knew  not  Joseph,  and 
that  had  no  sympathy  with  the  Hebrews  ;  and  as  they  were  rapid- 
ly increasing  in  number,  and  the  land  was  likely  to  be  filled  with 
them,  the  new  government  thought  to  oppress  them,  and  by  hard 
treatment  to  keep  them  down.  The  king,  evidently,  was  afraid  of 
them,  lest,  by  becoming  numerous,  they  should  be  dangerous  to 
the  Egyptians :  so  he  compelled  them  to  build  treasure-cities  for 
himself,  and  set  over  them  taskmasters  to  afflict  them  with  their 
burdens.  But  the  more  the  Hebrews  were  afflicted  and  oppressed, 
the  more  they  multiplied. 

The  next  cruel  artifice  of  Pharaoh  was  to  destroy  all  the  male 
children.  In  order  to  this,  he  laid  an  injunction  upon  the  Hebrew 
midwives  to  destroy  all  the  male  children  that  were  born,  but  to 
save  the  female  infants  alive.  But  the  midwives  feared  God, 
and  contrived  to  evade  the  bloody  commission  which  was  laid  upon 
them.     They  would  not  carry  it  into  eftect. 

Nothing  daunted,  Pharaoh  now  resorts  to  another  expedient. 
He  commands  that  every  son  that  is  born  to  the  Hebrews  shall  be 
cast  into  the  river,  but  that  every  daughter  shall  be  spared.  It  was 
while  this  bloody  edict  was  in  force,  that  Moses,  the  great  leader 
and  lawgiver  of  Israel,  was  born.    His  father's  name  was  Amram,  a 


MOSES   AND    HIS   TIMES.  223 

grandson  of  Levi ;  and  his  mother's  name  was  Jochebed,  a  daughter 
of  Levi.  These  parents  had  two  children  older  than  Moses,  who 
were  born  before  the  murderous  decree  above  spoken  of  was  enact- 
ed ;  viz.,  Miriam  and  Aaron.  But  the  life  of  Moses  was  forfeited 
before  his  birth.  His  parents  succeeded,  however,  m  concealing 
him  three  months  ;  and,  when  this  was  no  longer  possible,  his  fond 
mother  prepared  a  little  ark  of  bulrushes,  daubed  it  with  slime  and 
pitch,  put  him  into  it,  and  laid  it  in  the  flags  by  the  river's  brink. 
And  she  set  his  sister  Miriam  to  watch  at  a  little  distance,  that 
she  might  see  what  became  of  the  child.  How  many  httle  chil- 
dren had  been  thus  exposed,  and  how  many  had  been  destroyed  by 
crocodiles  and  other  monsters,  we  are  not  informed. 

But  God  had  other  designs  respecting  Moses  than  that  he  should 
go  to  fatten  the  monsters  of  the  Mle.  He  was  to  act  a  more  impor-  / 
tant  part,  and  exert  a  wider  influence,  than  any  other  mere  man  ever  ) 
did  exert  in  the  histor}^  of  the  world.*  Accordingly,  a  succession 
of  incidents,  the  most  remarkable  and  interesting,  was  planned  and 
carried  out  in  providence  for  his  deliverance.  A  daughter  of  the 
cruel  Pharaoh  comes  down  to  the  river  to  bathe ;  and,  as  she  walks 
along  by  the  side  of  it,  she  discovers  the  little  ark.  Prompted  by 
curiosity,  she  sends  one  of  her  maidens  to  fetch  it.  And,  when  she 
had  opened  it,  she  saw  the  child ;  and  the  babe  wept.  And  she 
had  compassion  on  it,  and  said,  "  This  is  one  of  the  Hebrew's  cliil- 
dren." 

At  this  critical  moment,  Miriam,  who  was  near  at  hand,  ran 
up  to  Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  said,  "  Shall  I  go  and  call  thee  a 
nurse  of  the  Hebrew  women,  that  she  may  nurse  the  child  for  thee  ? 
and  Pharaoh's  daughter  said.  Go.  And  Miriam  went  and  called 
the  child's  mother.  And  Pharaoh's  daughter  said  unto  her.  Take 
this  child,  and  nurse  it  for  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  thy  wao-es ; 
and  the  mother  took  the  child,  and  nursed  it." 

Was  ever  any  thing  more  natural,  and  at  the  same  time  more 

*  The  fame  of  Moses  extended  beyond  his  own  people.    It  was  known  among  the  heathen 
of  his  own  times  and  of  much  later  times.    The  following  is  Strabo's  account  of  him :  "  Moses,  an  , 
Egyptian  priest,  who  possessed  a  considerable  tract  in  Lower  Egypt,  unable  longer  to  bear  what  | 
existed  there,  departed  thence  to  S}Tia;  and  with  him  went  out  many  who  honored  the  Divine  '< 
Being.     For  Moses  maintained  and  taught  that  the  Egyptians  were  not  right  in  likening  God  to 
beasts  and  cattle ;  nor  yet  the  Africans,  nor  the  Greeks,  in  fashioning  their  gods  in  the  form  of 
men.     He  held  that  this  only  is  God,  which  encompasses  all  of  us,  —  earth  and  sea  and  heaven, 
and  the  order  of  the  world,  and  the  nature  of  things.     Of  this,  who  that  had  any  sense  would 
try  to  invent  an  image  like  to  any  thing  which  exists  among  ourselves  ?    Far  better  to  aban- 
don all  statuary  and  sculpture,  all  setting-apart  of  sacred  precincts  and  shrines,  and  to  pay  ; 
reverence  without  any  image  whatever." 


224  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

wonderful,  than  this  ?  There  is  not  an  improbable  incident  in  all 
the  story ;  and  yet  we  have  here  a  train  of  incidents,  which,  in  a 
few  hours,  restores  the  little  abandoned  one  to  the  arms  of  its 
mother,  to  be  nursed,  not  only  in  safety,  but  in  honor,  and  at  a  rich 
price,  to  be  paid  from  the  coffers  of  the  cruel  king.  Surely  the 
resources  of  God's  wisdom  and  goodness  are  exhaustless,  and  should 
never  be  despaired  of  by  liis  suffering  people. 

How  long  Moses  continued  with  his  mother,  we  do  not  know,  — 
probably  some  four  or  five  years,  until  the  usual  time  of  weaning ; 
when  he  was  restored  to  his  adopted  mother,  and  trained  up  under 
her  care.  She  called  his  name  Moses  from  the  Hebrew  Masha^ 
which  signifies  something  drawn  from  the  water. 

It  was  part  of  God's  wonderful  providence  in  respect  to  Moses 
that  he  should  be  educated  in  the  court  of  Pharaoh,  where  he 
could  be  instructed  (as  we  are  assured  he  was)  "  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptians."  What  this  wisdom  was,  however,  we  do  not 
very  definitely  know.  No  doubt,  he  was  instructed  in  the  Hebrew 
and  Egyptian  languages,  and  enabled  to  speak  and  write  both  with 
accuracy  and  elegance.  He  was  instructed,  too,  in  geometry  and 
astronomy.  The  former  of  these  sciences  was  of  special  use  to  the 
Egyptians  in  determining  the  boundaries  of  their  lands,  which  were 
annually  washed  away  by  the  overflowing  of  the  river :  the  latter 
was  of  use  in  determining  the  seasons  of  the  year. 

The  Egyptians  had  also  some  knowledge  of  architecture,  as  is 
evident  from  their  pyramids  and  other  costly  structures.  Their 
architecture  was  heavy  and  inelegant,  however,  compared  with 
that  of  the  Greeks. 

The  Egyptians  were  skilled,  to  some  extent,  in  the  medical  art ; 
though  their  skill  was  less  employed,  probably,  in  healing  the  sick, 
than  in  preserving  the  bodies  of  the  dead.  Joseph,  we  ^are  told, 
employed  the  jyJii/sicians  to  embalm  the  body  of  his  father. 

The  Egyptians  understood,  hkewise,  the  art  of  war,  in  which  it 
is  altogether  probable  that  Moses  was  instructed.  Josephus  has  a 
story  of  his  leading  forth  the  Egyptian  army  in  a  war  with  the 
Ethiopians.  This  may  be  true,  though  we  have  no  account  of  it 
in  the  Scriptures. 

The  philosophy  and  religion  of  the  ancient  Egyptians. was  pan- 
theistic :  "  All  things  are  full  of  God,  and  are  but  the  developments 
of  God."  Hence  this  people  were  led  to  observe  signs  and  omens, 
and  to  practise  enchantments  and  magical  arts.  Hence,  also,  they 
were  led  to  worship,  not  only  the  lights  of  heaven,  but  birds  and 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  225 

beasts  and  creeping  things.  These  were  all  of  them  divine.  God 
was  more  strikingly  developed  in  some  than  in  others,  but  to  some 
extent  in  them  all.  Fetichism  has  always  been  a  result  of  pan- 
theism. 

Without  doubt,  Moses  was  instructed  in  this  philosophy  and 
theology  ;  but  he  soon  learned  to  despise  them.  In  cliildhood,  he 
learned  that  he  was  a  Hebrew  ;  he  kej^t  up  an  intercourse  with 
the  Hebrews  ;  and,  instead  of  being  decoyed  into  the  abominations 
of  Egypt,  he  became  a  devout  worshipper  of  Israel's  God. 

Upon  -one  of  his  visits  to  liis  brethren,  when  he  was  forty  years 
old,  he  saw  an  Egyptian  smiting  and  abusing  a  Hebrew.  In  the 
heat  of  his  indignation,  he  slew  the  Egyptian,  and  buried  him  in 
the  sand.  He  seems  to  have  had  a  presentiment,  at  tliis  time,  that 
he  was  raised  up  to  be  the  deliverer  of  his  people ;  but  they  were 
not  yet  prepared  to  receive  him  as  such.*  The  day  following  that 
in  which  he  slew  the  Egyptian,  he  saw  two  of  the  Hebrews 
engaged  in  strife.  He  rej)roved  the  aggressor,  and  endeavored  to 
bring  about  a  reconciliation  ;  but  the  Avrong-doer  tartly  replied, 
"  Who  made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over  us?  Wilt  thou  kill  hie 
as  thou  didst  the  Egyptian  yesterday  ?  "  Moses  learned  from  this 
reply  that  the  fact  of  his  having  killed  the  Egyptian  was  known ; 
and,  fearing  the  wrath  of  Pharaoh,  he  fled  into  the  land  of 
Midian. 

Midian,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Abraham 
by  Keturah.  These  sons  all  settled  in  Arabia,  southward  and 
eastward  from  the  home  of  Isaac,  where  their  descendants  mingled 
with  the  Edomites  and  Ishmaelites.  At  the  time  of  Moses,  they 
had  penetrated  southward  as  far  as  Sinai  and  Horeb.  It  was  mto 
this  region  that  Moses  fled  from  the  wrath  of  Pharaoh.  Here  he 
became  acquainted  in  the  family  of  Jethro,  a  priest  of  Midian, 
whose  flocks  he  tended,  and  whose  daughter  Zipporah  he  mar- 
ried, f 

This  Jethro  (who  is  also  called  Reuel  and  Raguel)  was  a  wise, 
faithful,  judicious  man,  and  a  worshipper  of  the  true  God.  On  one 
occasion,  we  find  him  offering  sacrifices  to  the  God  of  Israel. $ 
Moses  dwelt  with  him  forty  years,  and  became  the  father  of  two 

*  See  Acts  vii.  25. 

t  This  part  of  Arabia  was  also  called  Cushan,  or  Ethiopia :  "  I  saw  the  tents  of  Cushan  in 
affliction,  and  the  curtains  of  the  land  of  Midian  did  tremble"  (Hab.  iii.  7).  Hence  Moses  was 
reproached  for  hnvino;  married  an  Ethiopian  woman  (Num.  xii.  1). 

X  Exod.  xviii.  12. 
15 


226  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

sons.  How  Moses  employed  himself  during  this  long  period,  we 
are  not  informed.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  quietest  and  happiest 
portion  of  his  life.  His  occupation  as  a  shepherd  must  have  af- 
forded him  much  opportunity  for  reflection,  and  communion  with 
God.  He  may  have  written,  during  this  period,  the  Book  of  Gen- 
esis.    He  may  also  have  written  the-  Book  of  Job. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  any  lengthened  discussion  in  regard 
either  to  Job,  or  the  book  which  bears  his  name.  My  own  opinion 
is,  that  Job  was  a  veritable  historical  personage;  that  he  was  an 
eminently  pious  man ;  that  he  lived  in  North-eastern  Arabia,  not 
far  from  Syria,  and  pretty  far  back  in  the  patriarchal  age.  All  the 
recorded  circumstances  respecting  him,  —  such  as  his  great  age, 
amounting  in  all  to  not  less  than  two  hundred  years ;  the  nature 
of  his  property,  as  consisting  in  flocks  and  herds ;  the  religious 
rites  which  he  practised,  which  were  purely  patriarchal ;  the  wan- 
dering tribes  which  plundered  him,  and  the  friends  who  visited 
him,  —  all  agree  to  this  supposition.  The  story  of  his  unexampled 
suffering,  of  his  controversy  with  his  friends,  of  his  final  deliverance 
and  subsequent  prosperity,  would,  of  necessity,  be  widely  known, 
and  could  hardly  fail  to  come  to  the  ears  of  Moses  during  his  long 
residence  in  Arabia.  Moses  was  perfectly  competent,  both  as  a  poet 
and  an  historian,  to  write  such  a  book ;  and  what  more  natural  sup- 
position than  that  he  should  employ  some  portion  of  his  leisure  in 
preparing  it  ?  The  book  contains  a  clear  reference  to  the  Deluge,* 
but  none  to  the  Jewish  law ;  which  shows  that  it  must  have  been 
written  previous  to  the  giving  of  the  law.  The  consideration, 
which,  more  than  any  other,  satisfies  me  that  Moses  was  tjie  author 
of  this  book,  is  its  unquestioned  position  in  the  canon  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Would  the  Israelites  have  so  early  accepted  this  book, 
and  so  pertinaciously  retained  it  among  their  other  Scriptures,  had 
it  been  of  heathen  or  doubtful  origin ;  had  they  not  been  able  to 
trace  it  to  their  great  lawgiver  and  judge  ?  Nor  does  the  fact  that 
the  book  contains  some  Syriac  and  Arabic  expressions  militate  at 
all  against  this  supposition.  The  story,  it  must  be  remembered, 
was  of  Arabian  origin.  The  book,  too,  was  written  in  Arabia,  and 
by  one  who  had  long  been  a  dweller  in  that  country.  Why,  then, 
shoidd  it  not  bear  some  marks  of  its  original  ? 

The  object  of  Moses  in  writing  the  book  (on  supposition  that  he 
did  write  it)  may  have  been  to  instruct  and  comfort  his  suffering 
people  in  Egypt ;  to  lead  them  to  put  their  trust  in  God,  and  cheer 

*  See  Job  xsii.  15, 16. 


MOSES    AND    HIS   TIMES.  227 

them  with  the  hope  of  a  speedy  deliverance,  —  even  as  Job  had 
been  dehvered.* 

Near  the  close  of  Moses'  residence  with  Jethro,  he  led  his  flock, 
on  one  occasion,  to  the  other  side  of  the  desert,  and  came  to  Horeb, 
the  mount  of  God.  And  here  he  witnessed  a  most  remarkable 
phenomenon,  —  a  flame  of  fire  streaming  forth  from  a  bush,  and 
yet  the  bush  was  not  consumed ;  and,  as  he  turned  aside  to  look 
at  the  wonderfid  appearance,  a  voice  came  forth  from  the  burning 
bush,  warning  him  not  to  approach  too  near,  and  calling  upon  him 
to  take  the  shoes  from  his  feet,  since  the  place  where  he  stood  was 
holy  ground. 

As  Moses  stood  and  listened  in  reverent  wonder,  the  voice  pro- 
ceeded to  say,  "  I  am  the  God  of  thy  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
and  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob."  The  God  of  Israel  having  thus  re- 
vealed himself,  he  goes  on  to  assure  Moses  that  he  had  seen  the 
increased  oppression  of  his  brethren  in  Egypt,  and  heard  their 
cry,  and  had  come  down  to  deliver  them.  "  Come  now,"  says  he, 
"  and  I  will  send  thee  unto  Pharaoh,  that  thou  mayest  bring  my 
people  out  of  Egypt."  But  Moses  excuses  himself  from  so  hazard- 
ous a  service  :  "  Who  am  I  that  I  should  stand  before  Pharaoh, 
and  bring  forth  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt  ?  "  God,  there- 
fore, encourages  him  by  an  assurance  of  his  continual  presence ; 
reveals  himself  to  him  by  a  new  name,  I  am  that  I  am  ;  promises 
him  the  gift  of  miracles,  with  which  to  confound  all  gainsayers ; 
and  actually  performs  a  miracle  in  the  presence  and  by  the  hand 
of  Moses,  to  satisfy  him  as  to  the  reality  and  divine  authority  of 
his  mission.  Still  Moses  pleads  to  be  excused.  He  is  unwilling, 
evidently,  to  leave  his  beloved  retirement,  and  enter  upon  so  great 
a  work :  "  O  Lord,  I  am  not  eloquent ;  but  I  am  slow  of  speech, 
and  of  a  slow  tongue."  Hereupon  God  promises  to  be  with  his 
mouth,  and  to  teach  him  what  to  say  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  to  give 
him  Aaron  his  brother  for  an  assistant,  who  was  known  to  be  an 
eloquent  man. 

Moses,  who  had  already  stood  out  too  long,  dare  not  persist  in 
his  excuses  any  further.  He  left  his  flock  to  the  care  of  his  ser- 
vants, returned  to  Jethro,  told  him  what  he  had  seen  and  heard, 
and  asked  permission  to  go  and  visit  his  oppressed  brethren  in 
Egypt ;  and,  without  one  word  of  objection,  Jethro  told  him  to  go 
in  peace. 

Moses  now,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  was  just  entering  on  the 

*  The  Talmudists  tell  us  that  Moses  did  write  the  Book  of  Job. 


228  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

great  work  of  his  life, — that  work  for  which  his  whole  previous 
course  had  been  one  of  preparation.  He  took  his  wife  and  his  two 
sons,  took  also  the  rod  of  God  in  his  hand,  and  set  out  upon  his 
journey  into  Egypt.  In  the  progress  of  the  journey,  we  are  told 
that  God  met  him,  not,  as  before,  with- words  of  promise  and  encour- 
agement, but  in  language  of  threatening  and  rebuke.  Owing  to  the 
reluctance  of  his  wife,  or  for  some  other  cause,  Moses  had  not  cir- 
cumcised his  youngest  son.  This  would  have  been  an  offence  in  any 
Israelite,  but  was  specially  so  in  Moses  at  this  time.  He  was  going 
forth  to  be  the  leader  and  lawgiver  of  his  people ;  and  surely  it 
did  not  become  him  to  be  a  breaker  of  the  law.  Besides,  his  ex- 
ample would  have  great  influence,  and  might  lead  to  a  general 
neglect  of  the  important  rite  of  circumcision.  Under  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, we  see  that  God  had  good  reason  to  be  angry  with  liis 
servant,  and  to  require  that  the  wrong  should  be  put  away ;  and  it 
ivas  promptly  put  away.  The  mother  herself  consented  to  perform 
the  bloody  rite,  to  which  before  she  had  been  averse.  And  from 
this  point  Zipporah  and  the  cliildren  seem  to  have  returned  to 
their  home  in  Midian,  where  they  remained  until  after  the  escape 
of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt. 

Before  Moses  entered  Egypt,  Aaron,  being  warned  of  God,  went 
out  into  the  desert  to  meet  him.  The  brothers  had  not  met,  prob- 
ably, for  a  long  period ;  and  now  they  came  together  under 
peculiar  circumstances.  They  met  under  a  joint  commission  from 
God.  They  had  it  in  charge  to  perform  a  work  which  no  unaided 
mortal  could  ever  achieve.  They  first  went  to  the  elders  of  Israel, 
delivered  their  message,  and  performed  their  miracles  before 
them  ;  and  the  people,  we  are  told,  believed,  rejoiced,  and  bowed 
their  heads,  and  worshipped  the  Lord. 

After  this,  Moses  and  Aaron  ventured  into  the  presence  of  Pha- 
raoh, and  said,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  let  my  people  go,  that  they 
may  hold  a  feast  unto  me  in  the  wilderness."  But  Pharaoh  an- 
swered proudly  and  insolently,  "  Who  is  the  Lord,  that  I  should 
obey  his  voice  ?  I  know  not  the  Lord ;  neither  will  I  let  Israel 
go."  He  went  on  to  chide  Moses  and  Aaron  for  hindering  the 
people  in  their  work.  He  insisted  that  the  people  were  idle  ;  they 
had  not  enough  to  do ;  and  proceeded  to  increase  their  already 
intolerable  burthens.  They  must  make  brick  as  before,  but  should 
have  no  straw ;  and,  if  the  usual  tale  of  brick  was  not  delivered, 
they  should  be  beaten.  And,  when  the  people  expostulated,  he 
refused  to  listen,  but  repeated  the  charge,  "•  Ye  are  idle ;  ye  are 
idle." 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  229 

Such  was  the  result  of  the  first  application  to  Pharaoh  for  deliv- 
erance. The  people  were  discouraged,  and  began  to  murmur. 
Moses,  also,  was  discouraged :  so  that,  when  God  ordered  him  to 
go  again  to  Pharaoh,  he  replied,  "  Behold,  the  children  of  Israel 
will  not  hearken  to  me ;  how,  then,  shall  Pharaoh  hear  me,  who 
am  of  uncircumcised  lips?" 

But  God  told  him  to  go  and  deliver  his  message ;  reminding 
him  at  the  same  time  of  his  promises  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to 
Jacob,  and  assuring  him,  that,  though  Pharaoh  might  be  obstinate 
for  a  while,  he  should  at  length  be  humbled,  and  should  consent  to 
let  the  people  go.  And  Moses  and  Aaron  did  as  the  Lord  com- 
manded.- They  went  in  and  stood  before  Pharaoh ;  repeated,  in 
God's  name,  the  request  which  they  had  before  made ;  and,  to 
assure  him  of  the  divine  authority  under  which  they  acted,  they 
cast  down  their  rod  before  him,  and  it  became  a  serpent.  Pharaoh 
was,  of  course,  astonished ;  and  he  called  around  him  his  magi- 
cians, to  see  if  they  could  do  the  same  with  their  enchantments. 
And  the  magicians  did  it^  or  they  seemed  to  do  it^.  for  they  cast 
down  every  man  his  rod,  and  they  became  serpents.  Howbeit, 
Aaron's  serpent  prevailed  against  theirs,  and  swallowed  them 
up.  But  Pharaoh's  heart  was  hardened,  and  he  refused  to  let 
Israel  go. 

Moses'  next  interview  with  Pharaoh  was  by  the  side  of  the 
river.  He  demanded  of  the  monarch  the  release  of  the  Israelites ; 
and  assured  him,  in  case  of  refusal,  that  the  waters  of  the  river 
should  be  turned  into  blood.  But  Pharaoh  was  not  at  all  disposed 
to  yield.  Wherefore  the  mystic  rod  was  lifted,  and  instantly  the 
•waters  of  Egypt  —  the  river,  the  ponds,  the  pools  of  water — were 
changed  into  blood ;  and  so  they  continued  for  seven  successive 
days.  This  Avas  a  terrible  infliction  ;  yet  it  had  no  softening  effect 
upon  the  hard  heart  of  Pharaoh.  He  called  his  magicians  again ; 
and  they  succeeded  in  doing,  in  a  small  way,  what  Moses  had 
done  throughout  the  land,  —  they  changed  water  into  blood. 

When  time  had  been  given  to  recover  from  this  infliction,  Moses 
was  directed  to  go  again  unto  Pharaoh,  and  say,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me.  And,  if  thou 
refuse,  behold,  I  will  smite  all  thy  land  with  frogs :  they  shall 
come  up  into  thine  house,  and  into  thy  bed-chamber,  and  into  thy 
bed,  and  into  the  houses  of  thy  servants,  and  upon  all  the  people ; 
and  the  whole  land  shall  be  full  of  frogs."  But  Pharaoh  disre- 
garded the  warning.     So  the  terrible  rod  was  again  stretched  out, 


230  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  the  frogs  came.  They  came  in  such  multitudes,  that  they 
literally  covered  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  though  the  magicians 
succeeded  in  imitating  the  miracle,  yet  the  infliction  was  so  dis- 
gusting and  annoying,  that  Pharaoh  could  not  endure  it.  He 
called  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  besought  them  that  they  would 
entreat  the  Lord  to  take  away  the  frogs ;  and  solemnly  promised, 
in  case  they  were  removed,  that  the  Israelites  might  go  and  do 
sacrifice  unto  the  Lord.  So  Moses  entreated  the  Lord,  and  the 
nuisance  was  abated.  The  filthy  creatures  were  taken  away.  But, 
with  the  removal  of  the  judgment,  Pharaoh's  promise  was  forgot- 
ten :  he  refused  to  let  Israel  go. 

It  may  be  proper  to  pause  here  a  moment,  and  inquire  what 
these  magicians  actually  did  with  theu'  enchantments.  Did  they 
really  work  miracles  ?  Did  they  truly  change  their  rods  into  ser- 
pents, and  water  into  blood,  and  miraculously  increase  the  number 
of  frogs  ?  In  answer  to  these  inquiries,  it  may  be  remarked,  in  the 
first  place,  that  no  being  but  God  can  perform  a  proper  miracle. 
A  true  miracle  involves  a  suspension  or  contravention  of  the  regu- 
lar course  of  Nature  ;  and  as  God  has  established  this  course, 
so  he  alone  can  suspend  or  contravene  it.  Magicians,  conjurors, 
necromancers,  devils,  and  those  who  act  under  their  influence,  may 
do  strange  things,  —  things  which  may  seem  to  us  supernatural  and 
unaccountable ;  but  they  cannot  perform  proper  miracles.  This 
is  the  prerogative  of  God  alone. 

This  being  premised,  the  case  before  us  may  be  resolved  in 
one  of  two  ways.  Moses  performed  proper  miracles ;  or,  rather, 
God  performed  them  through  his  instrumentality.  And  now,  if 
we  are  to  suppose  that  the  magicians  did  the  same  things,  they  did 
them  as  mere  instruments  m  the  hand  of  God.  God  used  them  as 
his  instruments  in  performing  the  miracles,  that  he  might  the  more 
thorouglily  try  th«  heart  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  more  illustriously  dis- 
play his  own  power  and  glory. 

But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  any  real  miracle  was  performed 
by  the  magicians.  They  did  certain  things  with  their  enchantments^ 
which  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  they  did  not  really  do  them  at 
all.  By  a  sleight  of  hand,  they  seemed  to  do  them.  They  imposed 
upon  the  eyes  of  spectators,  as  jugglers  then  did  all  over  the  East, 
and  as  they  do  in  our  own  times.  We  must  either  make  this  sup- 
position, or  we  must  suppose,  as  I  said,  that  God  wrought  the  mira- 
cles through  their  means,  and  for  some  worthy  end. 

But  to  return  to  the  narrative.     God  next  directs  Moses  and 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  231 

Aaron  to  smite  the  ground  with  their  rod,  that  the  dust  of  it  may 
become  Kce.  They  did  so ;  and  instantly  the  sands  of  Egypt  are 
changed  into  httle  crawling  vermin,  which  our  translators  denomi- 
nate lice.  And  the  lice  swarmed  upon  men  and  beasts  throughout 
all  the  land  of  Egypt. 

The  magicians  now  acknowledge  themselves  outdone.  They 
could  make  frogs,  or  seem  to  make  them  ;  but  they  could  not  make 
lice.  They  went  unto  Pharaoh,  and  told  him  that  they  .were  con- 
vinced. This  is  the  finger  of  God.  Nevertheless,  Pharaoh's  heart 
was  hardened,  and  he  refused  to  let  Israel  go. 

Again,  therefore,  God  makes  his  demand  upon  the  relentless 
monarch:  "Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me;  and,  if 
thou  refuse,  behold,  I  will  send  swarms  of  flies  upon  thee,"  — 
biting,  stinging,  tormenting  flies,  —  "  and  they  shall  be  upon  thee 
and  thy  servants,  and  upon  all  thy  people.  But  in  the  land  of 
Goshen,  where  Israel  dwells,  there  shall  be  no  flies."  And, the 
Lord  did  so.  The  flies  came,  and  filled  all  the  houses  in  the  land 
of  Egypt.  But  the  land  of  Goshen  escaped :  none  of  the  flies 
were  there. 

This  judgment  seems  to  have  been  more  astounding  to  the  rebel 
monarch  than  the  preceding.  He  was  afflicted  and  distressed  by 
it.  So  he  called  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  proposed  that  the  peo- 
ple should  hold  a  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  their  God  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  where  they  were.  But  Moses  said,  "  No :  we  cannot  do 
this.  We  shall  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the  Egyptians  unto 
the  Lord  our  God,  and  they  will  stone  us."  Pharaoh  consented, 
therefore,  that  they  should  go  out  of  Egypt.  "  Only,"  said  he, 
"  go  not  far  away.  And  entreat  the  Lord  that  these  tormenting 
flies  may  be  destroyed."  So  Moses  went  out  from  Pharaoh,  and 
prayed  unto  the  Lord ;  and  the  judgment  was  removed.  Still, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  heart  of  Pharaoh  was  hardened,  and 
he  would  not  let  the  people  go. 

In  mercy,  therefore,  God  was  pleased  to  try  him  again :  "  Let 
my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me ;  else  I  will  visit  all  th}'" 
cattle  —  tljy  horses,  thme  asses,  thy  camels,  thine  oxen,  and  thy 
sheep  —  with  a  deadly  murrain :  and,  while  the  disease  shall  be 
upon  all  thy  cattle,  it  shall  not  touch  the  cattle  of  the  Israelites ; 
they  shall  live."  And  all  this  was  verified  on  the  following  day. 
The  cattle  of  Egypt  in  great  multitudes  died;  but  the  flocks  of 
the  Israelites  were  spared  alive. 

Though  Pharaoh  saw  the  general  destruction,  and  must  have 


232  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

been  convinced  that  it  was  the  hand  of  God,  still  he  persisted  in 
his  obstinacy.  He  seemed  determined  to  outbrave  Omnipotence. 
Hence  God  resolves  to  try  him  further. 

He  now  directs  Moses  and  Aaron  to  take  handfuls  of  ashes  from 
the  furnace,  in  the  sight  of  Pharaoh,  and  throw  them  into  the 
air,  to  be  blown  about  everj^where  by  the  winds  of  heaven ;  and, 
wherever  these  ashes  fly,  they  carry  a  fatal  poison  with  them. 
The  bodies  of  the  Egyptians  begin  to  break  out  in  swelling  scabs 
and  ulcers,  and  their  whole  surface  becomes  a  noisome  spring  of 
sores.  So  far  from  resisting  or  counterfeiting  this  torturing  plague, 
the  magicians  themselves  fell  under  it.  The  boils  and  blisters  cov- 
ered them.  In  their  misery,  they  went  to  Pharaoh,  and  warned 
him  not  to  trifle  further  with  the  mighty  power  of  God. 

But  Pharaoh  will  not  listen  either  to  Moses  or  to  them.  His 
heart  is  still  hardened.  So  God.sends  him  another  message:  "Let 
my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me  ;  else  I  will  send  upon  Egypt 
a  terrible  storm  of  hail,  such  as  hath  not  been  from  the  beginning 
even  until  now.  Send,  therefore,  and  shelter  what  of  thy  cattle 
is  left,  that  the  hail  destroy  them  not,"  And  such  of  the  Egyp- 
tians as  feared  the  Lord  gathered  their  cattle  into  houses ;  while 
others  left  them  in  the  field.  And,  on  the  morrow,  the  threatened 
judgment  came.  A  storm  of  thunder,  lightning,  and  hail  burst 
upon  devoted  Egypt, — the  more  terrible  to  the  inhabitants  be- 
cause such  a  scene  had  never  before  been  witnessed  there.  The 
fire  ran  along  the  ground,  and  the  hail  smote  all  that  was  in  the 
field.  It  destroyed  man  and  beast,  and  brake  down  every  herb 
and  tree.  Only  in  the  land  of  Goshen,  where  the  Israelites  dwelt, 
there  was  no  hail. 

Pharaoh  was  now  terribly  frightened.  He  sent  in  haste  for 
Moses  and  Aaron,  and  said,  "  It  is  enough :  the  Lord  is  righteous  ; 
but  I  and  my  people  are  wicked.  Entreat  the  Lord  for  me  that 
there  be  no  more  such  mighty  thunderings  and  hail,  and  I  will  let 
you  go,  and  ye  shall  stay  no  longer."  And  Moses,  though  he  had 
no  great  confidence  in  the  monarch's  promises,  consented  once 
more  to  intercede  on  his  behalf.  In  answer  to  the  prayer  of 
Moses,  the  storm  passed  quickly  over,  the  sky  became  clear,  and 
the  thunder,  the  rain,  and  the  hail  were  stayed.  And  now  what 
does  Pharaoh  do  ?  Does  he  remember  his  promise  to  fulfil  it  ? 
No:  he  sins  yet  more,  and  hardens  his  heart, — both  he  and  his 
servants,  —  and  will  not  let  the  children  of  Israel  go. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

MOSES    AND    HIS    TIMES. CONTINUED. 

IN  our  last  chapter,  we  traced  the  history  of  Moses  through  his 
childhood  and  the  earlier  part  of  his  life  in  Egypt,  and  through 
his  exile  in  the  land  of  Midian,  to  the  time  of  his  return  to  Egypt, 
under  a  commission  from  God,  to  effect  the  deliverance  of  his 
afflicted  people.  We  gave  an  account  of  his  repeated  interviews 
with  Pharaoh,  of  the  miracles  which  were  wrought  before  him,  and 
the  judgments  which  were  inflicted  upon  him  and  his  lanfl,  —  the 
frogs,  the  lice,  the  flies,  the  murrain  upon  his  cattle,  the  boils  and 
blisters  upon  his  people,  the  whole  river  turned  into  blood,  and 
(what  was  more  terrifying  to  the  Egyptians  than  all  the  rest)  the 
dreadful  thunder  and  lightning  and  hail. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  God's  treatment  of  Pharaoh 
was  hard  and  cruel.  I  ask,  on  the  contrary,  was  it  not  forbearing 
and  merciful  ?  Where  shall  we  look  for  such  an  instance  of  for- 
bearance as  in  the  case  before  us  ? 

God  had  raised  up  Pharaoh,  and  blessed  him  with  riches  and 
honor  and  power ;  he  had  placed  him  upon  the  throne  of  per- 
haps the  greatest  kingdom  then  on  the  earth ;  he  had  placed  liis 
people  Israel  for  a  time  in  his  hand;  and  he  had  cruelly,  murder- 
ously, oppressed  them.  God  called  upon  him  repeatedly  to  relax 
the  hard  hand  of  oppression,  and  let  his  people  go,  that  they  might 
serve  him ;  accompanying  the  call,  in  every  instance,  with  the 
most  astounding  miracles,  —  enough  to  convince  any  mortal  that 
the  message  had  come  from  God.  He  extorted  from  Pharaoh 
promise  after  promise,  that,  if  the  inflicted  judgment  could  be  re- 
moved, he  would  let  Israel  go.  And  yet  he  did  not :  he  hardened 
his  heart  yet  more  and  more,  both  he  and  his  servants ;  and  the 
oppressed  Israelites  are  retained.  And  now  what  is  to  be  done  ? 
Will  God  wait  upon  Pharaoh  any  longer,  and  try  him  further  ?  or 
will  he  lift  his  hand  in  vengeance,  and  cut  him  off  ? 

233 


234  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  sequel  shows  that  God's  thoughts  and  ways  are  not  like 
ours.  He  has  a  yet  further  probation  in  reserve  for  cruel  Pharaoh. 
So  he  threatens  liim  with  swarms  of  locusts,  —  one  of  the  most  ter- 
rible inflictions  that  are  ever  visited  upon  the  children  of  the  East. 
They  are  to  cover  the  face  of  the  earth,  so  that  one  cannot 'see  the 
ground  ;  they  are  to  fill  the  houses  of  Pharaoh  and  his  servants, 
and  eat  up  all  that  the  hail  has  left.  This  threat  alarmed  the  ser- 
vants of  Pharaoh,  and  they  entreated  the  hardened  monarch  to 
yield :  "  Knowest  thou  not,  that,  in  tliis  unequal  contest,  Egypt 
is  already  spoiled  ?  "  So  Moses  and  Aaron  are  called  for,  and  a 
compromise  is  attempted.  The  men  of  Israel  may  go  and  serve 
the  Lord ;  but  their  wives  and  children  must  be  left  behind.  But 
to  this  proposal  Moses  will  not  accede.  Hence  he  is  driven  out 
from  the  presence  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  judgment  comes.  God 
causes  an  east  wind  to  blow  all  that  day  and  night ;  and  the  next 
day  the  land  is, covered  and  darkened  with  the  locusts.  Swarm 
after  swarm  comes  up  from  the  east,  and  settles  down  upon  the 
devoted  "Country,  till  not  a  green  thing  is  left  in  all  the  land  of 
Egypt.  And  now  the  same  scene  is  acted  over  as  in  the  former 
instances.  Pharaoh  is  affrighted  and  humbled.  He  confesses  his 
sins,  and  prays  to  be  forgiven :  "  Entreat  the  Lord  only  this  once 
that  he  will  take  away  the  locusts,  and  I  will  let  the  people  go." 
Moses,  therefore,  consents  to  intercede  again ;  and  again  the  judg- 
ment is  removed ;  and  again  Pharaoh's  heart  is  hardened,  that 
he  will  not  let  the  people  go. 

Without  going  to  the  king  with  his  usual  message,  Moses  now 
stretches  out  his  hand  towards  heaven,  and  calls  for  darkness,  —  a 
thick,  impenetrable  darkness,  that  may  be  felt.  And  instantly  the 
orbs  of  heaven  are,  as  it  were,  quenched:  at  any  rate,  they  are 
obscured  and  covered,  so  that  not  a  ray  of  light  from  them,  for 
three  whole  days,  falls  upon  the  desolate  land  of  Egypt.  At  the 
same  time,  there  was  light  in  all  the  dwellings  of  the  children 
of  Israel.  And -now  Pharaoh  is  again  aroused.  He  calls  for  Moses 
and  Aaron,  and  again  tries  to  compound  the  matter  with  them : 
"  You  may  take  your  wives  and  children ;  but  leave  your  flocks 
and  herds  behind."  But,  on  this  point,  Moses  is  inflexible ;  he 
can  make  no  concessions :  "  The  flocks  and  herds  must  go  with  us  ; 
there  shall  not  a  hoof  be  left  behind." 

At  this,  Pharaoh  is  enraged :  he  drives  God's  messengers  from 
him,  and  tells  them  never  to  come  into  his  presence  again  :  "  In 
the  day  that  thou  seest  my  face  again,  thou  shalt  die."    And  Moses 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  235 

answered,    "  Thou  hast   well   spoken  :    I   will   see   thy   face   no 
more." 

Of  the  plagues  of  Egypt  (of  which  some  account  has  been 
given),  it  is  not  enough  to  say  that  they  were  terrific  displays  of 
almighty  power,  attesting,  beyond  controversy,  the  divine  mission 
of  him  at  whose  word  they  were  sent ;  but  they  were  aimed, 
directly  and  designedly,  at  the  idolatries  of  Egypt,  with  a  view  to ! 
bring  them  into  contempt.  For  example,  as  the  Egyptians  were 
worshippers  of  the  Nile,  God  first  turns  it  into  blood  ;  and  then  he 
causes  it  to  breed  myriads  of  fi'ogs  to  annoy  and  disgust  its  stupid 
votaries.  As  they  worshipped  brute  beasts,  and  more  especially 
cattle,  God  sends  swarms  of  flies  to  torment  theu'  divinities,  and  a 
grievous  murrain  to  destroy  them.  Among  the  objects  of  their 
worship  were  also  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Hence,  when  these 
were  eclipsed,  their  divinities  utterly  failed  them.  The  Egyptian 
priests  were  fastidiously  cleanly.  They  were  clad  in  pure  wliite 
linen,  and  shaved  every  part  of  their  bodies  once  in  three  days,  to 
prevent  lice,  or  any  other  impurity,  from  adhering  to  them.  When, 
therefore,  the  whole  dust  of  Egypt  was  turned  into  lice,  swarming 
alike  upon  priest  and  people,  the  worship  of  their  divinities  was 
entirely  suspended,  and  the  magicians  were  constrained  to  confess, 
"  This  is  the  finger  of  God." 

God  had  now  sent  ten  successive  miraculous  plagues  upon  Pha- 
raoh and  his  people  with  a  view  to  humble  them,  and  constrain 
them  to  send  away  the  Israelites.  But  all  had  been  to  no  good 
purpose.  The  Israelites  were  still  in  bondage,  and  the  heart  of 
the  monarch  was  harder  than  ever.  Still  he  is  in  the  hands  of  God ; 
and  the  resources  of  God's  power  and  judgment  are  not  exhausted. 
He  will  send  one  visitation  more,  and  that  shall  be  effectual. 
"  About  midnight,"  saith  the  Lord,  "  I  will  go  out  into  the  midst 
of  Egypt,  and  all  the  first-horn  in  the  land  of  Egypt  shall  die^  from 
the  first-born  of  Pharaoh  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  unto  the  first- 
born of  the  maid-servant  that  is  behind  the  mill,  and  all  the  first- 
born of  beasts.  And  there  shall  be  a  great  cry  throughout  all 
the  land  of  Egypt ;  but  against  any  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall 
not  a  dog  move  his  tongue.  And  the  Egyptians  shall  come  down 
unto  thee,  and  bow  themselves  before  thee,  saying.  Get  thee  out, 
and  all  the  people  that  follow  thee  ;  and  after  that  shall  ye  go 
out." 

Such  was  the  revelation  made  beforehand  unto  Moses :  and,  in 
preparation  for  its  fulfilment,  the  Israelites  were  directed  to  go  out 


236  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

among  the  Eg}^tians,  and  ask  of  them  favors, — presents,  valuable 
gifts,  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of  gold  ;  for  God  would  not  suffer 
his  people  to  go  out  from  their  hard  toil  and  service  empty-handed. 
And  the  Lord  gave  the  people  favor  in  the  sight  of  the  Egyptians, 
forasmuch  as  the  man  Moses  was  very  great  in  the  land,  —  in  the 
sight  of  Pharaoh  and  all  his  servants.  And  the  Eg}"ptians  gave  to 
the  children  of  Israel  whatsoever  they  asked ;  insomuch  that  it  is 
said  of  them,  "  They  spoiled  the  Egyptians." 

Our  translators  represent  that  the  Israelites  borrowed  of  the 
Eg}^tians,  under  a  promise  to  return  what  was  lent.  But  such  is 
not  the  sense  of  the  original ;  at  least,  not  necessarily.  The  words 
/  translated  horrotv  and  lend  may  as  well  be  rendered  ask  and  give. 
There  is  no  intimation  in  the  original  of  any  fraudulent  design  on 
the  part  of  the  Israehtes. 

The  Lord  directed  Moses  to  do  another  thing  in  preparation  for 
the  coming  judgment.  Every  household  in  Israel  was  to  take  a 
lamb  of  a  jeax  old,  without  blemish ;  and  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
the  month,  at  even,  the  lamb  was  to  be  slain.  He  was  then  to  take 
of  the  blood  of  the  lamb,  and  sprinkle  the  door-posts  of  liis  house ; 
and  the  blood  upon  the  door-posts  was  to  be  a  sign  to  the  destroy- 
ing angel  that  he  might  pass  over  the  houses  where  it  was 
sprinkled,  and  not  enter  into  them  to  destroy.  And  as  to  the  flesh 
of  the  lamb,  they  were  to  roast  it,  and  eat  it  that  very  night  with 
unleavened  bread  and  with  bitter  herbs ;  and  so  much  of  it  as 
was  not  eaten  that  night  was  to  be  burned  in  the  fire. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Passover^  —  the  most  solemn  annual 
festival  of  the  Jews,  —  first  observed  on  the  night  in  which  they 
went  out  of  Egypt,  and  observed  ever  afterward  on  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  first  month.*  It  was  to  be  kept  seven  days,  during  all 
which  time  no  leaven  was  to  be  found  in  their  houses,  and  no  ser- 
vile work  was  to  be  done. 

The  people,  having  received  these  injunctions,  commenced  mak- 
ing their  preparations  accordingly.  On  the  evening  of  the  four- 
teenth day,  the  paschal  lambs  were  slain,  the  door-posts  were 
sprinkled,  tlie  flesh  was  roasted,!  the  unleavened  bread  was  mixed, 
and  all  things  were  got  in  readiness,  according  to  the  command- 
ment.    And  now  the  impending  judgment  fell.     At  midnight,  the 

*  The  month  Abib,  or  Nisan,  answering  to  a  part  of  our  JIarch  and  April.  The  Passover 
was  on  the  first  fnll  moon  after  the  equinox. 

t  The  ancient  form  of  roasting  the  lamb  was  on  a  crucifwm  wOoden  spit ;  making  it  an  em- 
blem, without  intending  it,  of  the  Lamb  of  God  upon  the  cross. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  237 

angel  of  the  Lord  smote  all  the  first-born  of  Egypt,  both  men  and 
beasts,  from  Pharaoh  down  to  his  meanest  servant.  There  was 
not  a  house  of  the  Egyptians  in  which  there  was  not  one  dead. 

And  Pharaoh  rose  up  in  haste,  he  and  his  servants ;  for  there 
was  great  distress,  and  a  great  cry  everywhere.  And  Pharaoh 
called  for  Moses  and  Aaron  by  night,  and  said  unto  them,  "  Rise 
up,  and  get  you  forth  from  among  my  people,  and  take  with  you 
your  wives  and  your  children,  your  flocks  and  your  herds,  and  all 
that  ye  have ;  and  go  serve  the  Lord  as  ye  have  said."  The 
Eg}'ptians,  also,  were  urgent  upon  the  people,  that  they  might  send 
them  out  of  the  land  in  haste ;  for  they  said,  "  We  be  all  dead 
men."  And  the  Lord  gave  his  people  favor  in  the  sight  of  the 
Egyptians ;  and  they  gave  unto  them  silver  and  gold  and  raiment,  — 
all  that  they  desired. 

And  the  children  of  Israel,  improving  the  favorable  moment, 
commenced  their  journey  out  of  Egypt  immediately.  They  took 
their  dough  before  it  was  leavened,  with  their  kneading-troughs 
and  clothes  upon  their  shoulders ;  and  as  all  things  had  been 
got  in  readiness  previously,  by  the  command  of  Moses,  they  en- 
tered upon  their  march  at  once.  The  place  of  their  departure  was 
Rameses,  in  the  land  of  Goshen  ;  and,  travelling  in  a  south-east 
direction  about  tAventy  miles,  they  encamped  at  Succoth.* 

The  number  which  left  Egypt  were  six  hundred  thousand  foot- 
men, besides  women  and  children,  and  a  mixed  multitude  which 
went  out  with  them.  In  all,  they  could  not  have  been  much  less 
than  two  millions.  They  took  also  their  flocks  and  herds,  which 
were  very  numerous.  Here,  then,  was  a  vast  cavalcade  —  a  vast 
collection  of  human  beings  and  brute  beasts,  to  be  started  on  a 
sudden,  at  the  dead  of  night  —  to  be  marched  out  into  the  desert, 
they  hardly  knew  whither.  But  then  they  had  an  experienced 
and  divinely-commissioned  leader  ;  and,  what  was  infinitely  better, 
they  had  the  infallible  guidance  of  their  covenant  God.  He  went 
before  them  in  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  and  of  fire  by  night ;  so 
that,  in  following  him,  they  could  not  mistake  the  path  of  duty 
or  of  safety. 

It  has  been  objected,  that  the  children  of  Israel,  during  the  two 
hundred  and  fifteen  years  of  their  abode  in  Egypt,  could  not  have 
increased  from  seventy  souls  to  the  number  of  from  one  to  two 

*  The  exode  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt  is  obscurely  mentioned  by  Manetho.     He  spealis    \ 
of  Moses  by  name  as  a  leader  in  it.  —  See  RawUnson' s  Evidences,  p.  74. 


238  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

millions ;  but  a.  moment's  thought  will  satisfy  us  that  there  is  no 
ground  for  this  objection. 

In  the  first  place,  Joseph  charged  his  brethren  to  bring,  not  only 
their  father,  but  their  households,  with  them  into  Egypt.*  These 
households  included,  in  addition  to  their  wives  and  children,  their 
laborers  and  servants.  How  many  servants  there  were,  we  are  not 
informed ;  f  but  the  males  among  them  had  all  been  circumcised, 
and  they  were  considered  as  belonging  to  the  people  of  God.  But, 
not  to  insist  on  this  consideration,  we  are  told  that  the  children 
of  Israel  "  were  fruitful,  and  increased  abundantly,  and  waxed 
exceeding  mighty;  so  that  the  land  was  filled  with  them."  It  is 
not  supposed  that  any  miracle  of  multiplication  took  place  ;  for  none 
was  needed.  Only  allow  that  they  were  uncommonly  blessed  in  this 
respect,  that  their  children  were  numerous  and  healthy,  that  they 
married  young,  and  constituted  fruitful  families  (each  one  for  him- 
self), and  the  supposed  difficulty  disappears. 

I  know  it  was  predicted  that  the  Israelites  should  come  out  of 
Egypt  in  the  fourth  generation ;  but  this  does  not  imply  that  all 
the  families  in  Israel  were  to  be  limited  to  four  generations.  Some 
of  them  would  be  thus  limited,  as  we  know  that  the  family  of 
Moses  was.  There  was  room  in  two  hundred  and  fifteen  years 
for  ten  generations ;  and  some  of  them,  probably,  had  as  many  as 
that.  The  family  of  Joshua,  we  know,  had  seven  ;  for  his  geneal- 
ogy is  given,  to  the  seventh  or  eighth  generation,  in  1  Chron.  vii. 
20-27.  Suppose  the  original  seventy  of  the  Israelites  proper 
(constituting  thirty-five  couples)  to  have  averaged  six  generations 
in  two  hundred  and  fifteen  years,  and  that  the  average  increase  in 
each  family,  from  generation  to  generation,  was  six  (and,  consider- 
ing what  is  said  in  the  Scriptures  of  their  fruitfulness,  this  certainly 
is  a  moderate  estimate),  their  whole  number  at  the  time  of  the 
exode  would  be  a  million  six  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  sixty.  If  we  suppose  the  average  increase  in 
each  family  to  have  been  seven,  the  whole  number  would  be  not 
far  from  four  millions. 

Or  the  subject  may  be  illustrated  by  referring,  as  in  a  former 
chapter,  $  to  the  early  settlement  of  our  own  country.  Two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago.  New  England  was  settled  by  a  few  hundreds 

V 

*  See  Gen.  xlv.  18. 

t  Abraham's  household  numbered,  at  one  time,  three  hundred  and  eighteen  souls  (Gen. 
xiv.  14). 

t  See  Chap.  XII. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  239 

of  poor,  persecuted  emigrants  from  the  mother-country ;  and  with- 
out any  uncommon  measure  of  fruitfuhiess,  either  promised  or 
realized,  what  have  they  become  ?  Who  shall  compute  the  number 
of  their  descendants  ?  Could  they  all  be  brought  together,  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  they  woidd  constitute  a  much  larger  company  than 
that  which  was  led  by  Moses  out  of  Egypt. 

Nearly  all  the  objections  urged  by  Bishop  Colenso  and  others  to 
the  statements  in  the  Pentateuch  grow  out  of  the  alleged  multi- 
tude in  the  congregation  of  Israel.  Most  of  the  bishop's  objections 
are  too  silly  and  contemptible  to  require  a  moment's  consideration. 
Others  will  be  briefly  noticed. 

Bishop  Colenso  has  much  difficulty  with  the  institution  of  the 
Passover,  on  supposition  that  the  number  in  Israel  was  as  great  as 
Moses  represents ;  for  how  could  notice  be  given  to  two  millions 
of  people  in  one  day  to  kill  and  roast  the  paschal  lamb,  and  sprinkle 
their  door-posts  with  the  blood,  and  be  ready  to  commence  their 
march  at  midnight  ?  And  where  were  they  to  get  a  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  lambs,  which  would  be  needed  for  the  sacrifice  ? 

To  all  this  we  answer,  The  people  had  long  had  the  promise,  that, 
in  a  little  time,  they  should  be  led  out  of  Egypt.  They  had  been 
expecting  it,  and  getting  every  thing  in  readiness  for  it.  They  had 
been  told,  at  least  four  days  previous  to  the  Passover  night,  what 
was  coming,  and  had  been  directed  to  take  their  lambs,  and  to  have 
them  ready.*  And,  as  to  the  number  of  lambs  required,  we  know 
that  they  abounded  in  cattle  and  sheep.  They  had  been  shepherds 
during  their  whole  residence  in  Egypt ;  and  their  flocks  and  herds 
must  have  been  very  numerous.  The  loss  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  lambs,  if  so  many  were  needed,  would  not  be  felt. 

Bishop  Colenso  supposes  that  the  six  hundred  thousand  footmen 
of  Israel  went  out  of  Egypt  armed;  and  incredulously  asks,  "  Where 
did  their  arms  come  from  ?  "  But  it  is  nowhere  said  that  this  great 
'multitude  were  armed  when  they  went  out  of  Egypt.  It  is  said 
in  our  translation  that  they  "  went  up  harnessed  out  of  Egypt ; " 
which  only  implies  that  they  went  in  military  order,  rank  and  file, 
and  not  as  a  confused  rabble.  They  had  arms  in  the  wilderness, 
or  some  of  them  had  ;  and  these  they  may  have  procured,  as  Jose- 
phus  intimates,  by  stripjDing  the  dead  bodies  of  the  Egyptians  who 
were  drowned  in  the  sea.f 

The  bishop's  next  difficulty  is  with  the  march  of  the  two  mil- 

*  See  Exod.  xii.  3-6.  f  Antiq.,  book  ii.  chap.  16,  sect.  6. 


240  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

lions  of  Israelites  from  Rameses  to  the  Red  Sea.  He  supposes 
them  to  have  been  aroused  suddenly  at  or  near  midnight,  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month.  They  eat  what  they  can  of 
the  lamb,  and  burn  the  rest.  They  rush  out  among  their  Egyptian 
neighbors  to  beg  or  borrow  of  them  for  the  journey.  They  clutch 
every  thing  as  it  is,  —  their  dough  before  it  is  leavened,  their  knead- 
ing-troughs  and  clothes,  —  and  hasten  away  before  the  morning. 
Their  train  extends  for  miles  in  length,  and,  with  their  flocks  and 
herds,  for  many  miles. 

It  is  easy  to  multiply  difficulties  in  a  case  like  this ;  and  the 
bishop  seems  intent  upon  hunting  and  increasing  them.  As  before 
remarked;  the  Israelites  had  been  expecting  to  go  for  weeks,  per- 
haps for  months,  and  had  been  preparing  for  the  journey.  Four 
days  before,  they  were  told  to  have  their  lambs  in  readiness,  and 
told  when  to  kill  them.  On  the  night  of  the  14th,  they  had 
probably  been  up  all  night  awaiting  the  summons ;  and,,  when  it 
came,  they  were  soon  in  their  places  under  their  respective  leaders, 
and  ready  for  the  march.  Those  who  were  not  at  Rameses  would 
join  the  company  on  the  way ;  those  who  had  charge  of  the  flocks 
were  also  in  readiness  ;  and  all  were  in  successful  motion  before  the 
morning.  Probably  no  army  was  ever  in  a  better  condition  to  start 
at  a  moment's  warning  than  were  these  Israelites  when  they  went 
out  of  Egypt.* 

Bishop  Colenso  finds  a  difficulty  respecting  the  support  of  the 
sheep  and  cattle  of  the  Israelites  during  their  sojourn  in  the  wil- 
derness :  "  The  people  were  fed  with  quails  and  manna :  but  what 
did  the  flocks  eat  ?  and  how  was  it  possible  for  such  droves  of 
them  to  be  supported  ? "  That  the  country  through  which  the 
Israelites  passed  was  cliiefly  barren,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  for 
Moses  himself  has  so  described  it :  and  yet  it  was  not  all  barren. 
It  was  capable  of  sustaining,  somehow,  a  very  considerable  popula- 
tion. It  was  into  this  country  that  Abraham  sent  Ishmael  and  the 
sons  of  Keturah ;  and  here  they  and  their  posterity  lived.  Here, 
also,  dwelt  the  Edomites  and  the  Amalekites.  Here  Moses  kept 
the  flocks  of  Jethro  at  the  time  when  he  was  summoned  for  the 
deliverance  of  his  people.  Here  the  Arabs  have  had  their  resi- 
dence through  all  the  intervening  ages  to  the  present  time.  These 
facts  go  to  show  that  there  was  pasturage  in  the  deserts  at  the  time 


.  *  It  is  recorded  in  Bell's  History  of  Russia,  vol.  ii.,  that  four  hundred  thousand  Tartars 
\  retreated,  in  a  single  night,  from  the  confines  of  Russia  into  their  own  native  deserts,  near  the 
j  close  of  the  last  century. 


■      MOSES   AND    HIS  TIMES.  241 

w-lien  the  Israelites  passed  through  them,  —  as  much,  perhaps,  as 
they  needed  for  their  flocks  and  herds.*  They  suffered  sometimes 
for  water ;  and,  when  it  could  be  procured  in  no  other  way,  it  was 
miraculously  furnished  from  the  smitten  rocks. 

While  the  Israelites  were  at  the  foot  of  Sinai,  the  year  after  their 
departure  from  Egypt,  God  required  that  all  the  first-born  of  the 
males  which  had  come  into  the  world  during  the  year  should  be 
numbered  ;  and  the  number  of  them  was  twenty-two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-three.  Bishop  Colenso  thinks  this  number 
much  too  large,  even  supposing  the  congregation  to  have  been  two 
millions  ;  but  it  is  not  necessarily  so.  Suppose  the  congregation 
to  be  two  millions  (half  males  and  half  females),  constituting 
a  million  of  couples  ;  suppose  one  in  every  ninety  of  these  to  have 
been  married  during  the  year,  and  to  have  had  a  son  (and  this, 
surely,  is  not  an  extravagant  supposition),  —  and  we  have  the  num- 
ber required.  Or  if  one-half  of  the  first-born  were  females,  then 
supposmg  one  in  every  forty-five  to  have  been  married,  and  to 
have  had  a  son,  and  the  number,  as  before,  would  be  complete. 

But  enough  of  objections.  Let  us  return  to  the  narrative. 
When  the  Israelites  had  fairly  entered  upon  their  journey,  and  had 
come  to  their  first  encampment,  the  Lord  took  occasion  to  renew 
upon  them  the  institution  of  the  Passover,  to  be  observed  religiously 
in  all  generations.  This  was  not  only  a  commemorative  ordinance, 
designed  to  keep  in  mind  their  deliverance  from  Egypt,  but  it  also 
had  an  omvard  aspect.  It  was  a  ti/pe,  and  is  so  spoken  of  in 
numerous  Scriptures,  — a  type  of  the  deHverance  of  all  true  behevers 
from  a  worse  than  Egyptian  bondage,  —  from  the  hard  bondage  of 
sin,  and  the  slavery  of  the  Wicked  One.  It  was  as  answering  to 
the  paschal  lamb  that  our  Saviour  is  so  often  called  "  the  Lamb  of 
God."     Christ  is  also  called  "  our  Passover,  slain  for  us." 

There  was  another  injunction  laid  upon  the  Israelites  in  connec- 
tion with  their  deliverance  fi-om  Egypt.  As  all  the  first-born  i^i 
Israel  were  spared  when  the  first-born  in  Egypt  were  destroyed, 
God  claimed,  henceforth,  the  first-born  of  Israel,  as,  in  a  peculiar 
sense,  his  own.  The  first-born  of  clean  beasts  were  to  be  offered 
up  in  sacrifice ;  while  the  first-born  of  unclean  beasts  and  of  men 
were  to  be  redeemed  by  other  offerings.  Thus  our  Saviour,  who 
was  the  first-born  of  his  mother,  was  redeemed  by  the  offering  of 
"  two  turtle-doves  or  two  young  pigeons  "  (Luke  ii.  24). 

*  All  accounts  go  to  show  that  the  deserts  between  Egypt  and  Palestine  were  far  less  barren 
in  the  time  of  Moses  than  they  are  now. 
16 


242  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.  • 

"When  the  Israelites  left  Egypt,  it  was  wisely  ordered  that  they 
should  not  go  up  to  Canaan  the  nearest  way,  as  this  would  have 
led  them  through  the  land  of  the  PhiHstines,  and  involved  them, 
necessarily,  in  bloody  and  destructive  wars.  God  preferred, 
rather,  to  lead  them  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea.  They  took  the 
bones  of  Joseph  with  them. 

I  have  said  that  their  first  encampment  was  at  Succoth,  a  name 
signifying  "booths,"  or  "  tents  ;  "  and  from  this  circumstance  arose 
one  of  the  annual  festivals  in  Israel,  —  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  — 
that  "  all  their  generations  might  know  that  the  Lord  made  them 
to  dwell  in  booths  when  he  brought  them  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt."* 

From  Succoth,  the  Israelites  pursued  their  journey  eastward, 
unto  Etham,  on  the  border  of  the  desert,  near  the  Red  Sea.  From 
this  point,  instead  of  going  directly  forward  j:ound  the  northern 
extremity  of  what  is  now  Suez,  into  Arabia,  they  were  directed  to 
turn  southward,  and  encamp  at  Pihahiroth,  between  Migdol  and 
the  sea.  This  must  Have  seemed  a  strange  movement  to  the  un- 
believing in  Israel,  as  it  certainly  was  to  Pharaoh  and  his  people, 
who  constantly  kept  their  spies  upon  them  ;  for,  when  Pharaoh 
learned  what  course  the  fugitives  had  taken,  he  said  at  once, 
"  The  wilderness  hath  hedged  them  in :  they  are  entangled  in  the 
wilderness.  Up,  let  us  pursue  after  them,  and  bring  them  back." 
So  he  mustered  all  his  chariots  and  horsemen,  and  madly  rushed 
forth  in  pursuit  of  the  Israelites. 

It  is  repeatedly  said  in  this  connection,  as  it  had  been  in  previous 
instances,  that  the  Lord  hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh.  It  is 
said  as  frequently,  that  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own  heart.  How  are 
these  passages  to  be  understood  ?  How  is  the  seeming  discrepancy 
to  be  reconciled  ?  I  answer,  Pharaoh  hardened  liis  own  heart  by 
voluntarily  making  promises  and  breaking  them ;  by  voluntarily 
pursuing  a  course,  which,  as  men  are  constituted,  tended,  of  neces- 
sity, to  harden  his  heart.  God  may  be  said  to  have  hardened  his 
heart,  —  not  by  physical  force  or  a  special  agency,  or  by  interfering 
in  any  way  with  Pharaoh's  freedom,  but  by  continuing  him  in 
being,  in  the  exercise  of  all  his  faculties  and  powers,  and  by  con- 
tinuing in  regular  operation  all  those  laws  of  matter  and  of 
mind,  under  the  influence  of  which,  as  Pharaoh  was  acting.,  his 
heart  must  become  dreadfully  hard.  Such  a  result  could  not 
have  been  prevented  but  by  a  miracle,  which  God  was  under  no 

*  Lev.  xxiii.  43. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  243 

obligations  to  perform.  In  tliis  view  of  the  ca^e,  the  two  represen- 
tations are  perfectly  harmonious.  Pharaoh  hardened  his  own 
heart  voluntarily,  —  by  his  voluntary  persistency  in  sin ;  and  God 
hardened  it  providentially,  —  by  continuing  him  under  his  provi- 
dential control,  and  not  interposing  to  prevent  the  natural  conse- 
quences of  his  own  obstinacy  and  wickedness. 

But  to  return  to  the  Israelites,  encamped  before  Pihahiroth,  on 
the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea.  When  the  unbelieving  in  Israel  learned 
that  the  Egyptians  were  pursuing  them,  and  were  close  upon  them, 
they  were  greatly  terrified,  and  began  at  once  to  murmur  against 
Moses  and  against  God :  "  Because  there  were  no  graves  in 
Egypt,  hast  thou  taken  us  away  to  die  in  the  wilderness? 
Wherefore  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us  to  bring  us  forth  out 
of  Egypt  ?  "  But  Moses  said  unto  the  people,  "  Fear  not :  stand 
still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord  which  he  will  show  you  to- 
day ;  for  as  to  the  Egyptians,  of  whom  ye  are  afraid,  ye  shall  see 
their  faces  no  more  forever." 

And  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand  over  the  sea,  and  the  Lord 
caused  the  sea  to  go  back  by  a  strong  east  wind  all  that  night,  and 
the  waters  were  divided.  And  the  children  of  Israel  went  into  the 
midst  of  the  sea  upon  dry  ground ;  and  the  waters  were  a  wall 
unto  them  upon  the  right  hand  and  the  left.*  And  the  Egyptians 
pursued  after  them  into  the  midst  of  the  sea,  not  seeming  to  know 
whither  they  went ;  for  the  pillar  of  cloud  which  stood  between 
them  and  Israel  was  light  to  the  latter,  but  thick  darkness  unto 
them.  And  as  it  di'ew  towards  morning,  and  the  Israelites  were 
all  safely  landed  on  the  eastern  side,  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand 
agam  over  the  sea,  and  the  divided  waters  returned  unto  their 
place,  and  whelmed  the  Egyptian  army  in  one  common  ruin. 
There  remained  not  so  much  as  one  of  them  to  tell  of  the  destruc- 
tion which  had  come  upon  them.  And,  wlien  the  sun  arose,  the 
Israelites  saw  their  dead  bodies  drifting  upon  the  shore. 

No  wonder  that  there  was  now  great  rejoicing  in  the  camp  of 
Israel.  No  wonder  that  the  people  shouted,  and  sang  that  tri- 
umphal song  recorded  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Exodus  :  "I  will 
sing  unto  the  Lord ;  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously :  the  horse 
and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea.  The  Lord  is  my 
strength  and  my  song ;   and  he  is  become  my  salvation." 

*  According  to  Josephus  and  Philo,  the  passage  of  the  sea  was  attended  by  a  storm  of  ram 
and  thunder;  and  we  learn  as  much  from  Ps.  Ixxvii.  17:  "  The  clouds  poured  out  water;  the 
skies  sent  out  a  sound;  Thine  arrows  also  went  abroad." 


244  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

There  has  been  much  speculation  as  to  the  particular  part  of  the 
Red  Sea  over  which  the  Israelites  crossed ;  but  this  cannot  now 
be  certainly  ascertained.*  We  only  know  that  it  was  near  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  western  arm  of  the  sea, — probably  a  few 
miles  south  of  Suez.  Here  the  sea  is  narrow,  —  not  more  than 
two  or  three  miles  over,  —  and  could  easily  have  been  crossed  in 
a  single  night. 

There  has  been  a  difference  of  opinion,  too,  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  sea  was  divided.  Some  think  that  there  was  no  proper 
mbacle  in  the  case  ;  that  the  east  wind  drove  back  the  waters  so 
as  to  leave  a  fording-place  dry.  But  this  does  not  fully  answer  to 
the  description  of  the  sacred  writer,  or  to  the  magnitude  of  the 
event  as  referred  to  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible.  We  know  that 
the  east  wind  drove  back  the  waters,  so  as  to  relieve  the  difficulty 
of  the  passage,  in  part ;  but  we  also  know  that  the  waters  were 
divided,  and  stood  up  as  a  wall  on  either  side  of  the  Israelites.! 
Here,  then,  was  a  glorious  manifestation  of  the  mighty,  miraculous 
power  of  God  for  the  deliverance  of  his  people  and  the  overthrow 
of  his  incorrigible  enemies  ;  and  so  the  event  is  everywhere  spoken 
of  and  celebrated  by  the  sacred  writers. 

Leaving  the  Red  Sea,  Moses  marched  his  people  eastward,  three 
days'  journey,  into  the  Desert  of  Shur ;  and  they  found  no  water. 
And  when  they  came  to  the  fountains  at  Marah  they  could  not 
drink  of  them  ;  for  they  were  bitter.  So  the  people  began  to  mur- 
mur, saying,  "  What  shall  we  drink  ?  "  And  Moses  cried  unto  the 
Lord ;  and  the  Lord  showed  him  a  tree,  from  which  he  took  a 
branch,  and  cast  it  into  the  waters ;  and  they  were  sweet. 

The  next  remove  of  the  Israelites  was  in  a  south-easterly  direc- 
tion, unto  Elim,  where  were  twelve  fountains  of  pure  water,  and 
threescore  and  ten  palm-trees, — a  delightful  place  for  their  en- 
campment. Yet  they  tarried  not  long  to  enjoy  it ;  but,  pursuing 
/ 

*  A  missionary  from  the  East,  who  sailed  up  the  Eed  Sea,  from  Babelmandel  to  Suez,  in 
the  summer  of  1868,  thinks  he  has  discovered  the  place  where  the  Israelites  crossed.  A  few 
miles  south  of  Suez,  on  the  west  side  of  the  sea,  he  discovered  two  mountains,  each  about 
a  thousand  feet  high,  jutting  down  to  the  sea,  and  running  back  westward  towards  Egypt. 
Between  these  high  ridges  is  a  plain,  about  half  a  mile  wide,  touching  also  upon  the  sea.  •  The 
missionary  (Mr.  Cross)  thinks  that  these  two  mountains  may  have  been  the  ancient  Migdol  and 
Baal-Zephon,  and  the  plain  the  Pihahiroth,  on  which  the  Israelites  were  encamped,  and  from 
which  they  entered  the  channel  of  the  sea.  The  sea  is  here  about  five  miles  in  breadth.  —  See 
Watchman  and  Reflector  for  Dec.  3,  1868. 

t  See  Exod.  xiv.  22 ;  Ps.  Ixxviii.  13.  Diodorus  says  that  "  the  native  inhabitants  of  this 
region  had  a  tradition,  from  the  earliest  ages,  that  once  the  Red  Sea  was  divided;  and,  after 
leaving  its  bottom  for  some  time  dry,  it  returned  again  with  great  fury." 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  245 

a  south-easterly  course,  they  came  again  upon  the  shore  of  the 
Red  Sea.  From  this  point  they  travelled  due  east  into  what  was 
called  the  Wilderness  of  Sin. 

A  full  month  had  now  elapsed  since  the  children  of  Israel  came 
out  of  Egypt ;  and  the  provisions  which  they  brought  with  them 
were  consumed.  And  what  were  they  to  do  ?  .  In  a  dry  and  bar- 
ren desert,  how  were  these  two  millions  of  people  to  be  fed  ?  The 
faithless  among  them  regarded  their  case  as  hopeless,  and  began  to 
murmur  and  complain  :  "  Why  have  ye  brought  up  this  great  mul- 
titude into  the  wilderness  to  kill  them  here  with  hunger  ?  Would 
to  God  that  we  had  lived  and  died  in  Egypt,  where  we  sat  by  the 
flesh-pots,  and  did  eat  bread  to  the  full ! "  Then  the  Lord  said 
unto  Moses,  "  Behold,  I  will  rain  bread  from  heaven  for  you  ;  and 
the  people  shall  go  out  and  gather  a  supply  of  it  day  by  day.  Let 
none  of  it  be  kept  over  from  one  day  to  another,  except  on  the 
sixth  day,  when  ye  shall  gather  twice  as  much  as  on  any  other  day ; 
for  on  the  seventh  day,  the  sabbath,  it  shall  not  be  found."  This 
is  the  first  express  mention  of  the  weekly  sabbath,  from  the  time 
of  its  institution  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  We  have  much  reason  to 
suppose,  however,  that  it  was  observed  by  the  patriarchs,  since  we 
know  that  they  divided  their  tune  into  weeks  of  seven  days.  The 
sabbath  is  referred  to  here,  not  as  a  new  institution,  but  as  one 
already  known,  and  in  accordance  with  wliich  the  supply  of  manna 
was  to  be  regulated. 

At  tliis  time,  God  manifested  himself  in  visible  glory  to  the  con- 
gregation of  Israel,  reproved  their  murmurings,  and  promised  them 
not  only  bread,  but  flesh  to  eat.  And  in  the  evening  vast  multi- 
tudes of  quails  made  their  appearance,  and  covered  the  camp ;  and 
the  people  took  of  them  as  many  as  they  needed.  And  in  the 
morning,  when  the  dew  was  dried  up,  small  particles  of  something 
— they  knew  not  what — covered  all  the  face  of  the  ground.  And, 
when  the  people  saAV  it,  they  said,  '■'Manhu"  —  "  What  this  ?  "  From 
this  circumstance,  the  substance  seems  to  have  been  called  manna. 
The  color  of  it,  we  are  told,  was  white,  like  coriander-seed ;  and 
the  taste  of  it  was  like  that  of  wafers  made  with  honey.  And 
Moses  said,  "  This  is  the  bread  which  the  Lord  hath  given  unto 
you.  Gather  it,  every  one  according  to  his  necessities ;  but  let 
none  of  it  be  left  until  the  morning." 

The  quails  which  were  sent  at  this  time  seem  to  have  been  but 
a  temporary  provision.  So  many  of  them  as  were  not  taken  and 
destroyed,  soon  flew  away.    At  a  later  period,  the  quails  descended 


246  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

upon  the  camp  of  Israel  again,  and  tarried  about  it  for  a  month. 
But  the  manna  which  was  now  given  was  a  permanent  provision. 
It  continued  to  be  dispensed,  day  by  day,  for  forty  years,  until  the 
people  arrived  at  the  promised  land. 

In  commemoration  of  this  wonderful  supply  of  bread,  God  com- 
manded Moses  to  take  a  pot,  and  fill  it  with  manna,  and  lay  it  up 
for  a  witness  to  coming  generations,  that  they  might  learn  the 
goodness  of  God,  and  never  distrust  his  providential  care. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

MOSES    AND    HIS    TIMES. CONTINUED. 

IN  our  last  chapter,  we  followed  the  congregation  of  Israel  until 
their  escape  from  Egypt,  their  final  deliverance  from  Pharaoh, 
and  the  commencement  of  their  wanderings  in  the  Arabian  deserts. 
We  left  them  in  what  was  called  the  Wilderness  of  Sin,  where  the 
manna  began  to  be  furnished,  and  they  were  supplied  with  bread. 

From  the  Wilderness  of  Sin,  the  people  pursued  their  journey 
eastward,  stopping  first  at  Dophkah,  and  then  at  Alush,  and  then 
at  Rephidim.  At  this  latter  place,  they  were  again  in  distress  for 
want  of  water.  And  they  went  to  Moses  in  impatience  and  unbe- 
lief, and  said,  "  Wherefore  hast  thou  brought  us  up  out  of  Egypt 
to  kill  us  and  our  children  and  our  cattle  with  thirst?  Give  us 
water,  that  we  may  drink."  And  Moses  said  unto  them,  "  Why 
do  ye  chide  with  me  ?  and  wherefore  do  ye  thus  tempt  the  Lord  ?  " 
And  Moses  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  "  What  shall  I  do  ?  for 
this  people  be  ready  to  stone  me."  And  the  Lord  commanded 
Moses  to  gather  the  people  unto  the  rock  Horeb,  and  in  their  pres- 
ence to  smite  the  rock  with  his  rod.  And  he  did  so  ;  and  water  in 
abundance  poured  forth  from  the  smitten  rock,  and  the  wants  of 
the  people  were  supplied. 

While  the  Israelites  were  at  Repliidim,  the  Amalekites  came 
upon  them  with  an  army,  and  fought  against  them.  These  Amalek- 
ites were  a  wandering  tribe,  who  lived  in  the  deserts,  subsisting, 
like  the  Bedouins  of  our  day,  in  part  by  plunder.  They  had 
watched  the  movements. of  this  great  company  just  coming  out  of 
Egypt,  and  hoped  that  they  might  be  an  easy  prey.  But  Moses 
directed  Joshua  —  of  whom  we  now  hear  for  the  first  time,  and 
who  was,  by  common  consent,  generalissimo  of  the  armies  of  Israel 
—  to  collect  an  army,  and  go  out  and  fight  against  the  Amalekites ; 
while  he  stood  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  with  the  rod  of  God  in  his 
hand.     And  Joshua  did  as  he  was  commanded.     And  Moses  took 

247 


248  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

his  position  on  a  neighboring  hill  to  pray  for  the  success  of  his 
people.  And  so  it  was,  that,  when  Moses  lifted  up  his  hands, 
Israel  prevailed ;  but,  when  he  let  down  his  hands,  Amalek  pre- 
vailed. And,  lest  the  hands  of  Moses  should  be  heavy  and  weary, 
Aaron  and  Hur  stood  on  either  side  of  him,  and  stayed  them  up.* 
And  Amalek  was  beaten,  and  driven  back  before  the  armies  of 
Israel.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Lord  pronounced  a  curse  upon 
Amalek,  declaring  that  he  should  be  cut  off  from  being  a  people ; 
wliich  curse  was  terribly  executed  in  the  days  of  Saul.f 

While  the  people  abode  at  Rephidim,  another  event  occurred,  of 
great  interest  to  Moses  and  the  whole  congregation.  Jethro,  the 
father-in-law  of  Moses,  who  resided  not  far  from  the  place  of  their 
encampment,  came  unto  them,  bringing  the  wife  and  the  children 
of  Moses ;  $  and  Moses  went  out  to  meet  his  father-in-law,  and 
did  obeisance  unto  him,  and  took  him  into  his  tent.  And  he  told 
him  of  all  that  the  Lord  had  done  unto  Pharaoh  and  the  Egyptians, 
of  the  wonderful  deliverance  of  his  people,  and  what  had  befallen 
them  by  the  way.  And  Jethro  rejoiced,  and  said,  "  Blessed  be  the 
Lord,  who  hath  delivered  you  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians. 
Now  I  know  that  the  Lord  is  greater  than  all  gods ;  for  wherein 
the  Egyptians  dealt  proudly  he  was  above  them."  And  Jethro 
offered  sacrifices  and  a  burnt-offering  unto  the  God  of  Israel ;  and 
all  the  elders  of  Israel  came  and  feasted  with  him  upon  the  sacri- 
fice. We  are  glad  to  record  these  things  of  pious  Jethro,  who  was 
not  only  a  wise  and  faithful  man,  but  a  sincere  worshipper  of  the 
true  God ;  thus  showing  that  true  religion  was  not  yet  wholly 
obliterated  in  the  nations  that  were  not  in  visible  covenant  with 
Jehovah. 

While  Jethro  remained  in  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  he  per- 
formed another  service  for  them  of  great  importance.  Observing 
that  Moses  was  constantly  occupied,  from  morning  till  evening,  in 
hearing  and  deciding  cases  which  came  up  among  the  people,  he 
advised  that  a  series  of  courts  should  be  established,  and  that  only 
the  greater  and  more  difficult  questions  should  be  brought  unto 
Moses :  "  Choose  you  out  of  all  the  people  able  men,  such  as  fear 
God  and  hate  covetousness,  and  place  them  over  the  people,  to  be 

.  *  According  to  Josephus,  Hur  was  the  husband  of  Miriam,  and  brother-in-law  of  Moses  and 
Aaron. 

t  See  1  Sam.  xv. 

I  Of  the  two  sons  of  Moses,  Gershom  and  Eliezer,  we  hear  little  in  the  Bible.  Their  genealo- 
gy is  brought  down,  in  the  Chronicles,  to  the  time  of  David  (1  Chron.  sxvi.  25). 


MOSES  AND   HIS  TIMES.  249 

rulers  of  thousands,  and  rulers  of  hundreds,  and  rulers  of  fifties, 
and  rulers  of  tens  ;  and  let  them  judge  the  people  at  all  seasons. 
And  it  shall  be,  that  every  great  matter  they  shall  bring  unto  thee ; 
but  every  small  matter  they  shall  decide."  This  advice,  so  obvi- 
ously reasonable,  was  accepted  of  Moses  and  of  God;  and  the 
inferior  courts  which  had  been  recommended  were  established. 
The  object  of  his  visit  being  accomplished,  Jethro  returned  to  his 
own  land. 

Leaving  Rephidim,  the  Israelites  pitched  their  tents  on  an 
extended  plain,  directly  at  the  foot  of  the  ancient  Sinai.  Dr.  Rob- 
inson passed  over  this  plain,  and  speaks  of  it  as  admirably  adapted 
to  the  purposes  ascribed  to  it  in  the  Scriptures.*  The  names  Sinai 
and  Horeb  are  used  interchangeably  in  the  sacred  writings.  The 
probability  is,  that  one  of  these  names  (perhaps  Horeb)  was  given 
to  this  whole  cluster  of  mountains ;  while  Sinai  denoted  a  single 
peak. 

As  the  Israelites  were  to  remain  some  considerable  time  at  the 
foot  of  Sinai  to  receive  their  law,  and  with  it  their  civil  and  reli- 
gious institutions,  a  question  of  much  interest  arises:  Had  this 
people  any  organized  civil  government  previous  to  the  giving  of 
the  law  ?  and,  if  so,  what  was  it  ?  We  read  often  of  the  elders 
of  Israel  previous  to  this  time,  and  also  of  their  officers  and  judges. 
Who,  then,  were  these  elders  ?  and  how  appointed  ?  and  what  form 
of  government  prevailed  ? 

The  most  ancient  Hebrew  government,  like  that  of  the  surround- 
ing tribes,  was  patriarchal.  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  governed 
their  households  with  an  authority  well-nigh  unlimited.  They 
acknowledged  no  subjection,  and  owed  no  allegiance,  to  any  higher 
power.  The  twelve  sons  of  Jacob  ruled  their  respective  families 
in  the  same  way.  But,  when  their  descendants  had  become  suffi- 
ciently numerous  to  form  large  tribes,  each  tribe  had  a  prince  or 
ruler  of  its  own,  called  "  the  head  of  the  house  of  his  father ;  "  f 
and,  when  the  tribes  had  increased  to  such  a  degree  as  to  require 
a  more  thorough  supervision,  they  were  divided  into  sections,  or 
clans,  each  of  which  was  subject  to  a  head,  or  chief.  These  subor- 
dinate chiefs  (of  which  there  were  fifty-eight),  together  with  the 
heads  of  the  tribes  (of  which  there  were  twelve),  constituted  the 
seventy  elders  of  Israel.^ 

*  Robinson's  Researches,  vol.  i.  p.  130.  f  See  Num.  i.  4-16. 

t  See  Exod.  xxiv.  1. 


250  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

In  addition  to  these,  there  was  another  class  of  men,  —  a  learned 
class,  —  whose  duty  it  was  to  act  as  readers  and  scribes,  and  to  keep 
the  genealogies  of  the  people.  They  are  called  officers  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  Exodus.  Whether  these  several  ofiices  were  hereditary, 
or  elective,  does  not  certainly  appear ;  but  that  such  were  the 
rulers  of  the  Israelites  under  Pharaoh,  during  the  latter  part  of 
their  abode  in  Egypt,  there  can  be  little  doubt.* 

Of  the  appointment  of  judges,  at  the  suggestion  of  Jethro,  we 
have  just  heard.  These  were  distributed  through  all  the  families 
and  tribes  of  Israel,  and  brought  the  speedy  administration  of  jus- 
tice to  every  man's  door.  These  several  offices  were  many  of  them, 
and  perhaps  all,  elective;  and,  though  there  was  no  pecuniary 
emolument  attached  to  them,  they  conferred  great  dignity  and 
authority  on  those  who  held  them. 

This  original  order  of  things,  which  existed,  in  part,  among  the 
Israelites  previous  to  the  time  of  Moses,  he  did  not  attemjDt  to  dis- 
turb. Other  institutions  were  ingrafted  upon  it,  and  connected 
with  it ;  but  the  order  itself  was  continued  down  to  the  end  of 
the  Jewish  commonwealth. 

Among  the  first  things  done  at  the  foot  of  Sinai  was  the  insti- 
tution of  what  has  been  called  the  theocracy,  or  God's  civil  gov- 
ernment over  the  nation  of  Israel.  He  was  their  sovereign  Creator 
and  Disposer  before  (as  he  is  of  all  creatures),  and  had  a  right  to 
do  with  them  as  he  pleased.  He  was  also  their  covenant  Grod ; 
and  they  were,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  his  covenant  people,  —  his  church. 
But  God  now  proposes  to  become  their  civil  Head  ;  to  give  them  a 
code  of  laws ;  to  set  up  a  civil  government  over  them ;  to  be  (as 
the  prophet  Isaiah  expresses  it)  their  "  Judge,  their  Lawgiver,  and 
their  King"  (Isa.  xxxiii.  22).  He  proposes  that  this  shall  be  done 
with  their  own  consent.  Accordingly,  he  summons  Moses  to  meet 
him  in  the  mount,  and  through  him  makes  the  proposition  to  the 
children  of  Israel.  To  this  the  people,  with  one  accord,  returned 
answer,  "  All  that  the  Lord  hath  spoken  will  we  do,  and  be  obe- 
dient." 

The  next  thing  done  was  to  prepare  the  people  for  a  solemn,  and, 
as  it  were,  personal  interview  with  their  King :  "  Be  ready  against 
the  third  day ;  for  on  the  third  day  the  Lord  will  come  down,  in 
the  sight  of  aU  the  people,  upon  Mount  Sinai.  And  beware  lest 
ye  come  near  the  mount  to  touch  it ;  for  whosoever  toucheth  it 
shall  surely  die." 

*  Exod.  iii.  16-18. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  251 

And  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  there  were  thunders  and 
lightnings,  and  a  thick  cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the  voice  of  the 
trumpet  exceeding  loud ;  so  that  all  the  people  .that  were  in  the 
camp  trembled.*  And  Mount  Sinai  was  altogether  in  a  smoke, 
because  the  Lord  descended  upon  it  in  fire. 

When  God  had  made  this  exhibition  of  himself  to  his  people, 
with  a  view  to  impress  them  with  a  holy  awe,  he  proceeded  to 
thunder  forth  in  an  audible  voice,  from  the  top  of  the  mount,  the 
ten  commandments ;  and  when  the  people  heard  the  thunderings 
and  the  noise  of  the  trumpet,  and  saw  the  lightnings,  and  the  moun- 
tain quaking,  they  removed,  and  stood  afar  off :  and  they  said  unto 
Moses,  "  Speak  thou  with  us,  and  we  will  hear ;  but  let  not  God 
speak  with  us,  lest  we  die." 

The  Lord,  having  thus  established  his  authority  over  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  proceeds  to  give  them,  through  Moses,  a  variety  of 
laws  ;  some  relating  to  his  worship,  but  more  relating  to  their 
social  and  civil  affairs,-  —  their  intercourse,  and  duties  one  towards 
another.  He  also  promises  to  send  his  Angel  before  them,  to  keep 
them  in  the  way,  and  bring  them  into  the  promised  land;  but 
they  must  consent  to  obey  and  follow  him,  and  cautiously  avoid 
all  connection  with  the  idolatries  of  Egypt  and  those  which  were 
practised  round  about  them. 

When  Moses  brought  this  message  to  the  people,  they  answered 
agam  with  one  accord,  "All  that  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do, 
and  be  obedient." 

A  solemn  compact  or  covenant  had  now  been ,  entered  into 
between  God  and  the  people ;  and  Moses  was  resolved  to  confirm 
it,  after  the  usual  patriarchal  manner,  by  sacrifice.  So  he  builded 
an  altar  under  the  hill,  having  twelve  pillars,  according  to  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel ;  and  he  deputed  young  men  to  officiate  as 
priests, — for  the  Levitical  priesthood  was  not  yet  established, — 
who  offered  burnt-offerings  and  peace-offerings  unto  the  Lord. 
And  Moses  took  half  of  the  blood,  and  put  it  in  basins ;  and  he 
sprinkled  the  other  half  upon  the  altar.  He  also  took  the  book  of 
the  covenant,  which  he  had  written  out,  and  read  it-  aloud  in  the 
audience  of  the  people  ;  and  the  people  answered  again  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  over  the  sacrifice,  "  All  that  the  Lord  hath  com- 
manded will  we  do,  and  be  obedient."    Then  Moses  took  the  blood 


*  The  trumpet  here  spoken  of  was  not  made  or  sounded  by  human  means.  It  was  "  the 
voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God,"  pouring  forth  its  notes  of  terror  in  the  burning 
monnt 


252  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

in  the  basins,  and  sprinkled  it  on  the  people,  saying,  "  This  is  the 
blood  of  the  covenant  which  the  Lord  hath  made  with  you." 

By  this  significant  rite,  the  compact  or  covenant  between  God 
and  the  nation  of  Israel  was  most  solemnly  ratified.  They  chose 
the  Lord  God  to  be  their  King,  put  themselves  under  his  direction, 
and  promised  obedience ;  and  he  consented  to  be  their  Ruler,  to  go 
before  them  into  the  promised  land,  and  to  order  all  their  affairs  in 
wisdom  and  goodness. 

This  transaction  being  ended,  God  was  pleased  to  admit  the  rep- 
resentatives of  his  people  to  a  nearer  vision  of  himself.  He  invited 
Moses,  and  Aaron  with  his  two  sons,  and  the  seventy  elders  of 
Israel,  to  come  up  higher  into  the  mount,  where  it  is  said  that 
"  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel  "  (Exod.  xxiv.  10).  They  saw,  I  sup- 
pose, no  distinct  similitude,  but  a  dazzling  brightness,  underneath 
which  was  a  paved  work  as  of  sapphire,  like  .unto  the  body  of 
heaven  in  its  clearness. 

Moses  was  now  called  to  a  longer  waiting  upon  God  in  the 
mount :  and  so,  leaving  the  charge  of  the  people  with  Aaron  and 
Hur,  and  taking  with  him  only  his  lieutenant,  Joshua,  he  went  up 
high  into  the  mount  of  God  ;  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  covered  the 
mount.  And,  having  waited  seven  days,  he  heard  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  calling  him  to  come  up  higher ;  and  he  went  up  alone 
into  the  midst  of  the  cloud,  and  was  there  with  God  forty  days  and 
nights.  In  this  time,  God  gave  him  minute  instructions  respecting 
the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  with 
all  its  appurtenances  and  furniture.  He  directed  him  to  set  apart 
Aaron  and  his  sons  to  the  service  of  the  priesthood.  He  also  gave 
directions  as  to  their  apparel  and  work,  and  how  they  should 
be  consecrated.  He  appointed  two  learned  Israelites — Bezaleel 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  Aholiab  of  the  tribe  of  Dan  —  to  oversee 
the  building  of  the  tabernacle  ;  and  gave  to  Moses  two  tables  of 
stone,  on  which  was  inscribed  with  his  own  finger  the  law  of  the 
ten  commandments. 

While  these  things  were  going  forward  between  God  and  Moses 
in  the  mount,  the  people  on  the  plain  below  became  impatient. 
They  did  not  know  what  had  become  of  their  leader.  They 
affected  to  fear  that  he  had  perished  in  the  mountain.  At  any 
rate,  they  wished  to  be  gone  ;  and  so  they  went  to  Aaron,  and  told 
him  to  make  them  gods  which  should  go  before  them.  And  Aaron 
—  either  from  fear,  or  from  some  worse  motive  —  told  them  to 
break  off  their  golden  ear-rings  and  jewels,  and  bring  them  unto 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  253 

him ;  and  he  took  their  jewels,  and  melted  them  in  a  furnace,  and 
wrought  for  them  a  golden  calf.  And  they  worshipped  before  it, 
and  said,  "  These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel !  which  brought  thee  up  out 
of  the  land  of  Egj^Dt." 

This  strange  transaction  can  be  accounted  for  only  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  people,  during  their  long  residence  in  Egj^t,  had 
become  fearfully  contaminated  with  its  idolatries.  Hence  their 
desire  to  have  an  image  in  shape  like  a  calf,  which  was  one  of  the 
idols  of  Egypt.  Various  suppositions  have  been  made  to  exculpate 
Aaron,  but  I  think  without  success.  If  he  did  not  go  heartily 
into  the  measure,  he  was  afraid  to  oppose  it.  He  assisted  in 
collecting  the  materials,  and  in  casting  the  image ;  and,"  when  it 
was  finished,  he  built  an  altar  before  it,  and  proclauned  a  feast ; 
and  the  people  sat  down  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  rose  up  to  play.* 

Meanwhile,  Moses  was  in  the  mount  wdth  God,  and  knew  not  at 
all  what  was  transacting  on  the  plain  below.  But  God  knew,  and 
failed  not  to  apprise  his  servant  of  the  dreadful  fact :  "  Go,  get 
thee  down ;  for  thj  people  have  corrupted  themselves.  They  have 
turned  quickly  aside  out  of  the  way  which  I  commanded  them. 
They  have  made  them  a  molten  calf,  and  worshipped  it,  and 
offered  sacrifice  before  it.  Now,  therefore,  let  me  alone,  that  my 
wrath  may  wax  hot  against  them,  and  that  I  may  congume  them ; 
and  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation."  But  Moses,  though 
shocked  and  confounded,  as  he  must  have  been,  interceded  most 
earnestly  and  successfully  for  his  guilty  people.  He  pleaded  God's 
promises  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob.  He  pleaded, 
especially,  the  honor  of  the  divine  character  and  name  :  "  Where- 
fore should  the  Egyptians  say.  For  mischief  did  he  bring  forth  the 
children  of  Israel,  to  slay  them  in  the  mountains,  and  to  consume 
them  from  the  face  of  the  earth  ?  " 

The  prayer  of  Moses  was  heard,  and  the  Lord's  anger  was 
stayed.  And  Moses  turned,  and  went  quickly  down  out  of  the 
mount,  with  the  two  tables  of  stone  in  his  hand ;  and  when  he 
drew  near  to  the  camp,  and  saw  the  calf,  and  the  people  singing 
and  dancing  around  it,  he  was  so  fired  with  holy  indignation,  that 
he  threw  down  the  two  tables  of  stone,  and  dashed  them  in  pieces. 

*  It  may  be  doubted  whether,  in  this  transaction,  Aaron,  or  even  the  people,  meant  to 
renounce  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel.  They  rather  thought  to  worship  him,  as 
they  had  been  accustomed  to  do,  by  means  of  an  image.  Hence  Aaron  tells  them,  "  To-morrffw 
is  a  feast  to  Jehovah"  (Exod.  xxxii.  5).  On  this  supposition,  they  broke  the  second  command- 
ment rather  than  the  first. 


254  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

He  then  seized  the  molten  calf,  and  cast  it  into  the  fire.  He 
ground  it  to  powder,  dissolved  it  in  some  chemical  fluid  prepared 
for  the  purpose,  and  made  its  worshippers  di-ink  of  it.  He  next 
called  Aaron  to  an  account  for  what  he  had  done.  Aaron  pleaded 
his  fear  of  the  people,  and  his  inability  to  resist  their  wishes,  but 
not,  probably,  in  a  manner  to  satisfy  liis  brother.  Moses  now  pro- 
claimed in  the  gate  of  the  camp,  "  Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side  ? 
Let  all  such  come  together  unto  me."  And  the  cliildren  of  Levi 
(of  which  tribe  were  Moses  and  Aaron)  came  promptly  forward 
at  the  call  of  their  great  leader.  At  the  command  of  Moses,  they 
took  every  man  his  sword,  and  went  through  the  camp,  slaying  all 
those,  without  distinction,  who  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  this 
revolt  from  God ;  and  there  fell  that  day  about  three  thousand 
men. 

And  Moses  said  unto  the  people,  "  Ye  have  sinned  a  great  sin. 
Nevertheless,  I  will  go  up  again  unto  the  Lord :  peradventure  I 
may  make  an  atonement  for  your  sin."  And  Moses  returned  unto 
the  Lord  in  the  mount,  and  said,  "  Oh !  this  people  have  sinned  a 
great  sin.  They  have  made  them  gods  of  gold,  and  have  wor- 
shipped them.  Yet  now,  if  thou  wilt,  forgive  their  sin ;  but,  if 
not,  blot  me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of  thy  book  which  thou  hast  writ- 
ten." And  the  Lord  said,  "  Whosoever  hath  sinned  against  me, 
him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book.  Go  thou  and  lead  this  people  unto 
the  place  of  which  I  have  spoken.  I  will  not  go  up,  as  before,  in 
the  midst  of  thee  ;  but  my  Angel  shall  go  up  before  thee,  and  bring 
thee  into  the  land  which  I  sware  unto  thy  fathers." 

It  has  been  made  a  question  what  Moses  could  have  meant, 
when  he  prayed,  that,  on  certain  conditions,  he  might  be  blotted 
from  God's  book.  But  the  sense,  we  think,  is  pretty  evident  from 
the  connection.  God  had  said,  "  Let  me  alone,  that  my  anger  may 
burn  against  this  people,  and  that  I  may  consume  them  in  a 
moment ;  and  I  will  spare  thee,  and  will  make  of  thee  a  great 
nation."  But  Moses  says,  "iVo,  no :  I  cannot  consent  to  such  a 
proposition.  If  thou  canst  not  forgive  this  people,  if  thou  art 
determined  to  destroy  them,  then  destroy  me  with  them  :  I  would 
not  be  spared  to  see  their  ruin.  If  they  must  be  consumed,  then, 
I  pray  thee,  consume  us  all  together."  Such,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is 
the  purport  of  the  good  man's  prayer,  evincing  a  most  unquencha- 
ble love  for  his  people, — the  kindness  and  benevolence  of  his  heart. 

*When  the  children  of  Israel  had  come  to  a  sense  of  their  sin, 
they  were  deei)ly  humbled  for  it.      They  mourned,  and  stripped 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  255 

themselves  of  their  ornaments,  and  were  apparently  overwhelmed 
with  sorrow. 

In  consideration  of  what  God  had  said,  that  he  would  hence- 
forth go  before  his  people,  and  not  in  the  midst  of  them,  Moses 
took  one  of  the  tabernacles  (for  the  great  public  tabernacle  was 
not  yet  built),  and  pitched  it  without  the  camp,  at  a  little  distance 
from  it,  and  called  it  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  And  the 
cloudy  pillar  stood  above  it ;  and,  when  Moses  entered  into  the 
tabernacle,  the  pillar  descended,  and  stood  at  the  door.  And  all 
the  people  saw  it ;  and  they  rose  up  and  worshipped  every  one  in 
his  tent-door. 

Things  being  thus  far  adjusted  with  the  congregation  on  the 
plain,  Moses  is  again  summoned  to  meet  God  in  the  mount.  "Hew 
thee  two  tables  of  stone  like  unto  the  first,  and  I  will  write  upon 
them  the  words  that  were  on  the  first  tables  which  thou  didst 
break ;  and  be  ready  in  the  morning,  and  come  up  to  me  in  the 
top  of  Sinai."  And  Moses  prepared  the  tables,  and  went  up  with 
them  into  the  mount;  and  the  Lord  met  him  there,  and  pro- 
claimed his  name  and  his  attributes  thus :  "  The  Lord,  the  Lord 
God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity,  trans- 
gression, and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  cleftr  the  guilty ;  visit- 
ing the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation."  And,  when  Moses  heard  these  words,  he 
made  haste  and  bowed  himself  to  the  earth,  and  worshipped.  He 
commenced  also  interceding  for  his  guilty  people  ;  and  God  prom- 
ised—  on  condition  of  their  future  obedience  in  driving  out  and 
destroying  the  Canaanites,  and  avoiding  all  complicity  with  their 
idolatrous  practices  —  that  he  would  still  go  with  them.  He  took 
the  opportunity  to  repeat  several  laws  which  had  been  before 
enacted,  particularly  those  respecting  the  Passover,  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  first-born,  the  sabbath,  and  the  annual  festivals. 
He  wrote  the  ten  commandments  on  the  tables  which  Moses  had 
brought,  and  dismissed  him  to  go  to  the  congregation  when  he  had 
remained  with  God  another  forty  days.  And  Moses  went  down  to 
the  people  ;  and  his  face  shone  with  a  heavenly  lustre,  so  that  the 
people  were  afraid  to  approach  him.  And  he  was  constrained  to 
put  a  veil  on  his  face  except  when  he  went  into  the  tabernacle  of 
the  Lord. 

Being  returned  to  the  congregation,  Moses  commenced  his  col- 
lections for  the  building  and  furniture  of  the  tabernacle ;  and  so 


256  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

abundant  was  the  liberality  of  the  people,  that  a  sufficient  sup- 
ply was  soon  furnished,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  Bezaleel  and 
Aholiab,  who  did  the  work.  The  contributions  at  this  time,  in 
silver  and  gold,  are  supposed  to  have  amounted  to  more  than  a 
million  of  dollars,  —  a  prodigious  sum  to  be  contributed  by  these 
fugitives  from  bondage  ;  proving  also  that  their  numbers  must 
have  been  as  great  as  Moses  represents.  The  holy  garments  of 
the  priests,  with  the  breast-plate  of  diamonds  and  cunning  work, 
were  also  provided,  and  got  in  readiness.  And,  on  the  first  day  of 
the  first  month, — a  year,  lacking  fourteen  days,  from  the  time  that 
the  Israelites  came  out  of  Egypt,  —  the  tabernacle  was  put  up  and 
consecrated ;  and  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  set  apart,  and  attired 
for  the  holy  priesthood.  The  ark,  or  chest,  containing  the  two 
tables  of  stone,  was  deposited  behind  the  veil,  in  the  most  holy 
place,  where  it  could  be  approached  by  none  but  the  high  priest, 
and  by  him  only  once  in  a  year.*  And,  when  all  had  been  finished 
according  to  the  commandment,  Moses  blessed  the  congregation ; 
and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  so  filled  the  tabernacle,  that  Moses,  for 
a  time,  was  not  able  to  enter  it.  And  here  the  pillar  of  cloud  and 
of  fire  abode  all  the  while  that  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  the 
wilderness.  When  it  was  taken  up,  they  journeyed  after  it ;  and, 
when  it  was  let  down,  they  rested,  until  they  came  to  the  promised 
land. 

After  the  erection  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  consecration  of  the 
priests,  a  variety  of  laws  were  given  respecting  the  offerings  of 
both  priests  and  people.  And,  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  first 
month,  the  work  of  the  priests  commenced,  and  the  offerings  were 
made.  At  the  close  of  the  service,  Moses  and  Aaron  blessed  the 
people  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  was 
most  illustriously  manifested.  A  fire  came  forth  from  the  Lord, 
and  consumed  the  burnt-offering  and  the  fat;  which  when  the 
people  saw,  they  shouted,  and  worshipped  the  Lord,  with  their 
faces  to  the  earth. 

But  the  joy  of  the  occasion  was  soon  and  sadly  interrupted. 
Nadab  and  Abihu,  the  two  eldest  of  Aaron's  sons,  being  unduly 
elated  with  the  honors  of  the  priesthood,  and  perhaps  flushed  with 

*  The  highest  honor  was  thus  put,  under  the  Mosaic  economy,  upon  God's  holy  law.  It 
was  laid,  where  it  must  ever  lie,  at  the  foundation  of  the  whole  gospel-scheme  of  mercy.  The 
cherubim  on  each  end  of  the  lid  of  the  chest,  —  "the  mercy-seat,"  —  with  their  wings  ex- 
tended, and  their  faces  turned  inward,  in  a  posture  of  the  most  devout  attention  (Exod.  xxxvii. 
9),  show  with  what  interest  angelic  beings  look  into  the  wonders  of  redemption:  "Into  which 
things  the  angels  desire  to  look"  (1  Pet.  i.  12). 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  257 

wine,  undertook  to  offer  incense  at  a  time  and  in  a  manner  not 
appointed  by  the  Lord.  They  took  their  censers  and  incense,  and, 
instead  of  taking  fire  from  the  altar,  put  on  common  (that  is 
strange)  fire,  and  offered  it  up  before  the  Lord.  The  consequence 
was,  that  fire  came  forth  from  the  Lord,  and  killed  them  in  a 
moment.  Of  coui'se,  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  all  concerned  about 
the  tabernacle,  were  terrified  and  shocked.  But  Moses  reminded 
his  distressed  brother  of  one  of  the  important  sayings  of  God,  "  I 
will  be  sanctified  in  them  that  come  nigh  me,  and  before  all  the 
people  will  I  be  glorified ;  "  and  Aaron  held  his  peace. 

The  bodies  of  the  deceased  "young  men  were  immediately 
removed,  and  the  services  of  the  day  were  not  allowed  to  be  inter- 
rupted. This  injunction,  however,  was  immediately  given  in 
respect  to  the  priests :  "  Drink  no  wine,  neither  strong  drink, 
when  ye  go  into  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  lest  ye 
die.  This  shall  be  a  statute  forever  throughout  your  genera- 
tions." 

This  interruption  being  past,  the  Lord  proceeded  with  the  work 
of  prescribing  laws  to  his  people.  We  have  first  the  divine  ordi- 
nances respecting  things  clean  and  unclean ;  next  respecting  lep- 
rosy, —  the  signs  of  it,  and  the  way  to  be  healed  and  cleansed  from 
it ;  next  respecting  the  purification  of  males  and  females  ;  and 
then  the  rites  to  be  performed  on  the  great  day  of  atonement, — 
the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month,  —  when  the  high  priest 
entered  alone  into  the  most  holy  place,  and  the  scapegoat  was  sent 
away  into  the  wilderness  (Lev.  xvi.).  Next  follows  a  variety  of 
laws,  some  civil  and  some  ceremonial,  —  all  having  in  view  the 
honor  of  God  and  the  best  interests  of  his  people. 

While  these  statutes  were  being  given,  there  occurred  in  the 
camp  a  case  of  blasphemy,  which  gave  occasion  to  the  following 
enactment :  "  He  that  blasphemeth  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
surely  be  put  to  death :  all  the  congregation  shall  stone  him  with 
stones  "  (Lev.  xxv.). 

This  case  being  disposed  of,  the  giving  of  laws  went  forward  as 
before,  followed  up  mth  earnest  exhortations  to  obedience,  and 
the  severest  denunciations  upon  those  who  transgressed. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month,  —  just  one  year  from 
the  time  of  their  departure  out  of  Egypt,  —  the  Israelites  kept 
their  second  Passover.  And  this  seems  to  have  been  their  last 
Passover  until  they  had  crossed  the  Jordan  and  entered  the  land 
of  Canaan.     The  difficulty  of  procuring,  in  the  desert,  fine  flour 

17 


258  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

for  tlie  imleavened  bread,  may  have  been  a  reason  why  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Passover  was  for  so  many  years  intermitted. 

The  Israelites  had  been  encamped  before  Sinai  almost  a  year, 
when,  on  the  first  day  of  the  second  month,  in  the  second  year 
after  their  departure  from  Egypt,  a  command  went  forth  that  the 
men  of  war  in  the  congregation  should  all  be  numbered ;  and 
the  number  of  them  was  found  to  be  603,550.  But  the  men  of  the 
tribe  of  Levi  were  not  numbered ;  for  God  had  appointed  them  to 
the  charge  of  the  tabernacle,  and  to  be  the  assistants  of  the 
priests.* 

When  the  men  of  war  had  been  enrolled,  they  were  divided  into 
four  battalions,  and  formed  into  a  hollow  square.  In  the  centre  of 
the  square  was  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  surrounded  by 
the  priests,  and  these  surrounded  by  the  tents  of  the  Levites. 
Then  on  the  east  side  of  the  square,  which  was  the  front,  were  the 
tents  of  Judah,  Issachar,  and  Zebulon ;  on  the  south  side  were 
the  tents  of  Reuben,  Simeon,  and  Gad ;  on  the  west  side  were  the 
tents  of  Ephraim,  Manasseh,  and  Benjamin  ;  and  on  the  north  side 
were  the  tents  of  Dan,  Naphtali,  and  Asher. 

Such  was  the  order  of  the  Israelites'  encampment,  and  such  the 
method  of  their  march,  -^  not  in  disorder  and  confusion,  but  as  a 
regularly  drilled  and  disciplined  body.  When  the  pillar  of  cloud 
was  taken  up  from  the  tabernacle,  the  trumpet  was  sounded. 
Then  the  standard  of  Judah  was  raised,  and  the  three  tribes  which 
belonged  to  it  set  forward.  Next  the  standard  of  Reuben's  camp 
was  raised,  and  the  three  tribes  in  its  connection  advanced.  Then 
followed,  in  like  manner,  the  standards  of  Ephraim  and  of  Dan, 
with  the  connected  tribes.  Meanwhile,  the  Levites  had  taken 
down  the  tabernacle,  and  with  a  part  of  it  loaded  on  wagons,  and 
a  part  carried  on  their  shoulders  or  in  their  hands,  were  marching 
in  the  centre. 

This  enrolling  and  marshalling  of  the  host  was  an  indication  that 
they  were  soon  to  remove  ;  but,  before  removing,  there  must  be  a 
further  promulgation  of  laws.  Accordingly,  we  find,  at  this  point 
in  then-  history,  a  variety  of  newly-issued  laws,  —  some  respecting 
the  Levites  and  theuv  service,  some  respecting  the  Nazarites,  and 
several  relating  to  other  matters.     A  form  of  blessing  was  also 

*  The  Levites  were  appointed  to  this  service,  partly,  perhaps,  because  the  priests  —  the 
family  of  Aaron  —  were  Levites.  They  distinguished  themselves,  also,  in  punishing  the  wor- 
shippers of  the  golden  calf  (Exod.  xxxii.  26).  But  another  reason  for  their  appointment  is  as- 
signed by  the  sacred  writer:  they  were  taken  in  place  of  the  first-born  of  Israel,  all  of  whom 
were  claimed  as  peculiarly  the  Lord's.  —  See  Num.  iii.  12. 


MOSES   AND    HIS   TIMES.  259 

enjoined,  with  which  the  priests  were  to  dismiss  the  congregation: 
"  The  Lord  bless  thee  and  keep  thee ;  the  Lord  make  his  face  to 
shine  upon  thee,  and  be  gracious  unto  thee  ;  the  Lord  lift  up  his 
countenance  upon  thee,  and  give  thee  peace." 

At  this  time,  the  cloud  was  lifted  up  from  the  tabernacle,  the 
trumpet  sounded,  and  the  people  were  summoned  to  depart  from 
the  foot  of  Sinai,  where  they  had  rested  about  a  year. 


CHAPTER   XXn. 

MOSES    AND    HIS    TIMES. CONTINUED. 

AT  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  the  Israelites  were  departing 
from  the  foot  of  Sinai,  and  commencing  their  onward  march 
in  the  desert.  They  went  three  days'  journey,  in  a  north-easterly 
direction,  unto  Taberah ;  when  the  people  grew  weary,  began  to 
complain,  and  some  of  them  loitered  in  their  march.  Wherefore 
a  fire  from  the  Lord  broke  out-  upon  them,  and  consumed  many 
who  were  in  the  rear  of  the  camp ;  and  Moses  prayed  unto  the 
Lord,  and  the  fire  was  quenched. 

But  almost  immediately  a  portion  of  the  people  fell  to  lusting, 
as  they  had  done  on  a  former  occasion,  after  flesh :  "  We  remem- 
ber the  fish  which  we  did  eat  in  Egypt,  the  cucumbers  and  melons, 
the  leeks  and  onions.  But  now  our  soul  is  dried  up.  There  is  noth- 
ing at  all  but  this  manna,  and  our  soul  loatheth  this  light  bread." 
And  when  Moses  heard  their  murmurings  he  was  distressed,  and 
went  and  complained  unto  the  Lord :  "  Wherefore  hast  thou  laid 
the  burthen  of  all  this  people  upon  me  ?  I  am  not  able  to  bear  it: 
it  is  too  heavy  for  me.  If  thou  deal  thus  with  me,  kill  me,  I  pray 
thee,  out  of  hand,  and  leave  me  not  to  endure  this  wretchedness." 

In  compassion  to  his  servant,  God  now  effected  a  new  organiza- 
tion, or  rather  he  perfected  an  existing  organization :  "  Gather 
unto  me  the  seventy  elders  of  Israel  to  the  door  of  the  tabernacle, 
and  I  will  take  of  the  spirit  which  is  upon  thee,  and  I  will  put  it 
upon  them  ;  and  they  shall  bear  the  burthen  of  the  people  with 
thee.  And  say  unto  the  people,  To-morrow  ye  shall  have  flesh  to 
eat.  Ye  shall  eat  it,  not  one  day,  nor  two,  nor  twenty,  but  a  whole 
month,  until  ye  are  satisfied  and  glutted  mth  it." 

With  regard  to  the  quantity  of  flesh  promised,  Moses  seems  to 
have  been  unbelieving  at  the  first.  Nevertheless,  he  went  out  and 
published  to  the  people  what  the  Lord  had  said.  And  there  arose 
a  wind  from  the  sea,  and  it  brought  up  with  it  an  immense  multi- 

260 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  '  261 

tude  of  quails,  and  they  fell  around  the  camp  a  day's  journey  on 
either  side ;  and  the  people  gathered  them  till  they  were  more 
than  satisfied.  But,  while  they  were  feasting  and  rioting  upon 
them,  the  Lord  smote  them  with  a  malignant  plague,  and  many  of 
them  died.  And  Moses  called  the  place  Kibroth-hattaavah,  —  the 
graves  of  lust. 

The  Israelites  next  proceeded  to  Hazeroth,  where  they  abode 
several  days.  It  was  here  that  Miriam  and  Aaron  gave  vent  to 
their  envy  against  Moses,  —  a  spirit  which  they  had  indulged,  per- 
haps, ever  since  the  aifair  of  the  golden  calf.  They  reproached 
him  on  account  of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call  his  Ethiopian 
wife.  They  said  also,  "  Hath  the  Lord  spoken  only  by  Moses  ? 
Hath  he  not  spoken  also  by  us  ?  "  These  murmurings  may  have 
been  uttered  privately ;  but  the  Lord  heard  them,  and  summoned 
the  parties  to  meet  him  forthwith  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle. 
Here  he  cleared  and  commended  Moses,  and  sharply  reproved 
Miriam  and  Aaron ;  and  to  punish  the  former,  who  seems  to  have 
been  the  chief  instigator,  he  smote  her  at  once  with  leprosy.  And 
when  Aaron  looked  upon  his  sister,  behold,  she  was  a  leper,  as  white 
as  snow  I  And  Aaron  said  unto  Moses,  "  Alas  !  my  brother,  I  be- 
seech thee  lay  not  this  sin  upon  us.  Let  not  our  sister  become  to 
us  as  one  dead."  And  Moses  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  Miriam's 
leprosy  was  healed.  Nevertheless,  she  was  shut  out  of  the  camp, 
as  one  unclean,  seven  days. 

After  this,  tlie  people  removed  from  Hazeroth,  pursuing  a  north- 
easterly course,  and,  after  one  or  two  stops,  arrived  at  Kadesh,  in 
the  Wilderness  of  Paran.  They  were  now  on  the  southern  border  of 
Canaan,  the  promised  land,  —  the  place  where  Moses  had  expected 
all  along  to  enter  it.  From  this  place  he  sent  spies,  one  from  each 
of  the  tribes,  to  go  up  into  the  land  of  Canaan,  search  it  out,  and 
bring  back  a  report  unto  the  people.  So  the  spies  went  up  into 
the  southerly  part  of  Canaan,  traversed  it  in  various  directions,  and, 
after  forty  days,  returned  to  the  camp  of  Israel,  bringing  with  them 
some  of  the  fruits  of  the  land. 

But,  with  regard  to  an  immediate  occupation  of  the  country, 
their  report  was  unfavorable.  With  the  exception  of  two, — Caleb 
and  Joshua,  —  they  were  against  it:  "The  people  be  strong  that 
dwell  in  the  land ;  the  cities  are  walled  and  very  great :  moreover, 
we  saw  giants,  the  children  of  Anak,  there.  *  We  are  not  able  to 
go  up  against  this  people  ;  for  they  are  stronger  than  we."  It 
was  in  vain  that  Caleb  and  Joshua  brought  in  a  counter  report, 


262  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  endeavored  to  encourage  the  people  to  put  their  trust  in 
God. 

When  the  congregation  heard  the  report  of  their  messengers, 
they  were  greatly  distressed ;  and,  as  their  custom  was,  they  began 
to  murmur  against  Moses  and  against  God :  "  Wherefore  hath 
the  Lord  brought  us  unto  this  land  to  fall  by  the  sword,  and  that 
our  wives  and  our  little  ones  should  be  a  prey  ?  Let  us  make  us 
a  captain,  and  return  into  Egypt."  It  was  in  vain  that  Moses  and 
Aaron  and  Caleb  and  Joshua  endeavored  to  pacify  and  encourage 
the  people.  They  would  not  be  diverted  from  their  purpose,  and 
were  ready  to  kill  those  who  labored  to  withstand  them. 

But,  at  this  critical  moment,  the  Lord  interposed.  He  appeared 
in  his  glory  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  and, 
addressing  himself  to  Moses,  said,  "  How  long  shall  this  people 
provoke  me  ?  How  long  will  it  be  ere  they  will  believe  me,  after 
all  the  signs  that  I  have  wrought  among  them  ?  I  will  smite  them 
with  the  pestilence,  and  utterly  disinherit  them  ;  and  I  will  make 
of  thee  a  nation  greater  and  mightier  than  they."  But  Moses 
fell  down  and  interceded  for  his  guilty  people,  as  he  had  once  be- 
fore done  on  the  top  of  Sinai.  He  j)leaded  esj)ecially  the  honor 
and  glory  of  God ;  that  the  honor  of  his  name  was  concerned ;  that, 
if  he  destroyed  all  this  people,  the  nations  would  hear  of  it,  and 
say,  "  Because  the  Lord  was  not  able  to  bring  them  into  the  land 
which  he  promised  unto  their  fathers,  therefore  hath  he  slain  them 
in  the  wilderness.  Pardon,  therefore,  I  beseech  thee,  the  iniquity 
of  thy  people,  according  unto  the  greatness  of  thy  mercy." 

And  the  Lord  said,  "  I  have  pardoned  according  to  thy  word ; 
but,  as  truly  as  I  live,  all  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  glory 
of  the  Lord.  And  as  for  these  men,  who  have  seen  my  glory,  and 
my  miracles  which  I  did  in  Egypt  and  in  the  wilderness,  and  have 
tempted  me  now  these  ten  times,  and  have  not  hearkened  unto  my 
voice,  surely  they  shall  not  see  the  land  which  I  promised  to  their 
fathers,  but  their  carcasses  shall  fall  in  this  wilderness.  But  your 
little  ones,  which  ye  said  should  be  a  prey,  them  will  I  bring  in, 
and  they  shall  inherit  the  land.  To-morrow  turn  ye,  and  get  you 
again  into  the  wilderness  by  the  wa}^  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  wander 
there  for  forty  years,*  until  the  entire  multitude  of  you,  who  were 
twenty  years  old  and  upwards  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt  (with 
the  exception  only  of  Caleb  and  Joshua),  shall  have  perished  from 

*  Not  forty  years  from  this  time,  but  from  the  time  when  they  left  Egypt. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  263 

the  earth."  To  sanction  this  terrible  denunciation,  God  smote  the 
ten  spies  who  brought  back  an  evil  report  of  the  land  with  instant 
death. 

When  the  congregation  had  heard  God's  message  to  them,  and 
seen  what  was  done,  they  mourned  greatly,  and  declared'  their 
willingness  to  incur  any  danger,  if  they  might  be  permitted  to  go 
up  at  once  and  take  possession  of  the  promised  land.  So  earnest 
were  they  in  this  matter,  that,  in  opposition  to  the  warnings  of 
Moses  and  the  command  of  God,  they  equipped  themselves,  and 
went  out  the  next  morning  to  fight  the  Amalekites,  whose  hostile 
bands  were  hovering  round  them.  But  the  Lord  was  not  with 
them,  and  they  could  not  prosper.  They  were  smitten  before  their 
enemies,  who  pursued  them  even  unto  Hormah. 

How  long  the  Israelites  remained  at  Kadesh  after  they  had  been 
doomed  to  return  into  the  wilderness,  we  are  not  informed,  —  long 
enough  for  the  occurrence  of  some  remarkable  events.  In  the  first 
place,  several  passages  of  the  law  were  now  given  relating  to 
meat  and  drink  offerings.  It  was  while  they  were  here  that  a 
man  was  found  gathering  sticks  upon  the  sabbath  day.  The  case 
being  brought  before  Moses,  and  by  him  before  the  Lord,  it  was 
decided  that  the  sabbath-breaker  should  be  put  to  death.  He  was 
accordingly  taken  without  the  camp,  and  suffered  the  penalty  of 
the  law  by  stoning. 

Here  also  occurred  the  formidable  insurrection  under  Korah, 
Dathan,  and  Abiram.  Korah  was  a  great-grandson  of  Levi ;  and 
other  Levites,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred  and  fifty,  were  con- 
nected with  him.  Dathan,  Abiram,  and  the  other  leading  insur- 
gents, were  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben.  The  principal  complaint  of 
the  Levites  was,  that  Moses  and  Aaron  took  too  much  upon  them- 
selves, seeing  that  all  the  congregation  were  holy,  and  that  God 
was  in  the  midst  of  them  all  alike.  To  test  this  matter,  Moses  told 
them  to  take  their  censers  on  the  morrow,  and  put  fire  in  them, 
and  come  to  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  Lord  would  show 
who  among  them  he  had  chosen  to  be  his  priests. 

The  complaint  of  Dathan,  Abiram,  and  their  company,  was  the 
usual  one,  —  that  Moses  and  Aaron  had  led  this  great  multitude  out 
of  Egypt,  a  land  of  plenty,  into  the  wilderness,  to  consume  them. 

On  the  morrow,  Korah  and  his  party  appeared  promptly  at  the 
tabernacle  with  their  censers  and  incense ;  and  most  of  the  con- 
gregation seemed  to  be  with  them.  And  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
appeared  unto  all  the  congregation.     And  the  Lord  spake  unto 


264  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Moses  and  Aaron,  saying,  "  Separate  yourselves  from  this  congre- 
gation, that  I  may  consume  them  in  a  moment."  But  Moses 
prayed,  saying,  "  O  God,  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh  !  shall 
one  man  sin,  and  wilt  thou  he  wroth  with  the  whole  congregation  ?  " 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  "  Speak  unto  the  congregation,  that 
they  separate  themselves  from  the  tents  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and 
Abiram."  And  the  people  did  so.  Then  Moses  said,  "  Hereby 
shall  ye  know  that  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  to  do  all  these  Avorks. 
If  these  men  die  the  common  death  of  all  men,  or  if  they  be  visited 
after  the  ordinary  visitation  of  men,  then  the  Lord  hath  not  sent 
me  ;  but  if  the  earth  open  her  mouth  and  swallow  them  up,  and 
they  go  down  alive  into  the  pit,  then  shall  ye  understand  that  these 
men  have  provoked  the  Lord." 

Moses  had  scarcely  made  an  end  of  speaking,  when  the  ground 
clave  asunder  under  the  teiits  of  these  wicked  men,  and  swallowed 
them  all  up  ;  and  they  went  down  alive  into  the  pit,  with  all  that 
pertained  to  them,  and  they  perished  from  among  the  congregation. 
At  the  same  time,  there  came  out  a  fire  from  the  Lord,  and  con- 
sumed the  two  hundred  and  fifty  Levites  who  came  with  Korah  to 
the  tabernacle  to  offer  incense.  The  censers  of  these  rebellious 
Levites  were  gathered  up  out  of  the  fire,  hammered  into  plates, 
and  fastened  to  the  altar  of  burnt-offerings,  that  they  might  be  a 
witness  unto  the  children  of  Israel. 

It  woidd  seem  as  though  the  issue  of  this  rebellion  were  enough 
to  prevent  all  similar  attempts  in  future.  But  so  it  did  not  prove; 
for  on  the  very  next  day  the  conspiracy  was  renewed.  A  considera- 
ble portion  of  the  congregation  began  to  murmur  against  Moses  and 
Aaron,  saying,  "  Ye  have  killed  the  people  of  the  Lord."  But,  as 
the  tumult  increased,  the  glory  of  the  Lord  again  appeared  at  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle,  and  a  voice  came  forth  to  Moses  and  Aaron, 
saying,  "  Get  you  up  from  among  this  people,  that  I  may  consume 
them  in  a  moment."  And  no  sooner  was  the  threat  denounced 
than  it  began  to  be  executed.  A  plague  broke  out  in  the  congre- 
gation, and  hundreds  were  dying  with  it.  In  this  dreadfid  emer- 
gency, Aaron,  at  the  command  of  Moses,  seized  his  censer,  and  put 
incense  and  fire  upon  it,  and  ran  into  the  midst  of  the  congrega- 
tion to  make  atonement  for  the  people.  And  he  stood  between  the 
dead  and  the  living,  and  the  plague  was  stayed ;  not,  however, 
until  fourteen  thousand  and  seven  hundred  of  the  rebellious  people 
were  destroyed.  Thus  early  did  God  begin  to  cut  off  the  adult 
portion  of  this  people,  and  fulfil  his  threatening  that  they  should 
not  enter  Canaan. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIiMES.  265 

To  prevent  all  future  question  or  complaint  as  to  the  priesthood, 
Moses  now  proposed  a  test ;  to  which  the  people  consented.  The 
elders  of  the  tribes  were  to  bring  each  an  almond-rod  to  the  tab- 
ernacle, with  the  name  of  his  tribe  inscribed  upon  it.  Aaron,  also, 
was  to  bring  a  rod  for  the  tribe  of  Levi.  These  rods  were  to  be 
laid  up  in  the  tabernacle  over  night;  and  the  rod  which  in  the 
morning  had  budded  was  to  indicate  the  Lord's  pleasure  as  to 
the  priesthood.  All  this  was  done  accordingly  :  and,  when  the  rods 
were  examined  in  the  morning,  it  was  found  that  Aaron's  rod 
alone  had  budded ;  and  not  only  budded,  but  it  had  blossomed, 
and  bore  fruit.  And  God  commanded  that  Aaron's  rod  should  be 
laid  up-  in  the  tabernacle  for  a  witness,  to  put  an  end  to  the  mur- 
murings  of  the  people. 

These  troubles  being  ended,  God  proceeded  with  the  work  of 
dispensing  laws.  The  laws  given  at  this  time  had  respect  chiefly 
to  the  priesthood  and  to  the  water  of  purification. 

From  Kadesh,  the  Israelites  now  took  their  journey  backward 
into  the  wilderness  by  the  way  of  the  Red  Sea,  as  the  Lord  had 
directed ;  and  in  this  wilderness  they  sojourned  rnore  than  thirty- 
seven  years,  —  until  nearly  all  the  adults  which  came  out  of  Egypt 
were  dead.  How  they  spent  their  time  during  this  long  and 
trying  period,  we  are  not  particularly  informed.  In  the  thirty- 
third  chapter  of  Numbers,  we  have  the  names  of  as  many  as 
sixteen  places  which  they  successively  occupied.  Probably  they 
occupied  some  of  them  more  than  once.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  they  were  a  nomadic  people,  as  were  their  fathers  before  them. 
In  Egypt,  too,  they  had  been  shepherds ;  and,  now  that  they  had 
come  out  into  the  deserts  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  they  proba- 
bly wandered  from  one  place  to  another,  where  they  could  best  find 
pasturage  and  water,  —  much  as  the  Bedouins  do  at  the  present 
day :  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  Northern  Arabia  is  not  all 
sand  and  rock ;  many  places  are  exceedingly  fertile,  and  capable 
of  sustaining  (as  they  always  have  done)  a  large  population. 
Meanwhile,  the  covenant  God  of  the  Israelites  took  the  best 
possible  care  of  them.  Their  clothes  did  not  wax  old  upon  their 
backs,  nor  their  shoes  on  their  feet ;  their  supply  of  bread  was 
continued  constantly,  day  by  day ;  and  their  flocks  would  yield 
them  milk  and  flesh.  We  hear  of  no  murmurings  or  rebellions 
during  this  long  period.  The  spirit  of  rel)ellion  was  effectually 
subdued  at  Kadesh  ;  and  the  old,  half-heathenized,  Egyptianized 
part    of    the   congregation    was   passing   rapidly  away.      On    the 


266  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

whole,  considering  the  previous  habits  and  customs  of  this  people, 
and  their  means  of  support  and  improvement,  we  may  hope  that 
these  eight  and  thirty  years  were  not  spent  unpleasantly  or 
unprofitably.  It  was  to  them  a  season  of  trial  and  discipline, 
but,  we  hope,  not  one  of  essential  discomfort. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirty -ninth  year  after  the  exode  from 
Egypt,  we  find  the  Israelites  wending  th-eir  way  northward  again, 
in  the  direction  of  Canaan.  They  arrived  at  Kadesh  in  the  first 
month,  —  the  same  place  where  they  had  encamped  so  many  years 
before.  Here  Miriam,  the  sister  of  Moses,  died  and  was  buried. 
.While  here,  the  supply  of  water  failed,  and  the  congregation  were 
distressed :  so  they  began  to  murmur  as  of  old,  and  to  say  unto 
Moses,  "  Why  have  you  led  this  people  up  out  of  Egypt?  "  Moses 
brought  their  case  before  the  Lord  ;  and  he  said,  "  Take  ye  the  rod, 
and  go  out  in  presence  of  the  assembly  to  yonder  rock,  and  smite 
it,  and  it  shall  give  forth  water."  And  Moses  did  so.  He  gathered 
the  congregation  together  before  the  rock,  and  said  to  them  with 
a  criminal  impatience,  "  Hear  now,  ye  rebels :  must  we  fetch  you 
water  out  of  the  rock  ?  "  And  he  smote  the  rock  twice,  and 
the  water  guslied  out  abundantl}'.  But  God  was  displeased  with 
Moses  for  the  spirit  he  had  manifested,  and  denied  him  the  privi- 
lege of  leading  his  people  into  the  promised  land.  He  might  go  to 
the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  see  it  with  his  eyes  ;  but  he  must  not  set  his 
foot  upon  it :  so  bitter  a  thing  it  is,  even  for  a  good  man,  to  indulge 
himself  in  sin. 

It  was  the  intention  of  Moses,  when  he  came  to  Kadesh  the 
second  time,  to  enter  Canaan  from  the  south  by  the  way  of 
the  spies ;  but  he  found  all  the  passes  secured  by  the  Canaanites 
and  Amalekites,  with  whom  he  did  not  care  to  engage  in  war.  He 
next  presented  a  request  to  the  king  of  Edom  to  pass  easterly 
through  his  borders,  promising  to  injure  nothing,  and  to  pay  for  all 
that  he  received  ;  but  the  king  of  Edom  denied  his  request,  and 
threatened,  if  the  Israelites  entered  his  country,  to  give  them 
battle.  Hence,  as  Moses  was  not  permitted  to  fight  the  Edomites, 
nothing  remained  to  him  but  to  turn  southward,  compass  the  land 
of  Edom,  and  go  up  into  Canaan  on  its  eastern  border. 

While  prosecuting  this  journey,  the  Israelites  came  to  Moserah, 
situated  on  Mount  Hor,  where  Aaron  died  and  was  buried.*  Being 
forewarned  of  his  death,  Moses  stripped  him  of  his  priestly  gar- 
ments, and  put  them  upon  Eleazar  his  son.     He  then  went  up  with 

*  See  Num.  xx.  28,  and  Deut.  x.  6. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  267 

him  into  the  mountain,  where  the  venerable  priest  died ;  and  all 
Israel  mourned  for  him  thirty  days. 

While  the  Israelites  were  mourning  for  Aaron,  they  were  sud- 
denly attacked  by  Arad,  a  king  in  the  south  of  Canaan,  who  took 
some  of  the  people  prisoners.  The  Israelites  went  out  against 
him,  discomfited  him,  and  destroyed  his  cities.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan. 

They  now  pursued  their  journey  hastily,  to  compass  the  land  of 
Edom ;  in  doing  which  they  touched  at  Ezion-geber,  a  port  on  the 
eastern  arm  of  the  Red  Sea.*  And  the  people  were  much  discour- 
aged because  of  the  way,  and  some  of  them  began  to  murmur 
against  Moses  and  against  God.  To  chastise  them  for  this,  the 
Lord  sent  fiery  serpents  among  them,  which  bit  them ;  and  many 
of  the  children  of  Israel  died.  Wherefore  the  elders  of  the  people 
came  to  Moses  and  said,  "  We  have  sinned  ;  for  we  have  spoken 
against  God  and  against  thee.  Pray  unto  the  Lord  for  us,  that  he 
may  take  away  these  dreadful  serpents."  And  the  Lord  commanded 
Moses  to  make  a  brazen  serpent,  and  set  it  on  a  pole,  that  those 
who  were  bitten  might  look  upon  it  and  live.  And  Moses  did  so ; 
and  the  bitten,  dying  Israelites  were  healed. 

The  people  of  Israel  now  pursued  their  way  northward,  skirting 
the  eastern  borders  of  Edom  and  Moab,  with  neither  of  which 
nations  were  they  permitted  to  go  to  war.  They  passed  the  Brook 
Zered  and  the  River  Arnon,  both  which  streams  rise  in  the  eastern 
mountains,  and  run  westward  into  the  Dead  Sea.  These  are  said 
to  be  the  first  rivers  which  the  Israelites  had  seen  after  leaving  the 
Nile  in  Egypt.  The  River  Arnon  was  at  this  time  the  boundary 
between  the  Moabites  and  Amorites  ;  for  the  Amorites  had  recently 
made  war  upon  the  Moabites,  and  dispossessed  them  of  a  consider- 
able part  of  their  territory. f 

When  the  Israelites  had  come  to  the  country  of  the  Amorites, 
Moses  sent  a  message  to  Sihon,  their  king,  asking  permission  to 
pass  through  his  land.  But  Sihon  would  not  listen  to  him.  He 
gathered  his  people  together,  and  went  out  to  fight  against  Israel ; 
and  the  children  of  Israel  smote  him  with  the  edge  of  the  sword. 
They  took  his  cities  and  dwelt  in  them,  and  possessed  his  land. 

After  this,  Moses  sent  out  his  forces  to  discover  Jaazer,  another 
city  of  the  Amorites.  This  also  they  took  with  all  its  territories, 
drove  out  the  people,  and  dwelt  there. 

*  The  port  from  which  the  ships  of  Solomon  sailed,  and  also  the  ships  of  Jehoshaphat 
(1  Kings  ix.  26,  and  xxii.  48).  t  See  Num.  xxi.  26-30. 


268  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Then,  pushing  still  farthei*  north,  they  approached  Bashan,  where 
Og,  the  giant,  held  his  reign.  This  monster  of  a  man  drew  out 
his  army,  and  gave  battle  to  the  Israelites.  But  the  Lord  said 
unto  Moses,  "  Be  not  afraid ;  for  I  have  delivered  him  and  all  his 
people  into  thine  hand."  So  the  armies  of  Israel  slew  Og  and 
his  sons,  and  all  his  people.  They  took  his  cities,  threescore  in 
number,  all  fenced  with  high  walls,  gates,  and  bars.* 

After  this  victory,  the  Israelites  fell  back  to  the  plains  of  Moab, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan,  opposite  Jericho.  This  plain  had 
formerly  belonged  to  the  Moabites ;  but  it  had  been  wrested  from 
them  by  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  and  was  now  in  possession 
of  the  Israelites  by  right  of  conquest.  And  here  the  journey- 
ings  of  the  Israelites  may  be  said  to  have  terminated.  From  this 
point,  in  the  following  spring,  they  crossed  the  Jordan,  and  entered 
Canaan  Proper, — the  promised  land.  At  the  coming  of  the  Israel- 
ites into  their  borders,  the  kings  of  Moab  and  Midian  were  greatly 
alarmed ;  and,  not  daring  to  engage  them  in  battle,  they  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Balaam,  a  celebrated  Chaldsean  diviner,  begging  that  he 
would  come  and  curse  Israel  for  them.  Balaam  took  counsel  of 
God  on  the  subject ;  for,  heathen  as  he  was,  he  had  some  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God,  and  was  favored  at  times  with  divine  reve- 
lations.    But  God  would  not  suffer  him  to  go  and  curse  Israel. 

When  his  refusal  was  made  known  to  Balak,  king  of  Moab,  he 
resolved  to  send  other  and  more  honorable  messengers,  with  a  prom- 
ise of  still  richer  rewards.  Balaam  at  this  time  evidently  wished 
to  go  ;  for  "  he  loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness."  Still  he 
must  go  through  the  formality  of  again  asking  counsel  of  God. 
And  now  God  granted  him  permission.  He  did  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  If  you  want  to  go,  go :  nevertheless,  what  I  shall  say  to  thee, 
that  only  shalt  thou  speak." 

So  Balaam  went  with  the  princes  of  Moab.  It  was  on  this  jour- 
ney that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  withstood  him  twice,  and  threatened 
to  destroy  him.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  very  ass  on  which  he 
rode  reproved  him  with  man's  voice,  and  "  forbade  the  madness  of 
the  prophet."  Still  he  was  permitted  to  finish  the  journey  which 
he  had  begun,  under  a  strict  injunction  that  he  should  speak  that, 
and  that  only,  which  the  Lord  should  say. 

Arrived  among  the  Moabites,  Balak  took  Balaam  up  into  his 


*  Many  of  the  houses  and  cities  and  temples  of  old  Bashan  are  still  standing,  uninjured  by 
the  lapse  of  four  thousand  years.  They  are  built  of  such  massy  stones,  that  they  will  not  fall 
down,  nor  can  they  be  torn  down.  —  See  Porter's  Giant  Cities  of  Bashan. 


MOSES   AND    HIS   TIMES.  269 

high  places,  that  from  thence  he  might  have  a  view  of  the  camp 
of  Israel ;  *  and  there  he  offered  up  a  costly  sacrifice,  while 
Balaam  went  aside  to  ask  counsel  of  God.  The  prophet  soon 
returned,  not  with  a  curse  for  the  Israelites,  but  a  blessing :  "  How 
shall  I  curse  those  whom  God  hath  not  cursed  ?  and  how  shall  I 
defy  those  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied  ?  For  from  the  top  of 
the  rocks  I  see  him,  and  from  the  hills  I  behold  him.  Who  can 
count  the  dust  of  Jacob,  or  number  the  fourth  part  of  Israel? 
Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  hke 
his." 

When  Balak  heard  these  words,  he  was  offended,  and  com- 
plained ;  but  Balaam  excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  had 
spoken  the  words  of  God,  and  could  speak  notliing  else. 

Balak,  however,  was  not  discouraged.  He  took  the  prophet  to 
another  place,  and  repeated  his  offerings  ;  while  Balaam  retired  to 
consult  the  oracle  as  before.  But  he  soon  returned  with  a  similar 
message :  "  God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie ;  nor  the  son  of 
man,  that  he  should  repent.  Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it  ? 
hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it  good  ?  Behold,  I  have 
received  commandment  to  bless  Israel ;  and  he  is  blesspd,  and  I 
cannot  reverse  it." 

Still,  Balak  did  not  despair,  but  takes  Balaam  to  another  place, 
where  he  again  offers  his  seven  bullocks  and  seven  rams.  But 
Balaam,  in  despair  of  being  able  to  curse  God's  people,  though  he 
evidently  desired  to  do  it,  thought  it  not  necessary  to  retire  as 
before,  but  broke  out  in  a  prophetic  ecstasy :  "  How  goodly  are 
thy  tents,  O  Jacob  !  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !  "  And  then, 
by  the  most  significant  imagery,  he  foretold  the  extent,  fertility, 
and  strength  of  Israel;  declaring  that  those  who  blessed  them 
should  be  blessed,  and  those  who  cursed  them  should  be  cursed. 

After  these  predictions  and  blessings,  as  if  vexed  with  himself 
for  not  receiving  the  expected  reward,  Balaam  resolved  to  do  as  a 
politician  what  he  could  not  do  as  a  prophet.  He  counselled  the 
Moabites  and  Midianites  to  send  their  daughters  into  the  camp  of 

*  Some  interpreters  think  tliat  -n-e  have,  in  Mic.  vi.  6,  7,  the  precise  words  with  which  Balak 
first  accosted  Balaam:  ^'■Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  how  myself  before  the  high 
God?  Shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt-offeiings,  rcith  calves  of  a  year  old?  Will  the  Lord  be 
pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil?  Shall  T  give  my  first-born 
for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul?''  The  answer  to  these  inqui- 
ries will  not  seem  inappropriate  if  we  remember  that  Balaam  could  only  speak  what  the  Lord 
suggested.  "/Te  hath  showed  thee,  0  man!  tchat  is  good;  and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee 
but  to  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?  " 


270  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Israel,  to  corrupt  the  young  men,  and  draw  them  into  idolatry ; 
not  doubting  that  this  would  be  the  most  likely  method  to  bring 
down  upon  them  the  curses  of  Heaven.  And  this  artifice  suc- 
ceeded entirely.  The  very  next  account  we  have  of  the  Israel- 
ites is,  that  many  of  them  were  drawn  away  by  these  outlandish 
women,  not  only  to  commit  fornication,  but  to  be  present  at  their 
sacrifices,  and  worsliip  their  idol  gods. 

The  greatness  of  their  sin  in  this  respect  appears  in  the  severity 
of  the  punishment  which  followed  it ;  for  God  commanded  Moses 
to  take  the  leaders  of  those  who  had  been  concerned  in  this  wick- 
edness, and  hang  them  up  before  the  Lord. 

If  it  seem  strange  to  us  that  the  Israelites  should  be  so  soon  and- 
so  easily  drawn  into  idolatry,  we  must  remember  that  there  had 
been  secret  idolatry  in  their  camp  during  all  their  wanderings  in 
the  wilderness.  They  had  never  been  thoroughly  weaned  from  it 
after  they  came  out  of  Egypt.  Thus  we  read  in  Amos  :  "  Have  ye 
offered  unto  me  sacrifices  and  offerings  forty  years  in  the  wilder- 
ness, O  house  of  Israel  ?  But  ye  have  borne  the  tabernacle  of  your 
Moloch,  and  Chiun  your  images,  the  star  of  your  god,  which  ye 
made  to  yourselves."  And  Stephen,  speaking  of  the  same  thing, 
says,  "  Ye  took  up  the  tabernacle  of  Moloch,  and  the  star  of  your 
god  Remphan,  figures  which  ye  made,  to  worship  them."  * 

While  the  executions  for  idolatry,  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
were  in  progress,  the  oifence  was  repeated  by  Zimri,  a  prince  of 
the  house  of  Simeon.  He  came  openly  into  the  camp  with  one  of 
the  daughters  of  Midian,  in  contempt  of  Moses  and  of  the  whole 
congrega,tion.  This  so  enraged  Phinehas,  a  grandson  of  Aaron,  that 
he  seized  a  javelin,  pursued  Zimri  to  his  tent,  and  smote  him  and 
his  paramour  to  the  earth.  For  this  act  of  holy  zeal  and  courage 
God  not  only  approved  Phinehas,  but  promised  him  that  the  priest- 
hood should  be  established  in  his  house.  His  act  was  also  the 
means  of  stopping  a  plague  which  had  broken  out  in  the  camp  of 
Israel,  by  which  no  less  than  twenty-four  thousand  persons  had 
already  fallen. f 

When  these  disorders  had  been  quieted,  and  the  offenders  prm- 
ished,  the  next  thing  was  to  take  vengeance  on  the  Midianites, 
who  had  debauched  Israel  with  their  idolatries  and  fornications. 
So  Moses  detached  an  army  of  twelve  thousand  men, — one  thou- 

*  Amos  V.  22-26 ;  Acts  vii.  43. 

t  Num.  XXV.  9.  Paul  makes  the  number  twenty-three  thousand  (1  Cor.  X.  8).  Moses  prob- 
ably includes  a  thousand  who  had  been  hanged. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  271 

sand  from  each  tribe,  — and  with  them  Phinehas,  the  son  of  Eleazar 
the  priest,  and  sent  tl\em  against  the  Midianites ;  and  they  van- 
quished them  with  an  immense  slaughter,  and  took  from  them  a 
vast  amount  of  spoil  in  flocks  and  herds,  silver  and  gold,  which 
was  divided  among  the  people.  That  old  diviner  too,  Balaam,  the 
son  of  Beor,  who  essayed  to  curse  Israel,  but  could  not,  was  slain 
in  this  war  (Num.  xxxi.  8). 

Several  things  still  remained  to  be  accomplished  before  the  Jor- 
dan was  crossed  and  the  tribes  entered  the  promised  land.  One 
of  these  was  the  numbering  and  enrolling  of  the  men  of  war.  This 
was  done  with  great  care  ;  and  the  number  of  males  from  twenty 
years  old  and  upwards,  exclusive  of  the  priests  and  Levites,  was 
601,730,  —  less  by  two  thousand  than  when  they  were  numbered 
at  Sinai,  almost  forty  years  before :  so  thoroughly  had  the  work  of 
death  been  accomplished  upon  the  older  generation  of  Israelites 
which  came  out  of  Egypt.  With  the  exception  of  Caleb  and 
Joshua  and  Moses,  they  were  all  gone. 

Another  thing  to  be  done  was  the  appointment  by  divine 
authority  of  a  leader  to  take  the  place  of  Moses.  Moses  requested 
of  the  Lord  that  one  might  be  appointed ;  and  Joshua  was 
expressly  indicated  and  announced.  Then  Moses  took  Joshua, 
and  set  him  before  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  before  all  the  congre- 
gation, and  laid  his  hands  upon  him,  gave  him  a  charge,  and 
solemnly  consecrated  him  as  the  future  leader  and  judge  of  Israel. 

Next,  sundry  laws  were  repeated,  and  some  new  ones  given 
relating  to  the  division  of  the  land  and  the .  inheritance  of  daugh- 
ters ;  also  respecting  vows,  and  the  offerings  at  the  annual  feasts. 

While  these  things  were  doing,  a  proposition  came  to  Moses  and 
the  elders  of  the  people,  from  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad  and 
Jialf  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  that  as  they  had  much  cattle,  and  as 
the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  where  they  were,  was  a  fine  grazing 
country,  they  might  have  their  portion  and  inheritance  there. 
Moses  at  first  supposed  that  they  intended  to  desert  their  brethren, 
and  proceed  no  farther  with  them,  but  settle  down  at  their  ease  on 
land  already  conquered.  But  when  he  learned  that  this  was  not 
the  case,  —  that  they  would  send  over  their  men  of  war  to  assist 
in  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  and  stand  by  their  brethren  until  the 
whole  was  subdued,  —  he  cheerfully  granted  their  request.  He 
divided  unto  them  severally  the  bounds  of  their  inheritance ;  and 
the  work  of  settlement  in  it  was  immediately  commenced. 

This  matter  being  ended,  Moses  took  care  to  describe  the  boun- 


272  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

claries  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  appointed  twelve  men,  one  from 
each  tribe,  to  divide  it  among  the  nine  and. a  half  tribes  that  were 
left  to  inherit  it.  He  also  repeated  the  injunction,  that  they  were 
to  dispossess  and  drive  out  the  original  inhabitants,  destroy  all  their 
images,  and  keep  themselves  pure  from  their  idolatries.  He 
directed  that  forty-eight  cities,  with  their  suburbs,  should  be 
given  to  the  Levites ;  six  of  which  were  to  be  cities  of  refuge,  to 
which  the  man  who  had  accideyitally  killed  any  one  might  flee, 
and  be  safe.  But  for  the  intentional  murderer  no  refuge  or  expia- 
tion was  provided :  he  must  surely  be  put  to  death. 

Only  one  thing  more  remained  to  the  illustrious  leader  of  Israel 
before  his  death ;  and  that  was  to  gather  the  tribes  around  him,  and 
deliver  to  them  his  last  words.  An  account  of  these  valedictory 
services,  with  some  reflections  on  the  character  and  influence  of 
Moses  and  on  the  interesting  narrative  over  which  we  have  passed, 
will  be  given  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER    XXIII.       • 

MOSES    AND    HIS   TIMES. CONCLUDED. 

IN  our  last  chapter,  we  brought  down  the  history  of  Moses  to  the 
closing  scene  and  services  of  liis  life.  He  had  led  the  children 
of  Isra.el  out  of  Egypt ;  he  had  guided  them  through  their  long 
sojourn  in  the  wilderness ;  he  had  dispensed  to  them  laws,  chas- 
tised their  enemies,  and  conquered  for  them  a  large  and  fertile 
country  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  where  two  and  a  half  tribes 
were  already  settled.  A  leader  had  been  divinely  appointed  to 
succeed  him  when  he  was  no  more  ;  and  nought  now  remained  but 
to  gather  the  tribes  around  him,  and  deliver  unto  them  his  parting 
words.  Accordingly,  on  the  first  day  of  the  eleventh  month,  in 
the  fortieth  year  from  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt, 
this  solemn  service  was  commenced  and  continued,  as  recorded  in 
the  Book  of  Deuteronomy. 

Moses  begins  by  briefly  recounting  to  the  people  their  journeys 
and  trials  from  the  time  when  they  left  Sinai  till  they  arrived  at 
their  present  position  on  the  borders  of  the  promised  land.  To 
promote  their  humility,  and  distrust  of  themselves,  he  rehearses 
the  murmurings  and  rebellions  of  their  fathers,  and  the  sore  and 
repeated  punishments  wliich  had  been  inflicted  on  them.  He  tells 
them  of  his  own  sin  at  the  waters  of  Meribah,  and  of  the  judgment 
denounced  upon  him  in  consequence  ;  and  that  he  had  found  it  im- 
possible by  prayers  and  tears  to  obtain  a  remission  of  the  ,  sen- 
tence, that  so  he  might  accompany  them  into  the  promised  land. 
He  repeats  to  them  the  laws  which  from  time  to  time  had  been 
promulged,  with  some  variations,  explanations,  and  additions. 
The  law  of  the  ten  commandments,  however,  was  scarcely  altered. 
Being  engraved  on  tables  of  stone,  and  intended  for  perpetual  and 
universal  observance,  it  could  not  be.  This  work  of  repeating  and 
enforcing  the  laws  was  now  the  more  necessary,  since  those  who 

18  273 


274  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

first  heard  them  had  gone  to  the  dead,  and  a  new  generation  had 
taken  their  place. 

In  the  course  of  his  farewell  address  to  the  Israelites,  Moses 
litters  his  famous  prediction  of  the  Messiah:  "  A  Prophet  shall  the 
Lord  your  God  raise  up  unto  you  from  among  your  brethren  like 
unto  me.  My  word  shall  be  in  his  mouth,  and  unto  him  shall  ye 
hearken"  (Deut.  xviii.  15). 

The  great  object  aimed  at  by  Moses  in  his  farewell  address  was 
obedience.  "He  knew  that  not  only  the  prosperity,  but  the  very  life, 
of  his  people  depended  on  their  obedience ;  and  hence  he  had 
recourse  to  every  method  he  could  think  of,  aiid  quite  exhausted 
the  power  of  language  in  his  exhortations,  that  he  might  induce 
them  to  obe;f .  He  placed  before  them  the  happy  consequences  of 
obedience,  and  the  sure  and  terrible  results  of  wandering  from  God. 
He  set  before  them,  to  use  his  own  language,  "  blessing  and  curs- 
ing, life  and  death."  He  solemnly  renewed  their  covenant  with 
God,  and  required  that  the  law  should  be  publicly  read  to  'them, 
at  the  great  annual  festivals,  by  the  priests.  He  did  more  than 
this.  When  the  tribes  had  got  possession  of  the  promised  land,  he 
required  that  they  should  be  assembled  between  the  mountains 
Gerizim  and  Ebal,  where  blessings  should  be  pronounced  upon 
those  who  kept  their  covenant,  and  curses  upon  those  who  broke 
it.  He  commanded  that  an  altar  should  be  erected  on  the  other 
side  of  Jordan,  on  which  should  be  indelibly  inscribed  the  terms 
and  conditions  of  their  peace  with  God. 

Moses  not  only  uttered  these  words  in  the  hearing  of  the  people, 
but  he  wrote  them  in  a  book,  —  the  same  Book  of  Deuteronomy 
which  we  now  have  in  our  hands ;  and,  as  though  this  was  not 
enough,  he  composed  a  song,  and  recited  it  to  the  people,  and 
required  that  they  should  commit  it  to  memory,  setting  forth  the 
blessings  of  an  obedient  life,  and  the  judgments  that  must  follow 
upon  transgression.  He  renewed  his  charge  to  Joshua,  who  had 
been  appointed  and  consecrated  as  his  successor,  exhorting  him  to 
be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage,  and  let  nothing  fail  of  all  that 
had  been  required  of  him ;  and,  to  close  all,  he  took  leave  of  the 
tribes  in  a  prophetic  blessing,  much  after  the  manner  of  the  patri- 
arch Jacob,  addressing  each  tribe  separately,  and  speaking  symboli- 
cally of  its  future  course  and  destiny. 

And  now,  as  the  last  words  of  Moses  have  been  spoken  and  his 
last  work  performed,  he  takes  his  leave  of  the  camp  of  Israel.  He 
goes  up  alone  into  the  mountains  of  Abarim,  to  a  peak  called  Nebo, 


MOSES   AND    HIS   TIMES.  275 

and  Pisgah,  that  he  may  take  a  view  of  the  promised  land,  and 
then  die.  And  what  a  spectacle  is  this  !  The  venerable  leader  and 
head  of  God's  covenant  people  for  a  whole  generation,  who  had 
fought  their  battles,  composed  their  differences,  borne  with  their 
reproaches,  healed  their  backslidings,  organized  their  government, 
and  led  them  along,  under  God,  to  their  present  position,  at  the 
age  now  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years,  yet  "  his  eye  not  dim,  nor 
his  natural  force  abated,"  — this  venerable  old  man  going  up  alone 
into  the  mountains  to  die  !  He  has  no  fears  or  anxieties  for  him- 
self, but  all  are  expended  upon  his  people ;  and,  as  he  can  do  no 
more  for  them,  he  cheerfully  commits  them  to  their  covenant  God. 
He  goes  to  the  place  which  God  has  appointed ;  looks  over  for 
the  last  time  into  the  land  of  promise  ;  surveys  its  towns,  its  plains, 
its  sunny  hills,  its  meandering  streams ;  and,  when  he  has  feasted 
his  eyes  sufficiently,  he  quietly  closes  them  in  death.  He  resigns 
his  spirit  into  the  hands  of  angels,  who  are  waiting  to  convoy  it  to 
a  happier  Canaan  than  that  on  which  he  had  just  looked.  The 
Lord  in  whom  he  trusted  took  care  of  his  lifeless  body.  He  buried 
it  in  a  valley,  in  the  land  of  Moab ;  and  no  man  knoweth  of  his  sep- 
ulchre unto  this  day. 

"  On  Nebo's  lonely  mountain, 

Beyond  the  Jordan's  wave, 
In  a  vale  in  the  land  of  Moab, 

There  is  a  lonely  grave. 
And  no  man  dug  the  sepulchre. 

And  no  man  saw  it  e'er ; 
For  the  angel  of  God  upturned  the  sod, 

And  laid  the  dead  man  there." 

And,  when  the  children  of  Israel  found  that  Moses  was  dead, 
they  wept  for  him  in  the  plains  of  Moab  thirty  days. 

Before  taking  our  leave  of  Moses,  it  may  be  desirable  that  we 
dwell  more  particularly  upon  his  character  and  work,  and  the  influ- 
ence which  he  has  exerted  upon  the  church  and  world  ;  also  that 
we  glance  at  some  of  the  more  prominent  lessons  of  instruction 
which  his  history  is  fitted  to  afford. 

The  intellect  of  Moses  was  undoubtedly  of  a  high  order,  and  it 
was  early  and  assiduously  cultivated.  He  enjoyed  the  best  oppor- 
tunities of  education  and  improvement  which  the  world  at  that 
period  could  afford.  During  the  first  forty  years  of  his  life,  his 
circumstances  were  so  ordered,  without  his  knowing  it,  as  to  fit 
him,  in  the  best  manner,  for  the  scenes  and  duties  which  were  to 
follow. 


276  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  mental  characteristics  of  Moses  were  extraordinary,  in  that 
they  combined,  in  a  high  degree,  some  traits  of  character  which  do 
not  ordinarily  go  together.  For  example,  he  was  both  contempla- 
tive and  active.  That  he  was  the  former,  is  evident  from  his  enjoy- 
ment of  those  pastoral  scenes  and  musings  among  which  he  passed 
a  full  third  of  his  life ;  that  he  was  the  latter  is  still  more  evident 
from  the  ever-recurring,  overwhelming  cares  and  "labors  which, 
wore  out  the  remnant  of  his  days. 

Moses  was  an  imaginative  man,  and  at  the  same  time  a  most 
energetic  business-man.  That  he  was  the  former,  many  parts  of  his 
writings,  and  more  especially  his  poetical  effusions,  abundantly 
attest ;  that  he  was  capable  of  entering  into  the  details  of  a  mul- 
tifarious and  most  complicated  business,  and  conducting  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue,  is  attested  in  his  care  for  the  millions  that  surrounded 
him,  and  were  in  a  sense  dependent  upon  him  for  forty  years. 

Moses  could  be  impetuous  when  the  occasion  called  for  it,  as 
when  he  saw  the  people  shouting  and  dancing  around  the  golden 
calf.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  so  remarkably  calm  and  consider- 
ate, so  guarded  in  all  his  words  and  actions,  as  to  entitle  him  to  be 
called,  proverbially,  "  the  meekest  man." 

There  are  several  aspects  in  which  we  must  look  at  Moses,  if  we 
would  get  a  full  and  adequate  idea  of  his  character.  And  first 
as  a  military  leader  or  chieftain.  Without  indorsing  the  story  of 
Josephus  as  to  his  early  and  triumphant  campaign  in  Ethiopia,  his 
achievements  as  the  leader  and  defender  of  Israel  axe  enough  to 
give  him  a  high  rank  as  a  military  commander.  Witness  his  tri- 
umph over  the  Amalekites  soon  after  his  leaving  Egypt ;  also  his 
conquest  of  Arad  the  Canaanite,  and  of  Sihon  and  Og,  and  the 
Moabites  and  Midianites,  only  a  few  months  before  his  death.  It  is 
likely,  too,  that  Joshua  had  his  military  training  under  Moses,  and 
that  the  conquest  of  Canaan  Proper  may  thus  be  traced  to  liis 
instruction  and  influence. 

We  may  next  look  at  Moses  in  the  character  of  an  historian. 
Bunsen  tells  us  that  "  history  was  born  on  the  night  when  Moses 
led  forth  his  people  from  Goshen."  We  have  fables  and  fictions 
earlier  than  this,  but  nothing  deserving  the  name  of  history. 
Without  the  writings  of  Moses,  how  little  should  we  know  of  the 
creation  of  the  world  ;  of  the  original  happy  state  and  sad  apos- 
tasy of  man  ;  of  the  earliest  institutions  given  to  our  race  ; 
of  the  chronology  of  the  primitive  ages ;  of  the  Deluge,  and  the 
causes  of  it ;  of  the  dispersion  of  the  nations,  and  the  first  settle- 


MOSES   AND    HIS   TIMES.  277 

ment  of  the  different  parts  of  the  world  !  On  this  latter  point,  — 
the  origin  of  nations,  —  the  writings  of  Moses  give  us  more  light 
than  all  others  put  together.  We  have  little  else  anywhere  that 
can  be  relied  upon. 

We  are  next  to  regard  Moses  as  a  lawgiver.  He  gave  a  code 
of  laws  to  the  Israelitish  nation,  and,  through  them,  to  the  world; 
and  though  God  was  strictly  the  author  of  these  laws,  as  he  is  of 
all  Scripture,  still  they  have  a  human  as  well  as  a  divine  side. 
The}^  were  delivered  through  the  instrumentality  and  in  the  style 
of  Moses. 

The  laws  of  Moses  may  be  divided  into  several  classes.  First 
of  all,  there  are  moral  and  spiritual  laws,  including  the  ten  com- 
mandments, and  those  requiring  supreme  love  to  God  and  love  to 
men,  and  other  kindred  spiritual  affections.  These  are  of  univer- 
sal and  perpetual  obligation.  Growing  out  of  the  very  nature  and 
relations  of'  things,  they  can  never  wax  old  or  vanish  away. 

Then  there  were  the  ritual  or  religious  laws  of  Moses ;  some  of 
them  commemorative^  others  designed  to  express -^ra^zYwcZe  to  God 
for  distinguished  mercies,  and  many  others  of  an  expiatory  and 
typical  character.  They  looked  forward  to  a  sacrifice  of  expiation 
such  as  could  never  be  made  by  bulls  and  goats.  The  ritual  insti- 
tutions of  the  Hebrews,  which  to  us  may  seem  uninteresting,  were 
emphatically  their  gospel.  To  those  who  understood  and  appreci- 
ated them,  they  were  the  most  precious  and  instructive  portion  of 
their  Bible. 

There  were  also  the  political  laws  of  Moses.  The  God  of  the 
Hebrews  was  not  only  their  Creator  and  Supreme  Disposer,  as  he 
is  of  all  creatures,  but  he  was  their  chosen  pohtical  head.  Hence, 
among  the  laws  which  he  gave  to  them,  we  find  an  entire  political 
code,  designed  to  regulate  their  intercourse  one  with  another  and 
with  all  men.  Of  these  political  institutes,  we  cannot  here  speak 
particularly.  They  were  more  sanguinary  in  their  penalties  than 
would  now  be  admissible,  but,  without  doubt,  were  well  adapted 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  age  and  of  the  people  to  whom  they 
were  given.  In  the  language  of  another,*  they  were  intended  to 
secure  "  civil  liberty,  political  equality,  and  elective  magistracy, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  the  responsibility  of  rulers  to  their 
constituents,  a  cheap  and  impartial  administration  of  justice,  peace 
and  friendship  with  other  nations,  agriculture,  universal  industry, 
the  inviolability  of  private  property,  the  saeredness  of  the  family 

*  Prof.  Wines. 


278  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

relation,  the  sanctity  of  himian  life,  universal  education,  social  union, 
a  well-adjusted  balance  of  powers,  together  with  an  enlightened  and 
dignified  public  opinion."  At  any  rate,  they  were  a  prodigious 
advance  upon  those  maxims  of  government  which  were  at  that 
period  current  in  the  world,  or  which  prevailed  anywhere  out  of 
the  tribes  of  Israel  for  the  next  thousand  years. 

A  leading  object  of  the  Jewish  theocracy  was  to  preserve  the 
Israelites  a  separate  people,  and  thus  keep  them  from  participating 
in  the  idolatries  around  them ;  and,  with  this  object  in  view,  we  see 
a  good  and  sufficient  reason  for  some  of  the  peculiar  enactments  of 
the  Hebrews.  For  example,  "  Ye  shall  not  round  the  corners  of 
your  heads,  neither  shalt  thou  mar  the  corners  of  thy  beard ; " 
"  Thou  shalt  not  sow  thy  field  with  mingled  seed,  neither  shall  a 
garment  of  mingled  linen  and  woollen  come  upon  thee  ;  "  "  Thou 
shalt  not  plough  with  an  ox  and  an  ass  together ;  "  "  Thou  shalt  not 
seethe  a  Idd  in  his  mother's  milk."  *  These  laws,  and  others  like 
them,  which  infidelity  has  dared  to  reproach  and  ridicule,  were 
aimed  directly  at  the  customs  of  the  heathen,  and  were  designed 
to  sej)arate  the  people  of  God  from  the  idolatrous  nations  around 
them. 

But  it  is  time  that  we  turn  from  Moses  as  a  lawgiver,  and  contem- 
plate him,  for  a  moment,  in  the  character  of  a  p)oet.  Of  his  poetry, 
we  have,  undeniably,  some  very  choice  specimens.  His  triumphal 
song  on  the  destruction  of  Pharaoh  and  his  army  at  the  Red  Sea, 
and  the  inimitable  ode,  recorded  in  the  thirty-second  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy,  which  he  gave  to  the  Israelites  just  before  his  death, 
both  contain  passages,  which,  for  poetic  elevation  and  beauty,  are 
not  excelled  in  any  language.  The  latter  of  these  is  emphatically 
called  "  the  song  of  Moses,"  and  is  coupled  in  the  Revelation  with 
"  the  song  of  the  Lamb  "  (xv.  3).  Then  there  is  the  ninetieth 
Psalm,  which  in  our  Bibles  is  ascribed  to  Moses,  and  which  the 
best  critics  have  been  led  to  regard  as  his.  It  is  a  beautiful  ex- 
hibition of  the  eternity  of  God,  as  contrasted  with  the  frailty  of 
man  and  the  exceeding  brevity  of  human  life ;  and  was  probably 
written  by  Moses  in  his  last  days,  when  nearly  all  that  generation 
which  came  with  him  out  of  Egypt  had  been  swept  away.  In  ad- 
dition to  all  this,  if  we  regard  Moses  as  the  author  of  the  Book  of 
Job  (and,  for  reasons  already  given,  I  do  thus  regard  him),  his  char- 
acter as  a  poet  will  stand  unrivalled  by  that  of  any  other  inspired 
or  uninspired  man.     The  entire  Book  of  Job,  with  the  exception 

*  Lev.  xix.  19,  27;  Deut.  xiv.  21,  xxii.  10. 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  •  279 

of  the  first  two  chapters  and  the  last,  is  poetry ;  and  for  sublimity, 
pathos,  loftiness  of  conception,  and  force  of  language,  some  portions 
of  it  have  no  parallel  in  the  poems  of  the  world. 

But,  whatever  may  be  said  of  Moses  in  other  respects,  it  is  as  a 
man  of  strong  faith  and  eminent  holiness  that  his  character  is  of 
chief  value  to  us.  The  strength  of  his  faith  and  liis  moral  princi- 
ple was  put  to  an  early  test.  Brought  up  in  the  court  of  Pharaoh, 
and  surrounded  by  every  thing  that  was  corrupting,  that  was  cal- 
culated to  minister  to  his  passion  and  pride,  we  might  have  expected 
to  see  him  a  proud,  vain,  thoughtless,  ambitious  young  man,  if,  in- 
deed, he  escaped  the  paths  of  open  profligacy  and  vice.  But  he 
was  nursed  by  a  Hebrew  mother,  —  a  pious  mother,  from  whom 
he  learned  that  he  was  an  Israelite,  and  by  whom,  without  doubt,  he 
was  instructed  in  the  truths  and  precepts  of  religion.  The  seed 
thus  scattered  began  early  to  take  root  and  sprmg  up.  He  soon 
learned  to  despise  the  superstitions  and  idolatries  of  Egypt,  and  to 
sympathize  with  the  oppressed  and  persecuted  people  of  God  ;  and, 
when  the  time  came  in  which  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  make  a 
choice,  he  promptly  decided  to  take  his  portion  with  them.  He 
"  chose  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season"  (Heb.  xi.  25). 

It  cannot  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  important  decision  was 
made  without  a  struggle  ;  for  Moses  had  the  same  natural  propen- 
sities as  other  men,  —  the  same  love  of  pleasure,  of  honor,  and  of 
power.  But  when  the  critical  moment  came,  when  he  must  decide 
between  the  gratification  of  these  low  desires  and  the  love  and 
favor  of  God,  he  did  not  hesitate  ;  he  could  not  hesitate.  He  cast 
away  the  former,  and  clung  to  the  latter.  He  loved,  he  trusted  in, 
the  God  of  his  fathers,  and  let  his  worldly  prospects  and  interests  go. 

And  the  decision  thus  formed  in  early  life  Moses  never  regretted 
or  revoked.  He  adhered  to  it  through  his  long  exile  in  the  land  of 
Midian ;  he  adhered  to  it  in  all  the  trials  and  perils  of  his  inter- 
course with  the  proud,  the  hardened,  the  unbelieving,  the  shuffling 
monarch  of  Egypt ;  he  adhered  to  it  at  the  Red  Sea,  at  the  foot 
of  Sinai,  in  the  disappointment  at  Kadesh,  and  through  all  his  subse- 
quent wanderings  in  the  deserts.  Amidst  the  murmuring  of  friends 
and  the  assaults  of  foes,  in  perplexities  and  difficulties,  in  victory 
and  defeat,  in  the  face  of  danger  and  of  death,  we  find  him  (with 
a  single  exception)  the  same  meek,  submissive,  trustful,  obedient 
man;  seeking  only  to  know  the  will  of  God,  that  he  might  do  it 
up  to  the  last  inch  in  which  it  was  clearly  revealed. 


280  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

It  was  this  uniform,  consistent  piety  which  gives  to  the  character 
of  Moses  its  greatest  charm.  He  might  have  been  a  great  man 
without  piety,  —  a  great  philosopher,  a  great  general,  a  great  mon- 
arch and  conqueror,  a  Nimrod,  a  Belus,  a  Sesostris,  a  Shishak :  but, 
without  his  uniform  and  consistent  piety,  he  could  not  have  been 
good  as  well  as  great ;  his  character  had  never  shone  out  upon  the 
ages  with  the  lustre  of  a  consistent  goodness. 

The  history  of  Moses  suggests  a  variety  of  unportant  lessons,  to 
some  of  which  we  will  now  advert.  In  the  first  place,  we  are  led  to 
admu'e  the  wonder-working  providence  of  God  towards  him  in  the 
circumstances  of  his  birth,  and  through  all  the  subsequent  years  of 
his  life.  Had  he  been  born  at  any  other  period,  or  in  any  other 
place,  he  would  have  been  out  of  .place,  and  the  great  purpose  of 
his  life  had  not  been  accomplished. 

After  his  birth,  he  must  be  hid  in  his  father's  house  three 
months,  until  the  right  time  came  for  his  being  exposed  upon  the 
river ;  and,  when  he  was  exposed,  Pharaoh's  daughter  and  her 
maidens  must  conclude  to  take  a  walk  upon  the  banks  of  the  river, 
or  perhaps  to  bathe  in  it ;  and,  as  they  walked,  they  must  come  to 
the  right  place,  and  see  the  little  ark,  and  have  their  curiosity  ex- 
cited to  look  into  it ;  and  when  compassion  was  moved  for  the 
little  sufferer,  and  the  princess  had  concluded  to  adopt  it,  Miriam 
must  be  at  hand  with  the  proposal,  "  Shall  I  run  and  call  thee  a 
nurse  of  the  Hebrew  women,  that  she  may  nurse  the  child  for 
thee?" 

In  all  these  events,  we  see  the  wonder-working  providence  of 
God,  fulfilling  his  own  eternal  counsels,  and  yet  not  interfering  in 
the  slightest  degree  with  the  free  agency  of  his  creatures ;  for  all 
the  individuals  here  concerned  acted  as  freely  and  as  naturally  as 
though  God  had  had  no  providence  over  them,  or  purpose  respecting 
them.  At  the  same  time,  the  great  end  in  view — the  preservation 
and  right  education  of  Moses  —  is  brought  about  as  exactly  as 
though  all  had  been  accomplished  by  the  nicest  macliinery  moved 
round  by  a  master's  hand. 

And  thus  it  is  that  God's  providence  is  ever  at  work.  We  should 
never  distrust  it,  or  attempt  to  thwart  it,  or  call  in  question  its  wis- 
dom and  goodness.  Things  may  look  dark  to  us,  as  they  did  to 
that  poor  Hebrew  mother  when  she  carried  out  her  babe  and  left 
it  upon  the  river ;  but  they  are  all  light  to  Him  who  sits  above  us. 

"  God  is  his  own  interpreter, 
And  he  will  make  it  plain." 


MOSES   AND   HIS   TIMES.  281 

We  see  in  this  history  how  the  most  important  events  often  hang, 
in  the  providence  of  God,  upon  apparently  httle  things.  Moses 
was  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  important  characters  that  ever 
lived.  We  know  of  no  mere  man  to  whom  the  world  is  so  much 
indebted,  and  will  he  to  the  end  of  time,  as  to  Moses.  And  yet 
on  what  slender  threads  hung,  at  one  period,  the  life  of  Moses ! 
What  a  slight  variation  from  the  appointed  course  of  things  would 
have  swept  him  off,  to  be  heard  of  no  more  !  One  hour  earlier  or 
later  in  that  walk  of  the  ladies  by  the  side  of  the  river,  a  few  rods 
higher  up  or  down,  and  the  little  ark  had  not  been  seen,  and  Moses 
had  been  lost.  And  when  the  ark  was  seen  and  opened,  if  the 
little  stranger,  instead  of  quietly  weeping,  had  been  impatient,  pet- 
ulant, fretful,  angry,  —  as  children  sometimes  are,  —  the  young 
princess,  instead  of  taking  it  up  and  pitying  it,  would  have  dashed 
it  from  her,  to  be  thought  of  no  more.  A  tear-drop  on  a  babe's 
cheek  is  a  very  little  thing ;  and  yet  how  much,  under  God,  de- 
pended on  that  tear !  Without  it,  we  might  never  have  heard  -of 
Moses,  or  had  the  Pentateuch,  or  been  blessed  with  that  inspired 
record  of  events,  dating  back  to  the  earliest  ages  of  the  world, 
which  he  has  left  us. 

Some  persons  doubt  whether  the  providence  of  God  is  particular^ 
or  only  general ;  whether  it  extends  to  the  least  things  as  well  as 
the  greatest.  But  we  see  in  the  history  before  us,  that,  unless  it 
does  extend  to  little  things,  it  cannot  control  great  ones ;  since  the 
latter,  in  very  many  cases,  hang  upon  the  former. 

The  journey  of  the  Israelites  tlirough  the  wilderness,  under  the 
direction  of  Moses,  was  a  fit  emblem  throughout  of  the  Christian  life. 
And  so  it  i§  represented  by  the  apostle  Paul.  Having  referred  to 
some  of  the  principal  events  of  their  pilgrimage,  —  their  tempta- 
tions, their  murmurings,  their  falls,  their  deliverances,  —  the  apostle 
adds,  "  Now  all  these  things  happened  unto  them  ion  ensamples  ; 
and  they  are  written  for  our  admonition,  on  whom  the  ends  of  the 
world  are  come  "  (1  Cor.  x.  11). 

In  tracing  the  progress  of  the  Israelites  through  the  wilderness, 
we  sometimes  find  them  in  pleasant  places,  as  at  Elim,  where  were 
"  threescore  and  ten  palm-trees,  and  twelve  wells  of  water  ;  "  and 
sometimes  in  uncomfortable  places,  as  at  Marah,  where  the  waters 
were  bitter.  We  sometimes  find  them  famishing  with  hunger  and 
thirst ;  and  then,  in  answer  to  prayer,  bread  is  given  them  from 
heaven,  and  water  gushes  forth  to  them  from  the  smitten  rock. 
They  are  sometimes  complaining,  and  then  rejoicing ;  sometimes 


282  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

vanquishing  their  enemies,  and  sometimes  fleeing  in  dismay  before 
them.  Now  they  are  bitten  with  fiery  flying  serpents,  and  now 
healed  simply  by  looking  up  in  faith  to  the  appointed  token  of 
deliverance^  The  Israehtes  are  led,  not  by  a  direct  path  from 
Egypt  into  Canaan,  but  by  a  very  crooked  and  often  mysterious 
one  ;  and  yet  they  have  an  infallible  guidance,  and  are  led  in  the 
right  way.  They  at  length  come  together  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan  ;  and  all  who  are  prepared  for  it  pass  over  into  the  promised 
land. 

Such  are  some  of  the  incidents  of  the  pilgrimage  of  the  children 
of  Israel ;  and  there  is  not  one  of  them  but  has  its  fulfilment  in  the 
Christian  life.  In  passmg  through  this  wilderness  world,  the  Chris- 
tian is  brought  sometimes  into  pleasant  places,  and  then  into  rough 
places.  Sometimes  he  is  ready  to  famish  for  the  bread  and  the  water 
of  life ;  and  then  he  is  fed  with  the  heavenly  manna,  and  drinks 
living  water  from  "  that  spiritual  rock  which  follows  him,  which  rock 
is  Christ."  Sometimes  the  Christian  is  hopeful,  is  strengthened, 
and  goes  on  his  heavenly  way  rejoicing ;  and  then  we  find  him,  hke 
the  wandering  Israelites,  much  discouraged  because  of  the  way,  and 
disposed  to  loiter  and  complain.  In  conflicting  with  spiritual  ene- 
mies. Christians  are  sometimes  victorious,  and  then  vanquished; 
and,  when  crushed  and  wounded  by  the  old  Adversary,  the  method 
of  their  dehverance  was  symbolized  in  the  deserts :  "  As  Moses  lifted 
up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be 
lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  eternal  life."  The  path  of  the  Christian  through  this 
world  is  often  mysterious,  running  through  high  places  and  low 
places,  this  way  and  that :  and  yet  there  is  no  mistake  made  ;  he  is 
led  in  the  right  way.  God  knows  the  wants  of  his  children  better 
than  they  do,  and  will  not  withhold  that  measure  of  disciphne 
which  their  best  good  requires.  The  Israelites  all  came  at  last  to 
the  Jordan ;  and  those  who  were  prepared  went  over  into  the  prom- 
ised land.  And  so  it  is  now  with  the  children  of  God.  At  the 
time  appointed,  which  is  the  best  time,  they  come  down  to  the 
banks  of  the  cold  river,  wade  its  deep  waters,  and  enter  on  the  Ca- 
naan of  eternal  rest.  May  the  pilgrimage  of  every  reader  termi- 
nate in  this  way  ! 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

JOSHUA. THE   CONQUEST   OF    CANAAN. 

THE  subject  of  this  chapter  is  the  book,  the  life,  and  the 
work  of  Joshua. 

This  book  is  called  Joshua,  after  the  name  of  the  venerable 
chieftain  whose  acts  it  records.  We  know  nothing  of  the  early 
life  of  Joshua,  except  that  he  was  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,  and 
was  born  in  Egypt  about  the  year  of  the  world  2460,  —  thirty 
years  later  than  the  birth  of  Moses.  He  was  about  fifty  years 
old  when  the  Israelites  came  out  of  Egypt,  and  ninety  years  old 
when  he  led  this  people  into  Canaan.  His  name  was  originally 
Oshea ;  signifying  deliverer^  saviour.  It  was  afterwards  changed 
to  Jehoshua,  or  Joshua  ;  signifying  Jehovah-Saviour^  or  Jehovah 
will  save.  It  was  the  same  name  in  Hebrew  with  Jesus  in  Greek. 
Hence  Joshua  is  repeatedly  called  Jesus  in  the  New  Testament.* 
This  identity  of  name  indicates  (What  is  true)  that  Joshua  was  in 
some  sense  a  tj])&  of  Christ.  As  Joshua  delivered  the  ancient 
people  of  God  from  their  temporal  enemies,  and  put'  them  in 
possession  of  the  earthly  Canaan;  so  Christ  delivers  his  people 
from  their  spiritual  enemies,  and  brings  them  into  the  Canaan  of 
eternal  rest. 

Joshua  is  repeatedly  called  the  servant  of  Moses,  and  was  early 
selected  to  be  the  leader  of  the  armies  of  Israel.  We  first  hear  of 
him  at  the  time  when  Amalek  fought  with  the  Israelites  at  Rephi- 
dim,  —  not  long  after  they  came  out  of  Egypt.  Moses  said  unto 
Joshua,  "  Choose  you  out  men,  and  go  and  fight  with  Amalek 
to-morrow ;  and  I  will  stand  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  with  the  rod 
of  God  in  my  hand."  And  Joshua  did  as  Moses  had  said  unto 
him ;  and  he  discomfited  Amalek  with  the  edge  of  the  sword 
(Exod.  xvii.  9-13). 

Joshua  accompanied  Moses  into  the  mount  when  he  Avent  to 

»  See  Acts  vii.  45 ;  Heb.  iv.  8. 

283 


284  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

receive  the  first  tables  of  stone,  and  was  with  him  when  the  tables 
were  broken.  When  Moses  went  into  the  mount  to  receive  the 
law  the  second  time,  Joshua  remained  with  the  dongregation  in 
the  camp,  —  probably  to  prevent  disorders  like  those  which  had 
previously  taken  place. 

Joshua  was  one  of  the  twelve  spies  whom  Moses  sent  from 
Kadesh,  in  the  Wilderness  of  Paran,  to  search  out  the  promised 
land ;  and  the  only  one,  except  Caleb,  who  encouraged  the  people 
to  put  their  trust  in  God,  and  go  up  and  take  possession  of  their 
inheritance.  This  report  is  the  more  remarkable  in  the  case  of 
Joshua,  as  he  had  every  reason  to  suppose,  if  the  people  went  up 
in  accordance  with  his  advice,  that  it  would  devolve  on  him  to  lead 
their  armies,  to  face  the  terrible  sons  of  Anak,  and  stand  in  the 
fore-front  of  the  hottest  battle. 

When  Moses  was  admonished  that  his  departure  drew  nigh,  he 
was  directed  to  take  Joshua,  to  set  him  before  the  priest  and 
the  congregation,  to  lay  his  hands  upon  him,  give  him  a  charge, 
and  thus  formally  inaugurate  him  as  his  successor.  He  moreover 
appointed  him,  in  connection  with  Eleazar  the  priest,  to  superin- 
tend the  division  of  the  land  of  Canaan  among  the  tribes  of  Israel. 
And  Joshua,  we  are  told,  "  was  full  of  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  because 
that  Moses  had  laid  his  hands  upon  him ;  and  the  children  of 
Israel  hearkened  unto  him,  and  did  as  the  Lord  commanded 
Moses." 

Before  proceeding  with  the  history  of  Joshua  as  recorded  in  the 
book  which  bears  his  name,  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  word  respecting 
the  authorship  of  this  book.  It  is  evident,  from  several  passages, 
that  it  was  written  by  some  one  who  was  contemporary  with  the 
events  recorded.  Thus  it  is  said  in  the  first  verse  of  the  fifth 
chapter,  "  When  all  the  kings  of  the  Amorites  heard  that  the  Lord 
had  dried  up  the  waters  of  Jordan  until  we  were  passed  over,"  — 
importing  that  the  writer  was  one  of  those  that  passed  over.  Again 
it  is  said,  "  Joshua  saved  Rahab  the  harlot  alive ;  and  she  dwelleth 
in  Israel  unto  this  day^'  — implying  that  Rahab  was  alive  when  the 
book  was  written  (chap.  vi.  25). 

A  portion  of  this  book,  we  are  expressly  told,  was  written  by 
Joshua.  Thus,  in  chap.  xxiv.  26,  it  is  said,  "And  Joshua  wrote 
these  words  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  God."  The  probability  is 
that  Joshua  wrote  the  greater  part  of  the  book,  or  that  it  was 
written  under  his  inspection  ;  though  some  passages  may  have  been 
added  by  a  subsequent  compiler. 


JOSHUA.  — THE  CONQUEST   OF   CANAAN.  285 

This  book  stands  in  immediate  connection  with  the  Pentateuch, 
and  is  an  undoubted  part  of  the  sacred  canon.  It  is  often  quoted  and 
referred  to  in  other  parts  of  Scripture  in  a  way  to  establish  its 
divine  authority  and  inspiration. 

The  general  subject  of  the  Book  of  Joshua  is  the  conquest  of 
Canaan,  and  the  settlement  of  the  Israelites  in  the  promised  land. 
We  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  the  whole  of  Palestine  was 
conquered  under  the  direction  of  Joshua :  it  was  only  that  part 
of  it  which  lies  west  of  the  Jordan.  King  Arad,  who  dwelt  in  the 
south  of  Canaan,  also  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  and  Og,  king 
of  Bashan,  with  the  Midianites  and  Amaleldtes,  had  been  overcome 
previously,  during  the  life  of  Moses  ;  and  a  portion  of  the  Israelites 
had  been  settled  in  their  country. 

The  book  before  us  commences  with  a  solemn  charge,  or  com- 
mission, to  Joshua,  directing  him  to  lead  the  armies  of  Israel  over 
the  Jordan,  and  put  them  in  possession  of  the  land  which  had  been 
promised  to  their  fathers  :  "  Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage  ;  be 
not  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dismayed :  for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  with 
thee  whithersoever  thou  goest."  Next  we  have  an  account  of 
Joshua's  sending  spies  to  spy  out  Jericho ;  of  their  entertainment 
by  Rahab ;  of  the  covenant  which  they  made  with  her ;  and  of 
their  safe  return.  Joshua  now  makes  preparation  for  crossing  the 
Jordan.  The  waters  are  miraculously  divided,  as  the  Red  Sea  had 
been ;  and  the  whole  congregation  passes  over  in  safety. 

And  now  that  the  Israelites  are  in  an  enemy's  country,  exposed 
to  the  assaults  of  a  watchful  and  exasperated  foe,  perhaps  some  of 
them  might  think  that  they  were  excused  from  the  ordinary  obli- 
gations of  religious  worship  and  ordinances.  But  not  so  thought 
Joshua.  He  pauses  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Jordan  until  all 
the  males  of  the  congregation  who  had  not  before  received  the  rite 
of  circumcision  were  circumcised.  Then  they  celebrate  the  feast  of 
the  Passover,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month,  at  even, 
on  the  plains  of  Jericho,  —  the  first  Passover  which  had  been  cele- 
brated for  forty  years,  —  the  first  that  most  of  the  congregation  then 
living  had  ever  witnessed. 

Next  we  have  an  account  of  the  siege  and  capture  of  Jericho ; 
of  the  sin  and  destruction  of  Achan  and  his  family  ;  of  the  discom- 
fiture and  subsequent  victory  before  Ai.  The  fall  of  Jericho,  in 
the  peculiar  manner  in  which  it  was  effected,  was  designed  and 
calculated  to  impress  upon  the  Israelites,  and  to  do  it  early,  that 
all  their  strength  was  in  God,  and  that  all  their  dependence  must 


286  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

be  upon  him.  The  means  which  they  used  had  no  tendency  at  all 
to  throw  down  the  walls  of  a  fortified  city.  It  was  God  who  pros- 
trated them,  and  destroyed  the  city,  according  to  his  word. 

The  scenes  before  Ai  were  also  calculated  to  impress  early  upon 
.  the  people  the  necessity  of  a  strict  adherence  to  the  divine  com- 
mands. If  they  presumed  to  transgress,  however  secretly,  they 
might  be  sure  that  their  sin  would  find  them  out. 

Following  the  capture  of  Ai,  we  are  told  of  the  league  with  the 
Gibeonites,  who  contrived  by  stratagem  to  circumvent  the  unsus- 
pecting leader  of  Israel,  and  di-aw  liim  into  a  treaty  offensive  and 
defensive.  The  kings  in  the  southerly  part  of  Canaan  now  com- 
bine against  Gibeon  and  against  Israel,  and  are  defeated  by  Joshua 
with  prodigious  slaughter.  During  this  great  battle  of  Beth-horon, 
the  Lord  poured  upon  the  enemies  of  Israel  a  tremendous  storm 
of  hail :  "  And  they  were  more  which  died  with  hailstones  than 
they  whom  the  children  of  Israel  slew  with  the  sword."  It  was 
during  this  battle  that  the  sun  and  moon  are  said  to  have  stood 
still,  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Joshua,  until  the  people  had 
avenged  themselves  of  their  enemies.  Various  methods  have  been 
adopted  with  a  view  to  explain  away  this  stupendous  miracle  ;  but 
I  think  it  safer  here,  ag  in  most  other  places,  to  take  the  Bible  as 
it  stands.  The  God  who  made  the  world,  and  moves  it,  could 
easily  suspend  its  rotatory  motion  ;  or  he  could  have  caused,  for  the 
time,  an  unusual  refraction  of  the  rays  of  light :  either  of  which 
would  have  given  to  the  sun  and  moon  the  appearance  of  standing 
still,  and  would  have  served  to  lengthen  out  the  day.  It  should 
be  added,  too,  that  this  event  —  of  which  there  are  some  traces 
in  the  traditions  of  ancient  heathen  nations  *  —  was  calculated  to 
teach  those  nations  that  the  Jehovah  of  Israel  was  the  supreme 
and  only  God,  the  almighty  Ruler  of  both  earth  and  heaven. 

Subsequent  to  the  events  last  recorded  was  another  and  still 
greater  confederation  of  Canaanitish  kings,  —  those  inhabiting 
the  northern  part  of  Palestine,  whose  armies  are  said  to  have 
been  as  the  sand  on  the  seashore  for  multitude,  with  horses  and 
chariots  very  many.     All  these  the  Lord  delivered  into  the  hands 

*  The  ancient  chronicles  of  China  record  this  wonderful  phenomenon  in  almost  the  very 
words  of  Scripture :  "  The  sun  and  moon  stood  still  in  their  places,  and  hasted  not  to  go  down, 
for  the  space  of  one  whole  day."  —  See  Burner's  Hist,  of  the  Bible,  vol.  i.  p.  300. 

The  prayer  of  Joshua  on  this  occasion,  and  the  account  of  the  answer,  recorded  in  Josh.  x. 
12,  13,  are  poetical,  and  are  said- to  be  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Jasher.  This  Book  of  Jasher, 
which  is  lost,  seems  to  have  been  a  collection  of  heroic  Hebrew  odes  or  songs.  In  it  was  re- 
corded the  elegy  of  David  on  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan.  —  See  2  Sam.  i.  18. 


JOSHUA.  — THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANAAN.  287 

of  the  Israelites,  who  smote  them  and  consumed  them  until  none 
of  their  great  army  was  left. 

With  this  battle  ended  the  proper  conquest  of  Canaan.  There 
were  a  few  border-tribes,  and  several  strongholds,  which  were  not 
subdued,  and  which  subsequently  gave  the  Israelites  much  trouble. 
But  the  land  was  so  far  subdued,  that  the  people  now  rested  from 
war,  and  entered  on  the  more  agreeable  task  of  dividing  aild  set- 
tling the  country.  While  this  work  was  in  progress,  the  taberna- 
cle of  the  congregation  was  set  up,  and  the  public  worship  of  God 
established,  at  Shiloh,  a  central  position  in  the  country  of  Ephraim, 
near  to  the  city  which  had  become  the  property  and  the  permanent 
residence  of  Joshua. 

In  the  concluding  chapters,  we  have  an  account  of  the  return  of 
the  two  tribes  and  a  half  (who  had  faithfully  assisted  their  brethren 
in  the  conquest  of  Canaan)  to  their  cities  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Jordan ;  also  of  Joshua's  farewell  address  to  the  Israelites,  and 
of  his  death.  His  farewell  address  is  much  in  the  style  of  Moses' 
valedictory  on  a  similar  occasion.  Both  are  in  the  highest  degree 
touching,  appropriate,  and  eloquent ;  and  must  have  left  a  salutary 
impression  on  the  minds  of  the  people. 

The  Book  of  Joshua  contains  the  history  of  Israel  for  about 
twenty  years,  —  a  short  but  most  eventful  period.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  important  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
should  never  be  separated  from  the  Pentateuch,  of  which  it  is  at 
once  both  the  continuation  and  completion. 

Joshua  lived  a  considerable  time  after  the  wars  of  Canaan  were 
ended,  and  died  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  ten  years.  He  was 
buried  at  Timnath-serah,  on  Mount  Ephraim,  in  the  border  of  his 
inheritance,  where  rest  his  remains  unto  this  day. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  Canaanites,  whom  Joshua  dispos- 
sessed, were  the  same,  originally,  as  the  ancient  Phcenicans,  who  l)uilt 
Tyre  and  Sidon  and  Carthage,  and  introduced  letters  and  civiliza- 
tion into  Greece.  They  may  have  advanced  further  in  some  of  the 
arts  of  civilized  life  than  the  Israelites ;  though,  as  base,  cruel, 
bloody  idolaters,  they  were  the  accursed  of  God.  We  have  evi- 
dence of  their  expulsion  from  Palestine  by  Joshua,  aside  from  that 
contained  in  the  Scriptures.  Thus  Procopius  the  historian,  who 
accompanied  Belisarius  into  Africa  in  the  sixth  century,  found  at 
Tigisis  (the  same  as  Tangiers)  two  stone  columns  near  a  great 
fountain,  on  which  was  engraved  in  Phoenician  letters  the  follow- 
ing inscription :  "  We  are  they  who  fled  from  the  face  of  Joshua 


288  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  robber,  the  son  of  Nun."  *  The  same  monument  is  spoken  of 
by  Moses  of  Charene,  and  Suidas  the  lexicographer,  and  is  regarded 
by  learned  men  at  the  present  day  as  a  genuine  testimonial  to  the 
truth  of  the  Scripture  history. 

In  reviewing  the  life  and  book  of  Joshua,  several  questions  re- 
quire to  be  considered.  It  may  be  asked,  in  the  first  place,  What 
right  had  Israel  to  invade,  dispossess,  and  destroy  the  Canaanites  ? 
and  can  a  book  which  not  only  records,  but  countenances  and 
directs,  such  an  outrage,  be  from  God  ?  In  replying  to  these  ques- 
tions, we  have  only  to  say,  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  ful- 
ness thereof;  "  and  he  has  a  right  to  give  it  to  whomsoever  he  will. 
The  Israelites  had  710  right,  unbidden  and  of  their  own  accord,  to 
invade  and  take  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan ;  but  God  had 
a  right  to  give  them  this  land,  and  he  had  given  it  to  them  by  a 
thousand  grants  and  in  the  most  explicit  terms.  This  land  was 
originally  settled  by  the  descendants  of  Canaan,  a  grandson  of 
Noah,  and  a  son  of  Ham  ;  but  they  defiled  and  polluted  it,  and 
utterly  forfeited  it,  by  their  idolatry  and  wickedness.  God  waited 
long  on  them  to  be  gracious ;  but  his  forbearance  only  served  to 
harden  them  the  more  in  sin.  He  then  determined,  in  just  judg- 
ment, to  sweep  them  away,  and  give  their  beautiful  country  to  an- 
other j3eople.  He  first  promised  it  to  Abraham  and  his  posterity  more 
than  four  hundred  years  before  the  Israelites  took  possession  of  it. 
He  oft  repeated  tliis  promise  to  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  to  the  patri- 
archs in  Egypt.  He  repeated  the  same  to  Moses  and  to  Joshua, 
expressly  granting  tlie  land  of  Canaan  to  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  commissioning  them  to  go  and  take  possession  of  it  in  his  name. 
The  Israehtes  had  the  best  possible  title,  therefore,  to  the  land  of 
Canaan,  —  an  express  grant  from  the  sovereign  Possessor  of  heaven 
and  earth ;  and  their  invasion  of  it  at  the  appointed  time,  so  far 
from  showing  their  wickedness,  proved  their  obedience.  The  good 
pleasure  of  God,  so  far  from  being  violated  by  this  invasion,  was 
fulfilled  by  it,  and  was  the  sole  and  sufficient  warrant  under  which 
the  act  was  done. 

Another  question  suggested  by  the  Book  of  Joshua  relates  to  the 
horrid  custom  of  war.  Does  not  this  book  give  a  sanction  to  war,  — 
to  offensive  war,  —  to  war  in  its  most  odious  and  objectionable 
form?  To  this  question  we  answer  as  before,  "The  earth  is  the 
Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof ;  the  world,  and  they  that  dwell 

*  See  Rawlinson's  Historical  Evidences,  p.  86. 


JOSHUA.  — THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANAAN.    '  289 

therein."  God  has  a  right  to  destroy  guilty  nations  or  individuals 
in  any  way  that  he  pleases.  He  had  a  perfect  right  (had  it  so 
pleased  him)  to  destroy  those  wicked  Canaanites  by  fire  or  flood, 
by  earthquake,  pestilence,  or  wild  beasts.  And  he  had  an  equal 
right  to  destroy  them  in  ivar^  —  to  commission  some  other  nation  to 
go  against  them,  and  exterminate  them.  In  this  wa}^,  God  commis- 
sioned Jehu  to  destroy  the  house  of  Ahab,  and  commissioned 
Sennacherib  to  ^'o  against  the  cities  of  Israel.  God  never  com- 
missions one  people  to  go  against  another  vengefidly^  maliciously^ 
in  the  spirit  of  plunder  and  of  bloody  but  to  go  by  his  authority,  go 
as  his  instruments,  go  in  his  fear  and  to  his  glory,  and  execute  a 
merited  work  of  destruction  in  his  name.  Thus  God  commissioned 
Joshua  to  go  against  the  Canaanites  ;  and  thus,  so  far  as  appears, 
'Joshua  went.  And  as  to  any  sanction  or  encouragement,  which, 
by  so  doing,  he  gave  to  the  practice  of  war,  we  only  say,  When 
angry  nations  or  rulers  can  show  as  high  a  commission  for  going  to 
war  as  Joshua  had,  let  them  go  ;  when  they  can  produce  as  clear  a 
'"''Thus  saith  the  Lord,'''  and  have  the  revelation  confirmed,  as  his  was, 
by  miracles,  then  let  them  go  :  but  until  they  can  produce  a  like 
commission,  authorized  and  sanctioned  in  the  same  way,  let  them 
never  attempt  to  justify  their  wars  by  pleading  the  example  of 
Joshua. 

In  the  life  and  work  of  Joshua,  we  see  illustrated  both  the  justice 
in\(\.  the  faithfulness  of  God, —  h\s,  justice,  in  bringing  a  merited 
destruction  upon  the  devoted  Canaanites ;  his  faithfulness,  in  ful- 
filling his  promises  to  the  patriarchs,  that  he  would  give  the  land 
of  Canaan  to  the  children  of  Israel  for  a  possession.  As  before 
remarked,  this  country  was  settled  by  the  descendants  of  Canaan, 
a  son  of  Ham,  who  took  possession  of  it  soon  after  the  Flood.  It 
was  a  good  country,  a  fertile  and  beautiful  country ;  and  long  did 
God  continue  to  try  and  prove  its  original  inhabitants  with  mer- 
cies. The  sun  shone  upon  them,  the  rains  descended,  the  earth 
brought  forth  its  increase,  and,  as  years  rolled  by,  the  people  rioted 
on  the  profusion  of  God's  bounty  and  mercy  :  but,  instead  of  being 
melted  under  a  sense  of  his  goodness,  they  were  hardened  ;  in- 
stead of  growing  better,  they  constantly  grew  worse.  Still  God 
was  not  in  haste  to  execute  his  judgments,  and  sweep  them  away. 
He  waited  more  than  six  hundred  years,  —  all  the  while  trying 
them  with  mercies,  and  calling  upon  them,  in  his  providence,  to  be 
wise.  Even  after  he  had  purposed  to  destroy  them,  and  had  re- 
vealed his  purpose  to  Abraham,  he  waited  more  than  four  hundred 

19 


290  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

years,  oecause  (to  use  his  own  expression)  '^  the  iniquity  of  the 
Amorites  is  not  yet  full." 

But  at  length  the  cuj)  of  their  iniquity  ivas  full ;  and  so  was 
the  cup  of  divine  indignation ;  and,  when  the  last  drop  had  fallen 
into  this  fatal  cup,  it  was  poured  upon  the  guilty  Canaanites,  to 
their  utter  dismay  and  extermination.  The  armies  of  Israel  were 
commissioned  to  go  \v^  against  them ;  they  were  hardened  to  op- 
pose and  resist ;  and  in  the  conflict  they  were  terribly  destroyed,  — 
an  example  both  of  the  goodness  and  the  severity  of  God :  of 
goodness,  in  waiting  upon  this  guilty  people  so  long,  and  trying 
them  Avith  so  many  mercies ;  of  severity  and  of  glorious  justice,  in 
at  length  executing  upon  them  his  threatenings,  and  sweeping  them 
away. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  here  illustrated  the  faithfulness  of 
God  in  fulfilling  his  promises  to  his  covenant  people.  These  prom- 
ises, it  will  be  remembered,  were  not  fulfilled  as  soon  as  made.  They 
looked  far  into  the  future,  through  intervening  periods  of  darkness 
and  mystery.  The  Israelites  must  go  down  into  Egypt,  and  serve 
there,  in  cruel  bondage,  a  long  course  of  years ;  and  when  at 
length  they  were  delivered,  and  expected  to  be  led  directly  into 
Canaan,  they  must  wander  in  the  desert  forty  years,  till  one  whole 
generation  had  passed  away.  During  this  long,  dark  jDcriod,  the 
faith  even  of  the  pious  Israelites  must  have  been  sorely  tried.  They 
could  not  see  how  the  divine  promises  were  to  be  fulfilled ;  and  were 
led,  perhaps,  to  doubt,  at  times,  whether  they  ever  would  be.  But 
they  toere  fulfilled.  In  the  appointed  time,  the  best  time,  they 
Avere  all  fulfilled.  The  Canaanites  were  driven  out,  or  extermi- 
nated ;  and  Israel  was  put  in  possession  of  the  promised  land.*  So 
true  is  it  that  the  God  of  Israel  is  a  faithful  God,  —  faithful,  though 
he  may  for  a  time  delay  to  fulfil  all  his  promises,  and  execute  his 
tlireatenings  ;  to  reward  his  people,  and  punish  his  enemies,  as  they 
deserve. 

This  Book  of  Joshua  presents  us  with  some  beautiful  examples 
of  faiths  —  that  faith  which  takes  God  at  his  word,  and  leads  its 
possessor  to  act  accordhigly.     The  first  I  shall  notice  is  that  of  the 


*  Israel  was  not  put  in  possession  at  once  of  all  the  land  which  had  been  promised  to 
Abraham  and  to  Moses  (see  Gen.  xv.  18;  Num.  xxiii.  31,  xxxiv.  3-12).  The  most  of  it  was 
conquered  and  recovered  under  David  (see  2  Sam.  viii.).  The  north  border,  however,  —  "the 
entrance  into  Hamath," — seems  never  to  have  been  fully  recovered.  Hamath  is  a  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  north  of  Dan.  The  conditions  of  the  promise -to  Moses  were  not  fulfilled. 
Ezekiel  promises  the  same  border  to  Israel  at  some  future  day  (see  Ezek.  xlvii.  15, 16). 


JOSHUA.  — THE    CONQUEST   OF   CANAAN.  291 

whole  congregation  in  the  capture  of  Jericlio.  The  Lord  had  com- 
manded Joshua  and  his  men  of  war  to  march  round  the  city  seven 
days  in  succession,  blowing  with  rams'  horns ;  and  had  promised, 
that,  on  the  seventh  day,  the  walls  should  fall  down,  and  the  city  be 
taken.  Nothing  could  seem  more  preposterous,  I  had  almost  said 
ridicidous,  to  men  of  war,  than  such  a  process,  exposing  them  to 
the  scorn  and  derision  of  their  enemies.  And  yet,  because  the 
Lord  had  commanded  it,  not  a  word  of  objection  was  made.  The 
thing  required  was  promptly  and  obediently  done,  and  then  the 
promise  was  fulfilled.  The  walls  fell  down,  untouched  by  human 
hands.  The  people  went  up,  and  sacked  and  destroyed  the  doomed 
city. 

An  example  of  like  faith,  occurring  in  the  same  chapter,  is  that 
of  Rahab,  At  the  peril  of  her  life,  this  woman  had  received  and 
lodged  the  spies  whom  Joshua  had  sent  out,  and  had  contrived  a 
way  for  their  escapee.  For  this  service  she  had  received  a  promise, 
—  on  certain  conditions  to  be  fulfilled  by  herself,  —  that,  when  the 
city  was  taken,  she  and  her  family  should  be  dehvered.  Rahab 
believed  the  promise  ;  she  fulfilled  the  condition  specified ;  put  the 
scarlet  cord  in  her  window :  and,  when  all  around  her  were  de- 
stroyed, she  and  her  household  were  preserved ;  and  not  only  so,  she 
was  greatly  honored  in  Israel.  She  became  connected  with  one  of 
the  most  respectable  families,  and  was  an  ancestress  of  David  and 
of  the  Messiah. 

The  book  before  us  furnishes  examples  also  of  the  great  evil  of  sin^ 
and  the  certainty  that  God  will  search  it  out,  and  punish  it  as  it 
deserves.  Li  illustration  of  this,  take  the  single  case  of  Achan. 
When  Jericho  was  captured,  this  man  had  taken  of  the  accursed 
thing ;  he  had  concealed  it  in  his  tent :  no  mortal  knew  of  it  ex- 
cept himself  and  his  family ;  and  he  fondly  dioped  that  he  should 
escape.  But  no :  the  eye  of  God  had  followed  him  in  his  trespass ; 
and  the  hand  of  God  was  soon  upon  him  to  disclose  and  terribly 
to  punish  his  guilt.  Let  us  learn  from  this  case  that  all  sin  is 
naked,  and  open  to  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  ;  and 
that  he  has  innumerable  ways  in  which  to  lay  it  open  to  the  view 
of  others,  and  follow  it  up  with  a  merited  punishment. 

We  have  in  the  Book  of  Joshua  a  minute  account  of  the  division 
of  the  conquered  country ;  one  portion  being  allotted  to  this  tribe 
or  family,  and  another  to  that.  All  this  was  done  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  God  of  Israel ;  and  it  may  seem  to  us,  on  reading  the 
account,  as  though  tliis  people  alone  were  the  objects  of -God's 


292  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

providential  regard.  But  let  us  remember,  in  conclusion,  that  as 
God  meted  out  the  boundaries  of  the  families  of  Israel,  so  he  now 
determines  the  bounds  of  our  habitations,  and  exercises  a  constant 
and  particular  providence  over  us.  It  should  be  our  earnest  and 
prayerful  endeavor  to  ascertain  where  God  would  have  us  be,  and 
ivhat  he  would  have  us  do ;  and  if  we  can  believe  that  we  are  in 
the  way  of  his  appointment,' then  we  should  ask  no  more  questions. 
We  should  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  our  lot. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

JUDGES. 

THE  last  chapter  closed  with  the  death  of  Joshua.  Canaan  had 
now  been,  in  great  measure,  conquered.  The  land  had  been 
divided  by  lot  to  the  several  tribes ;  the  priests  and  Levites  had 
received  their  appointed  cities ;  the  tabernacle  worship  had  been 
established  at  Shiloh ;  and  the  people  were  left  with  the  injunction 
to  complete  the  conquest  of  the  country,  to  drive  out  or  destroy 
the  original  inhabitants,  to  have  no  communion  with  them  or  their 
gods,  but  to  adhere  strictly  to  the  worship  of  Jehovah.  During 
the  next  three  hundred  years,  or  more,  they  were  chiefly  under  the 
direction  of  a  class  of  men  called,  in  our  translation.  Judges.  The 
Book  of  Judges  is  a  concise  history  of  this  period. 

Let  us  first  inquire  as  to  the  authorship  of  this  book,  and  the 
time  when  it  was  written. 

The  probability  is  that  certain  parts  of  it  were  written  by  the 
scribes  in  the  time  of  the  judges.  We  know  that  there  were 
scribes  or  genealogists  in  all  the  tribes,  whose  business  it  was  to 
keep  an  account  of  the  respective  families,  and  to  register  the  more 
important  transactions.  As  the  book  before  us  is  somewhat  frag- 
mentary in  its  character,  the  probability  is  that  parts  of  it  were 
written  by  these  men.  It  must  have  been  compiled,  however,  and 
set  in  order,  by  some  inspired  man ;  and  we  know  of  no  one  to 
whom  it  may  be  with  so  much  probability  attributed  as  to  Samuel. 
In  several  places  the  writer  throws  in  the  remark,  "  In  those  days 
there  was  no  king  in  Israel ; "  implying  that  there  was  a  king  at 
the  time  when  the  book  was  written.  And  yet  it  seems  to  have 
been  written  before  the  reign  of  David ;  for  the  Jebusites  were 
still  in  possession  of  Jerusalem ;  whereas  it  was  among  the  first 
acts  of  David's  reign  to  expel  the  Jebusites,  and  take  their  strong- 
hold for  himself.*     These  facts  indicate  that  the  book  must  have 

*  See  Judg.  i.  21,  and  1  Chrou.  xi.  4. 

293 


294  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

been  written  or  compiled  during  the  reign  of  Saul ;  and  who  so 
likely  to  do  it  as  Samuel  ?  Samuel  lived  just  at  this  time  ;  he  held 
the  pen  of  a  ready  writer ;  he  was  an  inspired  man  and  a  prophet ; 
and  the  authorship  of  the  book  undoubtedly  belongs  to  him.  And 
it  detracts  nothing  from  its  divine  authority  and  inspiration  to  sup- 
pose, that,  in  some  of  its  parts,  it  is  a  compilation :  for,  the  different 
fragments  entering  into  it  being  before  the  writer,  the  Spirit  of  God 
could  direct  liim  just  what  to  take,  and  what  to  omit,  and  what 
corrections  (if  any)  it  would  be  necessary  to  make ;  so  that  the 
work  would  be  as  really  the  inspired  word  of  God  as  though  pre- 
pared originally  by  the  prophet's  hand. 

We  inquire  next,  in  regard  to  these  judges.  Who  were  they  ? 
by  whom  appointed  ?  what  the  nature  of  their  office  ?  with 
what  powers  invested  ? 

They  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  judges  appointed  by 
Moses  in  the  wilderness,  whose  office  it  was  to  administer  justice 
according  to  the  laws.  These  judges  over  thousands,  over  hun- 
dreds, over  fifties,  and  over  tens,  were  still  in  office  in  the  land 
of  Canaan ;  they  resided  among  the  people ;  they  brought  the 
administration  of  justice  to  every  man's  door.  But  the  judges  of 
whom  Vie  now  speak  were  a  very  different  order  of  men  from 
these  :  they  were  the  successors,  not  of  the  legal  justices,  but  rather 
of  Moses  and  of  Joshua  ;  they  stood  in  the  place  of  God  him- 
self, and  exercised  an  authority  inferior  only  to  his.  God,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  not  only  the  religious  Ruler  of  this  people, 
but  their  civil  Sovereign.  They  had  chosen  him  to  be  such,  and 
had  promised  obedience.  He  had  given  them  a  full  code  of 
political  laws  and  institutions ;  and  he  needed  some  one  to 
administer  the  government  under  him,  or,  at  least,  to  superin- 
tend its  administration.  This  work  devolved  upon  Moses  and 
Joshua  so  long  as  they  lived ;  and,  when  they  died,  it  descended 
to  others. 

Between  Joshua  and  Saul  there  were  fourteen  of  these  judges  ; 
viz.,  Othniel,  Ehud,  Shamgar,  Deborah,  Gideon,  Abimelech,  Tolah, 
Jair,  Jephthah,  Ibzan,  Elon,  Samson,  Eli,  and  Samuel.  Some  of 
these  were  appointed  directly  and  supernaturally  by  God ;  others 
were  .called  to  office  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  or  by  the 
people,  with  the  manifest  approbation  of  God.  Abimelech  alone 
may  be  regarded  as  a  usurper ;  and  I  have  hesitated  about  nam- 
ing him  among  the  judges  of  Israel.  Eli  was  high  priest  as  well 
as  judge.     They  were  called  forth  ordinarily  to  meet  some  special 


JUDGES.  295 

occasion  or  emergency,  and  had  a  general  direction  of  affairs 
both  in  peace  and  war.  Their  work  was  always  laborious ;  some- 
times difficult  and  hazardous  in  the  extreme.  There  was  no  salary 
attached  to  their  office,  and  no  income  appropriated  to  them,  un- 
less it  might  be  a  larger  share  in  the  spoils  of  war,  and  presents 
which  were  made  to  them  as  tokens  of  personal  regard.  They 
were  simple  in  their  manners,  moderate  in  their  desires,  and  gen- 
erally free  from  ambition  or  avarice.  They  continued  in  office 
during  life,  but  had  no  authority  to  appoint  successors.  They 
were,  in  general,  a  noble  class  of  men,  who  felt  that  whatever 
they  did  for  the  Israelitish  nation  was  above  all  reward  ;  who  chose 
rather  to  deserve  well  of  their  country  than  to  be  enriched  by 
its  wealth. 

If  it  be  inquired.  What  was  the  state  of  Israel  under  the  judges  ? 
I  answer,  that  it  was,  in  general,  a  time  of  peace  and  ])7-osperity. 
This  remark  may  excite  surprise  ;  but  nevertheless  it  is  true. 
Til  us,  after  Othniel,  it  is  said  that  the  land  had  rest  forty  years ; 
after  Ehud,  eighty  years ;  after  Deborah  and  Barak,  forty  years ; 
and  so  on.  To  be  sure,  there  were  in  these  times  occasional  and 
terrible  outbreakings  of  wickedness,  followed,  of  course,  by  dis- 
tressing judgments ;  but  these  were  confined,  for  the  most  part, 
to  particular  tribes,  or  sections  of  the  country.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  idolatry  among  the  people.  This  seems  to  have  been 
their  constantly  besetting  sin.  Still  the  tabernacle  of  God  was 
open  at  Shiloh,  and  his  altars  were  reverenced.  There  were  magis- 
trates in  every  city,  and  courts  of  justice  were  held.  On  the 
whole,  it  is  not  likely,  that,  during  any  other  three  hundred  years- 
of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  the  people  enjoyed  so  much  quiet- 
ness, liberty,  and  prosperity  as  they  did  under  the  judges ,  and 
this  shows  how  unreasonable  they  were  in  wishing  to  terminate 
this  form  of  government  and  to  have  a  king. 

It  may  be  well  to  inquire,  in  this  connection,  how  long  the  rule 
of  the  judges  continued.  It  may  be  thought  that  Paul  has  decided 
this  question  for  us.  In  a  speech  in  one  of  the  Jewish  syna- 
gogues, he  says,  "And  after  that"  —  the  conquest  and  division 
of  Canaan  —  "  he  gave  unto  them  judges  about  the  space  of  four 
hundred  and  fifty  years^  until  Samuel  the  prophet  "  (Acts  xiii.  20). 
But  this  chronology  can  never  be  made  to  harmonize  with  that 
of  the  Old  Testament.  In  1  Kings  vi.  1,  it  is  said,  that,  "  in  the 
four  hundred  and  eightieth  year  after  the  children  of  Israel  came 
out  of  Egypt,  Solomon  began  to  build  the  house  of  the  Lord." 


296  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

How,  then,  can  there  have  been  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  be- 
tween the  settlement  m  Canaan  and  the  birth  of  Samuel  ? 

Various  methods  have  been  proposed  by  which  to  harmonize 
this  seeming  discrepancy.  Thus  it  has  been  said  that  Paul 
adopted  the  chronology  of  the  Septuagint,  —  the  common  reckon- 
ing among  the  Jews,  —  without  stopping  to  vouch  for  its  accuracy. 
But  I  prefer  to  take  the  ground,  that  the  passage  from  Paul,  as  it 
stands  in  our  Bibles,  is  not  properly  translated.  It  certainly  will 
admit  of  another  translation,  and  one  which  removes  the  difficulty 
entirely.  Kai  [xstu  ruiira,  Ws,-  heoi  rezQuxooioi.;  xal  TrnvrifAovza,  —  "  After 
these  things,  occupying  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  years,  God 
gave  them  judges  until  Samuel  the  prophet."  According  to  this 
translation,  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  refer,  not  to  the  time 
of  the  judges,  but  to  events  which  took  place  previous  to  them, 
running  back  almost  to  the  time  of  Abraham's  settlement  in 
Canaan. 

The  chronology  of  the  Book  of  Judges  cannot  be  settled 
from  the  book  itself :  for,  though  the  years  of  oppression  and  of 
rest  are  frequently  given,  they  are  not  so  in  every  case ;  and  the 
probability  is  that  they  often  ran  into  each  other.  Assuming  the 
correctness  of  the  statement  in  1  Kings  vi.  1,  that  Solomon  com- 
menced building  the  temple  in  the  four  hundred  and  eightieth  year 
after  the  exode  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  it  will  not  be  difficult 
to  decide  as  to  the  time  of  the  judges.  The  Israelites  were  forty 
years  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  conquest  of 
Canaan,  and  the  settlement  of  it,  may  have  occupied  seven  years 
more.  Here,  then,  are  forty-seven  years  to  be  taken  from  the 
four  hundred  and  eighty.  Allowing  forty  years  to  the  reign  of 
Saul,  and  forty  more  to  that  of  David,  and  supposing  Solomon  to 
have  commenced  building  the  temple  in  the  fourth  year  of  his 
reign,*  here  will  be  eighty-four  more  years  (amounting  in  all  to 
a  hundred  and  thirty-one)  to  be  taken  from  the  four  hundred 
and  eighty.  And  480  — 131  leaves  349  years  to  be  given  to  the 
judges,  or  to  be  reckoned  between  the  settlement  in  Canaan  and 
the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Saul.  • 

There  is  another  reason  why  this  shorter  view  of  the  rule  of  the 
judges  is  to  be  preferred.  We  find  only  four  generations  between 
Salmon  (who  married  Rahab,  the  hostess  of  Jericho,  soon  after 
the  settlement  in  Canaan)  and  David.  Salmon  and  Rahab  were 
the  parents  of  Boaz  ;  and  Boaz  and  Ruth  were  the  parents  of 

*  See  Acts  xiii.  1,  and  1  Kings  ii.  11,  vi.  1. 


JUDGES.  297 

Obed ;  and  Obed  was  the  father  of  Jesse ;  and  Jesse,  of  David.* 
Now,  we  must  stretch  these  four  generations  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  probabihty  to  make  them  last  three  hundred  and  forty-nine 
years,  or  rather  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  ;  for  Saul  had  reigned 
some  ten  years  when  David  was  born.  The  four  generations 
cannot  possibly  be  extended  another  hundred  years. 

We  proceed  now  to  a  very  brief  analysis  of  the  contents  of  the 
book  before  us.  The  Book  of  Judges  properly  consists  of  two 
parts.  The  first  sixteen  chapters  are  a  continuous  history.  The 
last  four  chapters,  containing  the  story  of  Micah  and  the  Danites, 
also  the  story  of  the  Levite  and  his  concubine,  and  the  consequent 
war  upon  the  Benjamites,  belong  to  an  earlier  part  of  the  history, 
and  were  thrown  in  at  the  end  so  as  not  to  interrupt  too  much 
the  course  of  the  narrative.  They  constitute  a  sort  of  appendix 
to  the  book.  The  Book  of  Ruth  may  be  regarded  as  a  second 
appendix  ;  since  the  events  there  so  beautifully  recorded  took  place 
in  the  time  of  the  judges. 

The  history  commences  with  a  vigorous  attempt  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  tribes,  particularly  those  of  Judah,  Simeon,  Benjamin, 
and  Ephraim,  to  subdue  the  remainder  of  the  Canaanites.  They 
failed,  however,  to  destroy  them  utterly,  but  satisfied  themselves 
with  putting  them  under  tribute.-  Next  they  began  to  associate 
with  them,  and  to  contract  family  alliances ;  and  tlien  it  was 
no  longer  possible  to  destroy  them  without  destroying  their 
own  kindred.  In  consequence  of  being  so  mixed  up  with  the 
Canaanites,  the  Israelites  would  naturally  be  invited  to  their  fes- 
tivals, and  be  made  to  participate  in  the  worship  of  their  gods. 
This  led  them  into  idolatry,  with  all  its  kindred  abominations  ;  and 
this  brought  upon  them  sore  and  distressing  judgments  from  the 
hand  of  their  covenant  God  and  King. 

The  first  oppressor  of  the  Israelites  was  Chushan-rishathaim,  an 
invading  monarch  from  the  east,  who  is  styled  King  of  Mesopota- 
mia. He  entered  the  territories  of  Israel,  and  imposed  a  tribute 
upon  them  which  lasted  eight  years.  At  the  end  of  this  period 
they  were  humbled,  and  cried  unto  the  Lord  for  help,  who  raised 
up  Othniel,  a  nephew  and  son-in-law  of  Caleb,  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  invader.  The  king  of  Mesopotamia  "was  defeated  and 
driven  back ;  and  Israel  had  rest  forty  3-ears. 

This  period,  however,  was  a  time  of  spiritual  trial  and  apostasy. 
The  people,  in  many  places,  fell  into  their  old  habits  of  idolatry  and 

*  See  Euth  iv.  21,  22. 


298  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

wickedness.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Micah  set  up  his  household 
gods  in  Mount  Ephraim,  and  succeeded  in  procuring  a  Levite  to  be 
his  priest.*  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Danites  invaded  the  city 
of  Laish,  and  took  it,  and  called  it  Dan,  after  the  name  of  their 
ancestor.  They  also  stole  the  gods  of  Micah,  and  carried  away 
his  priest. t  These  stolen  images  they  set  up  in  their  new  city, 
where  they  remained,  a  centre  of  idolatry  and  corruption,  for  about 
three  hundred  years,  —  until  the  time  when  the  ark  was  captured 
by  the  Philistines. $ 

It  was  during  this  interval  of  forty  years  that  the  disgraceful 
events  respecting  the  Levite  and  his  concubine  took  place,  followed 
by  repeated  assaults  upon  the  Benjamites,  in  which  that  tribe  was 
almost  destro3'ed.§  We  have  no  difficulty  in  fixing  the  date  of 
these  transactions,  since  they  occurred  during  the  life  of  Phinehas, 
the  son  of  Eleazar  the  high  priest,  —  consequently,  within  some 
fifty  years  after  the  settlement  in  Canaan.  || 

After  the  death  of  Othniel,  the  Israelites  revolted  still  further 
from  God ;  and,  to  chastise  them,  God  suffered  Eglon,  the  king  of 
Moab,  assisted  by  their  old  adversaries  the  Ammonites  and  Ama- 
lekites,  to  bring  them  into  bondage  eighteen  years.  This  hard 
service  again  brought  them  to  reflection  and  repentance.  They 
cried  unto  the  Lord  for  help  ;  and  he  raised  them  up  a  man  out  of 
the  diminished  tribe  of  Benjamin,  who  wrought  their  deliverance. 
This  man  was  Ehud,  who,  being  employed  to  carry  the  annual 
tribute  to  the  king  of  Moab,  slew  him  with  a  concealed  weapon. 
He  then  gathered  the  Israelites  together,  fell  upon  the  bands  of 
Moab,  and  destroyed  them.  After  this,  the  land  had  rest  for  the 
long  period  of  eighty  years. 

These  first  invasions  of  the  Israelites  were  both  of  them  from  the 
east.  The  next  was  from  the  Philistines,  who  dwelt  upon  their 
southern  and  south-western  border.  How  long  the}'  continued 
their  depredations,  we  are  not  informed  ;  but,  in  his  own  good  time, 
God  raised  up  a  mighty  man  for  their  deliverance.  This  was 
Shamgar,  the  son  of  Anah,  who,  strengthened  like  Samson  by  a 
supernatural  power,  slew  six  hundred  Philistines  with  an  ox-goad. 

*  See  chap.  xvii.         • 

t  See  chap,  xviii.  There  is  too  much  reason  to  beheve  that  this  apostate  Levite  was  no 
other  than  a  grandson  of  Moses.  He  is  said  to  have  been  "  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Gershom,  the 
son  of  Manas^eh"  (chap,  xviii.  30).  It  is  thought  that  the  tnie,  original  reading  of  Manasseh 
was  Moses  (chap,  xviii.  16-21). 

X  See  chap,  xviii.  30;  also  Ps.  Ixxviii.  61. 

§  See  chap.  xix.  II  See  chap.  xx.  28. 


JUDGES.  299 

Meanwhile,  idolatry  was  spreading  in  the  north  part  of  the 
country,  under  the  influence  of  the  Danites ;  and,  to  chastise  his 
revolted  people,  God  let  loose  upon  them  Jabin,  who  styled  him- 
self King  of  Canaan,  and  reigned  at  Hazor.  This  man  had  a  pow- 
erful army,  with  nine  hundred  war-chariots,  —  all  under  the  control 
of  Sisera,  one  of  the  most  experienced  captains  of  the  age.  The 
Israelites  were  so  distressed  by  him,  that  they  durst  not  travel  the 
highways,  or  cultivate  their  fields,  or  dwell  in  villages,  but  were 
forced  to  retire  into  caverns  and  fortified  places.  In  their  distress, 
they  cried  again  unto  the  Lord ;  and  he  sent  them  relief  by  the 
hands  of  Deborah  and  Barak.  Instigated  by  Deborah,  Barak 
drew  together  an  army  at  Mount  Tabor.  With  all  possible  speed, 
Sisera  marched  his  forces  to  attack  him.  While  his  army  lay 
encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  mountam,  Barak  came  down  upon  him 
with  such  fury,  that  he  could  make  no  resistance,  but  fled  in  the 
utmost  consternation.  At  the  same  time,  God  poured  upon  them  a 
terrible  storm  of  rain  and  hail,  which  swelled  the  rivers  to  such  an 
extent,  that,  in  attempting  to  cross  them,  great  multitudes  of  the 
Canaanites  were  swept  away.  The  rout  was  complete ;  the  victory 
was  gained;  and,  to  celebrate  it,  Deborah  composed  the  beautiful 
song  recorded  in  Judges  (chap.  v.).  After  this  victory,  the  land 
had  rest  forty  years. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Israelites  were  visited  with 
drought  and  famine  ;  and  some  were  obliged  to  migrate  into  other 
countries  for  a  subsistence.  This  was  the  case  with  Elimelech 
•and  Naomi ;  and  here  comes  in  the  story  of  Ruth. 

After  the  death  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  the  Israelites  fell  into 
their  old  impieties,  and  were  again  delivered  into  the  hands  of  their 
enemies.  Their  oppressors,  in  this  instance,  were  the  Midianites, 
who  dwelt  on  their  south-eastern  border.  These  predatory  hordes, 
assisted,  no  doubt,  by  the  Moabites  and  Amalekites,  came  up  in 
vast  numbers,  robbed  them  of  their  cattle,  and  carried  off  all  the 
fruits  of  the  earth.  They  left  them  nothing  on  which  to  subsist. 
In  their  affliction,  the  Israelites  cried  unto  the  Lord ;  and  he  sent  a 
prophet  to  instruct  and  reclaim  them.  He  also  sent  an  angel  to 
Gideon  the  Abiezerite,  who  dwelt  at  Ophrah,  and  called  him  to  be 
the  judge  and  deliverer  of  his  people.  The  story  of  Gideon  —  of  his 
destroying  his  father's  grove  and  idols,  of  the  raising  and  trial  of 
his  little  army,  and  of  his  victory  over  the  Midianites  —  is  one  of 
the  most  instructive  and  interesting  in  the  Bible. 

When  the  war  was  over,  the  Israelites  invited  Gideon  to  become 


300  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

their  king,  offering  to  establish  the  royal  succession  in  his  family. 
But  GideDn  replied,  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  son  of  Abraham,  "I  will 
not  rule  over  you ;  neither  shall  my  son  rule  over  you :  but  the 
Lord,  he  shall  rule  over  you."  Gideon  lived,  after  this,  forty  years  ; 
during  which  time  the  land  was  in  peace. 

Following  the  death  of  Gideon  was  the  short  reign  of  Abime- 
lech  his  son,  who  slew  all  his  brothers  save  one,  and  was  pro- 
claimed king  by  the  men  of  Shechem.  But  he  did  not  prosper  in 
his  wickedness.  The  men  of  Shechem  soon  rejected  him,  after 
which  he  fell  upon  them  with  great  slaughter.  In  the  course  of 
the  war,  he  was  himself  slain  by  the  hand  of  a  woman.  Thus  the 
curse  of  Jotham  fell  upon  all  those  who  were  engaged  in  these 
nefarious  transactions :  "  A  fire  came  forth  from  Abimelech,  and 
devoured  the  men  of  Shechem ;  whilst  a  fire  came  forth  from  the 
men  of  Shechem,  and  devoured  Abimelech."  * 

After  the  death  of  Abimelech,  Tola,  the  son  of  Puah,  an  emi- 
nent man  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  was  called  to  the  government, 
and  continued  in  it  twenty-three  years.  He  seems  to  have  been  a 
prudent  and  peaceable  man,  raised  up  to  reform  abuses,  to  suppress 
tumults,  and  heal  the  wounds  which  were  given  to  Church  and 
State  during  Abimelech's  ursurpation.  Very  little  is  recorded  of 
him  in  the  Scriptures. 

After  him  arose  Jair,  a  Gileacjite,  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh, — 
the  first  of  the  judges  whose  home  was  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Jordan.  We  know  little  of  him,  except  that  he  labored  to  aggran- 
dize his  own  family.  We  are  told  that  "  he  had  thirty  sons,  who 
rode  on  thirty  ass-colts,  and  who  had  thirty  cities  in  the  land  of 
Gilead.f  His  administration  continued  twenty-two  years,  in  which 
time  there  was  a  general  defection  from  the  worship  of  the  true 
God :  "  The  children  of  Israel  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord, 
and  served  Baalim  and  Ashtaroth,  and  the  gods  of  Syria,  and  of 
Zidon,  and  of  Moab,  and  of  the  Philistines,  and  of  the  children  of 
Amnion."  This  was  the  most  alarming  defection  which  had. 
occurred  among  the  Israelites ;  and,  as  usual,  it  prepared  the  way 
for  distressing  judgments.     The  Ammonites  were  let  loose  upon 

*  The  parable  of  Jotham,  recorded  in  Judg.  ix.  8-21,  is  tlie  first  utterance  of  the  kind  of 
which  we  have  any  knowledge. 

t  If  this  is  the  Jair  who  "took  all  the  country  of  Argob,"  as  recorded  in  Deut.  iii.  14, 
then  this  fourteenth  verse  of  Deuteronomy  could  not  have  been  written  by  Moses,  but  must 
have  been  inserted  by  some  subsequent  compiler,  — perhaps  by  Samuel.  But  the  Jair  who 
judired  Israel  may  liavc  been  a  de'icendant  of  the  Jair  who  took  Argob,  who  bore  his  ancestor's 
name  (compare  Deut.  iii.  14  with  Judg.  x.  3-5). 


JUDGES.  301 

them  from  the  east,  and  the  Philistines  on  the  south  and  west; 
and  the  people  were  enslaved  eighteen  years.  In  this  time  they 
had  abundant  opportunity  to  reflect,  and  to  see  the  error  of  their 
ways.  They  mourned  over  their  sins;  they  acknowledged  the 
justice  of  their  inflictions ;  they  put  away  the  strange  gods  that 
were  among  them,  and  returned  unto  the  service  of  the  Lord ;  and 
"his  soul  was  grieved  for  the  misery  of  his  people,"  and  he  inter- 
posed again  on  their  behalf.  The  deliverer,  in  this  instance,  was 
Jephthah  the  Gileadite.  He  first  engaged  the  Ammonites  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Jordan,  and  smote  them  with  a  very  great 
slaughter.  His  success  in  this  enterprise  provoked  the  envy  of 
the  Ephraimites,  who  crossed  the  Jordan  to  attack  him ;  but  their 
violent  dealings  came  down  upon  their  own  heads.  Jephthah  fell 
upon  them,  and  gained  a  complete  victory.*  After  tliis,  Jephthah 
lived  in  peace  and  honor,  and  judged  Israel  six  years. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Ibzan  of  Bethlehem,  who  judged  Israel 
seven  j^ears.  After  him  was  Elon,  of  the  tribe  of  Zebulon,  who 
ruled  ten  years.  Following  him  was  Abdon,  an  Ephraimite,  who 
continued  eight  years.  Of  these  judges  the  sacred  historian  has 
recorded  very  little.  During  their  administration,  the  Israelites 
seem  to  have  had  rest  and  peace  ;  the  result  of  which  was  a  falling- 
away  from  God.  They  relapsed  into  their  old  idolatries,  and  God 
gave  them  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines  forty  years. 

Near  the  close  of  this  period,  Samson  made  his  appearance,  — 
one  of  the  most  singular  characters»of  which  we  have  any  account 
in  the  Bible.  We  should  hardly  suspect  him  to  have  been  a  pious 
man,  but  that  Paul  s^nentions  him  among  the  worthies  who  lived 
and  died  in  faith  (Heb.  xi.  32).  Samson  was  a  Nazarite,  — 
consecrated  to  be  such  by  his  parents  before  his  birth.  The 
vow  of  a  Nazarite  bound  him  to  abstain  entirely  from  wine  and 
strong  drink,  and  to  wear  his  hair  and  beard  unshorn.  On  the 
fulfilment  of  this  vow,  Samson  was  to  be  endowed  with  supernat- 
ural strength,  and  thus  be  qualified  to  be  the  deliverer  of  his 
people.  While  his  strength  continued,  he  had  various  strange  en- 
counters with  the  Philistines ;  in  all  of  which  he  was  victorious.  In 
one  instance,  he  slew  a  thousand  of  them  with  no  other  weapon 
than  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass.  His  besetting  sin  seems  to  have  been 
the  love  of  women  ;  and  this,  at  length,  proved  his  ruin.  He  be- 
came enamoured  of  a  vile,  mercenary  woman  (probably  a  Philistine), 
whose  name  was  Delilah.     After  various  attempts,  she  drew  from 

*  See  Judjc.  xii.  1-6. 


302  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

him  the  secret  of  his  prodigious  strength.  The  endowment  was 
conditioned  on  the  fulfihnent  of  his  Nazarite  vow  and  the  wearing 
of  his  hair.  Knowing  this,  she  cut  off  his  hair  wliile  sleeping  with 
his  head  upon  her  knees.  And  now  he  fell  an  easy  prey  into  the 
hands  of  the  Philistines.  They  took  and  bound  him  ;  put  out  his 
eyes ;  cast  him  into  prison,  and  there  made  him  turn  a  hand-mill 
like  the  meanest  slave.  It  is  said  of  him  that  "•  he  did  OTiud  in  the 
prison-house." 

But,  in  a  little  time,  Samson's  hair  grew  again ;  and  with  it  his 
strength  gradually  returned :  so  that,  when  the  Philistines  brought 
him  out  to  mock  at  his  misery  (and  thousands  of  them  covered  and 
filled  the  house  before  which  he  was  standing),  he  managed  to  get 
hold  of  the  two  main  pillars  of  the  house.  He  then  prayed,  and 
bowed  liimself  with  all  his  might ;  and  the  pillars  were  shaken ; 
the  house  fell ;  and  he  was  killed,  together  with  thousands  of  his 
enemies.     He  slew  more  in  his  death  than  he  had  done  in  his  life. 

Although  Samson  is  numbered  among  the  judges  of  Israel,  he 
seems  never  to  have  had  the  administration  of  affairs  in  his  hands. 
This  was  intrusted  to  Eli,  the  high  priest,  who  was  born  before 
Samson,  and  who  lived  long  after  his  death.  Eli  became  a  judge 
in  Israel  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight ;  and  his  administration  continued 
during  the  next  forty  years.    He  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-eight.* 

Though  repeatedly  beaten  and  humbled  by  the  forrays  of  Sam- 
son, the  Philistines  were  not  vanquished :  they  continued  their 
depredations,  and  kept  the  Israelites  in  perpetual  fear.  Near  the 
close  of  Eli's  life,  the  people  of  Israel  gathered  courage,  and  went 
out  to  Aphek  to  give  battle  to  the  Philistines  ;  but  they  were 
beaten  before  their  enemies,  and  four  thousand  of  them  were  left 
dead  upon  the  field.  Hoping  to  retrieve  their  loss  in  another  en- 
counter, the  Israelites  sent  to  Shiloh,  took  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
from  between  the  cherubim,  and  carried  it  into  their  camp ;  but, 
though  the  ark  and  the  priests  were  there,  the  God  of  Israel  was 
not.  The  Israelites  were  again  discomfited,  and  thirty  thousand 
of  their  footmen  fell.  Nor  was  this  all :  the  ark  of  God  was  taken, 
and  the  two  sons  of  Eli,  who  attended  it,  were  slain. 

When  tidings  of  this  defeat  and  of  the  capture  of  the  ark  came 
to  the  ears  of  Eli,  he  fainted,  fell  from  his  seat,  and  died.  He  was 
a  good  man,  and  zealous  for  the  worship  of  the  true  God ;  but  he 
failed  essentially  in  the  training  and  government  of  his  children : 
"  His  sons  made  themselves  vile  ;  and  he  restrained  them  not." 

*  See  1  Sam.  iv.  15-18. 


JUDGES.  303 

But  God  was  now  raising  up  for  himself  a  judge  and  a  propliet 
more  eminent  than  any  who  had  lived  since  the  days  of  Joshua. 
Tliis  was  Samuel,  of  whom  I  shall  speak  in  the  next  chapter. 
Meanwhile,  there  are  some  questions  to  be  solved,  growing  out  of 
the  transactions  which  have  been  already  noticed. 

The  first  of  these  relates  to  the  conduct  of  Ehud  and  of  Jael  in 
taking  the  lives  of  Egion  and  of  Sisera.  Egion  was  a  king  of 
Moab,  to  whom  the  Israelites  were  under,  tribute.  Ehud  was  sent 
to  carry  him  his  tribute-money.  When  his  message  was  accom- 
plished, and  he  had  commenced  his  journey  homeward,  suddenly 
he  dismissed  his  attendants,  returned  to  Egion,  and,  under  pretence 
of  a  secret  errand,  gained  access  to  him  in  private.  He  now  says, 
"  I  have  a  message  from  God  unto  thee,  O  king !  "  And,  when  the 
king  rose  to  receive  it,  he  plunged  a  dagger  to  his  heart,  and  es- 
caped.    Such  is  a  brief  statement  of  the  case  of  Ehud. 

That  of  Jael  is  not  materially  dissimilar.  Sisera  was  captain- 
general  of  the  forces  of  Jab  in,  king  of  Canaan,  who  had  been  a 
great  oppressor  of  the  children  of  Israel.  At  the  instance  of 
Deborah,  Barak  had  raised  an  army  for  the  deliverance  of  his  peo- 
ple. Sisera  had  been  vanquished  by  Barak,  and  was  fleeing  in 
dismay  before  him,  when  he  was  invited  by  Jael,  the  wife  of 
Heber  the  Kenite,  into  her  tent.  She  gave  him  needed  refresh- 
ment, and  he  lay  down  to  sleep ;  but,-  while  he  slept,  she  drove  a 
large  nail  of  the  tent  through  his  head,  and  killed  him.  She  was 
a  means,  in  this  way,  of  delivering  Israel ;  and  her  praises  were 
sung  in  the  triumphal  song  of  Deborah  and  Barak.  The  question 
now  is.  Did  she  do  right  in  this  instance  ?  and  did  Ehud  do 
right  ?     Were  their  acts  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God  ? 

In  replying  to  these  questions,  I  remark,  in  the  first  place,  that 
we  are  under  no  obligation  as  Christians,  or  as  believers  in  the  divine 
authority  and  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  approve  of  all 
that  was  done  by  ancient  men  of  God.  They  were  imperfect  men ; 
they  often  did  wrong ;  and  it  is  evidence  of  the  fairness  and  truth- 
fulness of  the  sacred  writers  that  they  make  no  effort  to  conceal 
their  wrong-doings.  Ehud  and  Jael  may  both  of  them  have  done 
wrong,  and  yet  may  have  been,  on  the  whole,  pious  persons. 
There  is  nothing  in  Scripture  which  looks  like  an  approval  of  the 
deed  of  Ehud ;  and  as  to  the  praises  which  Deborah  bestowed  upon 
Jael,  these  may  have  been  the  spontaneous  outburst  of  her  own 
grateful  feelings,  and  not  a-  direct-  revelation  from  God. 

This. is  one  way  of  meeting  the  difficulties  above  presented,  and 
the  only  one,  as  it  seems  to  me,  except  upon  a  single  supposition ; 


304  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

which  is,  that  these  avengers  of  the  Avrongs  of  Israel  both  acted 
under  a  divine  imjndse,  which  amounted  to  a  special  revelation,  — 
a  commission  from  the  Most  High.  This  is  possible,  and,  to  my  own 
mind,  not  imj)robable ;  and,  if  so,  we  have  a  full  justification  of  their 
conduct.  God  had  a  right  to  cut  off  these  cruel  oppressors  of  his 
people  in  any  way  he  pleased,  —  whether  by  disease,  or  by  wild 
beasts,  or  by  the  sword  of  their  enemies.  He  had  a  right  to  com- 
mission Ehud  to  go  and  kill  Eglon ;  and  there  are  some  things  in 
tlie  narrative  which  go  to  confirm  this  view  of  the  case  :  "I  have 
a  message  from  God  unto  thee,  O  king !  "  Now,  who  shall  say, 
that,  in  thus  speaking,  Ehud  did  not  tell  the  truth  ? 

And  so  in  the  case  of  Jael.  The  skill,  the  adroitness,  the  hero- 
ism, which  she  displayed,  as  well  as  the  praises  which  were  bestowed 
upon  her  afterwards  (supposing  these  praises  to  have  been  indited 
by  God),  all  go  to  show  that  she  acted  under  a  divine  impulse, 
which  amounted  to  a  revelation. 

Another  question  of  some  difficulty  grows  out  of  the  case  of 
Jephthah  and  his  daughter.  When  Jephthah  went  forth  against 
the  children  of  Ammon,  he  made  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  that  if  he 
was  enabled  to  triumph  over  his  enemies,  and  came  back  to  his  home 
in  peace,  whatsoever  should  first  come  forth  from  his  doors  to  meet 
him  should  be  the  Lord's,  and  he  would  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt-offer- 
ing. So,  when  he  returned  in  peace,  the  first  that  came  out  to  meet 
him  was  his  daughter,  —  an  only  child.  And  it  is  said  that 
he  did  to  her  according  to  his  vow.  The  question  now  is.  Did  he 
offer  her  up  for  a  burnt-sacrifice  ?  and  could  he  be  justified  in  so 
doing  ?  My  own  opinion  is,  that  he  did  not  offer  her  as  a  burnt- 
sacrifice  ;  and  my  reasons  are  the  following :  First,  the  language 
of  Jephthah's  vow,  interpreted  as  it  may  well  be,  does  not  imply 
it.  The  little  Hebrew  letter  vau,  commonly  translated  and,  is  in 
some  instances  translated  or,  and  may  be  so  rendered  here ;  and, 
thus  rendered,  the  vow  would  read,  "  Whatsoever  cometh  forth 
first  to  meet  me,  when  I  return  in  peace,  shall  surely  be  the  Lord's ; 
or  I  Avill  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt-offering."  The  meaning  is,  "  If  the 
creature  first  coming  forth  is  suitable  for  a  burnt-offering,  it  shall 
be  offered  up ;  but,  if  not,  it  shall  be  consecrated  and  devoted  to 
the  Lord."  Now,  his  daughter  was  not  suitable  for  a  burnt-offering. 
He  could  not  so  dispose  of  her  in  consistency  with  the  Mosaic  law 
or  with  the  spirit  of  his  religion.  What,  then,  does  his  vow  bind 
him  to  do  ?  —  to  consecrate  and  devote  her  to  the  Lord,  to  be 
in  a  peculiar  sense  his  ;  so  that  she  should  never  be  given  in  mar- 
riage to  any  man.     She  must  belong  to  God,  and  to  no  one  else. 


JUDGES.  305 

This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  purport  of  the  vow.  And  we  remark, 
secondly,  that  what  is  said  of  her  afterwards  is  consistent  with  this 
interpretation,  and  with  no  other.  What  did  her  companions  be- 
wail in  respect  to  her  ?  —  not  her  early  death,  but  her  perpetual 
virginity.  And,  after  her  father  had  done  to  her  according  to  his 
vow,  it  is  said  of  her  that  "she  knew  no  man^''  —  a  thing  quite 
superfluous  to  be  said  on  supposition  of  her  death. 

The  ground  over  which  we  have  passed  is  fruitful  in  impor- 
tant practical  suggestions,  which  I  can*  only  notice  in  the  briefest 
manner. 

1.  We  see  the  perpetual  tendency  of  poor  fallen  human  nature 
to  hackdide  from  God.  The  history  of  the  Israelites  through  all 
these  years  is  little  else  than  a  history  of  their  backslidings.  Oft- 
repeated  corrections  and  recoveries  did  not  cure  them  of  this  pro- 
pensity. No  sooner  was  the  infliction  lightened,  and  restraint  re- 
moved, than  back  they  would  fall  into  their  former  courses  of  sin. 

2.  We  see  the  astonishmg  forbearance  of  God.  Why  did  he 
not  give  up  this  people  utterly  ?  Why  did  he  bear  with  them 
after  such  repeated  provocations  ?  Why  not  abandon  them  to 
their  own  hearts'  wanderings  ?  Because  "  he  is  merciful  and 
gracious,  long-suffering,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving 
iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin." 

3.  We  learn  the  faithfulness  of  God  in  visiting  his  people  with 
afflictions.  Were  they  of  the  world,  they  might  be  left  to  prosper 
in  their  pride,  and  perish  in  their  iniquity ;  but  as  they  are  his 
covenant  people,  whom  he  has  promised  to  keep  and  to  save,  he  is 
bound  in  faithfulness  to  visit  their  transgressions  with  a  rod,  and 
their  iniquity  with  stripes.  Nevertheless,  his  loving-kindness  he 
will  not  take  from  them,  nor  cause  his  faithfulness  to  fail  (Ps. 
Ixxxix.  30-33). 

4.  We  see  the  readiness  of  God  to  return  to  his  people  so  soon 
as  they  return  to  him.  Whenever  these  Israelites  began  to  relent, 
and  to  cry  to  him  for  mercy,  his  soul  was  grieved  for  their  mis- 
eries ;  and  we  hear  him  saying,  "  How  shall  I  give  you  up, 
Ephraim  ?  how  shall  I  deliver  you,  Israel  ?  My  heart  is  turned 
within  me,  and  my  repentings  are  kindled  together." 

Finally,  if  God's  people  would  not  feel  -his  correcting  rod,  then 
they  must  refrain  from  sin.  Let  them  live  near  to  God  at  all  times, 
and  walk  closely  and  consistently  with  him,  and  their  jDcace  shall 
be  as  a  river,  and  their  righteousness  as  a  flowing  stream.  They 
may  dwell  perpetually  in  the  sunshine  of  his  love. 

20 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 


SAMUEL   AND    SAUL. 


THE  last  chapter  closed  with  the  death  .of  Eli  and  the  capture 
of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  by  the  Philistines.  Eli  was  the 
first  high  priest  in  the  line  of  Ithamar,  the  youngest  of  the  sons^ 
of  Aaron.  Up  to  this  time,  the  office  had  continued  in  the  line  of 
Eleazar,  Phinehas,  and  their  successors.*  It  was  restored  to  the 
line  of  Eleazar  in  the  time  of  Solomon,  when  Abiathar,  a  descend- 
ant of  Ithamar,  was  deposed,  and  Zadok  was  appointed  in  his 
stead.f 

At  the  time  of  Eli's  death,  Samuel  is  supposed  to  have  been 
about  twenty-two  years  old.  He  became  a  prophet  of  the  Lord  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  and  denounced  the  judgments  of  God  upon  the 
house  of  Eli  for  their  wickedness.  J  During  the  next  ten  years,  he 
had  repeated  revelations  from  God,  and  was  recognized  and  ac- 
knowledged in  all  Israel  as  an  inspired  prophet.  The  Israelites 
may  have  taken  courage  to  go  out  against  the  Philistines  from  the 
fact  that  they  had  a  prophet  among  them  ;  but  the  issue  of  the 
contest,  as  we  have  seen,  was  most  disastrous.  They  were  beaten 
in  two  encounters :  thirty-four  thousand  of  their  men  were  slain, 
and  the  ark  of  God  was  taken.  It  is  probable  that  Shiloh,  the 
sacred  seat  of  the  tabernacle-worship,  was  at  this  time  captured 
and  destroyed.! 

But  the  capture  of  the  ark  was  of  no  advantage  to  the  Philis- 
tines, but  rather  a  curse.  They  first  took  it  to  Ashdod,  one  of 
their  principal  cities,  and  placed  it  in  the  house  of  Dagon,  their 
god ;  but  the  image  of  Dagon  fell  down  before  it,  and  brake  off  its 
head  and  arms,  so  that  there  was  nought  but  the  stump  of  Dagon 
left.  Also  the  men  of  Ashdod  were  smitten  with  a  terrible  dis- 
ease ;   and,  in  their  distress  and  terror,  they  concluded  to  send 

*  See  1  Chron.  vi.  4-6.        t  1  Kings  ii.  27.        |  1  Sam.  iii.  11-14.        §  Jer.  vii.  12-14. 
306 


SAMUEL  AND   SAUL.  307 

away  the  ark  to  Gatli.  But  the  people  of  Gath  fared  no  better. 
They  were  smitten  with  a  Kke  disease,  and  resolved  to  remove  the 
ark  to  Ekron,  But  the  Ekronites  wisely  refused  to  receive  it ;  and 
then  it  was  concluded  to  send  back  the  fatal,  dreaded  symbol  into 
the  land  of  Israel,  where  it  belonged.  So  they  placed  the  ark  in  a 
new  cart,  and  hitched  to  it  two  milch-cows,  who,  as  if  by  instinct, 
but  really  by  a  divine  direction,  drew  the  ark  back  into  the  land 
of  Israel. 

It  first  rested  at  Beth-shemesh,  in  the  hill-country  of  Judsea ;  but, 
for  presumptuously  looking  into  the  ark,  God  smote  the  men  of 
Beth-shemesh,  and  great  numbers  of  them  died.  Upon  this  the 
survivors  sent  messengers  to  Kirjath-jearim,  requesting  that  the  ark 
might  be  received  there.  And  there  it  ivas  received ;  and  there  it 
rested,  in  the  house  of  Abinadab,  more  than  eighty  years,  —  through 
the  whole  administration  of  Samuel  and  Saul,  and  into  the  first 
part  of  the  reign  of  David.  There  was  no  longer  a  place  for  it  at 
Sliiloh,  as  the  city  was  destroyed,  and  the  tabernacle  removed.* 

That  Samuel  was  a  judge  as  well  as  a  prophet  in  Israel,  we  are 
expressly  informed ;  but,  at  what  time  he  became  a  judge,  we  can- 
not positively  determine.  It  could  not  have  been  before  the  death 
of  Eli,  at  which  time  he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age.  We  hear 
little  of  him  during  the  next  twenty  years  ;  all  which  time,  although 
the  Israelites  were  constantly  distressed  by  the  Philistines,  they 
persisted  in  the  practice  of  idolatry.  But,  at  the  end  of  twenty 
years,  they  began  in  earnest  to  seek  after  the  Lord.  And  Samuel 
said  unto  them,  "  If  ye  do  return  unto  the  Lord  with  all  your 
hearts,  then  put  aAvay  the  strange  gods  that  are  among  you,  and 
prepare  your  hearts  unto  the  Lord,  and  serve  him  only ;  and  he 
will  deliver  you  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines."  Then  the 
children  of  Israel  put  away  Baal  and  Ashtaroth  and  their  other 
idols,  and  entered  anew  upon  the  service  of  the  Lord. 

Encouraged  by  these  appearances,  Samuel  gathered  the  people 
together  to  Mizpeh,  a  central  place  in  the  land  of  Benjamin,  and 
there  kept  a  solemn  day  of  humiliation,  fasting,  and  prayer.  There 
was  a  general  and  public  confession  of  sin,  and  an  earnest  suj)pli- 
cation  to  God  for  mercy. 

When  the  Philistines  heard  that  the  children  of  Israel  were 
assembled  at  Mizpeh,  they  came  out  in  great  force  against  them  ; 
but,  upon  the  intercession  of  Samuel,  the  Lord  appeared  for  the 

*  Upon  the  destmction  of  Shiloh,  the  tabernacle  was  removed,  first  to  Nob,  and  afterwards 
to  Gibeon.  —  See  1  Sam.  xxi.  1,  and  1  Kings  iii.  4. 


308  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

deliverance  of  his  people.  He  "thundered  upon  the  Philistines 
with  a  great  thunder  that  day,  and  discomfited  them ; "  and  the 
children  of  Israel  pursued  after  them  till  they  came  to  Bethcar. 
And  here  Samuel  took  a  stone,  and  set  it  up  in  token  of  the  vic- 
tory, and  called  the  name  of  it  Ebenezer,  the  stone  of  help,  saying, 
"  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us." 

So  effectually  were  the  Philistines  subdued  at  this  time,  that 
they  came  no  more  into  the  land  of  Israel  until  the  reign  of 
Saul.  Also  the  cities  which  they  had  taken  from  the  Israelites 
were  restored  to  them,  and  the  land  had  peace. 

This  interval  of  quiet,  which  lasted  quite  a  number  of  years, 
Samuel  diligently  improved  for  the  good  of  the  people.  He  had 
his  house  in  Ramah,  near  to  Mizpeh,  where  he  built  an  altar  unto 
the  Lord ;  *  but  he  went  an  annual  circuit  to  Bethel,  to  Gilgal, 
and  to  Gilead,  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan,  reforming  abuses,  ad- 
ministering justice,  and  instructing  the  people  in  the  ways  of  the 
Lord. 

Samuel  had  two  sons,  Joel  and  Abiah,  whom,  when  they  had 
arrived  at  a  suitable  age,  he  established  as  judges  at  Beersheba, 
in  the  southernmost  border  of  the  land.  This  was  an  innovation 
upon  previous  custom  ;  and  it  operated  unfavorably,  both  upon 
the  young  men  and  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people. 
His  sons,  we  are  told,  "  walked  not  in  his  ways  ;  but  they  turned 
aside  after  lucre,  and  took  bribes,  and  perverted  judgment."  f 
Their  conduct  so  disaffected  the  people,  that  the  elders  of  Israel 
came  together  to  Samuel,  to  Ramah,  and  insisted  on  a  change  in 
the  form  of  government.  They  wished  him  to  anoint  them  a  king, 
that  they  might  be,  in  this  respect,  like  the  other  nations.  The 
projoosition  was  displeasing  to  Samuel,  who  endeavored  to  dissuade 
them  from  it,  but  in  vain.  They  continued  to  clamor  for  a  king ; 
and  God,  at  length,  directed  Samuel  to  yield  to  their  wishes. 
They  should  have  a  king :  but  then  he  must  be  such  a  one  as 
God  should  appoint ;  and  he  must  reign  over  the  people  as  God's 
vicegerent,  subject  to  his  authority,  and  bound,  like  every  one  else, 
to  obey  his  laws. 

I  need  not  detail  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  anointing 
of  Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  a  Benjamite,  to  be  the  first  king  of  Israel. 

*  As  Samuel  was  a  Levite,  he  might  properly  engage  in  offering  sacrifices,  as  he  often 
did  (1  Chron.  vi.  22,  28). 

t  Samuel  had  a  grandson,  by  the  name  of  Heman,*who  was  among  the  singers  (1  Chron. 
vi.  33). 


SAMUEL  AND   SAUL.  309 

He  was  a  man  of  liigh  promise,  portly  in  appearance,  taller  by  his 
whole  head  than  any  of  his  fellows,  and  possessing,  so  far  as  ap- 
pears, an  unblemished  character.  Saul  must  have  been  at  this 
time  near  forty  years  old,  since  early  in  his  reign  we  find  his 
brave  son  Jonathan  engaged  in  successfid  warfare  against  the 
Philistines.  Samuel  must  have  been  between  fift}^  and  sixty : 
he  is  expressly  called  an  old  man.  Saul  reigned  forty  years ;  and 
Samuel  died  only  a  few  years  before  him,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
two.* 

Samuel  did  not  cease  to  be  a  judge  in  Israel  on  the  accession 
of  Saul  to  the  kingdom ;  for  it  is  said  expressly  that  he  "  judged 
Israel  all  the  days  of  his  life  "  (1  Sam.  vii.  15).  Saul  was  a  mili- 
tary chieftain.  He  had  charge  of  the  army,  and  of  the  military 
defences  of  the  country ;  but  the  administration  of  justice,  the 
moral  training  and  religious  instruction  of  the  people,  were  in- 
trusted to  Samuel,  as  they  had  been  before.  Indeed,  Saul  himself 
was,  to  some  extent,  under  the  control  of  Samuel.  As  an  inspired 
prophet  of  God,  Samuel  directed  his  movements ;  reproved  him 
for  his  faults  ;  in  some  instances,  countermanded  his  orders ;  and 
finally,  when  he  found  that  he  could  not  confide  in  Saul,  set  up 
another  and  better  man  to  succeed  him. 

Saul's  first  military  achievement  was  against  the  Ammonites. 
Nahash,  their  king,  had  encamped  against  Jabesh-gilead,  a  town 
near  the  territory  of  Ammon,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan.  He 
had  sent  a  most  insulting  message  to  the  men  of  Jabesh,  consent- 
ing to  spare  them  only  on  the  condition  of  their  coming  out  to 
him,  and  submitting  ever}^  one  of  them  to  have  his  right  eye  bored 
out.  Saul,  hearing  of  this,  quickly  raised  an  army,  and  went  to 
the  relief  of  the  men  of  Jabesh.  In  this  expedition  he  was  com- 
pletely successful.  He  routed  the  Ammonites,  and  scattered  their 
forces  in  all  directions.  His  bravery  and  success  on  this  occasion 
went  far  to  establish  his  authority  as  king  over  Israel. 

Saul's  second  military  expedition  was  against  those  old  and 
valiant  enemies  of  Israel,  the  Philistines.  They  had  been  grad- 
ually extending  their  conquests  eastward,  until  nearly  all  Central 
Palestine  had  come  into  their  possession.  The  sanctuaries  long 
frequented  in  the  centre  of  the  country,  at  Bethel,  Mizpeh,  and 
Shiloh,  were  deserted ;  and,  when  Saul  was  inaugurated,  the  ser- 
vices had  to  be  performed  in  the  very  outskirts  of  Palestine,  —  at 
Gilgal,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan. 

*  See  1  Sam.  viii.  1 ;  Acts  xiii.  21. 


310  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  Philistines  had  a  garrison  in  Geba,  —  a  town  not  far  from 
Gibeah,  the  home  of  SauL  In  the  second  year  of  his  father's  reign, 
Jonathan  attacked  this  garrison,  and  took  it ;  and  this  brought  on 
a  war  between  the  Israelites  and  Philistines. 

The  forces  of  Saul  were  assembled  at  Gilgal,  where  Samuel  had 
appointed  to  meet  him  in  the  course  of  seven  days  to  offer  burnt- 
offerings  and  peace-offerings,  and  to  show  him  what  he  ought  to 
do.  But  when  Samuel  failed  to  come  within  the  time  appointed, 
and  Saul  saw  that  the  people  were  scattered  from  him  for  fear  of 
the  Philistines,  he  ordered  the  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices  to  be 
brought  unto  him  ;  and  he,  though  neither  a  priest  nor  a  Levite, 
began  to  offer  them  himself.  Before  he  was  through,  Samuel  came, 
and  was  much  displeased  with  what  he  had  done.  He  reproved 
and  threatened  him,  and  then  left  him  to  carry  on  the  war  as  best 
he  could.  So  Saul  went  up  from  Gilgal  to  his  own  house  at  Gibeah 
of  Benjamin,  attended  by  only  six  hundred  men ;  and  here  he 
must  have  been  defeated  by  the  enemy,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
faith,  the  courage  and  valor,  of  his  noble  son  Jonathan.  ''  Come," 
said  he  to  his  armor-bearer,  "  and  let  us  go  over  to  the  garrison 
of  the  Philistines.  It  may  be  that  the  Lord  will  work  for  us  ;  for 
there  is  no  restraint  to  him  to  save  by  many  or  by  few."  So  they 
went  over,  aiid  discovered  themselves  to  the  advance-guard  of 
the  enemy ;  and  Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer  fell  upon  them, 
and  slew  about  twenty  men.  At  the  same  time,  there  was  an 
earthquake  and  a  great  trembling ;  and  the  Philistines  fled  away 
in  terror.  In  their  haste,  they  trod  down  and  destroyed  one  an- 
other. When  Saul  saw  what  was  doing,  he  joined  in  the  pursuit ; 
multitudes  came  out  of  their  hiding-places,  and  followed  him  ;  and 
the  Philistines  were  beaten  with  a  great  slaughter. 

The  conduct  of  Saul  on  this  occasion  w\as  displeasing  to  God, 
to  Samuel,  and  to  the  people  generally.  He  should  have  waited 
for  Samuel  before  entering  upon  the  war,  and  not  have  ventured 
himself  upon  the  offering  of  sacrifices.  And  then  in  the  course 
of  the  war,  when  he  had  ordered  the  priests  to  consult  the  oracle, 
he  did  not  wait  for  a  response,  but  hurried  away  to  pursue  his 
enemies ;  and,  in  the  heat  of  the  pursuit,  he  rashly  denounced 
a  curse  upon  any  one  who  should  stop  to  eat  bread  or  drink  water. 
And,  when  he  found  that  Jonathan  had  tasted  a  little  honey,  he 
would  have  put  him  to  death,  had  he  not  been  restrained  by  the 
people. 

But,  unsatisfactory  as  his  conduct  in  some  instances  had  been, 


SAMUEL  AND   SAUL.  311 

God  still  was  with  him,  and  gave  him  the  victory  over  his  enemies. 
"  He  fought  against  Moab,  and  against  the  children  of  Ammon, 
and  against  Edom,  and  against  the  kings  of  Zobah,"  on  the  other 
side  Jordan  ;  and,  whithersoever  he  went,  he  prospered. 

At  length,  Samuel  came  to  him  with  a  direct  message  from  the 
Lord  of  hosts:  "I  remember  what  Amalek  did  to  Israel;  how 
he  laid  wait  for  him  in  the  way  when  he  came  out  of  Egypt.  Go, 
therefore,  and  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy  all  that  they 
have,  both  man  and  woman,  infant  and  suckhng,  ox  and  sheep, 
camel  and  ass."  Such  was  the  commission  which  Saul  received 
from  God.  We  shall  see  how  he  fulfilled  it.  He  gathered  a 
great  army,  and  went  down  into  the  south  country  to  fight  the 
Amalekites ;  and  he  smote  them  from  Havilah,  near  the  Persian 
Gulf,  till  thou  comest  unto  Shur,  which  is  over  against  Egypt.  He 
utterly  destroyed  all  their  people,  but  spared  Agag  their  king, 
and  also  the  best  of  their  sheep  and  oxen,  their  fatlings  and  lambs. 
In  this  instance  he  failed  to  obey  the  whole  divine  command,  and 
thus  exposed  himself  anew  to  the  displeasure  of  God  and  to  the 
rebukes  of  Samuel.  Samuel  now  told  him  plainly,  that,  as  he  had 
rejected  the  word  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  had  rejected  him  from 
being  king  over  Israel :  "  The  Lord  hath  rent  the  kingdom  from 
thee,  and  hath  given  it  to  a  neighbor  of  thine  that  is  better  than 
thou." 

Saul  professed  to  humble  himself,  and  to  repent.  He  asked  for- 
giveness of  God  and  of  Samuel,  and  begged  that  Samuel  would 
yet  stand  by  him,  and  honor  him  before  the  people  and  the  elders 
of  Israel.  To  this,  Samuel  consented  for  the  time ;  but  he  soon 
returned  to  his  house  at  Ramah,  and  all  pleasant  intercourse  be- 
tween him  and  the  king  was  from  that  period  broken  off.  Never- 
theless, Samuel  seems  to  have  had  an  affection  for  Saul,  and  sin- 
cerely mourned  that  the  Lord  had  rejected  him. 

Soon  after  this,  Samuel  was  sent  on  a  secret  errand  to  Jesse  the 
Bethlehemite,  that  he  might  anoint  one  of  his  sons  to  be  the  future 
king  of  Israel.  This  Jesse  was  now  an  old  man,  —  a  grandson  of 
Boaz  and  Ruth.  He  had  eight  sons,  seven  of  whom  were  with 
him  at  the  time  of  the  prophet's  visit ;  but  the  Lord  had  not 
chosen  either  of  these.  David  the  youngest  was  then  called,  who 
was  absent  with  the  sheep  :  and  no  sooner  did  he  make  his  appear- 
ance than  the  Lord  said  to  Samuel,  "  Arise  and  anoint  him ;  for 
this  is  he."  David  was  at  this  time  about  seventeen  years  old, 
"  ruddy,  and  of  a  beautiful  countenance,  and  goodly  to  look  to." 


312  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

He  had  been  trained  as  a  shepherd  ;  and,  Hke  other  shepherds,  had 
learned  to  play  the  harp,  and  perhaps  other  instruments. 

The  only  immediate  effect  of  David's  anointing  was  that  "  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  from  that  day  came  upon  him."  By  this  we 
may  understand  that  he  was  from  that  time  endued  with  an  un- 
wonted spirit  of  courage  and  valor,  as  well  as  of  faith  and  confi- 
dence in  God.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  this  spirit  that  he 
was  enabled,  while  a  shepherd,  to  slay  the  lion  and  the  bear,  and 
rescue  his  flock  from  between  their  teeth. 

The  effect  of  Samuel's  desertion  of  Saul,  and  of  his  denuncia- 
tions against  him,  was  to  render  him  moody  and  melancholy,  to 
sour  his  temper,  and  harden  his  heart.  In  Scripture  phraseology, 
"  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  departed  from  him,  and  aii  evil  spirit  from 
the  Lord  troubled  him."  I  would  not  say  that  a  literal  evil  spirit 
had  nothing  to  do  with  his  case :  jDerhaps  it  was  so.  But,  what- 
ever the  cause,  the  effect  upon  Saul  was  most  unhappy.  His  ner- 
vous system  became  deranged ;  and  he  was  gloomy,  irritable,  turbu- 
lent, untractable.  As  a  remedy,  he  was  advised  to  have  recourse 
to  music ;  and,  having  heard  of  David  as  a  skilful  player  on  the 
harp,  he  sent  and  called  him  to  stand  before  him.  This  was  David's 
first  introduction  at  court;  and  he  succeeded  with  his  harp  in  sooth- 
ing and  calming  the  troubled  spirit  of  Saul. 

How  long  David  remained  with  Saul  at  this  time,  we  do  not 
know ;  .probably  not  very  long.  The  Philistines  were  preparing 
for  another  invasion  of  Israel ;  and  the  bustle  of  the  occasion  may 
have  had  the  effect  to  relieve  the  mind  of  Saul,  so  that  the  services 
of  David  were  no  longer  needed.  At  any  rate,  he  returned  to  his 
father,  and  was  again  employed  in  caring  for  the  sheep.* 

Meanwhile  the  Philistines  invaded  the  territory  of  Judah,  and 
encamped  at  Shochoh,  a  town  nigh  to  Bethlehem.  Saul  and  his 
army  went  out  to  meet  them,  and  encamped  so  near,  that  there 
was  nought  but  a  valley  between  the  two  armies.  David's  three 
eldest  brothers  were  in  the  army  of  Saul ;  and  David  was  sent  by 
his  father  to  carry  provisions  to  them,  and  to  inquire  after  their 
welfare.  It  Avas  at  this  time  that  Goliath  presented  himself  for 
forty  successive  days,  challenging  any  one  of  the  Israelites  to  fight 
with  him,  and  defying  the  armies  of  the  living  God.  His  boast- 
ings and  blasphemy  moved  the  spirit  of  David,  and  he  offered  him- 


*  Some  critics  make  this  first  visit  of  David  to  the  court  of  Saul  to  occur  after  his  conquest 
of  Goliath;  but  I  prefer  the  course  of  the  narrative  as  it  stands  in  our  Bibles.  —  See  Home's 
Introduction,  vol.  i.  p.  403. 


SAMUEL  AND   SAUL.  313 

self  at  once  to  go  and  fight  the  Philistine.  With  the  story  of  liis 
victory,  and  the  consequent  victory  of  the  Israehtes,  you  are  fa- 
mihar.*  The  result  was  to  bring  David  into  notice  and  high 
honor,  and  to  excite  the  envy  and  the  hatred  of  Saul.  Jonathan 
became  attached  to  David  with  a  singular  and  undying  love.  The 
women  of  Israel  sang  his  praises  with  tabrets  and  instruments  of 
music  :  "  Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands,  and  David  his  ten  thou- 
sands." But  Saul  was  very  wroth,  and  from  that  day  forward 
sought  the  life  of  David.  Twice  he  undertook  to  kiU  him  with  a 
javelin  while  David  was  playing  the  harp  before  him.  Repeatedly 
he  engaged  him  in  close  conflict  with-  the  Philistines,  hoping  that 
they  might  take  his  life.  He  charged  Jonathan  and  his  servants 
to  kill  David ;  but  they  loved  him  too  well  to  be  guilty  of  his 
blood.  He  gave  his  youngest  daughter  to  David,  tliinking  that 
she  might  be  a  snare  to  him ;  but  she  helped  him  to  escape  from 
her  father's  hand. 

Saul  had  now  become  satisfied  that  David  was  the  appointed  of 
God  to  be  his  successor  in  the  kingdom ;  and  his  zeal  and  rage 
were  enkindled  the  more  for  his  destruction.  He  gave  his  officers 
and  servants  a  charge  to  take  David  wherever  they  might  find 
him.  He  killed  the  priests  of  the  Lord  at  Nob  f  because  they  had 
unwittingly  harbored  the  fugitive  and  shown  him  favor.  He 
meanly  pursued  his  valiant  son-in-law  from  one  desert  and  cavern 
to  another,  and  hunted  him  like  a  j)artridge  on  the  mountains.  In 
two  separate  instances  during  this  mad  pursuit,  Saul  fell  complete- 
ly into  the  hands  of  David,  so  that  he. might  have  taken  his  life 
with  the  utmost  ease  ;  but  he  refused  to  do  it.  He  would  not  lift 
his  hand  against  the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  Tired  at  length  with 
this  course  of  life,  and  despairing  of  safety  so  long  as  Saul  lived, 
David  fled  into  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  and  took  refuge  with 
the  king  of  Gath. 

Meanwhile  Samuel,  the  great  and  the  good,  the  venerable 
prophet  and  judge  of  Israel,  died  at  his  home  in  Ramah  at  the  age 
of  ninety-two.  He  had  been  a  prophet  in  Israel  eighty  years, 
and  a  judge  about  sixty.  At  the  command  of  God,  he  had  com- 
missioned one  man  to  reign  over  Israel ;  and  when  this  man  disap- 

*  The  last  psalm  in  the  Septuagint  (the  cli.),  which  is  not  found  in  our  Bibles,  purports  to 
have  been  written  by  David  after  the  killing  of  Goliath.  The  slightest  inspection  is  enough  to 
satisfy  any  one  that  David  did  not  -write  it. 

t  Nob  was  situated  on  the  northern  spur  of  Mount  Olivet,  not  far  from  .Jerusalem.  After 
the  destniction  of  Shiloh,  the  tabernacle  was  set  up  here ;  and  here  was  the  residence  of  the 
priests. 


314  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

pointed  him,  at  the  same  divine  command  he  had  anointed  another. 
He  had  directed  the  affairs  of  his  people,  instructed  them  in  the 
ways  of  the  Lord,  and  administered  justice  with  an  even  hand. 
He  had  done  much  towards  furnishing  tlie  people  with  true  copies 
of  the  sacred  writings.  He  is  supposed  to  have  revised  and  edited 
the  Books  of  Moses  and  Joshua.  He  wrote  the  Books  of  Judges 
and  Ruth,  and  the  first  Book  of  Samuel,  up  to  near  the  time  of 
his  death. 

For  the  better  preserving  and  inculcating  of  the  truth  of  God, 
Samuel  set  up  a  new  class  of  institutions  in  Israel ;  viz.,  "  the 
schools  of  the  prophets."  He  may  have  been  led  to  this  by  the 
growing  degeneracy  of  the  priesthood,  and  for  the  better  education 
of  those  who  were  to  succeed  to  the  sacred  ministry,  whether  as 
prophets  or  priests.  These  schools  were  established  at  different 
places,  —  as  at  Ramah,  Bethel,  and  Gilgal,  —  and  had  some  one  set 
over  them  to  be  their  teacher  and  head.  Here  young  men  studied 
the  law  of  Moses,  and  learned  to  expound  it.  Here  they  were  in- 
structed in  sacred  psalmody,  or,  as  the  Scriptures  express  it,  "  to 
prophesy  with  harps,  with  psalteries  and  cymbals  "  (1  Chron.  xxv. 
1,  7).  Here  too,  by  some  peculiar  exercises,  chiefly  devotional, 
they  prepared  themselves  to  receive  the  spirit  of  prophecy  when- 
ever it  should  please  God  to  impart  the  gift.  In  these  schools 
were  written  sacred  biograpliies,  like  those  of  Nathan  the  prophet, 
and  Gad  the  seer.  In  them  were  trained  up  sacred  poets  and  sing- 
ers, such  as  Asaph,  Heman,  and  Jeduthun,  whose  names  occur  in 
the  Psalms.  From  them  were  taken,  for  the  most  part,  the  proph- 
ets and  seers,  who  followed  each  other  in  long  succession,  from  the 
days  of  Samuel  to  those  of  Malachi. 

Perhaps  to  no  individual,  after  Moses  and  Joshua,  were  the 
Israelites  so  much  indebted  as  they  were  to  Samuel ;  and  great 
was  the  lamentation  at  his  death.  The  people  came  together  in 
vast  numbers  to  his  burial ;  they  mourned  over  him  as  a  spiritual 
father ;  they  laid  him  in  his  own  sepulchre  which  he  had  prepared 
at  Ramah. 

About  two  years  after  the  death  of  Samuel,  the  Philistines, 
who,  though  often  defeated,  were  not  subdued,  drew  together 
their  armies  to  renew  the  war  against  Israel.  David  was  still  in 
the  country  of  Achish,  king  of  Gath :  and  Achish  was  minded  to 
take  him  and  his  men  with  him  to  the  war  to  fight  against  his 
own  people ;  but,  owing  to  the  jealousy  of  the  other  lords  of  the 
Philistines,  this  calamity  was  averted.     David,  after  having  com- 


SAMUEL  AND^  SAUL.  315 

menced  the  march  with  Achish,  was  permitted  to  return  to  his 
place. 

The  army  of  the  Philistines  was  gathered  together  at  Shunem,  a 
town  near  Mount  Carmel ;  while  Saul  and  his  army  were  encamped 
at  Gilboa.  But,  when  Saul  saw  the  host  of  the  Pliilistines,  he  was 
greatly  terrified ;  and,  when  he  inquired  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord 
answered  him  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor  by  prophets. 
In  his  distress,  he  sought  out  a  woman  that  had  a  familiar  spirit, 
though  he  had  previously  endeavored  to  drive  all  such  characters 
out  of  the  land.  At  his  request,  the  witch  professed  to  bring  up 
Samuel,  and  he  Avas  permitted  to  have  a  conversation  with  the  old 
prophet ;  but  he  derived  no  comfort  from  the  interview.  Samuel 
told  him  that  the  Israelites  would  be  beaten  before  their  enemies, 
and  that  himself  and  his  sons  should  on  the  morrow  be  slain.  And 
all  this  was  terribly  fulfilled.  The  men  of  Israel  fled  before  the 
Philistines  ;  and  many  of  them  were  cut  off  in  Mount  Gilboa,  among 
whom  were  three  of  the  sons  of  Saul.  And  when  Saul  himself 
was  wounded,  and  found  that  he.  could  not  escape,  he  fell  upon 
his  sword,  and  put  an  end  to  his  life.  His  body  was  found  the 
next  day  by  the  Philistines,  who  stripped  it,  beheaded  it,  and  hung 
up  the  maimed  trunk  upon  the  wall  of  Bethshan.  It  was  not 
suffered,  however,  to  remain  there :  the  men  of  Jabesh-gilead 
—  whom  Saul,  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  had  delivered  from 
the  Ammonites  —  came  and  took  it  down.  They  also  recovered  the 
bodies  of  his  three  sons,  and  took  them  all  to  Jabesh,  and  burned 
them.  The  bones  they  buried  under  a  tree,  and  mourned  and 
fasted  seven  days. 

Saul  died  at  the  age  of  eighty,  in  the  two  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  forty-eighth  year  of  the  world,  in  the  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
seventh  after  the  exode  from  Egypt,  and  a  thousand  and  fifty-six 
years  before  the  coming  of  Christ;  having  reigned  over  Israel 
forty  years.* 

The  principal  difficulty  in  the  narrative  over  which  we  have 
passed  relates  to  Saul's  interview  Avith  the  witch  of  Endor.  Did 
the  soul  of  the  departed  prophet  really  appear  to  Saul,  and  have 
communication  with  him  ?  or  was  it  all  an  imposition,  a  juggle  of 
the  witch  ? 

If  Samuel  was  raised,  it  is  generally  believed  that  the  incanta- 
tions of  the  witch  had  nothing  to  do  in  raising  him  ;  that,  if  raised 
at  all,  he  was  raised  by  the  power  of  God ;  and  that  she  was  greatly 

*  See  Acts  xiii.  21. 


316  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

surprised  and  frightened  at  the  apparition.  It  is  admitted  that 
this  view  of  the  case  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  literal  meaning 
of  the  sacred  text  than  any  other ;  and  yet  very  serious  objections 
are  urged  against  it.  In  thef  first  place,  the  departed  soul  of  Samuel 
was  undoubtedly  in  heaven  ;  whereas  it  is  here  represented  as 
coming  up  from  the  under-world,  —  coming  out  of  the  earth.  Then, 
secondly,  if  God  would  not  answer  Saul  when  inquired  of  in  the 
appointed  ways,  —  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor  by  prophets, 
—  how  unlikely  it  is  that  he  would  disquiet  the  soul  of  Samuel,  and 
send  him  back  to  the  earth  to  bring  a  message  to  the  terrified  king ! 
And,  thirdly,  if  God  would  send  Samuel  at  all  on  such  an  errand, 
how  unlikely  that  he  would  do  it  in  connection  with  a  woman  who 
claimed  to  have  a  familiar  spirit,  thus  giving  countenance  to  a 
personage  and  a  practice  which  his  law  condemned ! 

In  view  of  these  reasons,  some  good  men  have  insisted  that  there 
was  nothing  supernatural  in  this  affair  at  all ;  that  the  witch  knew 
from  the  first  with  whom  she  had  to  do  ;  and  that  she  thoroughly 
imposed  upon  the  affrighted  king.  It  is  not  said  in  the  narrative 
that  Saul  saw  Samuel,  or  saw  any  thing  supernatural.  The  witch 
pretended  to  see  him ;  and  having  often  seen  him,  and  heard  him, 
too,  while  alive,  she  was  able  to  personate  him  exactly.  She  could 
tell  how  he  looked,  and  could  mimic  his  speech  ;  and,  knowing  full 
well  the  state  of  things  in  the  camp  of  Saul  (for  Mount  Gilboa 
was  only  a  little  way  from  Endor),  she  could  predict,  without  much 
hazard  of  failure,  the  issue  of  the  morrbw's  battle.  She  could  feign, 
too,  all  the  surprise  and  terror  which  the  occasion  required :  and 
as  to  the  language  of  the  narrative,  it  may  be  regarded  as  phenome- 
nal rather  than  literal ;  as  accommodated  to  existing  appearances, 
and  the  prevailing  habits  of  opinion  and  thought,  rather  than  as 
describing  the  real  facts  of  the  case. 

Such  is  the  interpretation  of  this  remarkable  story  as  given  by 
some  excellent  men.  Whether  it  is  to  be  accepted  or  not,  I  pre- 
tend not  to  say.  I  will  say,  however,  that,  in  general,  it  is  safer 
to  abide  by  the  obvious  meaning  of  Scripture  rather  than  be  drawn 
or  driven  from  it  by  d-priori  reasonings  and  difficulties. 

The  life  of  Samuel  is  a  highly  instructive  one.  It  shows  the 
beauty  and  the  importance  of  early  piety.  We  know  not  how  early 
Samuel  gave  his  heart  to  God.  He  was  consecrated  by  his  parents 
before  his  birth,  and  seems  to  have  been  sanctified  almost  from  the 
womb.  Nothing  can  be  more  interesting  than  his  intercourse  and 
example  in  the  corrupt  family  of  Eli.     The  venerable  priest,  who 


SAMUEL  AND   SAUL.  317 

could  have  had  little  comfort  in  his  own  children,  must  have 
rejoiced  exceedingly  in  the  piety  and  promise,  the  dutiful  conduct 
and  obedience,  of  young  Samuel. 

When  only  twelve  years  of  age,  he  became  an  inspired  prophet 
of  God ;  and  his  first  message  was  one  of  terrible  import  to  his 
aged  patron  and  friend.  Nevertheless,  he  delivered  it  with  the 
strictest  fidelity ;  and  it  was  received  with  becoming  submission  on 
the  part  of  Eli :  "  It  is  the  Lord :  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him 
good." 

As  we  trace  the  history  of  Samuel,  from  its  early  beginning, 
through  his  long  and  eventful  life,  —  in  his  public  instructions, 
warnings,  and  reproofs  ;  in  directing  the  affairs  of  the  nation ;  in 
the  administration  of  justice  ;  in  the  setting-apart  of  kings ;  in  the 
study  and  preparation  of  the  sacred  oracles  ;  in  the  establishment 
of  institutions  for  the  future  benefit  of  his  people ;  in  all  his  duties 
and  his  trials,  —  we  shall  find  that  the  foundation  of  his  high 
honors  and  great  usefulness  was  laid  in  youth.  It  was  his  youthful 
piety  which  prepared  him  to  be  such  a  blessing  to  his  people  and 
to  the  world ;  which  entitled  him  to  such  high  consideration  both 
in  life  and  in  death,  and  to  such  a  grateful  remembrance  in  all 
coming  time. 

Those  who  would  be  honorable  and  useful  like  Samuel  must  be 
careful  to  follow  his  example.  Let  them  early  enlist  in  the  service 
of  God,  and  persist  in  it,  and  he  will  not  leave  them  nor  forsake 
them  :  "  Those  that  honor  me,  I  wiU  honor  ;  but  they  that  despise 
me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed." 

The  life  of  Said  too,  as  well  as  of  Samuel,  is  highly  instructive. 
It  shows  the  uncertainty  of  hopeful  appearances  where  true  piety 
is  wanting.  Saul  seems  to  have  been  a  youth  of  high  promise ; 
and  when,  at  the  age  of  forty,  he  was  exalted,  to  the  kingdom,  no 
more  suitable  person,  to  human  appearance,  could  be  found  in  the 
land.  But  he  was  selfish  and  am])itious,  without  religious  principle 
or  affection  ;  his  heart  was  not  right  in  the  sight  of  God ;  and  the 
state  of  his  heart  was  soon  manifest  in  his  life.  Samuel  learned, 
ere  long,  that  he  could  not  trust  him,  and  that  the  God  who  had 
exalted  him  was  about  to  reject  him. 

And  this  leads  to  another  remark,  —  the  tendency  of  our  proba- 
tion here  on  earth  to  draw  out  the  secrets  of  our  characters.  Had 
Said  remained  in  private  life,  his  integrity  and  uprightness  might 
never  have  been  suspected.  But  he  was  not  destined  to  private 
life :    his   probation   was   to   be   of   another   kind ;    and   it   soon 


318  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

brought  out  his  real  character.  And  so  it  is  with  each  of  us.  The 
design  of  our  probation  is  to  form  character,  and  to  exhibit  it,  so 
that  ourselves  may  know,  and  others  may  know,  what  manner  of 
spirit  we  are  of.  And  the  course  of  treatment  to  which  we  are 
subjected  in  this  probationary  life  is  admirably  fitted  to  answer  this 
important  end.  God  takes  care  to  try  us  here  on  earth  in  a  great 
variety  of  ways,  —  with  prosperity  and  adversity,  with  comforts 
and  afflictions,  with  trying  changes  and  fierce  conflicts.  He  turns 
us  over  and  over,  places  us  here  and  there,  pursues  one  course  of 
treatment  with  us,  and  then  another,  till  our  characters  are  formed 
and  sufficiently  developed,  and  the  purposes  of  our  trial  are  accom- 
plished ;  and  then  it  is  soon  brought  to  a  close.  The  silver  cord  is 
loosed,  the  golden  bowl  is  broken,  and  we  go  to  the  retributions  of 
eternity. 

I  have  but  another  remark, — the  tendency  of  unsanctified  afflic- 
tions is  always  to  harden  the  heart.  Some  persons  regard  affliction 
as  of  a  softening,  subduing  character,  and  trust  to  the  punish- 
ments of  sin  to  bring  all  sinners  ultimately  to  repentance.  But 
we  see  in  the  case  of  Saul,  as  of  a  thousand  others,  that  this 
trust  is  vain.  During  the  last  half  of  his  reign,  Saul  had  almost 
continual  vexations  and  afflictions ;  and  what  was  the  conse- 
quence ?  To  make  him  better?  No;  but  to  harden  him,  and 
make  him  worse.  And  so  it  is  in  every  case  of  unsanctified  afflic- 
tion. "  Though  thou  bray  a  fool  with  a  pestle  in  a  mortar,  yet  will 
not  his  foolishness  depart  from  him." 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 


DAVID      AND      SOLOMON. 


THE  birth  and  early  history  of  David  were  spoken  of  in  the 
last  chapter.  He  was  born  at  Bethlehem,  —  a  town  near  to 
Jerusalem,  —  the  same  in  which,  about  eleven  hundred  years  later, 
the  great  Son  of  David  appeared  in  the  flesh.  He  was  the  great- 
grandson  of  Boaz  and  Ruth.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  was 
privately  anointed  by  Samuel  to  be  the  future  king  of  Israel,  and 
received  at  the  same  time  special  communications  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Soon  after  this,  he  was  called  away  from  the  quiet  pur- 
suits of  a  shepherd-boy  to  play  the  harp  in  the  presence  of  King 
Saul.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  fought  Goliath  and  killed 
him,  and  thus  obtained  great  notoriety  and  honor  in  Israel.  • 

From  this  time,  Saul  began  to  envy  him,  to  persecute  him,  and 
seek  his  life  ;  and  the  eight  following  years  were  little  else  than  a 
continual  struggle  on  the  part  of  Said  to  destroy  him,  and  on  the 
part  of  David  to  escape  his  hands.  After  having  tried  repeatedly 
to  kill  him  in  his  own  house,  to  engage  his  servants  to  kill  him, 
and  to  cut  him  off  by  the  hands  of  the  Philistines,  Saul  drove  him 
into  concealment  and  exile,  and  hunted  him  with  the  zest  of  a 
bloodthirsty  tiger.  He  pursued  him  first  to  Naioth,  where  was 
a  school  of  the  prophets ;  next  to  Nob,  where  was  the  tabernacle 
and  the  priests ;  then  to  Adullam,  —  a  large  cave  not  far  from 
Bethlehem,  —  where  he  and  his  men,  and  his  father's  family,  con- 
cealed themselves  for  a  time.  Next  we  find  David  with  the  king 
of  Moab  at  Mizpeh,  where  he  left  his  aged  parents  that  they  might 
be  secure  from  the  rage  of  Saul.  From  the  land  of  Moab  he 
turned  back  into  Judsea,  and  concealed  himself  in  the  forest  of 
Hareth.  David  was  now  surrounded  with  a  small  but  choice  band 
of  warriors  and  followers,  among  whom  were  Abiathar  the  priest, 
and  Gad  the  prophet ;  and,  hearing  that  the  Philistines  had  cap- 
tured  Keilah, — a  walled   town  in  the  south-western  border  of 

319 


320  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Juclah,  —  lie  went  up  against  them,  and  recovered  Keilah.  From 
motives  of  gratitude,  lie  hoped  that  the  men  of  Kielah  would  pro- 
tect him  against  Saul ;  but,  having  learned  from  God  that  they 
would  not,  he  departed,  and  concealed  himself  in  the  Wilderness  of 
Ziph.  Ziph  was  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  Judah ;  and  so  also 
were  Maon  and  Engedi,  —  places  to  which  David  successively  fled 
for  safety.  It  was  in  a  cave  at  Engedi  that  David  cut  off  the  skirt 
of  Saul's  robe,  and  Idlled  him  not ;  thus  showing  that  he  had  no 
intent  to  injure  him.  It  was  while  David  lay  concealed  in  this 
vicinity  that  he  had  the  difficulty  with  Nabal  which  resulted  in 
Nabal's  death,  and  in  David's  marrying  his  accomplished  wife 
Abigail.  He  had  been  previously  married  to  Miclial,  the  young- 
est daughter  of  Saul ;  but  Saul  had  taken  her  from  him,  and  given 
her  to  another  man. 

Though  David  had  once  spared  the  life  of  Saul  when  he  might 
have  taken  it,  and  had  obtained  from  him  a  promise  that  he  would 
desist  from  his  persecutions,  still  the  envious,  malicious  monarch 
coidd  not  rest.  He  came  once  more,  with  three  thousand  chosen 
men,  into  the  Wilderness  of  Ziph,  in  pursuit  of  his  prey.  Here 
again  David  surprised  him  sleeping  in  a  cave,  and  carried  away 
his  spear  from  his  bolster,  but  hurt  him  not.  At  this  Saul  was 
greatly  affected,  and  made  promises  ;  but  David  knew  him  too 
well  to  trust  him. 

After  "this,  David  went  over,  with  his  family  and  his  followers,  — 
about  six  hundred  men,  —  into  the  country  of  the  Philistines,  and 
threw  himself  upon  the  hospitality  of  Achish,  king  of  Gath.  He 
was  graciously  received ;  and  Achish  put  him  in  possession  of  the 
town  of  Ziklag,  lying  on  the  borders  of  the  land  of  Israel,  where 
he  dwelt  securely  until  the  death  of  Saul. 

It  was  during  this  period  of  persecution  that  David  wrote  many 
of  his  Psalms.  They  grew  out  of  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
was  placed ;  in  which  —  mixed  up  with  complaints  and  impreca- 
tions against  his  enemies  —  we  find  the  devoutest  aspirations,  and 
the  fullest  expressions  of  faith  and  confidence  in  God.  The  Church 
had  never  been  favored  with  these  quickening  songs  but  for  Da- 
vid's bitter  persecutions,  —  an  instance  among  many  in  which  we 
find  a  permitted  evil  overruled  for  a  greater  good. 

While  David  was  at  Ziklag,  he  made  war  upon  the  plundering 
tribes  that  dwelt  to  the  south  of  him ;  viz.,  the  Geshurites,  the 
Gezrites,  and  the  Amalekites.  These  he  conquered,  and  carried 
away  much  spoil. 


DAVID  AND   SOLOMON.  321 

But  the  Philistines  were  now  preparing  for  another  invasion  of 
Israel ;  and  Achish  was  resolved  to  take  David  with  him  to  the 
war.  This  placed  David  in  a  very  critical  and  alarming  position. 
Shall  he  disoblige  his  friend  Achish,  and  refuse  to  go  with  him  ? 
or  shall  he  consent  to  go  and  fight  against  his  own  people  ?  David 
seems  to  have  referred  the  whole  question  to  God,  who  interposed 
in  a  remarkable  manner  for  his  deliverance  ;  for,  after  he  had 
actually  commenced  his  march  with  Achish,  the  other  Philistine 
leaders  interfered,  and  forbade  his  going :  so  he  returned  to  Zik- 
lag,  where  he  found,  that,  during  his  absence,  the  Amalekites 
(perhaps  in  revenge  of  his  late  attack  uj^on  them)  had  captured, 
plundered,  and  burned  the  city,  and  carried  away  the  women  and 
children  into  captivity.  Of  course,  David  and  his  men  were  in 
great  distress ;  but,  instead  of  yielding  to  despondency,  they  en- 
couraged themselves  in  God,  pursued  after  the  freebooters,  over- 
took them,  and  recovered  all. 

David  had  scarcely  returned  to  Ziklag,  when  tidings  were  brought 
to  him  of  the  death  of  Saul.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  messenger 
who  brought  these  tidings  was  a  fugitive  Amalekite,  who  came 
to  him  with  a  lie  in  his  mouth,  pretending  that  he  had  himself 
slain  Saul ;  hoping,  no  doubt,  to  obtain  a  reward  from  David.  And 
he  did  obtain  a  fitting  reward ;  for  David  ordered  one  of  his  young 
men  to  fall  upon  him  and  kill  him  because  he  had  slain  the  Lord's 
anointed. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  David  composed  +hat  tender  and 
beautiful  elegy  upon  Saul  and  Jonathan :  "  The  beauty  of  Israel  is 
slain  upon  his  high  places  !  How  are  the  mighty  fallen  !  Tell  it 
not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ashkelon,  lest  the 
daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice,  lest  the  daughters  of  the 
uncircumcised  triumph."  It  may  be  thought  that  this  funeral 
elegy  is  too  eulogistic,  too  highly  colored,  in  praise  of  Saul ;  but 
perhaps  this  is  not  the  case.  To  be  sure,  during  the  latter  part  of 
Saul's  reign,  he  had  treated  David  very  hardly  and  cruelly ;  but, 
through  the  whole  forty  years  of  his  administration,  he  had  proved 
himself  a  brave  military  chieftain.  He  had  enlarged  and  defended 
the  coasts  of  Israel ;  and  his  people  had,  for  the  most  part,  enjoyed 
prosperity :  and,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  Saul,  he  had  never, 
so  far  as  we  know,  been  guilty  of  idolatry,  but  had  exerted  his 
influence  to  root  it  out  of  the  land. 

After  the  death  of  Saul,  David,  by  God's  direction,  removed  to 
Hebron,  —  a   central  city  in  the  land   of   Judah,  —  whither  the 

21 


322  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

princes  of  Jiidah  came  in  a  short  time  tp  make  him  their  king. 
Meanwhile  Ishbosheth,  a  son  of  Saul,  had  been  made  king  at  Ma- 
hanaim,  a  fortress  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan.  Hence  there 
were  two  kings  now  reigning  over  the  children  of  Israel,  —  David  at 
Hebron,  over  Judah ;  and  Ishbosheth  over  the  other  tribes.  Abner, 
the  son  of  Ner,  Saul's  uncle,  was  chief  of  the  forces  of  Ishbosheth ; 
and  Joab,  the  son  of  Zeruiah,  a  sister  of  David,  had  the  command 
of  his  army.  The  way  in  which  Joab  came  to  be  advanced  to  this 
important  post  was  as  follows :  The  fortress  Jebus  had  never  yet 
been  taken  from  the  Jebusites.  It  was  a  stronghold  in  which  they 
had  dwelt  from  the  time  of  Joshua,  and  from  which  they  defied 
the  whole  power  of  Israel.  "  And  David  said.  Whosoever  smiteth 
the  Jebusites  first  shall  be  chief  and  captain.  So  Joab,  the  son  of 
Zeruiah,  went  first  up,  and  was  chief  "  *  (1  Chron.  xi.  6). 

For  about  two  years,  there  were  no  hostilities  between  David  and 
Ishbosheth  ;  but  subsequently  a  war  broke  out,  in  which,  after  sev- 
eral engagements,  David  triumphed.  The  affairs  of  Ishbosheth 
now  waxed  worse  and  worse.  He  had  a  quarrel  with  his  chief 
general,  Abner ;  in  consequence  of  which  Abner  deserted  him,  and 
went  over  to  David.  His  coming,  however,  did  not  strengthen 
David  so  much  as  it  weakened  his  adversary  ;  for  no  sooner  had  he 
given  in  his  adhesion  to  David,  and  been  graciously  received,  than 
Joab  fell  upon  him,  and  treacherously  slew  him.  This  was  done 
partly  out  of  envy  and  jealousy,  but  more  that  he  might  avenge 
the  death  of  his  brother  Asahel,  whom  Abner  had  slain  in  the 
war.  David  was  much  displeased  at  the  death  of^Abner,  and  took 
occasion  to  manifest  his  displeasure  in  every  possible  way.  He 
made  a  public  funeral  for  the  fallen  chief,  wept  over  him,  and  pro- 
nounced his  eulogy  :  "  Know  ye  not  that  a  prince  and  a  great  man 
has  fallen  in  Israel  to-day  ?  " 

Not  long  after  the  death  of  Abner,  two  of  the  servants  of  Ish- 
bosheth assassinated  him  when  asleep,  cut  off  his  head,  and 
brought  it  as  a  present  to  David  ;  hoping  thereby  to  gratify  him, 
and  to  receive  a  reward.  But  their  reward  was  like  that  of  the 
Amalekite  who  pretended  that  he  had  killed  Saul  :  the  king  re- 
buked them  severely,  and  then  slew  them.  He  cut  off  their  hands 
and  feet,  and  hung  up  theit  maimed  bodies  in  a  public  place,  to  be 
a  terror  to  regicides  in  all  coming  time. 

*  David  had  two  sistei-s,  who  seem  to  have  been  much  older  than  himself;  viz.,  Zeruiah  and 
Abigail.  Zeruiah  was  the  mother  of  Joab,  Abishai,  and  Asahel,  —  all  chief  men  in  the  army 
of  David.  Abigail  was  the  mother  of  Amasa  and  Jonathan;  the  former  of  whom  was  treach- 
erously slain  by  Joab :  the  latter  was  one  of  David's  counsellors. 


DAVID   AND   SOLOMON.  323. 

After  the  death  of  Ishbosheth,  the  tribes  which  had  followed 
him  sent  deputies  to  David  at  Hebron,  acknowledging  his  title 
as  king,  and  pledging  their  allegiance  :  so  that  now  he  was  pro- 
claimed king  over  all  Israel  when  he  had  reigned  over  Judah 
seven  years  and  six  months. 

Being  thus  invested  with  full  regal  power,  and  having  under  his 
control  a  mighty  army,  David  entered  at  once  upon  the  great 
work  of  his  life :  which  Avas,  to  extirpate  the  remains  of  the  origi- 
nal inhabitants  of  Canaan  ;  to  enlarge  and  defend  the  borders  of 
Israel;  to  correct  disorders,  and  root  out  idolatry  from  the  land; 
to  establish  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  and  confirm  his  people 
in  it. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  conquest  of  Jebus,  the  stronghold 
of  the  Jebusites,  under  the  direction  of  Joab.  David  at  once  took 
possession  of  the  same  fortress,  calling  it  after  his  own  name.  Je- 
rusalem was  built  around  it,  and  became  the  capital  of  David's 
kingdom. 

He  next  engaged  in  war  with  the  Philistines,  who  brought  one 
army  after  another  into  the  field  against  him ;  and  so  completely 
did  he  humble  them,  that  they  gave  Israel  no  more  trouble  for 
many  years.  Meanwhile  Hiram,  the  king  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  sent 
messengers  unto  David  to  congratulate  him  on  his  successes.  He 
also  sent  him  a  present  of  cedar-trees,  with  carpenters  and  other 
artificers,  to  assist  him  in  preparing  a  palace  for  himself. 

Nor  did  David  concern  himself  with  private  interests  only.  He 
thought  of  the  ark  of  God,  which  had  been  at  Kirjath-jearim  almost 
from  the  death  of  Eli,  —  a  period  of  more  than  eighty  years.  He 
took  measures  for  bringing  it  into  his  own  city  Jerusalem  ;  which 
object,  after  some  delay,  was  with  great  pomp  and  solemnity 
accomplished. 

David  now  thought  of  building  a  temple  for  the  worship  of  the 
God  of  Israel,  and  communicated  his  design  to  the  prophet  Nathan. 
Nathan,  at  first,  approved  of  it ;  but,  the  night  following,  he  was 
directed  by  God  to  forbid  it.  The  prohibition,  however,  was 
accompanied  with  assurances  that  God  accepted  the  good  inten- 
tions of  the  king;  that  his  son  and  successor  should  build  the 
temple  ;  and  that  his  posterity  should  reign  for  many  generations. 

With  these  divine  and  gracious  assurances,  the  heart  of  the  good 
king  was  much  affected.  He  went  into  retirement,  sat  down 
before  the  Lord,  and  said,  "  Who  am  I,  O  Lord  God !  and  what  is 
my  father's  house,  that  thou   hast  brought   me   hitherto  ?      And 


324  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

even  tliis  was  a  small  thing  in  thy  sight,  O  Lord  God !  but  thou 
hast  spoken  also  of  thy  servant's  house  for  a  great  while  yet  to 
come.     And  now  what  can  David  say  more  unto  thee  ?  "  * 

From  this  time,  David  entered  with  new  zeal  upon  the  work  of 
enlarging  the  borders  of  Israel,  and  putting  down  liis  enemies 
round  about.  He  subdued  the  Moabites,  demoHshed  theii-  fortifi- 
cations, and  slew  their  men  of  war ;  leaving  only  enough  to  culti- 
vate the  ground.  From  the  country  of  Moab  he  marched  his  army 
still  farther  east  to  recover  his  territory  lying  on  the  Euphrates. 
The  Syrians  of  Zobah,  under  the  command  of  Hadadezer,  came 
out  with  a  strong  force,  and  gave  him  battle  ;  but  he  soon  routed 
them,  and  took  from  them  a  thousand  chariots  and  seven  thousand 
horsemen.  The  Syrians  of  Damascus,  hearing  of  Hadadezer's  ill 
success,  came  to  his  assistance;  but  David  routed  them  in  like 
manner,  slew  twenty-two  thousand  of  their  men,  became  master 
of  their  country,  and  laid  them  under  tribute.  On  his  return  from 
Syria  he  was  met  by  a  great  body  of  Edomites,  to  whom  he  gave 
battle.  He  slew  eighteen  thousand  of  them  in  the  Valley  of  Salt, 
and  made  them  also  his  tributaries. 

This  was  David's  most  important  military  expedition.  It  con- 
tributed more  than  any  other  to  establish  his  authority  at  home, 
and  to  make  him  known  and  respected  abroad.  He  returned  from 
it  laden  with  the  richest  spoils,  the  most  of  which  he  laid  up  in 
store  for  the  building  of  the  temple. 

This  war  is  mentioned  not  only  in  the  Bible,  but  by  heathen 
writers  ;  as  Eupolemus,  and  Nicolas  of  Damascus :  "  After  this," 
says  Nicolas,  "  there  was  a  certain  Hadad,  a  native  of  Syria,  who 
ruled  over  Damascus,  and  over  all  Syria  except  Phoenicia.  He 
undertook  a  war  with  David,  king  of  Israel,  and  contended  against 
him  in  a  number  of  battles ;  but  in  the  last  of  them,  by  the  River 
Euphrates,  he  suffered  a  defeat."  f 

During  the  persecutions  of  David  from  the  hand  of  Saul,  he  had 
been  assisted  by  Nahash,  Idng  of  the  Ammonites:  wherefore, 
upon  hearing  of  the  death  of  Nahash,  he  sent  messengers  to  his 
son  and  successor,  Hanun,  to  condole  with  him,  and  to  proffer  him 
his  friendship.  But  Hanun  and  his  wise  counsellors  had  no  faith 
in  the  good  intentions  of  David :  he  had  sent  an  embassy  to  spy 
out  the  land :  so  they  seized  his  messengers,  treated  them  with 
great  indignity,  and  sent  them  back  to  David.     This  led  to  a  long 

*  See  2  Sam.  vii.  18-29.  f  See  Rawlinson's  Evidences,  p.  89. 


DAVID   AND   SOLOMON.  325 

and  bloody  war  between  the  forces  of  David  and  the  Ammonites  ; 
in  which  the  latter,  though  assisted  by  the  Syrians,  were  beaten, 
their  capital  was  taken,  their  king's  crown  was  wrested  from  him 
and  given  to  David,  and  multitudes  of  the  Ammonites  were  put  to 
death. 

It  was  during  this  war  that  David  sinned  and  fell  iij  the  matter 
of  Uriah.*  The  manner  in  which  he  received  Nathan's  pointed 
reproof  for  his  sin,  and  in  which  he  humbled  himself  and  made  full 
and  public  confession  of  his  guilt,  shows  that,  though  David  was 
not  proof  against  temptation,  his  heart  was  essentially  right  in  the 
sight  of  God.  He  sought  and  he  obtained  forgiveness  in  respect 
to  the  future  punishment  of  his  sin ;  but,  from  its  distressing  tem- 
poral consequences,  he  was  not  delivered.  The  child  of  his  adultery 
was  taken  from  him  at  a  stroke ;  and  then  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession the  rape  of  Tamar,  the  murder  of  Amnon,  and  the  rebel- 
Uon  and  consequent  death  of  Absalom ;  thus  verifying  the  denun- 
ciations of  the  prophet,  that  the  judgments  of  God  should  follow 
him,  and  that  the  sword  should  never  depart  from  his  house. 

In  the  twenty-second  year  of  the  reign  of  David,  not  long  after 
the  conquest  of  the  Ammonites,  Solomon  was  born  of  Bathsheba, 
who  had  been  the  wife  of  Uriah.  David  had  several  older  sons ; 
but  Solomon  was  the  chosen  of  God  and  of  his  father  to  be  his 
successor  on  the  throne  of  Israel.  David  had  another  son  by 
Bathsheba,  whom  he  called  Nathan,  after  the  name  of  the  prophet 
(1  Chron.  iii.  5)  ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  from  these  two  sons, 
in  different  lines,  the  parents  of  our  Saviour  were  descended. 
Joseph,  the  reputed  father  of  our  Lord,  descended  from  Solomon ; 
and  Mary,  his  mother,  from  Nathan. f 

We  need  not  go  here  into  the  particulars  of  Absalom's  treachery, 
his  defeat,  and  death.  He  was  an  accomplished  demagogue  and 
dissembler.  He  murdered  his  brother  Amnon,  and  would  have 
murdered  his  father  if  he  could  have  taken  him.  The  heart  of 
David  was  all  but  broken  at  his  death,  although  he  knew  that  he 
deserved  to  die.  The  battle  in  which  Absalom  was  slain  was 
fought  at  Mahanaim,  a  city  of  Gilead,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Jordan. 

Soon  after  the  return  of  David  to  his  capital,  another  rebellion 
broke  out  under  Sheba,  the  son  of  Bichri ;  but  this  was  easily 


*  Uriah  was  one  of  David's  thirty  mighty  men  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  i 
t  SeeMatt.  i.  6,16;  and  Luke  iii.  31. 


326  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

put  down  through  the  prompt  action  and  bravery  of  Joab,  who 
obtained  the  traitor's  head,  and  brought  it  to  Jerusalem. 

Not  far  from  this  time,  the  land  was  visited  with  a  distressing 
drought  and  famine  of  three  years'  continuance.  Upon  inquiring 
the  cause,  David  learned  that  it  was  an  infliction  of  God  on  ac- 
count of  Saul's  cruelt}^  to  the  Gibeonites.  David,  therefore,  sent 
to  the  Gibeonites  to  know  what  satisfaction  they  desired ;  and, 
when  he  was  told  that  they  demanded  seven  of  Saul's  descendants 
to  be  given  up  them,  he  yielded  to  their  request.  Two  sons  and 
five  grandsons  of  the  late  king  were  delivered  to  the  Gibeon- 
ites, who  slew  them,  and  hanged  up  their  dead  bodies.  But  Da\dd 
sent  and  took  them  down.  He  also  disinterred  the  bones  of  Saul 
and  Jonathan,  and  buried  them  together  in  the  tomb  of  Kish,  the 
father  of  Said. 

At  an  earher  period,  David  showed  special  favor  to  Mephibosheth, 
a  son  of  his  friend  Jonathan,  who  was  lame  in  his  feet.  He  took 
him  into  his  own  household,  and  treated  him  with  all  the  tender- 
ness of  a  child. 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  David  had  four  several  engage- 
ments with  the  Philistines,  in  each  of  which  he  was  victorious.  In 
these  battles,  several  of  the  race  of  the  giants  which  remained 
were  put  to  death.  In  commemoration  of  these  and  his  preceding 
victories,  David  composed  that  triumphal  song,  beginning,  "  The 
Lord  is  my  rock,  my  fortress,  my  deliverer,  the  God  of  my  rock,  in 
whom  I  will  trust."  *  It  is  deeply  interesting  to  connect  the  his- 
tory of  David  with  his  Psalms,  and  see  how,  under  all  circum- 
stances, —  whether  of  prospei:ity  or  adversity,  of  defeat  or  deliv- 
erance,— his  heart  continually  rose  to  God  in  submission  or  in  grat- 
itude, as  the  case  might  be. 

About  two  years  before  his  death,  David  became  exceedingly 
and  criminally  anxious  to  know  the  number  of  his  people,  and 
more  especially  of  his  men  of  war.  Accordingly,  he  gave  orders  to 
Joab  and  to  his  other  high  officers  that  the  people  should  be  num- 
bered. Joab  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  his  purpose,  but  in  vain. 
Agents  were  therefore  sent  through  all  Israel  (with  the  exception 
of  the  tribes  of  Levi  and  Benjamin),  and  brought  in  the  number 
to  the  king ;  viz.,  eight  hundred  thousand  fighting  men  in  Israel, 
and  five  hundred  thousand  in  Judah.  The  writer  of  the  Chronicles 
makes  the  warriors  of  Israel  eleven  hundred  thousand,  and  the 
warriors  of  Judah  four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  (1  Chron. 

*  Recorded  in  2  Sam.  xx.;  also,  with  some  variations,  in  Ps.  xviii. 


DAVID   AND   SOLOMON.  327 

xxi.  5).  The  difference  may  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  that 
the  standing  army  of  Israel,  amounting  to  three  hundred  thousand, 
is  included  in  Chronicles,  but  not  in  Samuel ;  and  that  the  stand- 
ing army  of  Judali,  amounting  to  thirty  thousand,  is  included  in 
Samuel,  but  not  in  the  Chronicles. 

After  the  numbering  was  finished,  the  king's  heart  smote  him ; 
and  the  prophet  Gad  was  sent  to  reprove  him  for  what  he  had 
done.  The  probability  is  that  it  was  done  from  motives  of  osten- 
tation, or  from  a  false  confidence,  —  a  disposition  to  trust  to  the 
multitude  of  his  warriors  rather  than  to  the  mighty  power  of  God. 
At  any  rate,  David  sinned  in  this  matter,  and  he  became  sensible 
of  it ;  and  his  people  were  sorely  chastised  on  account  of  it.  A 
pestilence  broke  out  among  them,  which  in  a  short  time  destroyed 
seventy  thousand  men.  As  the  destroyer  drew  nigh  to  Jerusalem, 
an  angel  of  God  appeared  havering  over  the  city  with  a  drawn 
sword  in  his  hand.  While  David  was  humbling  himself  before 
God,  and  imploring  mercy,  the  prophet  Gad  was  sent  to  him,  with 
the  command  that  he  should  purchase  the  threshing-floor  of  Arau- 
nah  the  Jebusite,  over  which  the  destroying  angel  stood,  build  an 
altar  upon  it,  and  offer  up  sacrifices  and  peace-offerings.  All  this 
was  done  instantly,  and  the  plague  was  stayed.  This  threshing- 
floor  was  on  Mount  Moriah,  —  the  very  spot  on  which  Solomon 
was  directed,  a  few  years  later,  to  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord.* 

There  is  a  difference  in  the  accounts  in  Samuel  and  in  Chroni- 
cles as  to  the  price  which  David  paid  for  the  threshing-floor.  In 
Samuel,  it  is  said  to  be  fifty  shekels  of  silver ;  but  in  Chronicles, 
six  hundred  shekels  of  gold.f  The  accounts  are  reconciled  by 
supposing  that  David  made,  in  all,  two  purchases.  On  the 
spur  of  the  occasion,  he  purchased  merely  the  threshing-floor  for 
fifty  shekels  of  silver  ;  but  afterwards,  on  learning  that  this  was 
to  be  the  site  of  the  temple,  he  purchased  all  the  grounds  about  it 
for  six  hundred  shekels  of  gold. 

As  David  had  now  purchased  a  site  for  the  temple,  he  seems  to 
have  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  making  the  most  princely 
preparations  for  it.  "  Solomon,  my  son,"  said  he,  "  is  young  and 
tender ;  and  the  house  that  is  to  be  builded  for  the  Lord  must  be 
exceeding  magnifical,  of  fame  and  glory  throughout  all  countries. 

*  This  Araunah,  or  Oman,  was  a  Jebusite  prince  who  had  been  expelled  by  Joab  when  he 
took  the  fortress  of  Jebus.  Nevertheless,  he  retained  his  possessions  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusa- 
lem until  they  were  purchased  by  David. 

t  See  2  Sam.  xxiv.  24;  1  Chron.  xxi.  25. 


328  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

I  -will  now,  therefore,  make  preparation  for  it."    So  David  prepared 
abundantly  before  his  death. 

But  David's  end  was  now  approaching ;  and  his  last  days  were 
imbittered  by  another  instance  of  treachery  in  his  family.  Adoni- 
jah,  the  eldest  of  the  king's  living  sons,  born  of  the  same  mother 
as  Absalom,  aspired  to  the  kingdom.  By  some  means,  he  gained 
Joab,  the  veteran  chief  of  David's  forces,  and  Abiathar  the  high 
priest,  over  to  his  party.  He  invited  all  the  king's  sons  except 
Solomon,  and  most  of  the  great  men  of  the  kingdom,  to  a  sumptu- 
ous entertainment  at  Enrogel,  a  well  or  fountain  a  little  east  of 
Jerusalem,  where  the  guests  were  expected,  after  feasting  for  a 
while,  to  proclaim  him  king  in  the  place  of  David  his  father.  But 
Nathan  the  prophet,  having  learned  what  was  doing,  went  and 
acquainted  Bathsheba  with  it,  and  urged  her  to  go  immediately  to 
the  king  and  persuade  him  to  declare'  Solomon  his  successor.  This 
she  did,  giving  David  the  first  notice  of  Adonijah's  conspiracy. 
She  was  followed  almost  immediately  by  the  prophet  Nathan,  who 
told  the  king  the  same  story.  This  intelligence  aroused  the  en- 
feebled monarch.  He  commanded  Nathan,  and  Zadok  the  priest, 
and  Benaiah  the  captain  of  his  guards,  with  other  high  officers  and 
ministers  of  state,  to  take  Solomon  and  put  him  on  his  own  mule ; 
to  conduct  him  to  Gihon,  another  fountain  west  of  Jerusalem,  and 
there  to  anoint  and  proclaim  him  king.  All  this  was  quickly  done  ; 
and  the  people  6f  Jerusalem,  by  their  loud  acclamations,  gave  tes- 
timony of  their  joy  at  David's  choice.  The  sound  was  heard  by 
Adonijah  and  his  company,  who  saw  at  once  that  their  design  was 
defeated,  and  that  they  must  shift  for  themselves  in  the  best  way 
they  could.  Adonijah  fled  to  the  altar  for  safety,  where  he  obtained 
from  Solomon  a  promise  of  pardon  on  condition  of  his  future  alle- 
giance and  good  behavior. 

After  this,  David  recovered  a  little  from  his  disease,  and  made 
preparation  for  a  more  public  and  formal  coronation  of  Solomon. 
He  called  together  the  officers  of  his  court  and  his  army,  and  made 
to  them  a  solemn  oration,  reminding  them  of  all  God's  goodness 
to  him  personally ;  assuring  them  that  the  succession  of  Solomon 
was  by  divine  appointment,  and  that  it  would  devolve  on  him  to 
build  a  temple  for  the  public  worship  of  God.  He  gave  to  Solo- 
mon a  plan  of  the  temple,  and  an  account  of  the  treasures  which 
he  had  provided  for  it.  He  called  upon  the  princes  to  contribute 
for  the  same  object ;  and,  when  he  saw  their  readiness  and  their 
liberality,  he  concluded  with  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  God,  and  an 


DAVID   AND   SOLOMON.  329 

earnest  prayer  that  Solomon  might  be  enabled  to  accomplish  all 
that  had  been  enjoined. 

The  next  day,  Solomon  was  anointed  the  second  time.  Zadok 
was  constituted  high  priest  in  place  of  Abiathar  ;  and  Benaiah 
was  made  chief  commander  of  the  army  in  place  of  Joab.  The 
last  work  of  David  was  to  give  to  his  son  and  successor  a  solemn 
charge  ;  the  burthen  of  which  was,  that  he  should  be  steadfast  in 
his  duty  to  God  ;  that  he  should  "  walk  in  his  ways,  and  keep  his 
statutes,  his  judgments,  and  his  testimonies,"  that  so  he  might 
prosper  in  all  the  work  of  his  hands. 

Shortly  after  this,  the  good  king  died,  in  the  seventy-first  year 
of  his  age,  when  he  had  reigned  forty  years,  —  seven  years  at 
Hebron,  and  thirty-three  at  Jerusalem.  He  was  buried  with  great 
pomp  in  a  tomb  which  he  had  prepared  for  himself  in  that  most 
strongly  fortified  part  of  Jerusalem  which  was  called  emphatically 
"  the  city  of  David." 

Of  the  character  of  David  I  need  not  speak  at  length.  That 
he  was  a  man  of  great  natural  endowments  and  of  fervent  piety, 
there  can  be  .no  doubt.  He  was  an  inspired  prophet,  a  sweet  poet, 
a  brave  and  successful  warrior,  and  a  good  king.  He  has  the 
honor  to  stand  pre-eminent  among  the  progenitors  of  Christ,  who 
is  called  emphatically  "  the  Son  of  David."  His  songs  have  been 
the  delight  of  the  Church  for  three  thousand  years,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  so  to  the  end  of  time.  Still  he  did  not  claim  to  be 
a  perfect  man.  He  had  his  foibles  and  his  faults,  of  which  no 
one  was  more  sensible  than  himself.  Falling  in  with  the  polyga- 
mous practices  of  the  age,  he  could  not  govern  his  household  as  he 
ought ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that,  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life,  his  children  gave  him  much  trouble.  Still  his  long  reign 
was  an  inestimable  blessing  to  his  country.  He  vanquished  the 
enemies  of  Israel  on  every  side.  He  extended  his  dominion  from 
the  Euphrates  to  the  Mediterranean,  and  from  Damascus  to  Egypti 
He  rooted  out  idolatry  from  among  the  people,  established  on  a 
firm  basis  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  and  thus  prepared  the  way 
for  the  splendid  and  prosperous  reign  of  his  son  and  successor, 
Solomon. 

Solomon  was  eighteen  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign  ;  and  he 
reigned  over  all  Israel  forty  years  in  Jerusalem.  As  his  name 
(Solomon)  signifies  peace^  so  his  reign  was  eminently  peaceful  and 
prosperous,  —  fit  emblem  of  the  reign  of  that  greater  Son  of  David 
of  whom  he  was  a  type.     Among  the  first  acts  of  his  reign,  he 


330  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

put  out  of  the  way  several  persons  whom  he  thought  dangerous 
to  his  government.  Adonijah,  who  was  suspected  of  plotting  an- 
other insurrection,  and  Joab,  who  was  knowii.  to  favor  him,  were 
both  of  them  put  to  death.  It  may  seem  hard  that  Joab,  the  hero 
of  so  many  battles  fought  in  the  service  of  liis  father  David, 
should  thus  fall  at  the  command  of  his  son :  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  Joab's  treatment  of  David  on  several  occasions 
was  any  thing  but  respectful ;  that  he  had  treacherously  murdered 
in  cold  blood  Abner  and  Amasa,  two  men  whom  David  con- 
sidered better  than  himself;  that  he  was  naturally  cruel,  imperious, 
revengeful,  and  ready  for  any  conspiracy  against  Solomon,  and  in 
favor  of  Adonijah ;  and  especially  that  David  had  signified  his 
pleasure  that  the  hoar  head  of  Joab  should  not  go  down  to  the 
grave  in  peace. 

Solomon  became  pious  in  early  life.  In  the  very  beginning  of 
his  reign,  it  is  said  of  him  that  "  he  loved  the  Lord  exceedingly, 
and  walked  in  the  statutes  of  David  his  father."  Soon  after  his 
accession,  he  went  to  Gibeon,  a  few  miles  from  Jerusalem,  where 
were  the  tabernacle  and  the  altar  which  Moses  had  prepared  in  the 
wilderness  (2  Chron.  i.  3)  ;  and  here  he  offered  in  sacrifice  a 
thousand  burnt-offerings..  It  was  here  that  the  Lord  appeared  to 
him  in  a  dream,  and,  in  answer  to  his  own  request,  promised  to 
give  him  wisdom  and  an  understanding  heart.  He  also  promised 
to  bestow  upon  him  riches  and  honor  beyond  that  of  any  of  the 
kings  of  the  earth. 

Solomon's  first  marriage  was  with  a  daughter,  of  Pharaoh,  king 
of  Egypt ;  and  she,  it  is  generally  supposed,  became  a  proselyte 
to  the  Jews'  religion.  At  any  rate,  we  never  hear  of  her  as  exert- 
ing any  influence  in  favor  of  idolatry.  This  is  the  first  that  we 
hear  of  any  connection  of  the  Israelites  with  Egypt  after  their 
escape  from  bondage. 

The  great  event  of  Solomon's  reign  was  the  building  of  the 
temple,  and  the  ordering  and  establishing  of  the  temple  worship. 
Next  to  this  in  importance  was  the  building  of  a  palace  for  himself, 
and  another  for  his  Egyptian  wife.  In  all  these  great  works,  he 
was  essentially  aided,  both  in  materials  and  artificers,,  by  Hiram, 
king  of  Tyre.  These  events  are  distinctly  referred. to,  not  only 
in  the  Scriptures  and  in  Josephus,  but  by  the  historians  of  ancient 
Tyre.* 

In  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign.  King  Solomon  commenced  build- 

*  See  Josephus  against  Apion,  book  i.  sect.  17,  18;  also  Rawlinson's  Evidences,  p.  308. 


DAVID   AND   SOLOMON.  331 

ing  the  house  of  the  Lord  ;  but  it  was  not  finished  until  the 
eleventh  year.  The  temple  itself  was  not  a  very  large  structure  ; 
but  the  numerous  courts  and  offices  round  about  it  constituted  a 
vast  pile.  And  when  we  consider  the  exquisite  art,  as  well  as 
strength,  with  which  the  whole  was,  finished,  we  are  led  to  wonder 
that  it  could  have  been  perfected  in  so  short  a  period. 

The  dedication  of  the  temple,  when  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
was  removed  from  the  city  of  David  and  deposited  in  the  most 
holy  place,  was  an  occasion  of  great  and  joyful  interest.  We  have 
a  full  account  of  it,  also  of  Solomon's  prayer  of  dedication,  of 
the  sacrifices  which  he  offered,  and  of  the  feast  which  he  made 
for  all  the  people,  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  first  book  of  the 
Kings. 

At  the  close  of  this  solemn  service,  God  appeared  unto  Solomon 
a  second  time,  told  him  that  his  offerings  were  accepted,  and  gave 
him  assurances  of  continued  favor  both  to  himself  and  his  pos- 
terity, but  only  on  the  condition  that  he  and  they  adhered  faith- 
fully to  the  service  of  the  Lord  :  "  But  if  you  shall  at  all  turn 
from  following  me,  you  or  your  children,  and  shall  go  and  serve 
other  gods,  then  will  I  cut  off  Israel  out  of  the  land  which  I  have 
given  them  ;  and  this  house  which  I  have  hallowed  for  my  name 
will  I  cast  out  of  my  sight;  and  Israel  shall  be  a  proverb  and  a 
byword  among  all  people." 

Solomon  had  a  taste  for  expensive  buildings  ;  for,  besides  the 
temple  and  his  palaces,  he  erected  "  the  house  of  the  forest  of 
Lebanon,"  where  he  frequently  resided.  He  built  also  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem,  and  an  armory,  and  a  senate-house  called  Millo.  He 
repaired  and  fortified  Hazor,  Megiddo,  the  two  Beth-horons,  Baalah 
or  Baalbek,  Tadmor  in  the  desert  (called  by  the  Greeks  Palmyra), 
and  Gezer,  a  city  which  the  king  of  Egypt  had  given  him  in  dowry 
with  his  daughter.  Solomon  had  two  ports  on  the  Elanitic  Gulf 
of  the  Red  Sea,  where  he  provided  a  navy,  and  where,  in  con- 
nection with  his  friend  Hiram,  he  engaged  somewhat  extensively 
in  navigation.  He  also  had  his  ships  of  Tarshish  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.  One  of  his  fleets  brought  home  no  less  than  four 
hundred  and  twenty  talents  of  gold,  besides  various  other  com- 
modities and  curiosities  of  great  value.  In  short,  Solomon  soon 
came  to  be  one  of  the  richest  and  most  powerful  princes  then  on 
the  earth.  His  annual  revenue  was  six  hundred  and  sixty-six 
talents  of  gold,  besides  the  tribute  which  he  received  from  subject 
kings.     His  furniture  and  ornaments  were  all  of  gold ;  silver  being 


332  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

little  accounted  of  in  the  days  of  Solomon.  Presents  of  the 
greatest  value  were  sent  unto  him  from  different  quarters  ;  and  to. 
see  his  face  and  hear  his  wisdom  was  the  prevailing  desire  of  the 
great  men  of  the  age. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  such  a  desire  that  the  Queen  of 
Sheba  came  from  Arabia  to  make  him  a  visit.  She  came  with  rich 
presents,  and  to  test  his  wisdom  with  hard  questions.*  But 
Solomon  answered  all  her  questions  ;  and,  when  she  saw  the 
magnificence  and  glory  in  which  he  lived,  she  went  away  aston- 
ished, declaring,  that,  though  the  fame  which  she  had  heard  of  him 
was  very  great,  the  half  had  not  been  told  her. 

Solomon  devoted  much  time  to  philosophical  inquiries  and  pur- 
suits. He  wrote  three  thousand  proverbs ;  and  his  songs  were  a 
thousand  and  five.  He  knew  the  virtue  of  all  plants  and  trees, 
from  the  lofty  cedar  of  Lebanon  even  unto  the  hyssop  that  spring- 
eth  out  of  the  wall.  He  treated  also  of  beasts,  of  fowl,  of  creep- 
ing things,  and  of  fishes. 

Solomon's  situation  was  one  of  great  temptation ;  and,  sad  to 
say,  his  temjitations  for  a  time  overcame  him.  In  conformity  with 
the  custom  of  Oriental  monarchs,  he  must  surround  himself,  not 
only  with  all  other  forms  of  pageantr}^,  but  with  a  harem  of  out- 
landish women ;  and  these,  as  might  be  expected,  drew  away  his 
heart.f  He  married  wives  from  among  the  Moabites,  the  Ammon- 
ites, the  Hittites,  the  Edoraites,  and  the  Zidonians ;  and,  to  show 
his  liberality,  he  built  high  places  for  them  in  Jerusalem,  and  not 
only  tolerated  but  countenanced  them  in  their  idolatries.  Where- 
fore the  Lord  was  angry  with  him,  and  sent  a  prophet  to  reprove 
him  and  to  denounce  impending  judgments.  The  Lord  also  stirred 
up  adversaries  against  him  ;  viz.,  Hadad,  king  of  Edom,  and  Rezon 
of  Damascus,  and  more  especially  Jeroboam,  one  of  his  own  ser- 
vants. Jeroboam  had  been  designated  by  Ahijah  the  prophet  as 
the  man  who  should  in  future  reign  over  ten  tribes  in  Israel. 
Having  on  this  account,  as  well  as  others,  excited  the  suspicions 
of  Solomon,  he  fled  for  protection  to  Shishak,  king  of  Egypt,  where 
he  continued  until  Solomon's  death. 

*  Men.ander,  a  Syrian  historian,  reports  that  Solomon  sent  riddles  to  King  Hiram,  and  asked 
to  receive  riddles  from  him,  on  the  condition  that  the  one  that  could  not  solve  them  should  pay 
a  sum  of  money  to  the  other.  When  Hiram  had  agreed  to  this,  and  was  not  able  to  solve  the 
riddles,  he  paid  a  large  sum  of  money  as  a  forfeit.  —  See  Josephvs  against  Apion,  book  i.  sect.  17. 

t  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Solomon  collected  his  seven  hundred  wives  and  three  hun- 
dred concubines  for  his  own  personal  gratification,  more  than  that  he  kept  his  twelve  thousand 
horses  for  his  own  personal  use.  Both  constituted  parts  of  his  royal  equipage,  and  one  as  much 
as  the  other. 


DAVID   AND   SOLOMON.  333 

If  it  be  inquired  why  the  king  of  Egypt,  to  whom  Solomon  was 
alHed  in  marriage,  should  afford  protection  to  the  fugitive  Jero- 
boam, the  difficulty  is  explained  by  the  suj^position,  that,  during 
the  reign  of  Solomon,  there  had  been  a  revolution  in  Egypt.  The 
dynasty  to  which  he  was  allied  had  been  deposed,  and  another  had 
taken  its  jjlace,  which,  on  account  of  the  existing  alliance,  might 
be  expected  to  be  hostile  to  Solomon. 

At  what  time  Solomon  began  to.  countenance  idolatry,  and  how 
long  he  persisted  in  it,  we  are  not  precisely  informed.  The  sacred 
writer  tells  us,  that,  "  when  he  was  old,  his  wives  turned  away  his 
heart "  (1  Kings  xi.  4)  ;  and,  as  he  died  at  fifty-eight,  his  defec- 
tion could  not  have  been  very  long  before  his  death.  That  the 
Book  of  Ecclesiastes  was  written  by  Solomon,  and  written  late  in 
life,  is  evident  on  the  very  face  of  it ;  and  it  furnishes  abundant 
proof  of  his  ultimate  repentance  and  restoration.  This  book  is 
mainly  a  record  of  his  thoughts  and  opinions  at  different  periods, 
—  of  the  workings  of  his  great  mind  and  heart  in  the  varied  cir- 
cumstances of  life,  and  more  especially  during  the  melancholy 
period  of  his  defection.  And  it  comes  out  nobly  at  the  close  ; 
showing  that  Solomon  had  learned,  in  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  that  "  to  fear  God,  and  keep  his  commandments,  is  the 
whole  duty  of  man." 

Although  Solomon  had  so  many  wives,  the  Scriptures  make 
mention  of  but  three  children,  —  one  son  and  two  daughters 
(1  Kings  iv.  11,  15).  He  died,  as  I  have  said,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
eight,  having  reigned  forty  years  ;  and  was  buried  near  his  father, 
in  the  city  of  David. 

The  life  of  Solomon  is  full  of  instruction  for  us  ;  but  I  shall  be 
able  to  touch  on  only  a  few  of  the  more  important  lessons,  and  that 
in  the  briefest  manner  :  — 

1.  We  learn  the  danger  of  loving  and  pursuing  the  world.  This 
was  that  which  overcame  Solomon.  As  a  philosopher,  he  was  in 
search  of  the  summum  bonum,  the  chief  good  of  man.  Did  it  con- 
sist in  worldly  gratification?  He  had  every  means  of  gratifica- 
tion in  his  power ;  and  he  resolved  to  plunge  into  it,  and  make  the 
experiment.  He  did  so  ;  and  the  experiment  well-nigh  ruined 
him.  He  came  out  of  it,  often  repeating  the  exclamation,  "  Vanity 
of  vanities ;  all  is  vanity.  I  found  all  to  be  vanity,  and  vexation 
of  spirit." 

2.  We  see  that  at  no  period  of  life,  and  under  no  circumstances, 
So  long  as  probation  lasts,  are"  we  out  of  danger.     One  would  have 


334  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

thought  that  Solomon  in  his  old  age,  and  surrounded  with  so  many- 
inducements  to  persevere,  could  hardly  be  in  any  danger  of  falling. 
And  yet  he  did  fall.  He  fell  foully  and  shamefully,  though  we 
think  not  finally.  Let  those  in  years,  as  well  as  in  youth,  learn  a 
lesson  from  him :  "  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed 
lest  he  fall." 

3.  We  have  here  a  lesson  which  has  been  hinted  at  on  a  former 
occasion,  but  which  may  well  be  thought  of  again.  We  learn  how 
God  will  be  likely  to  treat  his  own  servants  when  they  fall  into 
sin.  He  will  "visit  their  iniquities  with  a  rod,  and  their  transgres- 
sion with  stripes."  The  ungodly  he  may  leave  to  wander  on  and 
perish ;  but  his  own  children,  with  whom  he  is  in  covenant,  and 
whom  he  is  bound  to  reclaim  and  to  save,  he  will  be  likely  to  cor- 
rect in  faithfulness.  So  he  did  to  Solomon ;  so  he  will  do  in  every 
other  case. 

4.  Let  those  who  have  wandered  away  from  God  do  as  Solomon 
did,  —  review  their  past  lives,  repent  of  their  sins,  and  learn,  with 
the  wise  king  of  Israel,  that  to  "  fear  God,  and  keep  his  command- 
ments, is  the  whole  duty  of  man." 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 


KINGS     OF    JUDAH     AND    ISRAEL. 


WHEN  Solomon  was  dead,  Rehobbam,  his  son,  went  to  She- 
chem,  in  Mount  Ephraim,  where  the  elders  of  the  people 
were  assembled  to  make  him  king;  but  as  the  nation  had  been 
burthened  with  heavy  exactions  during  some  part  of  his  father's 
reign, — for,  with  his  great  works  and  luxurious  living,  how  could 
it  be  otherwise  ?  —  before  they  would  consent  to  crown  his  son, 
they  desired  a  redress  of  grievances.  His  father's  wise  counsellors 
advised  Rehoboam  to  satisfy  them  in  this  respect ;  but  influenced 
by  his  boon  companions,  and  carried  headlong  by  his  own  stupidity 
and  folly,  he  refused.  He  even  threatened  them  with  increased 
impositions  ;  and  this  so  disgusted  the  people,  that  they  threw  off 
their  allegiance,  and  declared  for  another  king.  When  Rehoboam 
understood  what  was  done,  he  sent  Adoram,  his  collector,  to  ap- 
pease them ;  but  the  pacification  came  too  late.  They  were  so 
exasperated,  that  they  fell  upon  the  collector,  and  stoned  him  to 
death ;  and  Rehoboam  was  obliged  to  consult  his  own  safety  by 
fleeing  to  Jerusalem.  He  thus  secured  to  himself  the  two  tribes  of 
Judah  and  Benjamin;  while  the  other  ten  tribes  —  occupying  the 
greater  and  more  fertile  part  of  the  country  —  seceded,  and  con- 
stituted Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  their  king.  Thus  was  this 
great  and  goodly  kingdom  split  into  two  parts,  and  continued  sepa- 
rate unto  the  time  of  its  dissolution. 

Rehoboam  was  forty-one  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign ;  and 
consequently  was  born  one  year  before  David's  death.  His  mother's 
name  was  Naamah,  an  Ammonitess.  To  revenge  the  insult  put 
upon  him,  he  collected  a  vast  army,  with  the  intent  to  make  war 
upon  Jeroboam ;  but,  at  the  instance  of  the  prophet  Shemaiah,  he 
changed  his  purpose,  disbanded  his  army,  and  proceeded  to  garri- 
son and  fortify  his  dominions. 

In  the  mean  time,  Jeroboam  was  not  idle.     He  enlarged,  beauti- 

335 


336  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

fied,  .and  fortified  Shechem,  and  made  it  his  capital.  He  sometimes 
dwelt  at  Peuuel,  on  the  other  side  Jordan,  that  he  might  secure  the 
affections  of  the  tribes  which  resided  there.  He  had  more  solici- 
tude about  the  religion  of  his  people  than  any  thing  else  ;  foresee- 
ing, that,  if  they  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship  at  the  temple, 
they  would  inevitably  return  to  the  house  of  David.  Conse- 
quently, he  resolved  on  a  bold  innovation.  He  set  up  two  golden 
calves,  with  their  altars,  after  the  manner  of  Egypt,  —  placing  one 
of  them  at  Bethel,  and  the  other  at  Dan  ;  and,  as  the  regular 
priests  would  not  patronize  his  idolatries,  he  banished  them  from 
his  kingdom,  seized  their  estates,  and  created  priests  from  the  low- 
est of  the  people.  In  consequence  of  these  hard  measures,  the 
priests  and  Levites  generally  went  over  to  Rehoboam's  party,  and 
were  followed  by  as  many  of  the  people  as  had  any  true  regard  for 
the  God  of  Israel.  God  sent  his  prophets  to  Jeroboam  to  reprove 
him ;  but  neither  warnings  nor  miracles  nor  inflicted  judgments 
had  any  good  effect.  He  persisted  in  his  idolatrous  practices,  and 
bequeathed  them  to  his  successors  for  many  generations.* 

Nor  was  Rehoboam,  king  of  Judali,  much  better.  For  two  or 
three  years,  he  kept  up  the  worship  of  God  at  Jerusalem ;  after 
which  he  and  many  of  his  people  relapsed  into  the  idolatries  and 
filthy  practices  of  the  heathen.  They  set  up  groves  and  images 
upon  every  high  hill  and  under  every  green  tree,  and  perpetrated 
the  same  abominations  for  which  the  original  Canaanites  had  been 
destroyed.  Under  all  these  provocations,  God  sent  against  them 
Shishak,  king  of  Egypt.  He  came  up  with  a  powerful  army,  rav- 
aged the  country,  took  most  of  the  fortified  places,  entered  Jeru- 
salem, plundered  the  temple  and  the  palace,  and  carried  away  the 
shields  of  gold  which  King  Solomon  had  made.  So  soon  were  the 
vast  treasures  of  Solomon  dispersed,  and  his  son  and  successor  was 
left  in  poverty  and  infamy  ! 

The  recent  discoveries  in  Egypt  afford  a  striking  confirmation 
of  this  part  of  the  sacred  history.  The  tomb  of  Shishak  has  been 
opened ;  and  among  the  kings  he  had  conquered  is  distinctly  men- 
tioned the  king  of  the  Jews.f 

After  Shishak's  invasion,  Rehoboam  reigned  twelve  years  (sev- 

*  It  is  generally  supposed  that  Jeroboam,  like  the  worshippers  of  the  calves  in  the  wilder- 
ness, did  not  mean  to  forsake  the  worship  of  the  God  of  Israel,  but  only  to  worship  him 
through  the  medium  of  images;  thus  breaking  the  second  commandment  rather  than  the  first 
(compare  Exod.  xxxii.  4  with  1  Kings  xii.  28). 

t  See  Rawlinson's  Evidences,  p.  109. 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  337 

enteen  in  all),  and  died  at  fifty-eight,  —  the  same  age  with  his 
father.  He  was  a  prince  of  small  abilities,  and  a  bad  disposition. 
He  seems  to  have  been  a  spoiled  child  from  his  youth.  It  is  to  be 
presumed  that  Solomon  entertained  no  high  hopes  respecting  him ; 
for  he  says  in  a  tone  of  deep  despondency,  "■  I  hated  all  my  labor 
which  I  had  taken  under  the  sun,  because  I  was  to  leave  it  to  a 
man  that  should  come  after  me ;  and  who  knoweth  whether  he 
shall  be  a  wise  man  or  a  fool  ?  "  (Eccles.  ii.  18,  19.) 

We  are  told  that  there  was  war  between  Rehoboam  and  Jero- 
boam all  their  days.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  border,  guerilla  Avar- 
fare,  as  they  came  to  no  one  pitched  battle.  Rehoboam  left  many 
children,  but  appointed  Abijam,  the  eldest  son,  to  succeed  him  on 
the  throne. 

Abijam  may  have  been  forty  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign, 
and  his  reign  continued  only  a  part  of  three  years.  He  was  a 
brave,  warlike  prince ;  and,  wishing  to  put  an  end  to  the  long 
quarrel  between  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel,  he  got  together 
an  army  of  four  hundred  thousand  men  to  fight  against  Jeroboam ; 
and,  notwithstanding  Jeroboam's  army  was  twice  as  large,  Abijam 
resolved  to  give  him  battle.  But  first  he  made  a  long  and  eloquent 
appeal  to  the  army  of  Jeroboam,  which  is  recorded  in  2  ChrOn. 
xiii.  5-12.  In  this  contest,  Abijam  was  victorious;  and  Jeroboam 
lost  no  less  than  five  hundred  thousand  of  his  men,  —  a.  terrible 
slaughter,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  never  recovered. 

Abijam  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Asa,  who  may  have  been 
twenty  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign,  and  whose  reign 
continued  forty-one  yeal's.  There  is  some  confusion  as  to  the 
mothers  of  Abijam  and  of  Asa.  In  Kings,  Abijam's  mother  is  said 
to  have  been  Maachah,  the  daughter  of  Abishalom ;  but  in  Chroni- 
cles she  is  called  the  daughter  of  Absalom.*  Undoubtedly,  Abisha- 
lom and  Absalom  were  slightly  different  names  of  the  same  per- 
son. This  Maachah  is  also  called  the  mother  of  Asa.  She  was  his 
grandmother.!  In  another  passage,  Abijam's  mother  is  said  to 
have  been  the  daughter  of  Uriel  of  Gibeah.J  This  daughter  of 
Uriel  must  have  been  Abijam's  grandmother.  In  Scripture,  grand- 
parents are  often  spoken  of  as  parents,  and  grandchildren  as 
children. 

Asa  commenced  his  reign  in  the  twentieth  year  of  Jeroboam, 

*  Compare  1  Kings  xv.  2  with  2  Chrou.  xi.  21,  22.  t  2  Chron.  xv.  16. 

J  2  Chron.  xiii.  2. 
22 


338  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

king  of  Israel.  For  the  first  ten  years,  the  kingdom  of  Judah  was 
at  peace,  —  a  period-  which  Asa  wisely  improved  in  reforming- 
abuses,  destroying  idolatrous  groves  and  images,  and  in  bringing 
back  his  people  to  the  service  of  the  true  God.  He  also  fortified 
his  frontier-towns,  and  trained  and  prepared  a  prodigious  army  to 
be  in  readiness  in  case  of  necessity.  Nor  was  the  necessity  "long 
in  coming :  for  Zerah  the  Ethiopian,  who  reigned  in  South-western 
Arabia,  invaded  Judah  with  a  vast  army  ;  but  he  was  defeated  by 
Asa  with  a  much  inferior  force.  Almost  in  the  beginning  of  the 
battle,  the  Lord  struck  the  Arabians  with  such'  a  panic,  that  they 
fled,  and  trampled  down  each  other.  Asa  pursued  after  them, 
took  the  spoil*  of  their  camp,  carried  away  their  cattle,  smote  their 
cities,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  Jerusalem. 

Jeroboam  was  now  dead :  and  so  was  his  wicked  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Nadab ;  for,  when  Nadab  had  reigned  less  than  two  years, 
Baasha,  the  captain  of  his  forces,  conspired  against  him  and  slew 
liim,  and  reigned  in  his  stead. 

After  his  conquest  of  the  Arabians,  Asa  had  peace  again  five 
years  ;  which  interval  he  improved  as  he  had  a  former  one,  —  in  pro- 
moting a  reformation  among  his  people.  Because  his  mother  (or 
rather  grandmother)  Maachah  had  been  the  patroness  of  idolatry, 
he  removed  her  from  being  queen,  destroyed  her  idols,  burnt  her 
grove,  and  threw  the  ashes  into  the  Brook  Kidron. 

The  blessings  of  Asa's  reign  brought  over  many  from  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  into  his  dominions.  To  prevent  further  emigration, 
Baasha  undertook  to  fortify  Ramah,  a  border-town,  so  as  to  cut  off 
all  communication  between  his  kingdom  and  that  of  Judah.*  Un- 
derstanding his  policy,  Asa  sent  messengers  to  Benhadad,  king  of 
Syria,  that  he  might  hire  liim  to  invade  Baasha  on  the  north,  and 
thus  divert  him  from  his  purpose  at  Ramah.  The  plan  was  suc- 
cessful :  Baj^sha  was  constrained  to  depart  from  Ramah ;  and  Asa 
came  and  carried  away  his  materials  into  his  own  country. 

But  Asa  sinned  in  this  matter ;  and  a  prophet  of  God  was  sent 

-to  reprove  him  because  he  had  put  his  trust  in  man,  and  not  in 

the  Lord.     Nor  did  Asa  receive  the  reproof  >vith  submission  and 

thankfulness  :  on  the  contrary,  he  was  fretted  with  it,  and  even 

put  the  prophet  in  chains. 

From  this  time  forward.  King  Asa  became  petulant  and  unhappy. 
He  had  a  disease  in  his  feet,  —  perhaps  the  gout,  —  which  may 

*  Ramah  was  not  more  than  sis  miles  from  Jerusalem. 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  339 

account  in  part  for  Ms  peevishness  and  ill-humor.  He  is  remem- 
bered, however,  as  one  of  Judah's  best  and  most  prosperous 
kings. 

While  Asa  reigned  over  Judah,  Israel  was  cursed  with  no  less 
than  eight  wicked  kings ;  viz.,  Jeroboam,  Nadab,  Baasha,  Elah, 
Zimri,  Tibni,  Omri,  and  Ahab.  Jeroboam  died  about  two  years 
after  the  commencement  of  Asa's  government.  Nadab  was  assas- 
sinated by  Baasha  when  he  had  reigned  less  than  two  years.  In 
the  twenty-sixth  year  of  Asa,  Baasha  died,*  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Elah,  a  vicious  man,  who,  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign, 
was  murdered  by  Zimri,  one  of  his  officers.  Zimri  reigned  only 
seven  days,  when  he  was  cut  off  by  a  military  chief  whose  name 
was  Omri.  Tlie  Israelites  were  now  about  equally  divided  be- 
tween Omri  and  Tibni ;  but  Omri  at  length  prevailed,  and  Tibni 
was  slain. 

Omri  founded  the  city  of  Samaria,  which  was  ever  afterwards 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  He  compelled  his  people  to  worship 
the  golden  calves,  and  restrained  them  by  severe  statutes  from 
going  up  to  Jerusalem.  These  prohibitory  laws  were  stigmatized 
by  the  prophet  Micah  as  "the  statutes  of  Omri"  (Mic.  vi.  16). 

In  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  Asa,  Omri  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Ahab.  He  was  the  most  profligate  and  wicked  of  all 
the  kings  of  Israel ;  for  he  not  only  continued  the  worship  of  the 
calves,  but  having  married  Je2iebel,  daughter  of  Ethbaal,  king  of 
Tyre,  he  brought  back  into  Israel  the  worship  of  Baal.f  He  built 
a  temple  for  Baal  in  the- new  city  of  Samaria,  and  set  up  an  altar, 
and  made  a  grove,  where  all  sorts  of  impurities  were  practised. 
He  was  the  first  to  set  an  example  of  persecution  in  Israel  by 
slaying  the  prophets  of  the  Lord. 

To  reprove  him  for  his  wickedness,  God  sent  him  Elijah  the 
Tishbite,  —  one  of  the.  most  renowned  of  the  ancient  prophets, — 
armed  with  miracles  both  of  mercy  and  of  judgment,  who,  when  his 
work  on  earth  was  finished,  was  translated  visibly  to  heaven. 
During  the  reign  of  Ahab,  there  was  a  drought  and  a  famine  in 
Israel  of  more  than  three  years'  continuance;  which  was  finally 
removed  at  the  intercession  of  Elijah. 


*  In  2  Chron.  xvi.  1,  it  is  said  that  Baasha  was  alive  "  in  the  six  and  thirtieth  year  of  the 
reign  of  Asa;"  but  this  evidently  is  a  mistake  of  some  transcriber.  Baaslia  died  ten  years 
earlier,  and  seems  to  have  engaged  in  the  fortifying  of  Ramah  in  the  last  year  of  his  life. 

t  Menander,  the  Tyrian  historian,  makes  mention  of  Eithbalns  (Ethbaal)  as  king  of  Tyre  at 
this  very  time;  also  of  the  drought  iu  the  time  of  Ahab.  —  See  Eawlinson's  Evidences,  p.  111. 


340  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

After  this,  Benhadad,  the  kmg  of  Syria,  invaded  Israel,  and  was 
twice  beaten  by  the  forces  of  Ahab  ;  but  in  a  third  conflict  with 
the  Syrians,  undertaken  in  direct  opposition  to  the  warnings  of 
heaven,  Ahab  was  mortally  wounded,  and  died. 

I  have  said  that  Ahab  came  to  the  throne  of  Israel  in  the  thirty- 
eighth  year  of  Asa,  king  of  Judah.  Three  years  later,  Asa  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jehoshaphat,  who,  in  all  acts  of 
piety  and  religion,  imitated,  if  not  exceeded,  the  doings  of  his 
father.  Jehoshaphat  was  tliirty-five  years  old  when  he  began  to 
reign ;  and  he  reigned  twenty -five  years  in  Jerusalem.  He  com- 
menced his  reign,  not  only  by  suppressing  idolatry,  with  its  kindred 
vices,  but  by  taking  measures  for  the  better  instruction  of  his 
people  in  the  duties  of  religion.  He  sent  priests  and  Levites  into 
all  the  cities  to  read  and  expound  the  law  of  God.  In  consequence 
of  his  fidelity,  God  blessed  Jehoshaphat  with  riches  and  honors. 
His  people  loved  him,  and  his  enemies  submitted  themselves  unto 
him,  and  gave  gifts.  The  great  faidt  of  his  administration  was, 
that  he  married  his  son  and  successor,  Jehoram,  to  Athaliah,  a 
daughter  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel.  This  alliance  was  offensive  to  God, 
and  it  involved  him  and  his  family  in  many  troubles.  Jehoshaphat 
was  present  with  Ahab  at  Ramoth-gilead  when  the  latter  was 
slain,  and  with  difficulty  escaped  from  the  field. 

After  this,  the  Moabites  and  Ammonites,  with  a  numerous  band 
of  auxiliaries,  invaded  his  kingdom  ;  but  he  proclaimed  a  fast, 
sought  help  from  God,  and  received  a  promise  of  victory  without 
his  striking  a  blow.  And  the  promise  was  remarkably  fulfilled ; 
for,  when  Jehoshaphat  and  his  army  approached  the  camp  of  his 
enemies,  he  found  them  all  dead.  The  mixed  multitude  had  quar- 
relled among  themselves,  and  had  utterly  destroyed  one  another ; 
so  that  nought  remained  to  Jehoshaphat  and  his  people  but  to 
carry  away  the  spoil. 

Jehoshaphat,  like  Soilomori,  engaged  in  commerce  from  the  ports 
of  Eloth  and  Ezion-geber,  on  the  Red  Sea.  In  his  first  attempt  he 
^was  unsuccessful,  on  account  of  his  partnership  with  Ahab ;  but 
afterwards,  when  freed  from  this  damaging  alliance,  he  had  better 
success.  On  the  whole,  Jehoshaphat  was  a  good  king.  He  was 
greatly  honored  and  respected  while  he  lived,  and  deeply  lamented 
at  his  death.     He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jehoram. 

In  the  seventeenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat,  Ahab  was 
slain,  as  before  related,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  wicked  son 
Ahaziah.    His  reign  was  inglorious  and  short,  having  lasted  scarcely 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  341 

* 

two  years.  He  died  in  consequence  of  a  fall  from  a  lattice  *  in  liis 
house ;  and  was  succeeded  by  Jehoram,  another  son  of  Ahab. 
Jehoram  commenced  his  reign  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  and  continued  it  twelve  years.  He  reformed  some  of  the 
abuses  which  his  father  and  brother  had  encouraged.  He  put  an 
end,  for. a  time,  to  the  worship  of  Baal,  but  persisted  in  the  worship 
of  the  calves.  It  was  during  his  reign  that  the  prophet  Elisha 
made  his  appearance  in  Israel.  He  came  in  the  spirit  and  power 
of  Elijah,  and,  like  him,  performed  many  miracles.  Jehoram  engaged 
in  war  with  the  Moabites,  and  had  the  address  to  make  Jehosh- 
aphat  and  the  king  of  Edom  his  confederates.  As  the  three  kings, 
with  their  armies,  were  crossing  the  desert  to  attack  the  Moabites, 
they  found  no  water,  and  were  on  the  point  of  perishing  with 
thirst ;  but,  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Elisha,  an  abundant  supply 
of  water  was  furnished,  and  a  victory  was  gained. 

At  a  later  period  in  the  reign  of  Jehoram,  the  land  of  Israel  was 
distressed  with  repeated  invasions  from*  the  king  of  Syria.  At  one 
time,  Samaria  was  besieged  until  "  an  ass's  head  was  sold  for  four- 
score pieces  of  silver,  and  the  fourth  part  of  a  cab  of  dove's  dung 
for  five  pieces  of  silver;"  until  famished  mothers  were  constrained  to 
cook  and  eat  their  own  children.  But  by  a  miraculous  interposition, 
according  to  the  word  of  Elisha,  the  siege  was  suddenly  raised ;  the 
affrighted  Syrians  fled  ;  and  from  the  spoils  of  their  camp  the  starved 
city  was  abundantly  supplied. 

■  In  the  seventh  year  of  Jehoram,  good  Jehoshaphat  died,  and  was 
succeeded,  as  I  said,  by  his  son  Jehoram :  so  that  there  were  now 
two  Jehorams  reigning  together,  —  one  over  the  kingdom  of  Judah, 
and  the  other  over  Israel.  One  of  them  was  a  son,  and  the  other 
a  son-in-law,  of  the  infamous  Jezebel ;  and  both  walked  in  the 
steps  of  that  guilty  corrupter  of  God's  people.  Jehoram  of  Judah 
began  his  reign  by  destroying  all  his  brothers,  the  sons  of  Jehosha- 
phat, and  with  them  many  of  the  chief  rulers  of  the  kingdom. 
He  received  one  of  the  most  remarkable  warnings  of  which  we 
have  any  account  in  the  Bible,  —  a  letter  of  reproof  and  denuncia- 
tion from  Elijah  the  prophet,  who,  several  years  before,  had  been 
translated  from  earth  to  heaven.  Whether  the  letter  was  sent 
directly  from  heaven,  or  whether  the  old  prophet,  foreseeing  what 
was  to  take  place  after  the  death  of  Jehoshaphat,  prepared  the 
letter,  and  left  it  beliind  him  to  be  delivered  when  the  occasion  for 
it  should  occur,  I  pretend  not  to  say.     It  had  no  good  effect,  how- 

*  A  window  constructed  with  cross-bars  or  sashes. 


342  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

• 

ever,  upon  the  guilty  Jehoram.  He  persisted  in  his  wicked  courses, 
and  was  visited  with  crushing  judgments.  His  tributaries  revolted 
from  him  ;  the  Philistines  and  Arabians  invaded  his  territories,  and 
carried  away  his  wives  and  children ;  and,  to  crown  all,  he  was 
seized  with  an  incurable  disease  of  the  bowels,  under  which  he 
sank,  after  an  inglorious  reign  of  eight  years. 

There  is  some  confusion  as  to  the  time  when  this  Jehoram  of 
Judah  commenced  his  reign.  In  2  Kings  i.  17,  it  is  said  that 
Jehoram  of  Israel  began  to  reign  in  the  second  year  of  Jehoram, 
the  son  of  Jehoshaphat,  king  of  Judah  ;  but  in  2  Kings  iii.  1  it  is 
said  that  Jehoram  of  Israel  began  to  reign  in  the  eighteenth  year 
of  Jehoshaphat,  —  six  or  seven  years  before  Jehoshaphat's  death. 
The  solution  is,  that  Jehoshaphat  not  only  appointed  his  son 
Jehoram  to  be  his  successor,  but  made  him  the  partner'  of  his 
throne  several  years  before  his  death.  He  reigned  alone  seven  or 
eight  years  after  the  death  of  his  father. 

Jehoram  of  Judah  Avas  succeeded  by  his  youngest  son,  Ahaziah, 
—  or  Jehoahas,  as  he  is  called  in  2  Chron.  xxi.  17,  —  the  only 
one  of  his  sons  who  escaped  the  ravages  of  the  Philistines  and 
Arabians.  He  was  the  son  of  Athaliah,  the  wicked  daughter  of 
Ahab  and  Jezebel ;  and,  being  entirely  under  his  mother's  influence, 
his  short  reign  was  one  of  idolatry  and  sin.  He  ascended  the 
throne  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  and  died  in  less  than  two  years.* 
Both  he  and  his  uncle,  Jehoram  of  Israel,  were  slain  on  the  same 
day  by  Jehu,  the  son  of  Nimshi. 

The  death  of  these  two  kings  was  on  this  wise  :  In  his  wars 
with  the  Syrians,  Jehoram,  assisted  by  Ahaziah,  had  laid  siege  to 
Ramoth-gilead,  which  he  claimed  as  belonging  to  himself.  Here 
he  was  wounded,  and  retired  to  his  palace  in  Jezreel  to  be  healed 
of  his  wounds ;  leaving  his  army,  under  the  command  of  Jehu,  to 
carry  on  the  siege.  Meanwhile  Ahaziah  left  Ramoth-gilead,  and 
came  to  Jezreel  to  visit  Jehoram.  While  the  kings  were  absent 
from  Ramoth,  Elisha  commissions  one  of  the  prophets  to  go  there, 
and  anoint  Jehu  to  be  Idng  over  Israel.  He  goes  in  the  most 
quiet  way  possible,  and  executes  his  commission.  But  no  sooner 
is  it  known  that  Jehu  has  been  anointed  than  the  army  arises  at 
once,  and  proclaims  him  king  :  whereupon,  being  surrounded  by  a 


*  In  2  Chron.  xxii.  2  he  is  said  to  have  been  forty-two  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign; 
but  this  is  manifestly  an  error  of  some  transcriber.  It  would  make  him  older  than  his  father. 
Athaliah,  too,  is  called  the  daughter  of  Orari  (2  Chron.  xxii.  2):  she  was  his  grand-daughter. 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  343 

company  of  valiant  men,  Jehu  rides  iDost-haste  from  Ramotli  to  Jez- 
reel,  lulls  both  Jehoram  and  Ahaziah,  and  causes  the  death  of  old 
Jezebel  herself.  Next  he  writes  letters  to  Samaria,  about  twenty- 
miles  distant,  and  orders  that  the  heads  of  seventy  of  the  royal 
family  of  the  house  of  Aliab  should  be  brought  to  him.  He  then 
slew  all  that  remained  of  this  wicked  family  in  Jezreel,  with  their 
great  men,  their  kinsfolk,  and  their  idolatrous  priests,  until  he  left 
none  remaining.  Jehu  now  gets  into  his  chariot  to  go  to  Samaria. 
On  his  way  he  meets  more  than  forty  of  the  royal  house  of 
Judah,  all  of  them  connected  with  the  family  of  Ahab,  going  up  to 
Samariah  to  visit  their  cousins.  These,  too,  he  destroys,  and  then 
presses  on  to  the  capital,  where  he  kills  all  that  remains  of  Ahab, 
according  to  the  word  of  the  prophet  Elijah.  Next,  under  pretence 
of  a  great  idolatrous  festival,  he  draws  together  all  the  priests 
and  the  worshippers  of  Baal  to  Samaria  ;  and,  while  they  were 
practising  their  heathen  rites,  he  fell  upon  them,  and  destroyed 
them.  And  thus  was  the  worship  of  Baal,  which  Ahab  and 
Jezebel  had  done  so  much  to  promote,  effectually  put  down  in 
Israel,  to  be  revived  no  more. 

Jehu  was  now  established  on  the  throne  of  Israel,  where  he 
reigned  during  the  next  twenty-eight  years.  •  Though  he  com- 
menced with  a  fiery  zeal  against  idolatry,  he  did  not  carry  the 
reformation  consistently  through.  He  continued  the  worship  of 
the  golden  calves,  and  bequeathed  the  same  to  his  successors. 

When  it  was  known  at  Jerusalem  what  Jehu  had  clone,  Atha- 
liah,  the  queen-mother,  who  still  survived,  undertook  to  destroy  all 
that  remained  of  the  seed  royal  of  David,  and  take  the  government 
into  her  own  hands  ;  and  she  well-nigh  succeeded  in  her  diabolical 
purpose.  No  one  but  Joash,  an  infant  son  of  the  late  king,  was 
left.  He  was  secreted  by  an  aunt,  the  wife  of  Jehoiada  the  high 
priest,  and  was  kept  concealed  in  the  temple  for  the  next  six  years. 
During  all  this  period,  Athaliah  reigned  over  the  land,  and  idolatry 
triumphed. 

But,  when  Joash  was  seven  years  old,  his  uncle  Jehoiada,  after 
having  taken  all  necessary  precautions,  brought  him  out  into  the 
court  of  the  temple,  where  he  anointed  him,  crowned  him,  and 
proclaimed  him  king.  Athaliah,  hearing  the  shouts  of  the  people, 
ran  towards  the  temple,  crying  "  Treason,  treason ! "  But  the 
guards  of  the  young  king  instantly  fell  upon  her,  and  slew  her  with 
the  sword. 

Joash  was  now  acknowledged  king  of  Judah,  over  which  he 


344  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

reigned  forty  years.  During  the  first  half  of  his  reign,  while 
Jehoiada,  his  great  patron  and  instructor,  lived,  he  governed  faith- 
fully and  well.  He  took  much  pains  in.  repairing  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  which,  since  the  death  of  Jehoshaphat,  had  been  neglected.* 
He  labored,  also,  to  reclaim  the  people  from  idolatry,  and  establish 
them  in  the  service  and  worship  of  God ;  and,  happily,  Jehoiada 
lived  to  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  thirty.  But,  when  he  >was 
dead,  Joash  fell  under  the  influence  of  bad  advisers,  who  led  him 
to  tolerate  and  even  countenance  idolatry ;  and,  though  the 
prophets  were  sent  to  reprove  him,  he  grew  no  better :  he  was 
angry  with  them,  and  persecuted  them.  He  was  so  angry  with 
Zechariah,  a  son  of  his  old  friend  Jehoiada,  for  reproving  him,  that 
he  took  his  life :  wherefore  God  visited  him,  as  he  was  wont 
to  do  in  like  cases,  with  distressing  judgments.  He  sent  against 
him,  year  after  year,  the  king  of  Syria,  who,  on  one  occasion, 
entered  and  pillaged  Jerusalem.  He  also  afflicted  him  with  a  com- 
plication of  diseases.  At  length,  two  of  his  servants  conspired 
against  him,  and  took  his  life. 

In  the  twenty -first  year  of  the  reign  of  Joash,  Jehu,  the  king  of 
Israel,  died.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Jehoahaz,  who  continued 
the  worship  of  the  calves,  as  his  father  had  done.  He  reigned 
seventeen  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Joash.  This  was 
in  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  Joash,  king  of  Judah  ;  so  that,  for  the 
next  two  years,  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  again  bore  the  same 
name. 

The  successor  of  Joash,  king  of  Judah,  was  Amaziah,  who  came 
to  the  throne  at  the  mature  age  of  twenty-five.  For  a  time,  he 
governed  his  people  well,  and  was  prospered.  He  made  war  upon 
the  Edomites,  who  had  revolted  from  Judah,  and  triumphed  over 
them.  He  slew  ten  thousand  of  them  in  the  Valley  of  Salt,  and 
pursued  the  remainder  to  Selah  (now  Petra),  their  capital  city. 
He  took  the  city,  and  destroyed  another  ten  thousand  there  ;  but, 
strange  to  tell,  on  his  retuVn  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Edomites, 
Amaziah  brought  back  their  idols  with  him,  and  set  them  up  at 
Jerusalem,    and   worshipped    them.      For   this    he   was    sternly 


*  It  is  said  in  2  Kings  xii.  13,  tliat,  of  the  money  contributed  to  repair  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  no  vessels  were  made  fortlie  service  of  the  liouse;  but  in  2  Chron.  xxiv.  14  it  is  said 
that  sucli  vessels  were  made  of  the  money  tliat  remained  after  the  repairs  were  finished.  But 
here,  obviously,  is  no  contradiction.  No  vessels  were  made  until  the  repairs  were  finished,  as 
stated  in  Kings;  but  when  theyxoere  Jinished,  and  a  surplus  of  money  was  found  to  be  left,  it 
was  cpncluded  to  make  of  it  vessels  of  silver  and  gold. 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  345 

reproved  by  the  prophets,  but  in  vain :  consequently,  he  was 
visited  with  heavy  judgments,  and  died  in  disgrace.  He  provoked 
a  war  with  Joash,  king  of  Israel,  in  which  he  was  beaten,  taken 
captive,  and  brought  a  prisoner  to  Jerusalem.  The  temple  was 
pillaged ;  the  wall  of  the  city  was  broken  down ;  a  tax  was  levied 
on  the  people  ;  and  hostages  were  taken  to  secure  the  payment  of 
it.  After  this  shameful  defeat,  Amaziah  lived  several  years ;  but, 
persisting  in  his  idolatry,  the  affairs  of  the  Idngdom  waxed  worse 
and  worse.  At  length,  his  subjects  became  so  tired  of  him,  that 
they  pursued  him  to  Lachish,  and  there  slew  him.  His  entire 
reign  was  twenty-nine  years. 

Joash,  king  of  Israel,  began  to  reign 'two  years  previous  to  the 
death  of  Amaziah.  In  the  first  part  of  his  reign,  the  prophet 
Elisha  fell  sick  and  died.  Joash  visited  him  in  his  sickness,  wept 
over  him,  and  received  his  blessing  ;  yea,  more  than  this  ;  Elisha 
encouraged  him  to  make  war  upon  the  Syrians,  and  promised  him 
three  successive  victories.  And  all  this  was  gloriously  fulfilled  ;  * 
for  in  three  pitched  battles  he  triumphed  over  the  king  of  Syria, 
and  recovered  the  cities  which  had  before  been  taken  from  Israel. 
Of  his  success  against  Amaziah  I  have  already  spoken.  He 
reigned  sixteen  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Jeroboam  II. 

Encouraged  by  the  prophet  Jonah,  Jeroboam  engaged  success- 
fully in  several  military  expeditions.  He  enlarged  the  border  of 
his  dominions  north  and  east,  till  they  were  as  extensive  almost  as 
in  the  days  of  David  and  Solomon.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  kings  of  Israel,  and  died  in  great  honor  after  a  reign  of 
forty-one  years. 

Amaziah  of  Judah  died  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Jeroboam,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Azariah,  sometimes  called 
Uzziah.  He  was  only  four  years  old  at  the  death  of  his  father,  and 
did  not  come  to  the  throne  until  the  age  of  sixteen,  —  after  an  inter- 
regnum of  twelve  years.  He  reigned  in  all  fifty-two  years.  It 
ma}^  be  said  of  him,  as  of  his  father,  that,  in  the  first  part  of  his 
reign,  he  governed  his  people  well,  and  was  prospered.  He  had  a 
mighty  army,  with  which  he  triumphed  over  the  Philistines,  the 
Arabians,  and  the  Ammonites.  He  repaired  the  walls  of  Jerusa- 
lem, fortified  them  with  towers,  and  was  the  first  inventor  of 
engines  with  which  to  hurl  darts  and  stones.  Such  weapons  had 
never  been  known  or  used  before  in  the  wars  of  the  East.  He 
was  also  a  lover  of  agriculture,  and  did  much  to  encourage  and 

*  Elisha  propliesied  about  sixty  years. 


346  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

improve  it  among  his  people.  But,  like  thousands  of  others,  his 
prosperity  ruined  him.  Contrary  to  the  law  of  Moses,  he  madly 
intruded  himself  into  the  priests'  office,  and  took  it  upon  him  to 
offer  incense.  For  this  offence  he  was  smitten  with  leprosy,  and 
continued  a  leper  to  the  day  of  his  death.  This  disastrous  event 
took  place  in  the  thirty -third  year  of  his  reign  ;  after  which  he  was 
obliged  to  live,  like  other  lepers,  in  a  separate  house  ;  while  the 
government  was  administered  by  his  brave  son,  Jotham. 

In  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  several  of  the  prophets 
whose  writings  have  come  down  to  us  commenced  their  ministry. 
The  first  of  these  were  Jonah  and  Hosea,  who  prophesied  chiefly 
in  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  Following  them  were  Joel,  Amos,  Oba- 
diah,  and  Isaiah.  Isaiah  commenced  his  prophesy  in  the  reign  of 
Azariah,  and  continued  it  down  to  the  time  of  Hezekiah. 

Jeroboam  II.  lived  until  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Azariah  ;  but  his  son  Zachariah  did  not  come  to  the  throne  until 
the  thirty-eighth  of  Azariah :  consequently,  there  was  an  interreg- 
num of  twelve  years  (2  Kings  xv.  8).  And,  when  Zachariah  came 
to  the  throne,  he  held  it  only  six  months,  when  he  was  murdered 
by  Shallum,  a  usurper  ;  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  divine  prom- 
ise to  Jehu,  that  his  sons  should  sit  upon  his  throne  to  the  fourth 
generation  (2  Kings  x.  30). 

From  this  point  we  shall  drop,  for  the  present,  the  history  of  the 
kings  of  Judah,  and  follow  out  that  of  the  ten  tribes  until  the 
overthrow  of  their  kingdom. 

Shallum,  the  murderer  of  Zachaiiiah,  reigned  but  one  month ; 
when  he  was  put  to  death  by  Menahem,  one  of  his  generals.  Mena- 
hem  was  a  man  of  blood ;  but  by  the  help  of  Pul,  king  of  Assyria, 
whose  favor  he  had  purchased,  he  was  enabled  to  hold  the  govern- 
ment ten  years.  This  Pul  is  the  first  of  the  kino;sj)f  Assyria  whose 
name  occurs  in  the  Old  Testament.  He  reigned  at  Nineveh,  and 
may  have  been  the  king  to  whom  Jonah  preached. 

Menahem  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Pekahiah,  who  was  miu-- 
dered,  after  two  years,  by  Pekah,  the  son  of  Remaliah.  Pekahiah 
died  the  same  year  with  Azariah,  king  of  Judah. 

Pekah,  the  son  of  Remaliah,  reigned  over  Israel  twenty-one 
years,  but  not  without  great  trouble  and  perplexity.  In  repeated 
instances,  Tiglath-pileser,  king  of  Assyria,  invaded  his  land,  took 
his  cities,  ravaged  the  country,  and  carried  many  of  his  people 
into  captivity.  At  length,  as  Pekah  had  mui'dered  liis  master, 
Hoshea,  the  son  of  Elah,  murdered  him. 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  347 

He  died  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  or  in  the 
twentieth  from  the  accession  of  Jotham,  the  father  of  Ahaz 
(2  Kings  XV.  30)  ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  twelfth  year -of  Ahaz 
that  Hoshea  began  to  reign  (2  Kings  xvii.  1)  :  consequently, 
there  must  have  been  an  interregnum  here  of  eight  or  nine  years. 

These  were  times  of  great  confusion  and  distress  in  Israel,  owing 
to  the  repeated  invasions  of  the  king  of  Assyria.  Encouraged  by 
him,  Ahaz  seems  to  have  interfered  with  the  affairs  of  Israel,  and 
set  up  a  pretence  to  be  their  king.  '  He  is  called  in  one  place  the 
King  of  Israel  (2  Chron.  xxviii.  19).  But  at  length,  in  the  twelfth 
year  of  Ahaz,  Hoshea,  the  murderer  of  Pekah,  was  called  to  the 
throne,  which  he  held  for  the  next  nine  years.  He  was  the  last 
of  the  kings  of  Israel. 

In  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  Shalmaneser,  king  of  Assyria, 
invaded  his  country,  and  laid  him  under  tribute.  For  several  years, 
Hoshea  paid  the  tribute-money;  but  becoming,  at  length,  tired 
of  it,  he  entered  into  a  confederacy  with  So,  otherwise  called  Saba- 
con,  king  of  Egypt,  and  withheld  his  tribute  from  the  king  of 
Assyria.  Upon  this,  Shalmaneser  came  against  him  with  a  great 
army,  ravaged  the  country,  besieged  Sainjiria,  and  after  three  years 
took  it.  He  put  Hoshea  in  chains,  and  shut  him  up  in  prison  to 
the  day  of  his  death.  He  carried  the  great  body  of  the  Israelites 
into  captivity,  and  placed  them  in  the  northern  part  of  Assyria,  in 
the  cities  of  the  Medes.  As  the  same  time,  he  brought  a  mixed 
multitude  of  people  from  the  different  provinces  of  his  empire,  and 
planted  them  in  the  cities  of  Israel ;  and  from  these  foreigners, 
mixed  up  with  some  straggling  Israelites  who  remained  in  the  land, 
descended  the  Samaritans ^  of  whom  we  hear  so  much  in  the  subse- 
quent history  of  the  Jews.  No  wonder  the  Jews  would  not  ac- 
knowledge them  as  the  veritable  seed  of  Abraham,  and  that  an 
interminable  prejudice  existed  between  the  two  nations. 

When  the  kingdom  of  Israel  was  overthrown  by  Shalmaneser,  it 
had  been  in  existence  about  two  hundred  and  fifty-six  years :  it 
commenced  with  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  and  ended  with 
Hoshea,  the  son  of  Elah. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

KINGS    OF   JUDAH    AND    ISRAEL. CONCLUDED. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  I  brought  down  the  history  of  the  kings  of 
Judah  to  the  death  of  Azariah,  and  of  the  kings  of  Israel  to  the 
carrying-away  of  the  ten  tribes  by  Shalmaneser.  Fifty  years  later, 
Esarhaddon,  the  grandson  of  Shalmaneser,  came  into  the  land  of 
Israel,  and  carried  away  a  great  multitude,  —  nearly  all  that  re- 
mained of  the  former  captivity.  These  captives,  like  those  which 
preceded  them,  were  settled  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes,  and  their 
places  were  supplied  by  colonists  from  those  regions.  These  being 
joined  by  a  few  of  the  Israelites,  and  being  instructed  somewhat 
in  the  Israelitish  worship,  constituted  what  were  known  as  the 
Samaritans  in  subsequent  ages.  They  were  not  pure  Israelites, 
though  they  adopted,  to  some  extent,  the  religion  of  Israel.  There 
was  a  bitter  hostility  between  them  and  the  Jews,  which  continued 
till  the  coming  of  Christ. 

Leaving  now  the  ten  tribes  in  their  remote  exile,  and  leaving 
their  land  in  the  possession  of  these  mongrel  Samaritans,  we  turn 
to  contemplate  further  the  history  of  the  kings  of  Judah. 

Jotham,  who,  on  account  of  his  father's  leprosy,  administered  the 
government  for  him  several  years  before  his  death,  came  to  the 
throne  in  the  second  year  of  Pekah,  son  of  Remaliah.  He  was  now 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  he  reigned  alone  sixteen  years.  He 
was  an  excellent  prince,  distinguished  alike  for  his  piety,  his  justice, 
and  his  strict  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  his  people.  He  made  it 
his  business  to  correct  disorders  and  reform  abuses  ;  and  he  would 
have  accomplished  much  more  than  he  did,  but  for  the  perverse- 
ness  of  some  of  his  people.  He  repaired  the  walls  of  the  city  and 
the  temple,  and  did  much  to  strengthen  and  fortify  his  kingdom. 
He  subdued  the  Moabites  who  had  revolted  from  Judah,  and 
brought  them  again  under  tribute.  He  died  in  peace  at  the  age 
of  forty-one,  and  was  buried  in  the  sepulchre  of  the  kings. 

348 


KINGS    OF  JUDAH    AND    ISRAEL.  349 

He  was  succeeded  by  Ahaz,  his  son,  who  came  to  the  throne  at 
the  age  of  twenty,  and  possessed  it  sixteen  years.  He  was  a  wicked 
king,  regardless  alike  of  God  and  of  the  welfare  of  his  people. 
He  not  only  worshipped  the  golden  calves,  but  made  molten  images 
of  the  gods  of  the  heathen  round  about,  and  caused  his  sons  to  pass 
through  the  fire  to  Moloch.  For  these  offences  he  was  terribly 
chastised  by  the  confederate  armies  of  Rezin,  king  of  Syria ;  and  of 
Pekah,  the  king  of  Israel.  They  vanquished  his  army,  with  the 
loss  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  plundered  his  cities, 
captured  Jerusalem,  and  slew  many  of  his  princes.  They  carried 
away  two  hundred  thousand  captives,  whom  they  intended  to  have 
sold  for  slaves ;  but,  moved  by  the  remonstrances  of  the  prophet 
Oded,  they  released  them,  and  sent  them  back  to  their  own  land. 
Next,  the  Edomites  on  the  south  of  Judah,  and  the  Philistines  on 
the  west,  took  possesssion  of  those  parts  that  lay  contiguous  to 
them,  and  ravaged  and  plundered  the  other  parts. 

Distressed  on  every  side,  Ahaz  now  applied  to  Tiglath-pileser,  king 
of  Assyria,  for  help.  He  sent  him  large  presents  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  promised  to  be  his  servant  in  time  to  come  if  he  would  consent 
to  help  him  against  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Israel.  Accordingly,  the 
king  of  Assyria  marched  against  Rezin,  king  of  Syria  ;  slew  him  in 
battle ;  besieged  and  took  his  capital  city,  Damascus ;  carried  the 
Syrians  into  captirity,  and  planted  them  in  Upper  Media.  After 
this,  he  waged  war  upon  Pekah,  king  of  Israel ;  took  from  him  all  his 
possessions  east  of  the  Jordan ;  plundered  Galilee ;  and  then  pro- 
ceeded towards  Jerusalem,  hoping  to  squeeze  some  further  tribute 
out  of  Ahaz,  —  which  he  did.  He  then  went  into  winter-quarters 
at  Damascus,  where  Ahaz  met  him  to  pay  him  homage  as  his  vassal 
and  tributary.  Here  Ahaz  saw  an  altar,  with  which  he  was  so  much 
pleased,  that  he  sent  a  model  of  it  to  Jerusalem,  with  orders  to  the 
high  priest  to  prepare  one  like  it.  This  was  accordingly  done  ;  and 
then  the  altar  of  the  Lord  was  taken  away  to  give  place  to  the  new 
heathen  altar.  At  length,  he  caused  the  temple  to  be  closed,  and 
the  worship  of  the  God  of  Israel  to  be  suppressed  ;  devoting  himself 
entirely  to  the  worship  of  idols.  But  he  was  driven  away  in  the 
midst  of  his  wickedness,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty -six  ;  and  his  good 
son  Hezekiah  reigned  in  his  stead. 

As  Ahaz  was  but  thirty-six  years  old  when  he  died,  and  Hezekiah 
was  twenty-five  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign,  it  would  seem 
that  Ahaz  was  but  eleven  years  old  when  this  son  was  born ;  but 
this  difficulty  is  removed  by  supposing,  that,  in  the  confusion  and 


I 

350  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

distress  of  the  times,  two  or  three  years  may  have  elapsed  between 
the  death  of  Ahaz  and  the  accession  of  Hezekiah.  It  was  the 
custom  of  these  kings  to  give  their  children  in  marriage  at  a  very 
early  period ;  and  instances  have  been  known  in  which  persons 
have  l:)ecome  parents  at  the  age  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen. 

Hezekiah  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  kings  of  Judali.  Immedi- 
ately on  his  accession,  he  set  about  a  thorough  reformation  of 
religion.  He  caused  the  doors  of  the  temple  to  be  opened ;  cast 
forth  the  new  Syrian  altar,  and  put  the  Lord's  altar  in  its  place ; 
and,  whatever  other  pollutions  the  sacred  places  had  contracted,  he 
caused  to  be  purged  away.  He  sanctified  the  priests,  offered  sacri- 
fices according  to  the  law,  and  appointed  singers  to  praise  the  Lord 
in  the  words  of  David,  and  of  Asaph  the  seer.  He  revived  the 
Passover,  and  invited  the  jDcople  of  Israel  to  imite  with  his  own 
subjects  in  observing  it.  And  so  interested  were  they  all  in  this 
solemn  national  festival,  that  they  continued  it  fourteen  days,  — 
twice  the  usual  appointed  time.  There  had  been  no  such  Passover 
in  Israel  since  the  days  of  Solomon.  At  the  close  of  the  feast,  those 
who  had  observed  it  went  out  together,  and  brake  in  pieces  the 
images,  cut  down  the  groves,  demolished  the  high  places  and  altars 
of  idol  worship,  and  restored  the  worship  of  the  true  God  in  Israel. 
They  even  destroyed  the  brazen  serpent  which  Moses  had  made  in 
the  wilderness,  because  it  had  been  perverted  to  purposes  of  idola- 
try. And  God,  whom  Hezekiah  so  diligently  served,  granted  him 
unusual  prosperity.  He  overcame  the  Philistines,  and  not  only 
recovered  from  them  the  cities  which  his  father  had  lost,  but  made 
great  inroads  upon  their  own  territories. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  .Hezekiah's  reign  that  Shalmaneser 
besieged  and  took  Samaria,  and  put  an  end  to  the  Iraelitish  kingdom. 
When  this  was  accomplished,  the  conqueror  meditated  an  attack 
upon  Jerusalem  ;  but  he  was  diverted  from  his  purpose  by  an  expe- 
dition against  Tyre,  where  he  died. 

Not  long  after  this,  Hezekiah  was  visited  with  distressing  sickness, 
and  was  warned  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  to^repare  for  death.  At 
the  same  time,  he  was  threatened  with  an  invasion  by  Sennache- 
rib, the  son  of  Shalmaneser,  king  of  Assyria.  In  his  distress,  he 
cried  unto  the  Lord ;  and  his  prayer  was  heard.  Soon  the  prophet 
was  sent  again  unto  him  to  assure  him  of  a  recovery  from  sickness, 
and  of  a  deliverance  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Assyrians  ;  and,  in 
confirmation  of  the  message,  a  stupendous  miracle  was  wrought,  — 
the  sun  went  ten  degrees  backward  upon  the  dial  of  Ahaz,  on 
which  it  had  gone  down. 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  351 

Upon  Hezekiah's  recovery,  the  king  of  Babylon  sent  messengers 
to  congratulate  him,  and  to  inquire  respecting  the  wonder  which 
was  done  in  the  land.  Hezekiah  was  flattered  with  the  attention 
shown  to  him,  received  the  messengers  gladly,  and  showed  them 
all  the  treasures  of  his  house.  For  his  pride  and  ostentation  in  this 
matter,  he  was  reproved  by  Isaiah,  and  was  told  that  the  time  was 
near  when  all  his  treasures  should  be  carried  to  Babylon. 

Meanwhile  Sennacherib  had  invaded  the  land,  and  captured 
several  of  the  cities  of  Judah.  At  length,  he  came  and  sat  down 
before  Lachish,  intending,  when  that  was  taken,  to  attack  Jerusalem 
itself.  Hezekiah  made  every  possible  preparation  for  defence.  He 
fortified  the  city  ;  he  enrolled  and  drilled  his  army  ;  he  entered  into 
an  alliance  with  the  king  of  Egypt.  This  last  measure  proved  of 
no  advantage  to  him  ;  and  for  it  he  was  reproved  and  censured  by 
the  prophet.  At  length,  he  bought  off  the  king  of  Assyria,  and 
induced  him  to  turn  his  hand  against  Egypt ;  but  Sennacherib 
soon  came  back,  re-invested  Lachish,  and  sent  three  of  his  principal 
officers  to  demand  the  surrender  of  Jerusalem.*  Hezekiah  now 
brought  the  case  more  directly  to  God,  and  entreated  the  prophet 
Isaiah  to  intercede  for  him.  He  did  so,  and  received  for  answer 
that  Jerusalem  was  safe  ;  that  it  was  under  the  divine  protection  ; 
that  Sennacherib  should  not  come  near  it,  nor  shoot  an  arrow 
against  it. 

Almost  immediately  upon  this,  Sennacherib  received  intelligence 
that  his  own  dominions  were  invaded  by  Tirhakah,  king  of  the 
Ethiopians.  He  was  constrained,  therefore,  to  leave  Judsea,  and 
march  against  them.  When  these  troubles  were  disposed  of,  — 
as  they  soon  were,  —  he  hasted  back  into  Judsea,  resolved  to 
destroy  Jerusalem  and  all  that  were  in  it ;  but  his  bloody  purpose 
was  most  remarkably  defeated.  An  angel  from  God  came  down 
into  his  camp,  and  slew  a  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  of 
his  men  in  a  single  night.  Terrified  at  this  dreadful  slaughter, 
Sennacherib  hastened  back  into  his  own  country,  where  he  was 
slain  by  two  of  his  sons. 

After  this  memorable  deliverance,  Hezekiah  passed  the  remain- 
der of  his  days  in  peace,  revered  by  his  own  subjects,  and  feared 
and  honored  by  the  surrounding  nations.  He  fortified  Jerusalem 
in  the  strongest  manner,  brought  a  supply  of  pure  water  into  it, 

*  Distinct  accounts  of  these  expeditions  of  Sennacherib,  and  of  the  siege  of  Lachish,  have 
been  recovered  from  the  mounds  near  the  Tigi'is,  all  going  to  confirm  the  sacred  history.  —  See 
Raidinson^s  Evidences,  pp.  119,  120. 


352  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  did  all  in  his  power  for  the  improvement  and  happiness  of  his 
people.  He  died  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  his  reign,  and  was  buried  in  the  most  honorable  of  the 
sepulchres  of  the  sons  of  David. 

Manasseh,  liis  son,  was  only  twelve  years  old  when  he  came  to 
the  throne ;  and,  falling  into  the  hands  of  wicked  advisers  and 
guardians,  he  became  as  pre-eminently  corrupt  and  sinful  as  his 
father  had  been  holy.  He  not  only  restored  the  high  places,  wor- 
shipped idols,  and  erected  altars  unto  Baal,  but  he  removed  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  from  its  place  in  the  sanctuary,  and  get  up  an 
idol  m  its  stead.  He  practised  enchantments,  consulted  those 
who  had  familiar  spirits,  and  made  his  children  pass  through  the 
fire  to  Moloch.  Nor  was  he  content  to  work  these  abominations 
alone  ;  but,  being  naturally  of  a  cruel  temper,  he  raised  a  perse- 
cution against  those  who  would  not  unite  with  him.  The  proph- 
ets who  were  sent  to  reprove  him  he  treated  with  the  utmost 
contempt  and  outrage,  and  filled  Jerusalem,  not  only  with  idols, 
but  with  innocent  blood.  The  venerable  prophet  Isaiah,  the  friend 
and  counsellor  of  his  father,  he  is  said  to  have  sawn  asunder  with 
a  wooden  saw. 

But  it  Avas  not  long  before  the  vengeance  of  God  overtook  him. 
Esarhaddon,  the  son  and  successor  of  Sennacherib,  undertook  to 
accomplish  what  his  father  had  in  vain  attempted,  —  the  subjugation 
of  all  Palestine  to  his  sway.  He  first  marched  his  army  into  the 
territory  of  the  ten  tribes,  and  carried  away  a  multitude  of  Israel- 
ites,—  the  remains  of  the  former  captivity.  He  then  sent  his 
generals  into  Judtea,  where  they  found  and  captured  Manasseh, 
bound  him  with  chains,  and  carried  him  a  prisoner  to  Babylon". 
His  prison  and  his  chains  here  brought  him  to  repentance.  With 
deep  sorrow  and  humiliation,  he  implored  the  divine  pity  and  for- 
giveness ;  and  God  was  pleased  so  to  melt  the  heart  of  the  king 
of  Babylon,  that  he  consented  to  restore  him  to  his  liberty  and 
his  kingdom. 

Upon  his  return  to  Jerusalem,  Manasseh  redressed,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  mischiefs  which -his  former  impiety  had  occasioned.  He 
cleansed  and  purified  the  temple,  destroyed  the  idols,  restored  the 
reformations  which  his  father  had  made,  and  obliged  his  people  to 
worship  and  serve  the  Lord  only.  After  thi^,  he  reigned  in  pros- 
perity about  twenty  years.  His  whole  reign  was  fifty-five  years, 
—  longer  than  that  of  any  of  the  kings  of  Judah.  He  retained 
to  the  last  a  deep  sense  of  his  unworthiness,  and  was  unwilling 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  353 

on  this  account,  as  the  Jews  tell  us,  to  be  buried  in  the  sepulchres 
of  the  kings.  We  have  what  purports  to  be  liis  penitential  prayer 
in  one  of  the  apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testament.* 

Manasseh  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Amon.  He  imitated  the 
wickedness  of  the  first  part  of  his  father's  reign,  but  not  the  re- 
pentance of  the  latter  part.  He  gave  himself  to  all  sorts  of  im- 
piety. But  his  time  was  short.  Two  of  his  servants  conspired 
against  him,  and  slew  him  when  he  had  reigned  only  two  years. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-four. 

His  son  Josiah  was  only  eight  years  old  at  his  father's  death. 
He  began  early  to  seek  the  Lord,  and  was  a  prince  of  extraordinary 
goodness  and  piety.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  took  upon  himself 
the  administration  of  the  kingdom ;  and,  beginning  with  the  ref- 
ormation of  religion,  he  endeavored  to  purge  it  from  all  those 
corruptions  which  had  been  introduced  in  the  preceding  reign. 
He  travelled  through  his  kingdom,  demolishing  the  altars,  cutting 
down  the  groves,  and  breaking  in  pieces  the  molten  images.  He 
defiled  Tophet,  which  was  in  the  Valley  of  Hinnom ;  burned  the 
chtiriots  of  the  sun  ;  and  drove  the  Sodomites  out  of  the  land.  He 
went  beyond  his  own  borders  into  the  land  of  Israel,  and  destroyed 
the  monuments  of  idolatrous  worship  there.  He  overthrew  the 
altar  of  Jeroboam's  calf  at  Bethel,  where  it  had  stood  more  than 
three  hundred  years. 

Having  purged  the  land,  so  far  as  possible,  from  idols,  his  next 
care  was  to  repair  and  purify  the  temple.  This  work  Josiah  com- 
mitted to  Hilkiah,  the  high  priest,  who,  while  he  was  searching 
in  every  place,  chanced  to  find  the  hook  of  the  law  of  the  Lord. 
The  probability  is  that  he  found  the  original  copy.,  written  by 
Moses,  which  had  been  deposited  in  the  ark  of  the  covenant  with 
the  tables  of  stone.  The  book  was  carried  immediately  to  the 
king,  who  had  never  before  seen  a  copy  of  the  law,  and  was  read 
before  him.  He  was  much  affected  in  view  of  the  great  guilt 
which  had  been  incurred,  rent  his  clothes,  and  sent  some  of  his 
principal  officers  to  Huldah  the  prophetess  to  inquire  of  the  Lord. 

*  This  is  a  very  humble  and  remarkable  prayer,  whether  prepared  by  Manasseh  or  not: 
"  My  transgressions,  0  Lord!  are  multiplied,  my  transgressions  are  multiplied;  and  I  am  not 
•worthy  to  behold  and  see  the  hei*ht  of  heaven  for  the  multitude  of  mine  iniquities.  I  am  bowed 
down  with  many  iron  bands,  that  I  cannot  lift  up  my  head;  neither  have  I  any  release:  for  I 
have  provoked  thy  wrath,  and  done  evil  before  thee.  I  did  not  thy  will,  neither  kept  I  thy 
commandments.  I  have  set  up  abominations,  and  have  multiplied  offences.  I  have  sinned, 
0  Lord !  and  I  acknowledge  my  iniquities.  Wherefore,  0  Lord !  forgive  me,  and  destroy  me  not 
in  my  sins." 

23 


354  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

She  returned  answer,  that  the  judgments  threatened  in  the  book 
of  the  law  would  ere  long  be  executed ;  but  that,  on  account  of 
the  contrition  of  the  king,  they  shoidd  not  come  in  his  day. 

Josiah  now  called  together  the  elders  and  people  of  the  land, 
and  had  the  book  of  the  law  publicly  read  to  them  ;  when  they 
all  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  to  observe  and  do  according  to 
its  precepts.  After  this  Josiah  made  another  circuit  of  the  land, 
that  he  might  ferret  out  and  destro}?"  all  the  remains  of  idolatry ; 
and,  when  the  season  of  the  Passover  came  round,  he  kept  it  with 
more  exactness  and  solemnity  than  had  ever  before  been  witnessed 
in  Israel.  In  short,  this  excellent  prince  did  all  in  his  power  to 
appease  and  avert  the  wrath  of  God  ;  but  the  doom  of  Judah  had 
been  pronounced,  and  could  not  be  revoked. 

In  the  thirty-first  year  of  his  reign,  Pharaoh-nechoh,  king  of 
Egypt,  desired  to  pass  through  some  part  of  Judaea  on  his  way  to 
fight  the  king  of  Babylon  ;  but  Josiah  would  not  consent  to  this, 
and  unwisely  di'ew  up  his  army  in  the  Valley  of  Megiddo  to  oppose 
him.  The  two  armies  came  to  a  battle,  and  Josiah  was  slain; 
and  great  was  the  lamentation  in  Judah  on  account  of  him.  Jere- 
miah the  prophet  prepared  a  funeral  elegy  on  the  occasion,  which 
was  long  sung  by  the  singers  in  Israel. 

After  the  death  of  good  Josiah,  his  son  Jehoahaz  (also  named 
Shallum)  was  called  to  the  kingdom ;  but  he  reigned  only  three 
months.  On  the  return  of  the  king  of  Egjrpt  from  his  war  in  the 
east,  he  deposed  Jehoahaz,  and  sent  him  a  prisoner  into  Egypt, 
where  he  died. 

Jehoahaz  had  an  elder  brother,  whose  name  was  Eliakim. 
Him  the  king  of  Egypt  took,  changed  his  name  to  Jehoiakim, 
and  placed  him  on  the  throne  of  Judah.  He  was  a  cruel,  wicked 
prince,  who  strove  to  undo  all  that  his  pious  father  had  established ; 
and,  when  reproved  by  Jeremiah  and  the  other  prophets,  he  was 
angr}^  and  put  some  of  them  to  death.  In  the  fourth  year  of  his 
reign,  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  captured  Jerusalem,  and 
took  him  prisoner  ;  but  upon  his  humbling  himself  to  the  king  of 
Babylon,  and^ Consenting  to  l5^come  his  tributary  and  vassal,  his 
throne  and  kingdom  were  restored  to  him.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  the  first  captives  were  taken  from  Jerusalem  to  Babylon ; 
among  whom  were  Daniel  and  his  three  friends.  This  is  reckoned 
as  the  commencement  of  the  seventy -years'  captivity. 

Only  three  years  after  this,  Jehoiakim  rebelled  against  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, and   entered   into   a   confederacy  with   the   king  of 


KINGS    OF  JUDAH   AND    ISRAEL.  355 

Egypt :  whereupon  the  Babylonians  again  invaded  Judah,  took 
Jehoialdm  prisoner,  and  slew  him  with  the  sword.  His  lifeless 
body  was  cast  out  into  the  field,  having  none  to  bury  it ;  thus  ful- 
filling one  of  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah:  "Thus  saith  the  Lord 
of  Jehoiakim,  king  of  Judah,  His  dead  body  shall  be  cast  out  in 
the  day  to  the  heat,  and  in  the  night  to  the  frost ;  and  I  will 
punish  him  and  his  seed  for  their  iniquity  "  (Jer.  xxxvi.  80). 

After  the  death  of  Jehoialdm,  his  son  Jehoiachin  ascended  the 
throne.  He  is  also  called  Jeconiah,  and  sometimes  Coniah. 
In  the  Chronicles,  it  is  said  that  he  was  eight  years  old  when  he 
began  to  reign  ;  but  in  the  Kings,  that  he  was  eighteen.*  Both 
may  be  true.  The  probability  is  that  he  shared  the  government 
with  his  father  ten  years ;  and  that  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  when 
his  father  died,  he  began  to  reign  alone.  He  continued  in  the 
government  only  three  months  and  ten  days ;  when  he  was  taken 
prisoner  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  carried  to  Babylon.  He  was  kept 
in  prison  until  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar ;  after  which  he  was 
released ;  but  he  never  returned  to  Jerusalem.  In  him  Avas  ful- 
filled another  of  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah:  "  I  will  give  thee  into 
the  hand  of  them  that  seek  thy  life  ;  and  I  will  cast  thee  out  into 
another  country,  and  there  shalt  thou  die  "  (Jer.  xxii.  24-28). 
Many  of  the  princes  and  principal  inhabitants  of  Judah  were 
carried  into  captivity  at  the  same  time  with  Jeconiah  ;  among 
whom  was  the  prophet  Ezekiel. 

Jerusalem  and  the  temple  were  yet  standing,  and  many  of  the 
poorer  class  of  the  people  still  remained  in  the  land.  Over  these 
Nebuchadnezzar  placed  Zedekiah,  a  third  son  of  Josiah,  exacting 
of  him  at  the  same  time  a  most  solemn  promise  to  be  true  and 
faithful  to  himself.  This  engagement  Zedekiah  fulfilled  for  several 
years  ;  but  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign  he  violated  it,  and 
entered  into  a  confederacy  with  the  king  of  Egypt.  This  brought 
Nebuchadnezzar  again  to  Jerusalem  with  a  great  army,  by  Avhich 
the  city  was  closely  besieged^  and,  after  a  time,  taken  and  de- 
stroyed. When.  Zedekiah  saw  that  his  affairs  were  desperate,  he 
endeavored  to  escape  towards  the  wilderness ;  but  he  was  soon 
discovered,  brought  back,  and  carried  to  Nebuchadnezzar  to  Riblah, 
where  he  gave  judgment  upon  him.  He  first  caused  his  children 
to  be  slain  before  his  eyes  ;  then  his  eyes  were  put  out ;  and  he  was 
carried  in  chains  to  Babylon,  to  be  a  close  prisoner  to  the  end  of 
life. 

*  Compare  2  Kings  xxiv.  8  with  2  Cliron.  xxxvi.  9. 


356  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

When  Jerusalem  had  been  taken,  the  officers  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar first  gathered  together  all  the  wealth  of  the  place,  including 
the  vessels  of  the  house  of  the  Lord :  they  then  set  fire  to  the 
city  and  temple  ;  brake  down  the  walls,  the  fortresses,  and  towers ; 
and  ceased  not  till  they  had  made  the  place  an  utter  desolation. 
Some  of  the  more  considerable  of  the  people  were  put  to  death ; 
and  large  numbers  were  carried  away  to  Babylon  to  join  their 
brethren  who  were  already  there. 

Some  of  the  poorer  of  the  people  —  enough  to  till  the  ground 
and  dress  the  vineyards  —  were  left  in  Judsea ;  and  Gedaliah,  the 
son  of  Ahikam,  was  made  their  governor.  With  him  Jeremiah 
chose  to  remain  rather  than  go  with  the  captives  to  Babylon.  In 
a  short  time,  Gedaliah  was  treacherously  murdered  by  Ishmael, 
one  of  the  seed  roj^al,  who  thought  to  make  himself  king.  In  this, 
however,  he  did  not  succeed,  and,  fleeing  for  his  life,  took  refuge 
with  the  Ammonites.  Johanah,  the  son  of  Karea,  now  took  upon 
himself  the  office  of  governor ;  and,  fearing  the  return  of  the  Baby- 
lonians to  revenge  the  death  of  Gedaliah,  he  resolved,  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  word  of  the  Lord  by  Jeremiah,  to  flee  into 
Egyj)t.  He  did  so,  taking  Jeremiah  and  many  others  of  the  people 
with  him.     It  is  supposed  that  Jeremiah  died  in  Egypt. 

About  two  years  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  the  Babyloni- 
ans came  and  swept  over  the  land  of  Israel  again,  carrying  away 
the  poor  remains  of  the  scattered  people.  This  last  company  of 
exiles  amounted,  in  all,  to  seven  hundred  and  forty-five  persons 
(Jer.  Hi.  30).  Thus  the  Holy  Land  was  left  waste  and  desolate,  ta^ 
enjoy  her  sabbaths,  according  to  the  denunciations  of  the  prophets, 
until  the  time  of  the  captivity  should  be  fulfilled. 

As  our  chief  authority  in  preparing  the  above  account  of  the 
kings  of  Judah  and  Israel  has  been  the  sacred  Books  of  Kings  and 
Chronicles,  it  may  be  well  to  close  the  narrative  with  some  remarks 
respecting  these  books. 

The  two  Books  of  Kings  formerly  constituted  but  one  book,  and 
are  closely  connected  with  the  Books  of  Samuel :  ijideed,  the  two 
Books  of  Samuel  are  called  in  the  Vulgate  the  first  and  second 
Books  of  Kings ;  while  our  Books  of  Kings  are  the  third  and 
fourth.  The  present  division  and  naming  of  the  books  are  of 
modern  date. 

Our  two  Books  of  Kings  may  have  received  their  names  from 
the  fact  that  they  contain  a  history  of  the  several  kings  of  Judah 
and  Israel ;  or  more  probably  from  the  fact  that  the  initial  word 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH    AND  ISRAEL.  357 

of  the  first  book  is  -jb^a  King.  Thus  the  Hebrew  names  of  Gene- 
sis, of  Ecclesiastes,  and  of  some  other  books,  come  from  the  initial 
words. 

Respecting  the  author  or  authors  of  the  Books  of  Kings  and 
Chronicles,  there  has  been  much  difference  of  opinion.  Some  have 
thought  them  the  work  of  the  same  author,  and  have  ascribed  the 
whole  to  Ezra  ;  but  I  cannot  be  of  this  opinion.  The  Books  of 
Chronicles  are  evidently  s^ipplementary  to  those  of  Kings,  and  were 
written  at  a  later  period.  This  consideration  is  against  the  supposi- 
tion that  they  belong  to  the  same  author.  If  Ezra  wrote  the  Kings, 
why  should  he  long  afterwards  write  the  Chronicles,  including 
much  of  the  same  matter,  and  often  in  the  same  words  ?  Why  not 
incorporate  the  whole  in  one  Ijook  ? 

The  most  probable  supposition  in  regard  to  these  books  is,  that 
they  were  not  originally  composed  by  any  one  author,  but  were 
compiled  by  some  inspired  prophet  or  prophets  from  the  authorized 
records  of  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel.  That  such  records  were 
carefully  kept,  there  can  be  no  doubt :  under  each  reign,  an  indi- 
vidual was  appointed  for  this  very  purpose.  Thus  Jehoshaphat, 
the  son  of  Aliilud,  was  David's  recorder  (2  Sam.  viii.  16)  ;  and 
Joab,  the  son  of  Joahaz,  was  Josiah's  recorder  (2  Chron.  xxxiv. 
8).  The  records  which  these  men  kept  were  called  the  Chronicles 
—  in  Hebrew,  the  day-hooks.,  or  diaries  —  of  the  Kings,  and  are 
continually  referred  to  in  our  books  as  the  sources  from  which  the 
history  was  taken,  and  as  containing  more  full  accounts  than  it 
comported  with  the  plan  of  the  sacred  writer  to  give.    "  Now,  the 

rest  of  the  acts  of  ,  and  all  that  he  did,  are  they  not  written 

in  the  Book  of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  Judah  ? "  or  "  of 
Israel  ?  "  By  the  Book  of  the  Chronicles  here  referred  to,  we  are 
not  to  understand  our  Books  of  Chronicles,  but  the  registers  which 
were  daily  made  and  carefully  preserved  in  the  recorder's  office, 
or,  as  we  should  say,  in  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  From 
these  registers,  and  others  equally  authentic,  our  sacred  narrative 
was  undoubtedly  compiled  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  directing  the  writer 
just  what  to  take  and  what  to  omit,  and  how  to  modify  and  correct 
the  different  statements,  so  that  the  completed  work  might  be 
regarded  as  the  inspired  word  of  God. 

^  Who  the  inspired  compiler  or  compilers  of  tKe  Books  of  Kings 
were,  it  is  impossible  now  to  say.  There  was  a  succession  of  in- 
spired prophets,  reaching  all  the  way  from  David  to  Zedekiah,  — 
such  as  Nathan  and  Gad  and  Iddo,  and  Elijah  and  Elisha  and  Jonah, 


358  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  Isaiah  and  Micah  and  Jeremiah,  —  either  or  all  of  whom  may 
have  been  concerned  in  this  matter.  Jeremiah  had  Baruch  for  a 
scribe  ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Baruch,  under  the  direction  of 
Jeremiah,  may  have  finished  the  writings  of  the  Kings,  unless  it  be 
the  last  four  verses  of  the  second  book.  The  whole  may  have 
been'  revised,  and  these  last  verses  added,  by  Ezra,  after  the 
captivity. 

Several  passages  may  be  quoted  to  show  that  the  Books  of  the 
Kings  —  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  some  suj)plementary  para- 
graphs—  were  written  before  the  captivity.  Thus  it  is  said  of 
the  ark,  after  it  was  put  by  Solomon  in  the  most  holy  place  in  the 
temple,  "  And  there  it  is  unto  this  day  "  (1  Kings  viii.  8).  But 
there  it  could  not  have  been  after  the  captivity,  because  the  temple, 
the  ark,  and  the  holy  place,  were  all  demolished  by  Nebuchadnezzar. 
So  the  kingdom  of  the  ten  tribes  is  spoken  of  in  the  First  Book  of 
the  Kings  as  subsisting  unto  this  day  (chap.  xii.  19)  ;  but  the  king- 
dom of  the  ten  tribes  was  extinct  long  previous  to  the  captivity. 

The  Books  of  Chronicles  were  obviously  written,  or  rather  com- 
piled, after  the  captivity ;  and  were  designed,  as  I  said,  to  be  sup- 
plementary to  the  Books  of  Kings.  They  sustain  about  the  same 
relation  to  the  Kings  that  the  Gospel  of  John  does  to  the  other 
Gospels.  They  contain  not  a  little  which  we  find  in  the  Kings,  and 
often  in  nearly  the  same  words  ;  showing  that  the  writers  of  both 
had  access  to  and  copied  from  the  same  original  documents.  Still 
the  Chronicles  omit  much  which  we  find  in  the  Kings,  and  contain 
much  that  we  do  not  find  there.  They  are  called  in  the  Septuagint 
jtagalsiTtofisva,  —  things  left  out  or  omitted.  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  these  books  were  compiled  by  Ezra.  The  last  two 
verses  in  the  second  Book  of  Chronicles,  and  the  first  two  in  Ezra, 
are  the  same. 

Much  has  been  said  of  discrepancies  between  the  statements  in 
the  Kings  and  Chronicles.  If  by  discrepancies  are  meant  differ- 
ences of  statement,  there  undoubtedly  are  such.  "Why  should  the 
latter  book  have  been  written  at  all,  if  they  were  to  contain  the 
same  as  the  former,  and  in  the  same  words  ?  But  if  by  discrepan- 
cies are  meant  irreconcilable  contradictions,  I  can  only  say  that  I 
have  found  none.  'There  are  a  few  errors  of  transcribers,  more  es- 
pecially in  regard  to  numbers,  which  require  to  be  corrected  ;  but, 
with  the  exception  of  these,  there  are  no  contradictions.  I  have' 
noticed  those  in  the  foregoing  pages  which  have  been  thought  the 
most  formidable,  and  find  them  easy  of  solution.  , 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  359 

Among  the  things  omitted  in  the  Chronicles,  which  are  found 
in  the  Books  of  Samuel  and  the  Kings,  are  the  following :  — 

1.  A  history  of  the  reign  of  Ishbosheth,  the  son  of  Saul,  and  of 
all  the  kings  of  the  ten  tribes,  after  their  secession  under  Jeroboam. 
In  the  Chronicles,  we  have  only  incidental  references  to  these 
kings  ;  while  in  Kings  we  have  distinct  accounts  of  them  all.  This 
makes  quite  a  difference  in  the  two  histories  from  the  time  of 
Jeroboam  to  the  captivity  of  the  ten  tribes. 

2.  The  account  of  David's  sin  in  the  matter  of  Uriah  is  not  in 
the  Chronicles.     Nor,  — 

3.  Do  we  find  in  the  Chronicles  the  disgraceful  story  of  Amnon's 
treatment  of  his  sister  Tamar,  and  of  his  consequent  death  at  the 
hand  of  Absalom.     Nor,  — 

4.  Do  the  Chronicles  inform  us  of  Absalom's  rebellion,  defeat, 
and  death. 

5.  The  Chronicles  have  nought  to  say  of  the  hanging  of  the 
seven  sons  and  grandsons  of  Saul  to  appease  the  Gibeonites  and 
avert  the  severity  of  famine  (2  Sam.  xxi.). 

6.  David's  psalm  of  thanksgiving,  after  having  vanquished  all 
his  enemies,  is  not  in  the  Chronicles  (2  Sam.  xxii.). 

7.  We  have  no  account  in  Chronicles  of  Adonijah's  conspiracy 
and  death ;  neither  of  the  death  of  Joab.     Nor,  — 

8.  Have  we  any  account  in  Chronicles  of  Solomon's  defection 
in  his  old  age,  and  of  the  consequent  denunciations  pronounced 
upon  him. 

9.  As  we  have  no  distinct  history  in  the  Chronicles  of  any  of  the 
kings  of  Israel,  we  hear  nothing  there  of  Ahab  and  his  descendants, 
and  of  the  intercourse,  of  Elijah  and  Elisha  with  that  wicked  ra^e 
of  kings.  The  numerous  miracles  of  Elijah  and  Elisha ;  the  story 
of  the  drought,  the  famine,  and  of  Elijah's  successful  intercession 
for  rain;  the  miracles  of  both  these  men  in  raising  the  dead, 
with  the  narrative  of  Elijah's  translation  to  heaven,  —  all  this, 
and  much  more  in  regard  to  these  prophets,  is  omitted  by  the 
writer  of  the  Chronicles.  It  had  been  circumstantially  narrated 
in  the  Kings ;  and  why  should  the  pen  of  inspiration  record  it 
again  ? 

But  as  there  is  much  valuable  instruction  in  the  Books  of  Sam- 
uel and  the  Kings  wliich  we  do  not  find  in  Chronicles,  so  there  is 
as  much  and  equally  valuable  in  the  Chronicles  which  we  do  not 
find  in  the  other  books. 

1.  There  are  the  genealogical  tables,  reaching  from  Adam  to  the 


360  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.*  * 

time  of  Ezra,  and  some  of  them  even  later,  recorded  in  the  first 
nine  chapters  of  the  First  Book  of  the  Chronicles. 

2.  The  number  and  names  of  David's  mighty  men ;  also  the 
numbers,  from  the  different  tribes  of  Israel,  who  came  to  David  to 
Hebron  to  make  him  king  (1  Chron.  xi.,  xii.). 

3.  The  story  of  Hiram's  kindness  to  David  in  sending  him 
materials  and  artificers  from  Tyre  to  build  him  a  house  (1  Chron. 
xiv.  1,  2). 

4.  The  number  and  names  of  the  Levites  who  assisted  David  in 
bringing  up  the  ark ;  also  the  song  of  praise  which  was  sung  on 
that  occasion  (1  Chron.  xv.,  xvi.). 

5.  No  account  of  the  great  preparation  which  David  made  in  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  for  the  building  of  the  temple  occurs  in  Sam- 
uel or  the  Kings  (See  1  Chron.  xxii.,  xxviii.,  xxix.).    Neither,  — 

6.  Do  we  find  in  these  books  any  account  of  David's  appointing 
the  courses  of  the  Levites,  the  priests,  the  singers,  the  porters, 
and  the  captains,  such  as  is  given  in  the  Chronicles  (1  Chron. 
xxiii.-xxvii.). 

7.  David's  charge  to  Solomon  and  the  princes  concerning  the 
temple  and  other  matters  is  much  more  full  in  the  Chronicles 
than  in  the  Kings. 

8.  In  the  Kings,  we  have  no  account  of  Abijam's  speech  to 
Jeroboam  and  his  army,  and  of  the  great  victory  which  he  gained 
over  them  (2  Chron.  xiii.).      Neither, — 

9.  Have  we  in  the  Kings  any  account  of  Manasseh's  repent- 
ance, and  of  liis  restoration  to  his  throne  and  kingdom.  Of  this 
most  remarkable  display  of  the  power  and  grace  of  God  in  the 
recovery  of  a  flagrant  and  hardened  transgressor,  we  should  never 
have  heard  but  for  the  writer  of  the  Chronicles. 

On  the  whole,  we  have  much  reason  to  be  thankful  for  these 
Books  of  Chronicles.  Instead  of  raising  cavils  and  objections  con- 
cerning them,  and  thus  endeavoring  to  disparage  their  authority 
and  bring  them  into  contempt,  we  should  rather  bless  God  for 
them,  diligently  studj^  them,  and  gather  up  lessons  of  heavenly 
wisdom  from  them.  Like  all  other  Scripture,  when  properly  used, 
these  books  are  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction, 
for  instruction  in  righteousness. 

The  general  design  of  the  writer  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  giv- 
ing us  these  books  was  to  instruct  and  benefit  the  Church  of  God 
in  all  coming  time.  The  more  specific  design  of  the  writer  was  to 
benefit  the  afflicted  Church  of  God  in  his  own  time.     He  wished 


KINGS   OF  JUDAH   AND   ISRAEL.  361 

to  encourage  the  returned  exiles  from  Babylon  in  building  the  new 
temple  by  settmg  before  them  the  high  examples  of  David  and  of 
Solomon.  By  showing  them  how  much  their  former  princes  con- 
tributed for  the  old  temple,  he  wished  to  stir  up  the  princes  and 
people  around  him  to  a  corresponding  liberality.  He  wished  also 
to  instruct  the  priests  and  Levites  in  their  appropriate  duties  by 
pointing  them  to  the  manner  in  which  the  orders  of  God's  house 
had  been  observed  in  other  days.  And,  finally,  as  there  was  dan- 
ger, in  the  confusion  and  distress  of  the  times,  that  the  genealogies 
of  the  people  might  be  broken  and  lost,  it  seemed  good  to  the 
writer  of  these  Books  of  Chronicles,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost  who 
inspired  him,  to  give  a  new  and  abbreviated  edition  of  these  gene- 
alogies, that  so  the  line  of  them  might  be  preserved  to  the  coming 
of  Christ,  that  he  might  be  known  to  be  —  what  it  had  been  pre- 
dicted he  should  be  —  the  Son  of  David. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE   BABYLONIANS. 

IN  our  last  chapter,  we  brought  clown  the  history  of  God's  ancient 
covenant  people  to  the  time  of  their  captivity.  The  ten  tribes 
were  carried  into  captivity  by  the  kings  of  Assyria  :  first  by  Tiglath- 
pileser  in  the  reign  of  Pekah  ;  secondly  by  Shalmaneser,  who  took 
Samaria,  and  put  an  end  to  the  Israelitish  kingdom  ;  and  thirdly 
by  Esarhaddon,  who  some  fifty  years  later  swept  over  the  country 
of  the  ten  tribes  again,  and  carried  away  the  last  remains  of  the 
Israelites.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Manasseh,  king  of  Judah,  was 
taken  prisoner  by  Esarhaddon,  and  carried  to  Babylon,  where  he 
repented,  and  was  restored  to  his  kingdom. 

Some  seventy  years  after  this,  Jerusalem  was  taken  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, king  of  Babylon ;  the  city  and  temple  were  destroyed  ; 
the  Judsean  monarchy  was  subverted  ;  and  great  multitudes  of  the 
Jews  were  carried  away  to  Babylon.  Since  the  kingdoms  of  Judah 
and  Israel  were  overthrown  by  the  monarchs  of  Assyria  and  Babylon, 
it  may  be  well  to  preface  the  following  narrative  with  a  brief  account 
—  the  briefest  possible  —  of  these  two  great  nations. 

Babylon  was  founded  by  Nimrod,  a  son  of  Ham,  about  a  hundred 
and  ten  years  after  the  Flood.  At  the  same  time,  or  near  it,  Nineveh, 
the  capital  of  Assyria,  was  founded  by  Ashur,  a  son  of  Shem  (see 
Gen.  X.  10, 11).  Assyria  derived  its  name  from  Ashur ;  and  Nineveh, 
from  his  son  and  successor  Ninus.  Babylon  was  situated  on  the 
Euphrates,  in  north  latitude  32°  ;  and  Nineveh  on  the  Tigris,  about 
four  degrees  farther  nortlv. 

Ninus,  the  first  king  of  Nineveh  after  its  founder,  was  an  aspiring, 
ambitious  man.  He  began  a  war  of  conquest,  and  was  "  the  first," 
says  Shuclcford,  "  to  break  the  peace  of  the  world."  He  conquered 
the  Babylonians,  and  annexed  their  city  and  territory  to  his  empire. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  more  ambitious  wife,  Semiramis,  who 
removed  the  seat  of  empire  from  Nineveh  to  Babylon,  and  did 

362 


THE   JEWS   UNDER   THE   BABYLONIANS.  363 

much  to  adorn  and  strengthen  this  latter, city.  She  was  succeeded 
by  her  son  Ninyas,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  quiet,  luxurious 
prince,  who  labored  to  improve  his  kingdom  rather  than  to  enlarge 
it,  and  who  cultivated  the  arts  of  peace. 

After  the  death  of  Ninyas,  the  Assyrians  are  scarcely  mentioned 
in  history  for  a  long  period.  We  hear  almost  nothing  of  them  or 
their  rulers,  except  in  an  incidental  way,  for  the  next  twelve  hun- 
dred years.  Among  the  kings  who  invaded  Sodom,  and  whom 
Abraham  conquered,  were  "  Amraphel,  king  of  Sliinar,"  the  very 
country  in  which  Babylon  was  situated,  and  "  Chedorlaomer,  king 
of  Elam,"  or  Persia,  which  lay  beyond  the  Tigris  (Gen.  xiv.  1). 
Perhaps  one  of  these  may  have  been,  under  another  name,  the  king 
of  Assjaia.  Mention  is  made  of  Assur,  or  Assyria,  in  the  prophecy 
of  Balaam,  who  was  a  native  of  that  country  (Num.  xxiv.  22-24). 
Among  the  things  which  Achan  hid  in  his  tent  in  the  time  of  Joshua 
was  a  "  goodly  Babylonish  garment,"  which  shows  that  Babylon 
was  then  a  city  of  some  importance  (Josh.  vii.  21).  Assur  is 
spoken  of  in  the  Psahns  as  among  the  confederates  against  Israel ; 
probably  in  the  war  with  Hadarezer,  king  of  Zobah,  when  David 
extended  his  conquests  to  the  Euphrates  (see  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  8 ; 
1  Chron.  xviii.  3). 

From  incidental  motives  such  as  these,  we  infer  that  the  kingdom 
of  the  Assyrians,  or  Chaldseans,  existed  all  along  from  the  days  of 
Nimrod  and  Assur  to  the  time  of  the  Persian  conquest,  though 
during  the  earlier  part  of  this  long  period  it  could  not  have  been 
of  very  great  extent.  It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the  excavations 
at  Nineveh  and  Babylon  may  throw  further  light  on  the  history  of 
this  ancient  people. 

The  prophet  Jonah,  who  may  have  been  contemporary,  or  nearly 
so,  with  Elisha,  was  sent  of  God  to  Nineveh  to  announce  its 
destruction  (see  2  Kings  xiv.  25).  Nineveh  was  at  this  time  "an 
exceeding  great  city,  of  three  days'  journey,"  —  an  indication  that 
it  had  been  favored  with  great  prosperity. 

Not  long  after  this,  during  the  reign  of  Menahem,  king  of  Israel, 
"Pul,  the  king  of  Assyria,  came  into- the  land;  and  Menahem 
gave  him  a  thousand  talents  of  silver,  that  his  hand  might  be  with 
him  to  confirm  the  kingdom  in  his  hand.  And  Menahem  exacted 
the  money  of  Israel  to  give  to  the  king  of  Assyria :  so  the  king  of 
Assyria  turned  back,  and  staid  not  there  in  the  land  "  (2  Kings 
XV.  19,  20).  This  was  the  first  king  of  Assyria  who  invaded  Israel, 
and  may  have  been  the  king  of  Nineveh  who  repented  at  the 
preaching  of  Jonah.  ,, 


364  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  Assyrian  Empire  was  at  this  time  one  ;  but  it  was  ere  long 
divided.  Sardanapalus,  the  reigning  king,  was  an  effeminate  prince^ 
so  much  so  as  to  inspire  the  contempt  of  his  subjects :  wherefore 
two  of  his  principal  officers,  Arbaces  the  governor  of  Media,  and 
Belesis  governor  of  Babylon,  conspired  against  him,  overcame  him, 
and  divided  his  kingdom  between  themselves ;  the  former  reigning 
at  Nineveh,  and  the  latter  at  Babylon.  Arbaces  was  the  Tiglath- 
pileser  of  the  Scriptures,  —  the  same  who  fought  against  Pekah,  king 
of  Israel,  and  carried  many  of  the  Israelites  into  captivity  (2  Kings 
XV.  29).  Belesis  is  the  same  as  Nabonassar,  with  whose  reign 
commences  the  celebrated  astronomical  era  called  the  era  of  Nabo- 
nassar.    He  is  called  Baladan  in  the  Scriptures  (Isa.  xxxix.  1). 

Shalmaneser  succeeded  his  father  Tiglath-pileser,  and  completed 
the  conquest  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  This  event  took  place 
in  the  year  before  Christ  720.  Among  the  captives  at  this  time  was 
Tobit,  with  his  wife  Anna,  and  his  son  Tobias,  as  recorded  in  one 
of  the  apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testament  (Tob.  i.). 

The  same  year  in  which  Samaria  was  taken  by  Shalmaneser, 
Merodach-baladan,  the  son  of  Baladan  (or  Belesis),  commenced 
his  reign  at  Babylon.  This  is  that  king  of  Babylon  who  sent 
messengers  and  a  present  to  King  Hezekiah  on  hearing  of  his 
recovery  from  sickness  (Isa.  xxxix.  1). 

Shalmaneser  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  Assyria  by  his  son 
Sennacherib.  He  repeatedly  invaded  Judsea,  and  proudly  threatened 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem ;  but  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of 
Isaiah  and  Hezekiah,  and  in  rebuke  of  his  own  blasphemy,  his  army 
was  terribly  destroyed.  The  angel  of  the  Lord  went  forth  into  his 
camp,  and  in  a  single  night  smote  a  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand 
of  his  men  :  "  So  Sennacherib  departed,  and  returned  to  Nineveh. 
And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  was  worshipping  in  the  house  of  Nisroch, 
his  god,  that  two  of  his  sons  smote  him  with  the  sword ;  and  they 
escaped  into  the  land  of  Armenia.  And  Esarhaddon  his  son  reigned 
in  his  stead"  (Isa.  xxxix.  37,  38). 

Esarhaddon  came  to  the  throne  of  his  father  in  the  twenty- 
second  year  of  King  Hezekiah,  and  reigned  in  great  prosperity 
and  glory  thirty-nine  years.  In  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his 
reign,  he  vanquished  the  monarch  of  Babylon,  and  united  that 
kingdom  to  his  own.  Soon  after  this,  he  invaded  Palestine,  and 
carried  into  captivity  the  poor  remains  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel. 
At  the  same  time,  he  sent  an  army  into  Judgea,  as  before  related, 
and  captured  Manasseh,  one  of  the  vilest  and  wickedest  of  the 


THE   JEWS   UNDER  THE   BABYLONIANS.  365 

kings  of  Judah.  He  took  Manasseh  with  him  to  Babylon,  where 
his  prison,  his  chains,  and  his  deep  affliction,  brought  him  to 
repentance. 

The  successors  of  Esarhaddon  were  Sundochseus  his  son,  and 
Chyrilidanus  his  grandson,  —  both  imbecile,  inglorious,  luxurious 
princes,  who  accomplished  nothing  worthy  of  mention  in  history. 
Against  the  latter,  Nabopolassar,  one  of  his  generals,  conspired,  took 
from  him  his  kingdom,  and  reigned  at  Babylon  twenty-one  years. 
Nabopolassar,  in  connection  with  the  Medes,  destroyed  the  great 
city  of  Nineveh  when  it  had  stood  about  sixteen  hundred  years. 
In  this  destruction  were  fulfilled  the  terrible  predictions  of  the 
prophet  Nahuni  against  Nineveh ;  and  from  this  time  Babylon 
became  the  sole  metropolis  of  the  Assyrian  Empire.  Nabopolassar 
was  the  father  of  the  renowned  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  destroyed 
Jerusalem,  and  led  the  Jews  into  captivity. 

Nebuchadnezzar  seems  to  have  reigned  conjointly  with  his  father  a 
few  years  previous  to  his  father's  death.  It  was  while  his  father 
was  yet  alive  that  he  first  invaded  Judsea,  —  in  the  fourth  year  of 
Jehoiakim,  the  son  of  Josiah,  king  of  Jerusalem.  Jerusalem  was 
conquered  at  this  time,  and  Jehoiakim  was  taken  prisoner ;  but 
upon  his  humbling  himself  to  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  consenting 
to  become  his  vassal,  his  throne  and  kingdom  were  restored  to  him. 
It  was  at  this  time,  as  remarked  in  the  last  chapter,  that  the  first 
captives  were  sent  from  Jerusalem  to  Babylon,  among  whom  were 
Daniel  and  his  three  friends. 

It  was  in  the  second  year  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  reign,  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  that  he  had  the  vision  of  a  mighty  image,  in 
shape  like  a  man,  whose  head  was  of  gold,  whose  breast  and  arms 
were  of  silver,  whose  belly  and  thighs  were  of  brass,  whose  legs 
were  of  iron,  and  whose  feet  and  toes  were  partly  of  iron,  and 
partly  of  clay.  The  dream  greatly  astonished  the  king  at  the 
time ;  and  yet,  when  he  awoke,  it  was  gone  from  him  :  he  could 
recall  nothing  of  it ;  nor  could  any  of  his  wise  men  assist  him  at 
all  in  this  matter.  It  was  the  disclosing  of  the  dream,  and  the 
interpretation  of  it,  which  first  brought  Daniel  into  favor  with 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  established  his  reputation  as  the  wisest  man 
in  the  kingdom.  Daniel  was  now  a  youth,  not  more  than  twenty- 
two  years  of  age  ;  yet  he  received  the  richest  gifts,  and  was 
advanced  to  the  highest  honors.  The  king  "  made  him  ruler  over 
the  whole  province  of  Babylon,  and  chief  of  the  governors  over  the 
wise  men  of  Babylon." 


366  ECCL-ESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

It  was  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  King  Nebuchadnezzar  (accord- 
ing to  the  Septuagint),  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
return  of  his  army  to  Babylon,  that  the  king  set  up  that  majestic 
image  of  gold  on  the  plain  of  Dura,  in  the  province  of  Babylon, 
and  commanded  all  his  princes,  governors,  officers,  and  people  to 
fall  down  and  worship  it.  The  three  friends  of  Daniel  refused ; 
and  for  this  offence  they  were  cast  into  a  burning  fiery  furnace, 
from  which  they  were  miraculously  delivered  by  the  power  of  God. 
But  where  was  Daniel  on  this  occasion  ?  Was  he  absent  ?  —  this 
is  hardly  probable.  Did  he  fall  down  and  worship  the  image?  — 
this  is  still  more  improbable.  The  most  likely  supposition  is 
that  he  was  not  accused.  Owing  to  his  high  position,  and  great 
influence  with  the  king,  the  accusers  of  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and 
Abednegp,  did  not  venture  to  aim  their  shafts  at  him.  At  any  rate, 
they  thought  it  safer  to  dispose  of  his  three  friends  first. 

In  the  second  year  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  Nebuchad- 
nezzar marched  his  armies  again  into  Syria,  and  laid  siege  to  Tyre. 
This  was  a  strong  and  wealthy  city ;  and  the  capture  of  it  occupied 
him  several  years.  While  the  king,  with  a  part  of  his  army,  lay 
before  Tyre,  another  part  was  sent  into  the  land  of  Israel  to  glean 
the  straggling  Jews  who  still  lingered  there,  and  send  them  into 
captivity  to  Babylon.  This  was  the  last  transportation  of  exiles 
from  Judsea  ;  and  the  number  carried  away  amounted  to  no  more 
than  seven  hundred  and  forty-five  persons.- 

During  the  siege  of  Tyre,  the  armies  of  Nebuchadnezzar  were 
also  employed  in  subjecting  most  of  the  surrounding  nations,  —  as 
the  Ammonites,  the  Moabites,  the  Edomites,  the  Philistines,  and  ■ 
Zidonians,  —  thus  verifying  the  denunciations  of  Jeremiah  and  Eze- 
kiel  respecting  them  (see  Jer.  xxvii.,  xxviii.,  xxix.  ;Ezek.  xxv.). 

At  length,  the  city  of  Tyre  fell  into  the  hands  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, but  not  before  the  inhabitants  had  removed  all  their  effects 
to  an  island  about  half  a  mile  from  the  shore,  and  built  there  a 
new  city :  so  that,  in  capturing  Tyre,  the  king  of  Babylon  took 
but  a  deserted  town,  and  found  no  spoil.  To  reward  him  for  the 
hard  and  bootless  service- which  he  had  performed  in  executing 
the  divine  wrath  upon  doomed  Tyre,  God  promised  him  by  the 
prophet  Ezekiel  that  he  would  give  him  the  spoils  of  Egypt  (E'zek. 
xxix.  18-20).  Accordingly,  this  same  year,  as  soon  as  his  army 
was  released  from  Tyre,  Nebuchadnezzar  marched  into  Egypt,  and 
overran  the  whole  country  from  one  end  to  the  other.  After  this, 
having  loaded  his  army  with  the  rich  spoils  of  Egypt,  and  made 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE   BABYLONIANS.  367 

the  land  his  tributary,  he  returned  to  Babylon.  During  this  ravage 
of  the  land  of  Egypt,  most  of  the  Jews  who  had  fled  there  after 
the  mui-der  of  Gedaliah  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  Babylon, 
and  were  either  slain,  or  carried  by  him  into  captivity.  And  in 
this  was  fulfilled  another  of  the  predictions  of  Jeremiah,  when 
Johanan  and  those  under  him  had  made  up  their  minds  to  go  into 
Egypt  (see  Jer.  xlii.  16-22). 

After  returning  from  his  wars  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  Nebuchad- 
nezzar applied  himself  to  the  strengthening  and  adorning  of  his 
capital ;  and  this  work  he  continued  until  he  made  Babylon  one 
of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  'The  walls  of  the  city  were  eighty- 
seven  feet  thick,  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  in  circum- 
ference round  the  city  not  less  than  sixty  miles.  Then  there  were 
the  towers  upon  the  walls,  the  hanging-gardens,  the  temples,  the 
palaces,  the  walls  and  gates  on  the  banks  of  the  river  within  the 
city,  the  artificial  lake  and  canals  for  the  draining  of  the  river  in 
case  of  flood.  Altogether  there  never  was  such  a  city  before,  and 
probably  never  will  be  to  the  end  of  time. 

It  was  Avhile  Nebuchadnezzar  was  engaged  in  these  stupendous 
works  that  he  had  his  second  prophetical  dream.  He  saw  a  great 
tree  which  towered  to  the  heavens,  and  whose  branches  reached  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  He  saw  it  cut  dpwn  by  a  watcher  from 
heaven,  and  yet  not  utterly  destroyed.  He  saw  it  sprout  and  come 
up  again  after  it  had  for  a  time  lain  desolate  and  been  wetted 
with  the  dew  of  heaven.  This  dream,  and  Daniel's  interpretation 
of  it,  we  have  recorded  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  prophecy. 
And  in  due  time  it  was  all  accomplished  ;  for  as  Nebuchadnezzar 
was  walking  in  his  palace,  and  looldng  out  upon  the  splendors  and 
luxuries  of  his  favorite  city,  he  gave  utterance  to  the  pride  of  his 
heart  in  the  following  words :  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon  which 
I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom  by  the  might  of  my 
power,  and  for  the  honor  of  my  majesty  ? "  Whereupon  there 
befell  him  instantly  what  Daniel  had  predicted :  his  reason  and 
his  kingdom  were  taken  away ;  he  was  driven  from  the  society  of 
men ;  he  had  his  dwelling  with  the  brutes  ;  he  did  eat  grass  like 
an  ox  ;  and  his  body  was  wet  with  the  dew  of  heaven  until  his 
hair  was  grown  like  eagles'  feathers,  and  his  nails  like  birds'  claws. 
But,  at  the  end  of  seven  years,  his  reason  returned,  and  his  former 
kingdom  and  majesty  were  restored  unto  him ;  and  then  it  was 
that  he  made  the  following  noble  and  humble  confession :  "I  do 
bless  the  most  high  God,  and  praise  and  honor  Him  who  liveth 


368  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

for  ever  and  ever ;  whose  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and 
whose  kingdom  is  from  generation  to  generation.  And  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  are  as  nothing  before  him  ;  and  he  doeth 
according  to  his  will  in  the  armies  of  heaven,  and  among  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth ;  and  none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto 
him.  What  doest  thou  ?  I  do  praise  and  extol  and  honor  the  King 
of  heaven,  all  whose  works  are  truth,  and  his  ways  are  judgment ; 
and  those  who  walk  in  pride  he  is  able  to  abase  "  (Dan.  iv.). 

From  this  period,  Nebuchadnezzar  became,  as  I  would  fondly 
hope,  a  truly  pious  man.  He  died,  however,  in  a  little  more  than 
a  year ;  having  reigned  in  great  prosperity  and  glory  sole  mon- 
arch of  Babylon  for  the  long  space  of  forty-three  years.  He  was 
an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  of  chastising  many  guilty  na- 
tions, among  whom  were  the  Jews ;  and  at  length,  through  the 
influence  of  a  distinguished  Jew,  he  was  brought  to  the  open 
acknowledgment  and  worship  of  the  only  living  and  true  God. 

Nebuchadnezzar  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Merodach  ;  or,  as  he 
is  called  in  Scripture,  Evil-merodach.  He  was  a  profligate  and 
vicious  ruler ;  and  yet  he  bestowed  one  act  of  kindness  upon  the 
Jews.  He  showed  favor  to  Jehoiachin  (otherwise  called  Coniah 
and  Jeconiah),  a  former  king  of  Judah,  who  had  now  been  in  con- 
finement at  Babylon  thirty-seven  years.  As  the  sacred  writer  ex- 
presses it,  the  king  of  Babylon  "  spake  kindly  to  him,  and  set  his 
throne  above  the  thrones  of  the  kings  that  were  with  him  at  Baby- 
lon, and  changed  his  prison-garments;  and  he  did  eat  bread  con- 
tinually before  him  all  the  days  of  his  life  "  (2  Kings  xxv.  28). 
The  occasion  of  Jehoiachin's  being  so  kindly  treated,  according  to 
an  ancient  Jewish  tradition,  was  this :  "  Evil-merodach,  having 
had  the  government  of  the  empire  during  his  father's  derange- 
ment, administered  it  so  badly,  that,  as  soon  as  the  old  king  came 
to  himself,  he  took  it  from  him,  and  shut  him  up  in  the  same  prison 
where  Jehoiachin  had  been  so  long  confined.  He  here  formed  a 
particular  acquaintance  with  the  unfortunate  king  of  Judah,  and 
a  friendship  for  him  ;  so  that  when  the  old  king  died,  and  Mero- 
dach came  to  the  throne,  he  remembered  Jehoiachin,  and  showed 
him  favor." 

Merodach  reigned  only  two  years  at  Babylon ;  when  Neriglissar, 
his  sister"'s  husband,  conspired  against  him,  slew  him,  and  succeeded 
to  the  throne.  Jehoiachin,  it  seems,  died  before  him,  or  (what  is 
more  likely)  was  slain  with  him.  While  Jehoiachin  lived,  he  was 
regarded  by  the  Jews  at  Babylon  as  the  head  or  prince  of  the  cap- 


THE   JEWS   UNDER   THE   BABYLONIANS.  369 

tivity^  —  an  office  which  descended  to  Salathiel  liis  son,  and  was 
long  continued  among  the  Jews. 

Of  Nerighssar,  and  his  son  and  successor  Laborosoarchod,  no 
mention  is  made  in  the  Scriptures.  Their  reigns  were  short  and 
inglorious ;  the  latter  having  been  slain  by  his  subjects  when  he 
had  been  king  only  nine  months.  He  was  succeeded  by  Nabona- 
dius,  a  grandson  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  is  called  Belshazzar  in 
the  Scriptures. 

The  Babylonian  Empire,  strong  as  it  seemed  under  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, was  now  verging  to  its  end.  Its  doom  had  years  before 
been  pronounced  by  the  prophets  ;  and  God  was  raising  up  a  terri- 
ble power  for  its  overthrow.  The  kingdom  of  the  Medes,  lying- 
north  of  Babylon,  had  long  been  one  of  great  strength.  It  was 
now  governed  by  Cyaxares  II.,  called  in  Scripture  Darius  the 
Mede.  Another  ancient  kingdom  now  coming  into  notice  was 
the  Persian  :  this  lay  east  of  Babylon ;  was  founded  by  Elam,  a 
grandson  of  Noah,  but  never  had  distinguished  itself  among  the 
nations  until  the  times  of  which  we  speak.  Cyrus,  who  was  now 
on  the  throne  of  Persia,  was  a  nephew  of  Darius  the  Mede.  This 
brought  the  Medes  and  Persians  into  close  alliance  ;  and  the  princi- 
pal thing  attempted  by  the  alliance  was  the  overthrow  of  Babylon. 

Cyrus,  I  hardly  need  say,  was  the  greatest  warrior  of  his  age, 
and  among  the  greatest  of  any  age.  He  led  the  united  forces  of 
Media  and  Persia ;  and  it  was  under  him  as  a  leader  that  Neriglis- 
sar  had  been  slain.  He  was  the  chief  combatant  and  ultimate 
conqueror  of  Belshazzar,  the  last  monarch  of  Babylon ;  but  this 
conquest  Wtis  not  achieved  without  many  battles,  and  long  years 
of  siege  and  war. 

In  his  attempts  upon  Babylon,  Cyrus  thought  it  necessary  first 
to  engage  and  subdue  those  nations  that  were  confederate  with 
Babylon,  or  subject  to  it.  This  occupied  him  several  years  ;  at  the 
end  of  which  he  found  himself  master  of  Armenia,  Lesser  Asia, 
Syria,  and  all  those  countries  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  formerly 
conquered.  When  this  was  accomplished,  Cyrus  laid  siege  to 
Babylon  itself.  This,  obviously,  was  the  only  way  in  which  Baby- 
lon ever  could  be  taken ;  and  to  capture  it  in  this  way  seemed 
almost  a  hopeless  task.  The  walls  were  high  and  impregnable; 
and  the  number  of  men  within  to  defend  them  was  very  great. 
They  were  furnished  with  provisions  for  twenty  years,  in  addition 
to  what  might  be  raised  in  the  gardens  and  tillage-lands  within  the 
city.     It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  Babylonians,  in  their 

24 


370  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

towers  and  on  the  walls,  scoffed  at  Cyrus,  and  derided  his  seem- 
ingly vain  efforts  to  molest  them. 

When  two  full  years  had  passed  away,  and  nothing  effectual 
had  been  accomplished,  Cyrus  hit  upon  an  expedient  through 
which  success  seemed  possible,  and  by  which  he  at  length  got  pos- 
session of  the  city.  Having  learned,  that,  on  a  set  day,  a  great 
national  festival  was  to  be  celebrated  in  Babylon,  when  the  king 
and  his  nobles  would  spend  the  whole  night  in  revelling,  drunken- 
ness, and  other  disorders,  he  thought  this  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  surprise  them ;  and,  for  effecting  his  object,  he  adopted  this  plan : 
He  sent  a  party  of  men  up  to  the  head  of  the  canal,  leading  to  a 
vast  artificial  lake  which  had  been  excavated  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  off  the  surplus  waters  of  the  river,  with  orders,  at  a  time 
appointed,  to  remove  the  embankment  between  the  river  and  canal, 
and  draw  off  the  whole  current,  or  so  much  of  it  as  possible,  into 
the  lake.  At  the  same  time,  he  opened  the  head  of  the  trenches 
which  had  been  dug  round  the  city,  and-  let  the  residue  of  the 
water  into  them.  Meanwhile  he  had  posted  one  part  of  his  army 
at  the  place  where  the  river  ran  into  the  city  under  the  wall,  and 
the  other  part  at  the  place  where  it  ran  out,  with  orders  to  enter 
the  city  by  the  channel  of  the  river  as  soon  as  they  should  find 
it  fordable.  Before  midnight,  the  river  was  sufficiently  drained ; 
and  both  parties  entered  through  the  opened  channel  into  the 
city. 

But  here  they  must  have  encountered  an  insuperable  obstacle 
had  it  not  been  for  the  drunkenness  and  consequent  carelessness 
of  those  witliin  the  walls.  The  brazen  gates  which  opened  down 
to  the  river  from  every  street,  and  which  were  always  shut  by 
night,  happened  now  to  be  left  open  ;  and  through  them  both 
parties  of  the  invaders  ascended  directly  from  the  channel  into 
the  city.  Thus  remarkably  was  a  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  addressed 
to  Cyrus  by  name,  and  uttered  more  than  a  hundred  years  before 
he  was  born,  fulfilled  at  this  time  :  "  I  will  go  before  thee,  and 
make  the  crooked  places  straight.  Twill  open  the  two-leaved  gates, 
and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut"  (Isa.  xlv.  1,  2). 

The  soldiers,  having  entered  the  city  in  the  manner  described, 
proceeded  directly  to  the  palace,  where  Belshazzar  and  his  lords 
were  drinking  wine  out  of  the  golden  and  silver  vessels  which  had 
been  plundered  from  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  where  the 
mysterious  handwriting  on  the  wall  had  just  been  interpreted  by 
Daniel.     Here  they  surprised  and  slew  the  guards  ;    and  when, 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE   BABYLONIANS.  371 

upon  the  noise,  the  palace-gates  were  opened,  they  rushed  forward, 
and  pLanted  themselves  within.  The  king  and  his  nobles  encoun- 
tered them  sword  in  hand ;  but  they,  and  all  who  resisted,  were 
almost  immediately  slain.  After  this,  a  proclamation  was  issued, 
promising  life  and  protection  to  such  as  would  lay  down  their  arms, 
and  threatening  destruction  to  all  who  refused.  Whereupon  all 
quietly  jdelded  to  the  conquerors  ;  and  Cyrus,  without  further  re- 
sistance, became  master  of  the  city. 

Daniel  was  now  an  old  man :  he  cannot  have  been  less  than 
eighty  years  of  age.  We  hear  little  of  him  in  any  public  of&ce  or 
employment  from  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar  until  he  was 
called  to  interpret  the  handwriting  on  the  wall.  In  the  first  year 
of  Belshazzar,  he  had  his  remarkable  vision  of  the  four  beasts, 
denoting  the  four  great  monarchies  of  the  ancient  world,  to  be 
followed  by  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Christ. 

In  the  third  year  of  Belshazzar,  he  had  his  vision  of  the  ram 
and  the  he-goat,  by  which  were  signified  the  overtlirow  of  the 
Persian  Empire  by  Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  persecution  that 
was  to  be  raised  against  the  Jews  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  king 
of  Syria.  This  vision  was  had,  not  at  Babylon,  but  in  Shushan, 
the  palace  by  the  River  Ulai,  in  the  province  of  Elam,  —  a  province 
which  soon  after  revolted  to  Persia.  Daniel  was  here  occupied  in 
"  the  king's  business  ;  "  which  shows  that  he  was  still  in  office  under 
Belshazzar,  though  we  hear  very  little  respecting  him  (Dan.  viii. 

With  the  taking  of  Babylon,  the  Babylonish  Empire  came  to  an 
end,^when  it  had  existed  (reckoning  from  the  time  of  Nimrod) 
seventeen  hundred  years.  The  city,  to  be  sure,  was  not  now 
destroyed ;  and  jet  it  never  flourished  more.  Its  decline  was 
gradual,  but  constant,  until  it  became  a  heap  of  ruins  ;  and  all 
that  the  prophets  had  foretold  of  its  desolation  was  accomplished. 

The  causes  which  hastened  the  destruction  of  this  ancient 
city,  aside  from  the*  ordinary  ravages  of  time,  were  the  follow- 
ing : — 

•  1.  The  Persians  declined  to  adopt  it,  and  make  it  the  capital  of 
their  vast  empire.  Their  kings  preferred  to  reside,  for  the  most 
part,  at  Shushan,  some  two  hundred  miles  east  of  Babylon.  It 
was  here  that  Nehemiah  attended  upon  Artaxerxes,  and  that  Esther 
resided  with  Ahasuerus  (Neh.  i.  1 ;  Esth.  i.  2). 

2.  The  revolt  of  the  Babylonians   duiing  the  reign  of  Darius 


372  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Hystaspes  was  to  them  and  their  city  a  most  disastrous  event. 
Babylon  was  captured  a  second  time  ;  its  massy  gates  were  demol- 
ished ;  its  walls  were  in  part  broken  down ;  and  three  thousand 
of  its  nobles  were  put  to  death. 

3.  When  Xerxes  returned  from  his  disgraceful  expedition  into 
Greece,  he  passed  through  Babylon,  threw  down  the  Tower  of 
Belus,  and  (under  pretence  of  destroying  the  idols)  robbed  the 
temples  of  their  treasures. 

4.  The  means  employed  by  Cyrus  for  the  capture  of  Babylon 
operated  as  one  of  the  causes  of  its  ruin.  The  river,  diverted 
from  its  original  bed,  never  but  partially  returned :  it  overflowed 
the  surrounding  country,  and  turned  it  into  a  great  morass  ;  thus 
fulfilling  one  of  the  predictions  of  Isaiah :  "It  shall  be  a  posses- 
sion for  the  bittern  and  for  pools  of  water  "  (xiv.  23).  This 
cause  of  destruction  Alexander  the  Great  undertook  to  remove  by 
restoring  the  river  to  its  channel ;  but  his  untimely  death  .put  an 
end  to  his  plans,  and  Babylon  continued  to  suffer  as  before. 

5.  The  building  of  Seleucia,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  New 
Babylon,  by  Seleucus  Nicator,*  drew  away  from  the  old  city  a 
large  portion  of  its  inhabitants,  and-  left  its  palaces  and  houses 
desolate. 

6.  Babylon  was  subject  to  the  Parthians  from  the  second  century 
before  Christ  to  the  third  century  of  the  Christian  era ;  and,  from 
their  alternate  violence  and  neglect,  it  suffered  greatly.  All  suc- 
ceeding writers  bear  testimony  to  its  desolate  condition.  In  the 
fourth  century  after  Christ,  Jerome  tells  us  that  it  was  used  by 
the  Persians  as  a  park,  or  hunting-ground ;  the  wild  beasts  being 
enclosed  within  the  walls.  Babylon  was  visited  by  Benjamin 
Tudela,  a  Jew,  in  the  twelfth  century,  who  saw  nothing  there 
but  heaps  of  ruins  ;  and  these  were  so  full  of  venomous  serpents 
and  reptiles,  that  it  was  dangerous  to  inspect  them. 

Thus  terribly  have  the  denunciations  of  the  ancient  prophets 
against  Babylon  been  fulfilled:  "It  shall  f  never  be  inhabited, 
neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation  ;  neither 
shall  the  Arabian  pitch  his  tent  there  ;  neither  shall  the  shepherds 
make  their  folds  there  :  but  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie 
there,  and  their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful  creatures ;  and  owls 
shall  dwell  there,  and   satyrs  shall   dance   there ;    and  the  wild 

*  Seleucia  was  situated  on  the  Tigris,  about  forty  miles  north  of  Babylon.  There  was  an- 
other Seleucia  at  the  mouth  of  the  Oroutes,  near  Autioch. 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE   BABYLONIANS.  373 

beasts  of  the  islands  shall  cry  in  their  desolate  houses,  and  dragons 
in  their  pleasant  palaces  "  (Isa.  xiii.  20-22). 

So  completely  has  old  Babylon  disappeared,  that  it  was  for  a 
long  time  uncertain  where  it  was  situated.  Its  supposed  site  has 
been  lately  discovered,  and  excavations  have  been  commenced ;  but 
nothing  decisive  as  to  its  history  has  thus  far  been  eliminated. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  I  spoke  of  the  state  of  the  Jews  under  Neb- 
uchadnezzar and  his  successors.  When  Babylon  fell,  the  cap- 
tive Jews  changed  masters :  they  fell  under  the  power  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians.  I  now  propose  to  trace  their  history  in  con- 
nection with  this  power. 

Upon  the  death  of  Belshazzar,  Darius  the  Mede  is  said  to  have 
taken  the  kingdom  (Dan.  v.  31).  And  this  is  true  ;  for  although 
Cyrus  had  gained  it  by  his  valor,  yet,  so  long  as  his  uncle  lived 
(who  was  also  his  father-in-law),  he  allowed  him  not  only  a  joint 
title  to  it,  but  the  first  place  of  honor  in  it.  This  is  that  Darius 
who  set  over  the  kingdom  a  hundred  and  twenty  princes,  and 
over  these  three  presidents,  of  whom  Daniel  was  first ;  and  who 
thought  to  set  Daniel  over  the  whole  realm.  This  is  that  Darius, 
who,  to  gratify  the  envy  of  his  princes,  cast  Daniel  into  the  den  of 
lions ;  and  who,  upon  his  miraculous  deliverance,  published  a  de- 
cree, that  "  men  should  everywhere  fear  and  tremble  before  the 
God  of  Daniel ;  for  he  is  the  living  God,  and  steadfast  forever,  and 
his  dominion  shall  be  even  unto  the  end  "  (Dan.  vi.). 

While  these  things  were  transacting  at  Babylon,  Cyrus  and  his 
army  were  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt,  subduing  the  restive 
nations,  and  setting  in  order  the  affairs  of  his  vast  kingdom.  The 
symbolic  ram  was  "  pushing  westward  and  northward  and  south- 
ward ;  neither  was  there  any  that  could  deliver  out  of  his  hand." 
All  was  reduced  under  him  as  far  as  to  the  Red  Sea  and  the  very 
borders  of  Ethiopia.  Cyrus  was  absent  on  this  expedition  about 
two  years,  when  he  was  summoned  home  by  the  death  of  Darius. 

He  now  became  sole  monarch  of  the  Medo-Persian  Empire,  over 
which  he  reigned  in  great  prosperity  for  the  next  seven  years. 
This  is  called  in  Scripture,  and  also  in  Xenophon,  the  first  year  of 
the  reign  of  Cjrrus ;  though  other  historians  place  it  higher,  —  while 

374 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  375 

he  reigned  in  connection  with  Darius.  This  is  also  the  time  when 
the  seventy-years'  captivity  of  the  Jews  at  Babylon  was  fulfilled, 
and  when  the  first  proclamation  was  issued  for  their  return  (Ezra 
i.l). 

Long  before  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  God  had  said  to  his  peo- 
ple by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  "  Ye  shall  serve  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon seventy  years  ;  "  and,  "  after  seventy  years  shall  be  accomplished 
at  Babylon,  I  will  visit  you,  and  perform  my  good  word  towards 
you  in  causing  you  to  return  to  this  place  "  (Jer.  xxv.  11 ;  xxvii. 
10).  At  a  still  earlier  period,  God  had  spoken  of  Cyrus  hy  name 
as  the  instrument  through  whom  the  restoration  of  Israel  was  to 
be  accomplished.  It  was  Cyrus  who  should  "  say  to  Jerusalem, 
Thou  shalt  be  built ;  and  to  the  temple.  Thy  foundations  shall  be 
laid^''  (Isa.  xliv.  28).  Accordingly,  in  the  very  first  year  of  the 
reign  of  Cyrus,  he  "  made  proclamation  throughout  all  his  king- 
dom, and  put  it  also  in  writing,  saying,  Thus  saith  Cyrus,  king  of 
Persia :  The  Lord  God  of  heaven  hath  given  me  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth ;  and  he  hath  charged  me  to  build  him  a  house  at  Je- 
rusalem, which  is  in  Judah.  Who  is  there  among  you  of  all  his 
people  ?  his  God  be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and 
build  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  which  is  at  Jerusalem. 
And  whoso  sojourneth  in  any  place,  let  the  men  of  his  place  help 
him  with  silver  and  with  gold,  and  with  goods,  and  with  beasts, 
besides  the  free-will  offerings  for  the  house  of  God  which  is  in 
Jerusalem  "  (Ezra  i.  2-4). 

If  any.  doubt  whether  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  had  now  con- 
tinued seventy  years,  the  question  may  be  easily  settled.  It 
commenced  a  year  and  two  months  previous  to  the  death  of  Nabo- 
polassar,  the  father  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  —  when  Daniel  and  his 
three  friends,  with  many  others,  were  carried  away.  It  continued 
through  the  entire  reigns  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  forty -three  years ; 
of  Evil-merodach,  two  years ;  of  Neriglissar,  four  years ;  of  Bel- 
shazzar,  seventeen  years ;  and  of  Darius  the  Mede,  two  years  ; 
making  a  period  of  sixty-nine  years  and  two  months.  If  we  sup- 
pose the  proclamation  above  quoted  to  have  been  issued  in  the 
tenth  month  of  the  first  year  of  Cyrus  (which  is  as  early  in  the 
year  as  could  well  be  expected),  we  have  precisely  the  term  of 
seventy  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  captivity  to  the 
decree  of  restoration. 

All  history  ascribes  to  Daniel  the  chief  instrumentality  in  pro- 
curing this  decree ;  and  the  supposition  is  a  very  reasonable  one. 


376  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Daniel  was  now  a  venerable  man,  an  old  minister  of  state,  famed 
for  his  great  wisdom  all  over  the  east,  and*  of  long  experience  in 
the  management  of  public  affairs.  It  is  likely,  also,  that  he  held  the 
same  station,  which  was  one  of  the  highest  authority  (next  to 
the  king),  under  Cyrus,  which  he  had  held  before  ;  for  we  are  told 
that  "  he  prospered  in  the  reign  of  Darius  and  in  the  reign  of 
Cyrus  the  Persian  "  (Dan.  vi.  28).  He  had  learned  from  books 
that  the  years  of  predicted  captivity  were  now  accomplished,  and 
had  been  much  in  prayer  for  the  restoration  of  his  people  (Dan.  ix.). 
As  he  had  the  ear  of  Cyrus,  it  is  next  to  certain  that  he  would  use 
his  influence  with  him  to  bring  about  this  desirable  event.  It  is 
evident,  from  the  proclamation  of  Cyrus,  that  he  had  seen  and  read 
those  prophesies  of  Isaiah  in  which  he  was  designated  as  the  re- 
storer of  the  Jews ;  and  who  so  likely  to  make  him  acquainted 
with  them  as  his  prime  minister  and  chief  counsellor  Daniel  ? 

In  consequence  of  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  the  Jews  and  Israelites 
gathered  themselves  together  out  of  the  several  parts  of  his  empire 
to  the  number  of  forty-three  thousand.  With  their  servants,  they 
numbered  about  fifty  thousand.  I  say,  the  Jews  and  Israelites 
gathered  themselves  together ;  for  the  decree  of  emancipation  ex- 
tended to  all  alike ;  and  it  is  certain  that  many  of  the  latter  re- 
turned with  the  Jews.  They  had  for  their  leaders  Zerubbabel,  the 
son  of  Salathiel,  the  son  of  Jehoiachin,  of  the  seed  royal,  and 
Joshua,  the  son  of  Jozadek,  the  high  priest.  Unto  them  were  de- 
livered, by  the  command  of  Cyrus,  all  the  vessels  of  gold  ^  and  sil- 
ver which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  taken  from  the  old  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem. A  part  of  these  were  now  returned  to  Jerusalem ;  and  the 
remainder  were  brought  by  Ezra  at  a  later  period. 

From  the  great  number  of  Jews  who  accepted  the  invitation  of 
Cyrus  to  return,  it  may  be  thought  that  only  a  few  were  left  be- 
hind ;  but  such  was  not  the  fact.  Vast  numbers,  and  those  in 
general  of  the  richest  class,  j^referred  to  remain  in  Chaldsea.  The 
Jews  have  a  proverb,  that  "  it  was  only  the  hrcm  that  returned  to 
Jerusalem:  the  fine  flour  staid  behind."  Hence  from  this  time 
we  find  a  multitude  of  Jews  in  those  Eastern  countries,  where  they 
continued  until  after  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  where  there  pos- 
terity remain  unto  this  day.  Babylon  (that  is,  new  Babylon)  was 
long  the  seat  of  a  distinguished  school  of  Jewish  learning,  from 
which  the  largest  and  most  elaborate  of  the  Talmuds  was  after- 
wards issued.  The  apostle  Peter  visited  these  Eastern  Jews,  and 
dates  his  first  epistle  at  Babylon  (1  Pet.  v.  13). 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  377 

The  returning  exiles,  under  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua,  arrived  in 
Judsea  in  the  month  Nisan,  —  the  first  in  their  year,  correspond- 
ing to  a  -part  of  our  March  and  April.  '  This  was  the  second  year 
of  the  reign  of  Cyrus,  and  five  hundred  and  thirty -five  years  before 
Christ.  Their  first  effort  was  to  provide  themselves  dwellings,  and 
to  commence  the  cultivation  of  their  fields ;  but  in  the  month 
Tisri,  the  seventh  of  their  year,  they  all  assembled  at  Jerusalem, 
and  united  in  celebrating  their  great  annual  festivals.  At  the  same 
time,  they  made  a  contribution  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple, 
amounting  to  more  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars of  our  money,  —  a  prodigious  sum  to  be  offered  by  these  poor 
returned  exiles,  —  an  example  of  liberality  such  as  the  Avorld  has 
rarely  seen.  In  the  second  month  of  the  next  year,  the  founda- 
tions of  the  new  temple  were  laid  with  great  solemnity ;  some 
shouting,  and  others  weeping,  so  that  "  the  noise  was  heard  afar 
off"  (Ezra  iiL  13). 

This  second  temple  was  of  equal  dimensions  with  the  first, 
having  been  built  upon  the  same  foundation.  Still  it  was  in 
many  respects  far  inferior.  It  was  not  built  of  such  costly  mate- 
rials as  the  first,  or  adorned  with  such  splendid  ornaments,  or  sur- 
rounded with  such  elegant  porches,  courts,  and  buildings.  It  was 
also  lacking  in  those  peculiar  tokens  of  the  divine  presence  and 
favor,  —  the  original  ark  of  the  covenant  with  the  tables  of  stone, 
the  dazzling  Shechinah,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  holy  anoint- 
ing oil,  and  the  holy  fire.  But  all  these  defects  were  more  than 
compensated  when  the  Lord  whom  they  sought  came  suddenly  to 
his  temple,  and  Christ,  the  great  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King,  honored 
it  with  his  presence  and  worship.  In  this  respect,  the  glory  of  the 
latter  house  did  far  exceed  the  glory  of  the  former ;  and  the  proph- 
ecy of  Haggai,  who  foretold  that  it  should  be  so,  had  a  complete 
fulfilment  (Hag.  ii.  9). 

When  the  Samaritans  heard  that  the  Jews  had  returned,  and 
had  commenced  rebuilding  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  they  sent  mes- 
sengers unto  them,  offering  to  assist  them  in  the  work,  and  to  unite 
with  them  in  acts  of  worship  ;  alleging,  that,  ever  since  the  days  of 
Esarhaddon,  they  had  worshipped  the  same  God  with  the  Jews. 
But  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua,  with  the  elders  of  the  people,  declined 
their  proffered  assistance  and  fellowship  ;  and  for  the  following 
reasons :  1.  As  these  Samaritans  were  not  Israelites,  but  descend- 
ants, in  part,  of  those  foreigners  whom  Esarhaddon  had  planted  in 
the  cities  of  Israel,  they  were  not  included  in  the  decree  of  Cyrus. 


378  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  * 

2.  They  were  not  true  worshippers  of  the  God  of  Israel,  but 
served  him  in  connection  with  their  idols:  "  They  feared  the  Lord, 
and  served  their  own  gods,  after  the  manner  of  the  nations  whence 
they  had  been  taken"  (2  Kings  xvii.  33).  3.  The  leaders  of  the 
Jews  had  much  reason  to  suspect  them  of  improper  motives. 
They  had  come,  not  to  do  them  good,  but  hurt :  they  sought  to  be 
associated  with  them  for  purposes  of  mischief. 

The  sequel  proved  that  these  suspicions  were  too  well  founded. 
Because  the  Jews  declined  their  assistance  and  fellowship,  the 
Samaritans  became  henceforth  their  bitterest  enemies.  They  strove 
to  the  utmost  to  embarrass  and  hinder  them  in  their  work.  They 
could  not,  indeed,  annul  the  decree  of  Cyrus ;  but  by  bribes  and 
slanders  the}^  contrived  to  prejudice  his  servants  against  them,  and 
obstruct  them  in  their  important  undertaking.  For  these  causes, 
the  building  of  the  temple  went  slowly  on  ;  and  was  far  from  being 
completed  when  Cyrus,  their  great  patron  and  benefactor,  died. 

Cyrus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambyses,  called  by  Ezra  Ahas- 
uerus  (chap.  iv.  6).  To  him  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  made  sup- 
plication against  them ;  and,  though  he  would  not  revoke  his 
father's  decree,  he  rather  discouraged  than  aided  the  work  at 
Jerusalem. 

Cambyses  died  after  a  reign  of  between  seven  and  eight  years, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Smerdis,  a  usurper,  who  pretended  to  be 
a  son  of  Cyrus,  and  whom  Ezra  calls  Artaxerxes  (chap.  iv.  7). 
Him  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  undertook  to  influence,  and  with 
more  success.  They  wrote  him  a  letter,  a  copy  of  which  is  pre- 
served by  Ezra  (chap.  iv.  7-16),  spealdng  of  Jerusalem  as  being 
of  old  "  a  rebellious  city,  and  hurtful  to  kings ; "  and  praying  that 
the  rebuilding  of  it  and  of  the  temple  might  be  stopped.  This  had 
the  desired  effect.  Forthwith  Smerdis  issued  an  order  against  the 
Jews,  which  put  a  stop  to  their  work  during  the  remainder  of  his 
reign,  which,  happily,  continued  only  a  few  months. 

The  successor  of  Smerdis  was  the  renowned  Darius  Hystaspis, 
who  reigned  thirty-six  years.  Although,  on  the  death  of  Smerdis, 
his  decree  against  Jerusalem  was  no  longer  in  force,  yet  dis- 
couraged by  opposition,  and  too  much  engrossed  in  their  own 
concerns,  the  people  neglected  to  enter  as  they  should  have  done 
upon  the  work  of  the  temple  ;  and  for  their  negligence  in  this 
respect  they  were  visited  with  drought  and  famine.  They  were 
also  stirred  up  to  their  duty  by  the  fervid  appeals  and  remon- 
strances of  the  i3rophet  Haggai :  "  Is  it  time  for  you,  0  ye  people ! 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE  MEDO-PERSIANS.  379 

to  dwell  in  your  ceiled  houses,  and  this  house  lie  waste  ?  Go  ye 
up  to  the  mountain  and  bring  wood,  and  build  the  house,  and  I 
will  take  pleasure  in  it,  and  I  will  be  glorified,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts"  (Hag.  i.  4-8). 

These  and  other  like  exhortations  and  promises  had  the  desired 
effect.  The  people  arose  almost  immediately  under  the  direction 
of  their  leaders,  began  to  collect  materials,  and  to  carry  forward 
the  work  of  the  house. 

Again,  therefore,  the  Samaritans  were  excited  to  opposition. 
They  applied  to  Tatnai,  who  was  prefect,  under  Darius,  of  Syria 
and  Palestine,  and  to  Shethar-boznia,  governor  of  Samaria,  and 
persuaded  them  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  put  a  stop  to  proceed- 
ings there.  But  Tatnai,  who  was  evidently  a  man  of  justice  and 
moderation,  when  he  had  surveyed  the  work  at  Jerusalem,  simply 
inquired  of  the  Jews  as  to  the  authority  under  which  they  acted ; 
and,  when  they  showed  him  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  he  wrote  to 
Darius  to  know  whether  Cyrus  had  ever  issued  such  a  decree,  and 
what  his  own  pleasure  in  the  case  might  be.  In  consequence  of 
this  inquiry,  Darius  made  search,  and  found  the  decree  of  Cyrus ; 
and,  having  found  it,  he  confirmed  it,  and  wrote  to  Tatnai  and  She- 
thar-boznia to  see  it  executed.  He  commanded  that  the  tribute  of 
the  Samaritans  should  be  paid  over  to  the  Jews  ;  and  that  they 
should  be  liberally  assisted  with  money  and  with  whatever  else 
they  needed.  He  finally  ordered,  that  if  any  one  should  further 
oppose  them,  or  attempt  in  any  way  to  hinder  them  in  their  work, 
a  gallows  should  be  made  from  the  timber  of  his  house,  and  that 
he  himself  should  be  hanged  thereon. 

From  this  time  the  work  of  the  temple  went  so  rapidly  on,  that 
in  three  years  more  it  was  entirely  finished.  Twenty  years  had 
this  second  temple  now  been  building,  during  the  greater  part  of 
which  time  the  people  had  been  guided,  cheered,  and  strengthened 
by  the  prophecies  of  Haggai  and  Zechariah.  It  adds  new  interest 
to  these  prophecies,  and  helps  to  a  right  understanding  of  them,  to 
know  the  times  and  occasions  on  which  they  were  uttered. 

In  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius  Hystaspis,  and  on  the 
third  day  of  the  twelfth  Jewish  month  Adar,  the  new  temple  at 
Jerusalem  was  dedicated.  It  was  to  all  an  occasion  of  great 
solemnity  and  rejoicing,  when  there  were  offered  up  "one  hundred 
bullocks,  two  hundred  rams,  and  four  hundred  lambs,  besides 
twelve  he-goats  for  a  sin-offering,  according  to  the  number  of 
tribes  of  Israel"  (Ezra  vi.  17).     We  have  here  an  intimation  that 


380  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  persons  concerned  in  tliis  transaction  were  not  merely  Jews, 
but  members,  to  some  extent,  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  next  month,  wliich  was  Nisan,  the 
Passover  was  celebrated  at  the  new  temple,  not  only  by  those  who 
had  returned  from  captivity,  but  by  all  who  were  prepared  to  unite 
in  it :  "  Seven  days  they  kept  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  with 
joy ;  for  the  Lord  had  made  them  joyful,  and  turned  the  heart  of 
the  king  of  Assyria  unto  them,  to  strengthen  thek  hands  in  the 
work  of  the  God  of  Israel." 

When  the  temple  had  been  built  and  dedicated,  the  Samaritans 
claimed  that  they  were  no  longer  under  obligations  to  pay  custom, 
or  tribute,  for  this  object ;  but,  on  referring  the  question  to  Darius, 
he  ordered  that  they  should  observe  his  edict,  and  pay  their  tribute 
as  before.  It  was  now  needed  for  the  support  of  the  temple  as  it 
had  before  been  for  the  building  of  it.  From  this  period,  we  hear 
of  no  futther  opposition  from  the  Samaritans  until  the  time  of 
Sanballat  and  Nehemiah. 

After  the  dedication  of  the  temple,  Darius  reigned  about  thirty 
years.  He  was  a  prince  of  great  wisdom,  energy,  clemency,  and 
justice  ;  and,  next  to  Cyrus,  was  the  most  distinguished  benefactor 
of  Israel  who  had  yet  appeared.  It  was  through  his  favor,  espe- 
cially, that  the  temple  of  God  at  Jerusalem  was  finished,  and  that 
public  worship  was  there  established  and  maintained.  He  was 
unfortunate  in  some  of  his  military  expeditions,  —  more  especially 
those  against  the  Scythians  and  Athenians.  It  was  during  his 
reign  that  the  Persians  lost  the  famous  battle  of  Marathon.  But 
he  extended  the  empire  of  Cyrus  in  other  directions;  having 
added  to  it  in  the  east  a  considerable  part  of  India,  and,  in  the 
west,  Thrace,  Macedon,  and  the  Ionian  isles. 

It  was  during  this  reign  that  the  celebrated  Persian  philosopher, 
Zoroaster,  flourished.  He  was  not  the  author  of  the  Magian  reli- 
gion, but  only  the  reformer  of  it ;  *  and  the  principal  improve- 
ments which  he  introduced  are  supposed  to  have  been  borrowed 
from  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  with  which  he  must  have  had  a  con- 
siderable acquaintance.  He  may  have  been  personally  acquainted 
with  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  and  studied  the  writings  of  Moses  and 
the  prophets.  Like  Mahomet  and  other  impostors,  Zoroaster  pre- 
tended to  have  been  in  heaven,  and  to  have  learned  the  doctrines 


*  There  seems  to  have  been  a  Chakleean  Zoroaster,  who  flourished  at  a  much  earlier  period 
He  may  have  been  the  author  of  Magianism,  of  which  the  Persian  Zoroaster  was  but  the 
reformer. 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  381 

of  religion  there.  He  undertook  to  reform  the  old  Magianism  in 
its  first  principle^  which  was  dualism^  —  a  god  of  light,  and  a  god 
of  darkness ;  the  one  the  author  of  all  that  is  good,  and  the  other 
of  all  that  is  evil.  '  In  oj^position  to  this,  Zoroaster  taught  the  doc- 
trine of  one  Supreme  God,  —  the  prime  Original,  and  Author  of  all 
things  ;  and  that  the  two  great  leaders  in  the  conflict  going  on  in 
the  world  are  both  of  them  derived  and  inferior  beings.  The 
struggle  between  good  and  evil,  he  held,  "  will  continue  to  the 
end  of  the  world ;  that  then  there  will  be  a.  general  resurrection, 
and  day  of  judgment,  in  which  all  will  be  treated  according  to 
their  works :  after  which  the  angel  of  darkness  and  his  followers 
shall  go  away  to  a  world  of  their  own,  where  they  shall  suffer  in 
eternal  darkness  the  punishment  of  their  evil  deeds ;  whereas  the 
angel  of  light  and  his  disciples  shall  go  to  a  world  of  light,  to 
receive  the  endless  rewards  of  their  goodness.  From  this  period, 
the  two  classes  are  to  be  forever  separated  ;  and  light  and  darkness 
are  no  more  to  be  mmgled  to  all  eternity." 

Like  the  more  ancient  Magians,  Zoroaster  and  liis  followers 
abhorred  images ;  but  he  taught  his  disciples  to  worship  the  sun 
and  the  fire,  —  not  that  he  considered  either  of  these  as  a  god,  but 
that  they  were  the  special  residences  and  brightest  exhibitions  of 
God.  The  book  containing  the  revelations  of  Zoroaster  is  called 
the  Zendavesta  ;  or,  by  contraction,  the  Zend.  He  presented  a 
copy  of  it  to  Darius  Hystaspis,  bound  in  twelve  volumes,  each  of 
which  consisted  of  a  hundred  skins  of  vellum.  The  book  is  still 
preserved  among  the  Magians  in  the  East,  and  regarded  by  them 
with  great  veneration.  The  wise  men  who  came  from  the  East  to 
worship  our  Saviour  at  his  birth  were  undoubtedly  philosoj)hers 
of  this  class.  Pretended  fragments  of  the  Zend  have  been  pub- 
Hshed  at  different  times, — more  particularly  by  the  Gnostics  and 
the  New  Platonists  after  the  time  of  Christ ;  but  these  are  entitled 
to  little  confidence. 

Darius  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Xerxes,  sometimes  called  the 
Great.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Cyrus,  whose  daughter  Darius  had 
married.  Xerxes  confirmed  to  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  all  the  pri^'i- 
leges  which  had  been  granted  them  by  his  father.  In  particular, 
he  ordered  that  the  tribute  from  the  Samaritans  for  the  support  of 
the  temple-worship  shoulcj  be  paid.  In  the  third  year  of  his  reign, 
Joshua,  the  venerable  high  priest  at  Jerusalem,  died,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Jehoiakim  his  son. 

The  reign  of  Xerxes  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  his  unfortunate 


382  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

expedition  into  Greece.  His  preparations  for  this,  in  men  and 
money  and  naval  armaments,  were  immense.  As  had  been  pre- 
dicted by  Daniel,  he  literally  "  stirred  np  all  against  the  realm  of 
Grecia"  (chap.  xi.  2).  He  entered  into  a  league  with  the  Cartha- 
ginians, by  which  they  were  to  assist  him  with  an  army  and  with 
ships.  He  drew  together  from  all  parts  of  his  vast  empire  such  a 
body  of  men  as  the  world  had  never  seen.  According  to  Herodo- 
tus, his  active  forces,  when  he  arrived  at  the  straits  of  Thermopylse, 
amounted  to  2,642,610  men ;  while  the  servants,  eunuchs,  women, 
sutlers,  and  others  who  followed  the  camp,  were  thought  to  be  as 
many  more.  Here,  then,  was  a  collection  of  more  than  five  mil- 
lions of  souls,  brought  together  at  a  single  point  for  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Greece.  No  Avonder  that  Xerxes  wept  as  he  looked  down 
upon  them  from  an  eminence,  under  the  impression,  that,  in  less 
than  a  hundred  years,  not  one  of  them  would  be  left :  they  would 
all  be  dead.  Josephus  informs  us  (and  the  statement  is  quite 
probable)  that  in  this  vast  company  were  many  Jews. 

My  readers  have  all  heard  of  the  manner  in  which  this  unwieldy 
army  of  Asiatics  was  received  at  Thermopylse  by  Leonidas  and  his 
invincible  Spartans.  You  have  read  of  the  battle  of  Salamis,  where 
the  Greeks  took  and  destroyed  hundreds  of  the  Persian  ships,  and 
obliged  the  rest  to  flee  to  the  coasts  of  Asia.  Upon  the  loss  of  his 
fleet,  Xerxes,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  army,  hastened  back  into 
Asia,  and  took  up  their  winter-quarters  at  Sardis.  Meanwhile  the 
Carthaginians,  on  whom  he  had  relied  to  assist  him,  were  so  totally 
defeated  in  Sicily,  that  scarely  a  man  remained  to  tell  of  the  dis- 
aster. On  his  return  out  of  Greece,  Xerxes  left  Mardonius,  one 
of  his  generals,  behind,  with  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
men.  These  encountered  the  Greeks  at  Platsea  the  next  year, 
where  they  were  utterly  defeated,  and  the  most  of  them  were 
slain. 

Thus  ended  this  ill-planned  and  worse-conducted  expedition  into 
Greece.  Xerxes,  on  hearing  of  the  defeat  of  his  army  at  Plat^a, 
and  of  the  destruction  of  the  remainder  of  his  fleet  at  Mycale 
(which  occurred  the' same  day),  lost  no  time  in  getting  back  to 
Persia.  He  only  stopped  to'  destroy  and  to  plunder  all  the  idola- 
trous temples  which  stood  in  his  way.  This  he  is  supposed  to  have 
done  for  two  reasons  :  first,  being  himself  a  Magian,  and  a  follower 
of  Zoroaster,  he  was  opposed  to  idol-Avorship ;  and,  secondly,  he 
needed  the  spoils  of  the  temples  to  indemnify  him  for  the  enormous 
expenses  of  the  war.     It  was  at  this  time  that  he  plundered  the 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE   MEDO-PERSIANS.  383 

temples  and  destroyed  the  images  of  old  Babylon.  As  he  passed 
through  Babylon  on  his  way  to  Shushan,  his  capital,  he  overthrew, 
in  part,  the  famed  Tower  of  Belus,  or  Babel ;  thus  fulfilling,  with- 
out knowing  it,  the  prediction  of  Jeremiah  :  "  Bel  is  confounded ; 
Merodach  is  broken  in  pieces  :  her  idols  are  confounded  ;  her  images 
are  broken  in  pieces."  "  I  will  do  judgment  upon  all  the  graven 
images  of  Babylon"  (Jer.  L  2;  li.  52). 

From  this  time,  we  hear  of  no  great  Persian  expedition  into 
Greece ;  -but  soon  the  tide  of  war  flows  in  the  other  direction,  and 
Greece  is  pouring  her  armies  into  Persia. 

The  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Xerxes  was  far  from  being  hon- 
orable to  him.  After  his  return  to  his  capital,  he  became  involved 
in  shameful  domestic  troubles,  which  could  be  terminated  only 
in  cruelty  and  blood.  When  these  were  at  length  adjusted,  he 
gave  himself  up  to  luxury  and  ease,  minding  nothing  but  the  grati- 
fication of  his  pleasures  and  lusts  ;  on  which  account,  one  of  his 
military  officers  conspired  against  him,  and  slew  him  in  his  bed. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  third  son,  known  in  history  as  Arta- 
xerxes  Longimanus.  He  was  called  Longimanus  on  account  of  the 
length  of  his  arms  and  hands,  with  which,  it  is  said,  he  could  touch 
his  knees  when  standing  upright.  He  was  the  great-grandson  of 
Cyrus.  The  incidents  of  his  reign,  with  the  distinguished  favor 
which  he  showed  to  the  Jews,  will  be  the  subject  of  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

THE    JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS. CONTINUED. 

THE  last  chapter  closed  with  some  account  of  the  reign  of 
Xerxes,  and  of  the  condition  of  the  Jews  under  his  government. 
'His  successor,  as  I  said,  was  his  third  son,  Artaxerxes  Longimanus, 
known  in  Scripture  as  Ahasuerus,  the  husband  of  Esther.*  Arta- 
xerxes had  great  difficulties  to  contend  with  in  the  beginning  of  his 
reign,  —  moire  especially  from  those  who  had  slain  his  father,  and 
from  his  eldest  brother,  the  governor  of  Bactria ;  but  by  his 
energy  and  wisdom  these  were  at  length  overcome :  after  which 
he  set  himself  to  reform  abuses  and  disorders  in  the  empire ;  to  call 
the  governors  of  the  provinces  to  an  account,  and  to  remove  such 
as  had  proved  themselves  unworthy.  By  these  means  he  not  only 
strengthened  himself  in  the  kingdom,  but  secured  the  affections 
and  confidence  of  his  subjects. 

In  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  when  his  government  was  firmly 
established,  he  appointed  a  solemn  festival  to  be  observed  in  his 
palace  for  the  term  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  days ;  and,  when 
these  were  ended,  he  made  another  for  the  j^&ojjle  that  were  in 
Shusan,  seven  days.  His  queen,  at  the  same  time,  made  a  like 
entertainment  in  her  apartments  for  the  women.  "  On  the  seventh 
day,  when  the  heart  of  the  king  was  merry  with  wine,  he  com- 
manded his  seven  chamberlains  to  bring  in  the  queen  with  the 
crown  royal  upon  her  head,  that  he  might  show  to  the  princes  and 
people  her  beauty."  But  the  fair  queen  resented  this  injunction, 
as  being  inconsistent  with  her  dignity,  and  unbecoming  the  modesty 
of  her  sex  :  she  would  not  come.  Upon  this  the  king  was  highly 
incensed,  and  called  around  him  his  wise  counsellors  that  he  might 

*  It  has  long  been  a  question  which  of  the  Persian  kings  was  the  husband  of  Esther.    I 
acquiesce  in  the  opinion  of  Prideaux,  Stackhouse,  and  some  others,  that  it  must  have  been 
Artaxerxes  Longimanus.  —  See  au  able  article  on  the  subject  in  the  Journal  of  Sacred  Litera- 
ture for  April,  1860,  p.  120. 
884 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  385 

confer  with  them  respecting  the  matter.  Believing  the  example 
of  disobedience  which  the  queen  had  set  to  be  one  of  dangerous 
influence  in  the  realm,  they  advised  that  she  should  be  forthwith 
deposed  and  divorced ;  that  she  should  come  no  more  into  the 
presence  of  the  king ;  and  that  her  royal  estate  should  be  given 
to  another  better  than  herself.  This  advice  was  accepted  of  the 
kino- ;  and  a  decree  Avent  forth  for  its  immediate  execution. 

The  disgrace  of  Queen  Vashti  prepared  the  way  for  the  elevation 
of  Esther,  whose  story  is  told  with  inimitable  beauty  in  the  book 
which  bears  her  name.  Her  Jewish  name  was  Hadassah  ;  but  her 
Persian  name  was  Esther.  She  was  instrumental,  as  we  shall  see, 
in  the  hand  of  God,  of  promoting  in  various  ways  the  interests  of 
her  people,  —  more  especially  of  delivering  them  from  a  threatened 
destruction,  and  of  effecting  the  ruin  of  their  proud  and  cruel 
enemy.  In  memory  of  this  deliverance,  an  annual  festival  was 
long  observed  among  the  Jews,  —  the  feast  of  Purim,  or  the  lots. 

In  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes,  Ezra  obtained 
of  him  and  his  counsellors  a  commission  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem, 
with  as  many  of  the  Jews  as  were  pleased  to  accompany  him,  with 
full  power  to  settle  the  State  and  reform  the  Church  of  Israel,  and 
to  govern  both  according  to  their  own  laws.  This  Ezra,  who  was 
a  priest  by  descent,  was  a  very  learned  and  holy  man.  He  was  a 
faithful,  useful,  and  divinely -inspired  man.  He  is  spoken  of  as 
"  a  ready  scribe  in  the  law  of  his  God." 

The  commission  which  he  received  from  Artaxerxes  is  given  at 
large  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Ezra.  It  is  certainly 
very  ample,  granting  every  favor  and  all  the  authority  Avhich  he 
could  desire.  He  was  authorized  to  take  with  him  any  number  of 
his  people  Avho  were  minded  to  go,  and  any  amount  in  gold  and 
silver,  and  in  vessels  for  the  house  of  the  Lord,  which  might  be 
contributed :  "  And  whatsoever  more  shall  be  needed  for  the  house 
of  thy  God,  bestow  it  out  of  the  king's  treasure-house.  I,  Arta- 
xerxes, do  make  a  decree  to  all  the  treasurers  that  are  beyond  the 
river  "  (the  Euphrates), "  that  whatsoever  Ezra,  the  scribe  of  the  law 
of  the  God  of  heaven,  shall  require  of  you,  it  be  done  speedily. 
And  thou,  Ezra,  according  to  the  wisdom  of  thy  God  which  is  in 
thee,  set  magistrates  and  judges  which  may  judge  all  the  people 
that  are  beyond  the  river ;  and  whosoever  will  not  do  the  law  of 
thy  God,  and  the  law  of  the  king,  let  judgment  be  executed 
speedily  upon  him,  Avhether  it  be  unto  death,  or  unto  banishment, 
or  to  confiscation  of  goods,  or  to  imprisonment  "  (Ezra  vii.  20-26). 

25 


386  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

From  the  purport  of  this  remarkable  decree,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  Ezra  was  in  high  reputation  at  the  Persian  court  for  integrity 
and  wisdom ;  otherwise  such  powers  and  largesses  had  never  been 
intrusted  to  him.  It  is  further  probable  that  the  hands  of  Mor- 
decai  and  Esther  were  in  the  thing  to  help  it  forward ;  because, 
without  such  intercessors,  it  would  hardly  have  been  thought  of, 
much  less  executed. 

Having  received  his  commission,  Ezra  commenced  his  journey 
from  Babylon  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  Jewish  month,  —  about 
the  middle  of  our  March.  He  halted  a  little  at  the  River  Ahava, 
in  Assyria,  till  the  rest  of  his  company  came  up  ;  when  in  a  solemn 
fast  he  commended  both  himself  and  them  to  the  protection  of  the 
Almighty.  They  then  set  forward  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem, 
where  they  all  safely  arrived  on  the  first  day  of  the  fifth  month ; 
having  been  just  four  months  on  the  journey. 

Arrived  at  the  temple,  Ezra  delivered  to  the  keepers  of  it 
the  gifts  and  offerings  which  had  been  made  by  the  king  and  his 
princes,  and  the  people  of  Israel  who  remained  in  Chaldtea,  amount- 
ing to  one  hundred  talents  of  gold  and  six  hundred  and  fifty 
talents  of  silver,  together  with  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  for  the 
service  of  the  temple,  of  exceeding  value.  He  then  entered  upon 
his  government  acccording  to  the  king's  decree,  and  continued  in 
it,  much  to  the  comfort  and  edification  of  his  people,  for  the  next 
thirteen  years. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  Dean  Prideaux  and  other  eminent  chronolo- 
gists,  that  the  seventy  weeks  of  Daniel,  at  the  close  of  which 
the  Messiah  was  to  be  cut  off,  had  their  beginning  with  the  above 
commission  to  Ezra,  which  was  given  in  the  seventh  year  of  the 
reign  of  Artaxerxes.  The  prediction  of  Daniel  is  in  the  following 
words  :  "  Seventy  weeks  are  determined  upon  thy  people  and 
upon  the  holy  city,  to  finish  the  transgression,  and  to  make  an  end 
of  sins,  and  to  make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  arid  to  bring  in 
everlasting  righteousness,  and  to  seal  up  the  vision  and  prophecy, 
and  to  anoint  the  Most  Holy.  Know  therefore,  and  understand, 
that  from  the  going-forth  of  the  commandment  to  restore  and  to 
build  Jerusalem  unto  Messiah  the  Prince  shall  be  seven  weeks 
and  threescore  and  two  weeks.  And  after  threescore  and  two 
weeks  shall  Messiah  be  cut  off,  but  not  for  himself ;  and  he  shall 
confirm  the  covenant  with  many  for  one  week,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  week  he  shall  cause  the  sacrifice  and  the  oblation  to  cease  " 
(Dan.  ix.  24-27). 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  387 

It  has  been  generally  understood,  that  m  these  seventy  prophetic 
weeks,'  or  four  hundred  and  nmety  days,  each  day  stands  for  a 
year;  so  that  the  whole  period  designated  is  four  hundred  and 
ninety  years.  Now,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  period  inter- 
vening between  the  seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes,  when  the  above 
commission  was  given  to  Ezra,  and  the  year  of  our  Lord's  cruci- 
fixion, is  precisely  four  hundred  and  ninety  years.*  I  make  this 
statement  concerning  the  time,  as  one  that  may  be  relied  upon, 
without  going  at  all  into  the  disputed  questions  respecting  the  true 
import  and  meaning  of  this  interesting  prophecy. 

It  would  be  needless  to  repeat  in  this  connection  the  story  of 
Haman's  defeat  and  Mordecai's  advancement,  and  the  deliverance 
of  the  Jews  from  impending  destruction  through  the  intercession 
of  Queen  Esther.  These  events  took  place  in'  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  years  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes.  For  a  narrative  of 
them,  I  refer  to  the  Book  of  Esther,  with  which  no  human 
account  of  the  matter  can  compare.  If  any  one  doubts  that 
"  pride  goeth  l)efore  destruction,  and  a  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall," 
or  doubts  as  to  the  odiousness  and  wretchedness  of  unsated  malice, 
env}',  and  revenge,  let  him  ponder  the  history  of  Haman  as  re- 
corded in  the  Scriptures. 

When  Ezra  arrived  at  Jerusalem,  he  found  the  people  much 
degenerated  and  corrupted,  and  much  in  need  of  a  thorough  ref- 
ormation ;  and  such  a  reformation  he  immediately  attempted. 
He  obliged  those  persons  who  had  connected  themselves  in  mar- 
riage with  the  people  of  the  land  to  put  away  their  strange  wives, 
and  conform  in  this  respect  to  the  law  of  Moses.  He  took  much 
pains  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  law ;  multiplying  copies  of  it, 
and  causing  it  to  be  read  and  expounded  on  great  public  occasions. 
By  degrees,  he  brought  the  Jewish  Church  into  an  outward,  visible 
state,  in  which  it  remained  to  the  coming  of  the  Saviour. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  important  work  which  he  accomplished. 
Being  an  inspired  man,  and  one  thoroughly  versed  in  the  sacred 
books,  he  was  led  to  collect  and  revise  those  holy  records,  and  give 
to  the  Church  a  correct  edition  of  them,  or  of  such  of  them  as  had 
then  been  written.  Some  of  these  books  he  wrote  himself;  and 
the  others  he  so  prepared  and  set  in  order  as  in  eifect  to  settle  the 
canon  of  the  Old-Testament  Scriptures.     He  settled  it  so  perfectly, 

*  Our  Saviour  was  cnicified  in  the  year  of  the  Julian  period  4746.  The  seventh  year  of 
Artaxerxes  was  the  year  of  the  Julian  period  4256.  The  difference  between  these  two  num- 
bers is  490. 


388  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

that  it  received  the  sanction  of  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles,  and 
has  been  accepted  by  Jews  and  Christians  in  all  periods  since.* 
This  was  the  great  work  of  Ezra's  life.  For  this  he  will  be  remem- 
bered in  gratitude  and  honor  so  long  as  the  Bible  is  read  or  the 
world  endures. 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  it  was  Ezra,  or  some  later  teacher, 
who  introduced  the  worship  of  the  synagogue  into  the  Church  of 
Israel.  It  is  very  certain  that  there  were  no  synagogues  in  the 
land  previous  to  his  time,  and  that  they  were  in  use  shortly  after 
his  death.  It  would  seem,  also,  that  they  must  have  been  of 
divine  institution,  or  they  would  not  have  been  frequented  and 
sanctioned  by  our  Saviour.  Neither  can  it  be  doubted  that  they 
were  of  great  advantage  to  the  Israelites,  tending,  as  they  neces- 
sarily must,  to  multiply  copies  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  to 
promote  a  better  understanding  of  them  among  the  people.  Pre- 
vious to  the  establishment  of  synagogues,  the  people,  having  no 
religious  worship  but  that  of  the  temple,  and  being  comparatively 
ignorant  of  the  law,  were  perpetually  running  into  idolatry.  The 
gods  of  the  surrounding  nations  were  a  constant  snare  to  them  ; 
but  after  the  introduction  of  sj^nagogues,  in  which  the  law  was 
read  and  explained  every  sabbath,  they  were  as  much  averse  to 
idolatry  as  they  had  been  before  addicted  to  it.  And  so  it  has  been 
with  the  Jews  ever  since :  they  have  fallen  into  other  great  sins ; 
but  with  the  worship  of  idols  they  have  not  been  chargeable. 

But  the  question  returns  as  to  the  origin  of  the  synagogues.  The 
Scriptures  do  not  acquaint  us  with  their  origin :  but  we  know  that 
Ezra  was  in  the  habit  of  reading  and  expounding  the  law  to  the 
people  ;  and  the  probability  is  that  the  synagogues  grew  up  from 
the  influence  of  his  example,  if  they  were  not  established  by  his 
direct  authority.  If  the  synagogue  Avas  of  divine  appointment,  it 
must  have  originated  with  some  inspired  man  ;  and  who  so  likely 
to  have  introduced  it  as  Ezra  ? 

Some  have  supposed  that  the  Hebrew  vowel-points  were  intro- 
duced by  Ezra,  and  that  they  are  of  equal  authority  with  the  sacred 
text ;  but  the  arguments  against  this  supposition  seem  to  me  con- 
clusive :  1.  The  copies  of  the  Old  Testament  made  use  of  by  the 
Jews  in  their  s>Tiagogues  have  ever  been  and  still  are  without 
the  points.     2.  The  more  ancient  various  readings  of  the  sacred 

*  Some  few  verses  in  the  Chronicles  and  in  Nehemiah  were  inserted  after  the  time  of  Ezra. 
With  these  exceptions,  he  may  be  said  to  have  settled  the  whole  canon. 


THE   JEWS   UNDER    THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  389 

text  have  respect,  all  of  them,  to  the  letters,  and  not  to  the  points  ; 
thus  showing  that  the  points  are  not  of  ,a  high  antiquity.  3.  We 
have  further  evidence  of  the  same  conclusion  in  the  fact  that  the 
ancient  Cabalists  derive-  none  of  their  mysteries  from  the  points, 
but  all  of  them  from  the  letters.  4.  If  we  compare  the  more  an- 
cient versions  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  Septuagint  and  the 
Chaldee  Paraphrases,  with  our  pointed  Hebrew  Bibles,  we  find 
that  they  do  not  always  agree ;  showing  that  the  authors  of  those 
versions  did  not  read  the  text  according  to*  the  present  punctua- 
tion. 5.  In  neither  of  the  Talmuds,  written  after  the  coming  of 
Christ,  is  any  mention  made  of  the  vowel-points  ;  as  there  certainly 
would  have  been,  had  they  been  in  existence,  and  of  authority, 
when  the  Talmuds  were  written. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  present  purpose  to  give  a  history,  or  to  de- 
tract from  the  importance,  of  the  Hebrew  vowel-points.  That 
they  are  of  essential  service  in  learning  and  using  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, both  Jew  and  Gentile  now  agree  ;  but  that  they  originated 
with  Ezra  or  with  any  other  inspired  man,  or  that  any  divine  au- 
thority is  to  be  attached  to  them,  cannot,  I  think,  be  maintained. 
They  probably  originated  with  the  Masorites,  or  Jewish  critics, 
long  after  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament  was  closed,* 

I  have  said  that  the  practice  of  publicly  reading  and  expounding 
the  law  commenced  with  Ezra.  This  led  to  the  setting  apart  of 
an  order  of  men  for  the  purpose.  Their  expositions,  accompanied 
often  with  traditionary  legends,  soon  came  to  have  authority ;  and 
an  antiquity  was  ascribed  to  them  to  which  they  had  no  claim. 
In  short,  we  have  now  arrived  at  the  period  when  the  oral  tradi- 
tionary law  began  to  appear ;  and  by  many  it  was  regarded  as  of 
equal  authority  with  the  written  law.  As  years  rolled  on,  the  tra- 
ditions were  multiplied  and  increased,  till,  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour, 
the  written  law  was  quite  obscured,  and  in  ^ome  instances  nulli- 
fied, by  them :  hence  we  hear  our  Lord  complaining  of  the  Phari- 
sees and  scribes  that  they  "  had  made  the  commandment  of  God 
of  none  effect  by  their  traditions  "  (Matt.  xv.  6). 

At  length,  the  traditions  became  so  numerous,  that  they  could 
no  longer  be  handed  down  orally :  they  were  committed  to  writ- 
ing, and  constitute  the  substance  of  the  Talmuds.  There  are  two 
Talmuds, — that  of  Babylon,  and  that  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  former  ten 
times  as  large  as  the  latter.    Each  Talmud  consists  of  two  parts,  — 

*  The  Hebrew  vowel-points  were  not  in  existence  in  Jerome's  time,  in  the  fourth  century.  — 
See  Schaff 's  Ecc.  Hist.,  vol.  iii.  p.  970. 


390  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  Mishna,  or  text,  which  is  much  the  same  in  both ;  and  the 
Gemara,  or  comments  of  the  rabbins  on  the  Mishna.  It  is  supposed 
that  the  Tahnuds  began  to  be  written  about  two  hundred  years 
subsequent  to  the  time  of  our  Saviour. 

That  Ezra  was  an  eminently  wise  and  good  man,  I  have  before 
remarked,  and  his  works  declare.  His  administration  was  one  of 
great  value,  not  only  to  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem,  but  to  the  whole 
Israel  of  God.  Few  men  have  ever  lived  to  whom  the  Church  is 
more  indebted  than  to  this  venerable  scribe  of  the  law.  Still  he 
seems  to  have  been  more  a  scholar  than  a  ruler :  at  any  rate,  he 
was  not  an  efficient  magistrate.  After  his  utmost  endeavors  to  re- 
form abuses  and  to  carry  forward  the  work  of  the  Lord,  irregu- 
larities crept  in  among  the  people ;  and  the  enclosing  and  fortifying 
of  the  city  was  not  accomplished.  This  is  evident  from  the  sad 
account  of  things  which  was  brought  to  Nehemiah,  then  in  Persia, 
and  which  led  to  his  appointment  as  successor  to  Ezra  in  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Nehemiah  was  a  Jew  whose  ancestors  had  formerly  lived  at  Je- 
rusalem ;  but  his  genealogy  is  not  given.  He  was  ndw  an  inhabit- 
ant of  Shushan,  the  royal  city  of  Persia ;  was  a  man  of  indomita- 
ble energy  and  profound  wisdom ;  was  the  possessor  of  great 
wealth ;  and  held  an  important  office  near  the  king.  While  in 
this  station  of  honor  and  influence,  he  learned  from  certain  Jews 
who  had  come  from  Jerusalem  that  his  brethren  there  were  in 
great  affliction  and  reproach  ;  that  the  walls  of  the  city  were  still 
broken  down  ;  that  its  gates  had  not  been  set  up  ;  and  that,  though 
the  temple  had  been  rebuilt  and  its  worsliip  estabhshed,  the  city 
remamed  comparatively  desolate. 

When  Nehemiah  heard  these  tilings,  he  "  sat  down  and  wept  and 
mourned,  and  fasted  certain  days,  and  prayed  before  the  God  of 
heaven."  He  resolved  at  the  same  time  that  he  woidd  apply  to 
the  king  for  permission  and  authority  to  repair  to  Jerusalem,  and 
set  up  its  gates  and  build  its  broken  walls.  Accordingly,  he  sought 
an  opportunity,  when  it  came  his  turn  to  wait  upon  the  king,  and 
when  Queen  Esther  was  sitting  beside  him,  to  present  a  petition 
to  this  effect ;  which  was  readily  and  liberally  granted.  A  royal 
decree  was  issued  for  rebuilding  the  walls  and  gates  of  Jerusalem  ; 
and  Nehemiah  was  sent  thither,  as  governor  of  Judoea,  to  put  it  in 
execution.  And,  to  do  him  the  greater  honor,  the  king  sent  a  guard 
of  horse  with  him  to  conduct  him  in  safety  to  his  province.  He 
also  wrote  letters  to  all  the  governors  beyond  the  Euphrates  to  aid 


THE   JEWS   UNDER   THE  '  MEDO-PERSIANS.  391 

him  in  liis  work,  and  to  the  keeper  of  his  forests  to  allow  him  as 
much  timber  out  of  them  as  he  should  need. 

Thus  commissioned  and  furnished,  Nehemiah  went  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, took  upon  him  the  administration  of  government,  and 
immediately  commenced  the  great  work  for  which  he  had  come. 
All  this  took  place  in  the  twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of  Arta- 
xerxes ;  and  from  this  time  the  civil  administration  of  Ezra  closed. 

No  sooner  had  the  Jews,  under  their  new  governor,  commenced 
repairing  the  gates  and  walls  of  their  city,  than  they  were  assailed 
by  their  old  adversaries  the  Samaritans,  and  by  the  other  surround- 
ing nations.  Prominent  among  tliese  were  Sanballat  the  Horonite, 
Tobiah  the  Ammonite,  and  Geshem  the  Arabian,  who  gave  them 
all  the  disturbance  in  their  power.  They  assailed  the  Jews,  not 
only  with  derision,  reproach,  deceit,  and  treachery,  but  with  threats 
of  force  and  violence  :  so  that,  while  a  part  of  the  people  labored  on 
the  wall,  another  part  were  under  arms  for  their  defence  ;  and  all 
had  their  arms  at  hand  to  repel  an  assault  if  one  should  be  made. 
In  consequence  of  the  excellent  arrangements  of  the  governor,  and 
the  diligence  and  perseverance  of  the  people,  the  wall  of  Jerusalem 
was  repaired  in  less  than  two  months ;  the  gates  were  set  up ;  and 
a  public  dedication  was  celebrated  with  great  solemnity  by  all 
the  Jews. 

Having  thus  accomplished  the  first  great  object  of  his  mission, 
Nehemiah  next  set  himself  to  ease  the  people  of  their  burthens, 
and  to  accomplish  all  necessary  reforms ;  in  which  good  work  he 
was  essentially  aided  by  the  counsel  and  co-operation  of  Ezra. 
Previous  to  this  time,  the  rich  among  the  Jews  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  exacting  usury  of  their  poorer  brethren,  and  of  oppress- 
ing them  in  various  ways  ;  so  that  many  had  been  constrained  to 
ahenate  their  possessions,  and  even  to  sell  their  children  into  servi- 
tude, to  procure  bread  for  the  support  of  themselves  and  families. 
Upon  hearing  these  things,  Nehemiah  was  resolved  to  correct  the 
evil  at  once ;  and  so,  having  called  the  people  together,  he  showed 
them  how  grossly  they  had  violated  the  law  of  God,  and  how  much 
their  oppressions  tended  to  provoke  his  wrath.  Whereupon  it  was 
resolved  by  the  whole  assembly,  not  only  that  these  odious  exac- 
tions should  cease,  but  that  full  restitution  should  be  made  to  the 
poor  of  all  that  had  been  taken  from  them. 

The  next  thing  projected  by  Nehemiah  was  to.  increase  the  popu- 
lation of  Jerusalem,  and  fill  it  up  with  houses  and  inhabitants;  for 
while  it  was  unfortified,  without  walls  and  gates,  few  had  been 


392  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

inclined  to  take  up  their  abode  there.  In  furtherance  of  this  object, 
he  first  prevailed  upon  the  rulers,  the  elders,  and  the  great  men  of 
the  nation,  to  build  themselves  houses  within  the  city ;  and  then 
others,  influenced  by  their  example,  voluntarily  offered  to  do  the 
same ;  and  of  the  rest  of  the  people,  every  tenth  man  was  taken 
by  lot,  and  obliged  to  come  and  settle  in  Jerusalem.  In  this  Avay 
the  city  was  soon  filled  with  inhabitants,  and  recovered  something 
of  its  ancient  greatness.  Herodotus,  speaking  of  it  shortly  after 
this  time  (under  the  name  of  Cadytis),  compares  it  with  Sardis, 
the  capital  of  Lesser  Asia. 

In  carrying  out  his  plans  as  to  the  settlement  of  the  country, 
Nehemiah  found  it  necessary  to  inquire  very  carefully  into  the 
genealogies  of  different  families,  that  he  might  know  from  what 
tribes  they  were  descended,  and  to  what  portions  of  the  country 
they  should  be  assigned.  With  characteristic  energy,  this  matter 
was  carried  through;  and  the  result  is  recorded  in  the  seventh 
chapter  of  Nehemiah. 

It  was  about  this  tiine  (under  the  direction  of  the  governor) 
that  Ezra  engaged,  more  publicly  and  formally  than  ever"  before, 
in  the  reading  and  exposition  of  the  law.  The  occasion  selected 
was  one  of  the  great  festivals,  which  occurred  in  the  seventh  month, 
when  all  the  people  were  assembled  at  Jerusalem.  The  reading 
was  continued  from  day  to  day  until  the  whole  was  read  and 
expounded  to  the  people.  In  the  words  of  the  sacred  historian, 
Ezra  and  his  assistants  "  read  in  the  book  of  the  law  distinctly, 
and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused  the  people  to  understand  the  read- 
ing" (Neh.  viii.  8). 

Nor  was  this  effort  of  the  excellent  governor  and  priest  without 
good  results.  The  people  were  greatly  affected  in  view  of  their 
transgressions :  a  day  of  fasting  was  observed  ;  a  public  confession 
of  sins  was  made  ;  and  reformation  was  promised.  A  solemn  cove- 
nant was  entered  into  by  the  whole  congregation  that  they  would 
abstain  from  those  particular  sins  into  which  they  had  more  scan- 
dalously fallen,  and  that  they  would  observe  the  law  of  God  in 
time  to  come. 

From  this  period,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  the  public  reading 
and  expounding  of  the  law  was  more  frequently  practised,  not  only 
on  the  great  festivals  at  Jerusalem,  but  in  the  cities  and  villages 
of  Judsea  and  Galilee ;  and  public  buildings,  or  spiagogues,  were 
ere  long  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  people  on  these 
occasions. 


THE    JEWS   UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  393 

When  Nehemiah  had  been  twelve  years  governor  of  Judsea,  he 
was  under  a  necessity  of  returning  to  the  Persian  court :  indeed, 
he  left  his  place  at  court,  in  the  first  instance,  under  a  promise  to 
return.  He  was  absent  from  Jerusalem  on  this  service  about  five 
years,  when  he  was  sent  back  with  a  new  commission  from  the 
Idng ;  and  by  this  time  his  return  was  greatly  needed,  since, 
during  his  absence,  some  flagrant  abuses  and  corruptions  had  been 
tolerated.  In  particular,  he  found  that  his  old  enemy,  Tobiah  the 
Ammonite,  had  allied  himself  in  marriage  to  the  family  of  the  high 
priest ;  and,  for  his  special  accommodation,  the  high  priest  had 
assigned  to  him  one  of  the  chambers  in  the  house  of  the  Lord. 
But  Nehemiah  was  not  long  in  removing  this  evil.  He  cast  forth 
at  once  "  all  the  household  stuff  of  Tobiah  out  of  the  chamber," 
and  commanded  that  it  should  be  cleansed,  and  restored  to  its 
former  use. 

Nehemiah  also  found,  that,  during  his  absence,  the  portions  of  the 
singers  and  Levites  had  not  been  given  them ;  so  that  they  had 
been  constrained  to  forsake  their  appropriate  employments  about 
the  temple,  and  seek  a  support  by  the  labors  of  the  field.  .This 
evil  also  was  soon  corrected.  Nehemiah  got  the  rulers  together, 
and  chided  them,  saying,  "Why  is  the  house  of  God  forsaken?" 
Under  his  vigorous  administration,  the  Levites  were  quickly  re- 
stored to  their  places;  and  the  tithes  of  corn  and  wine  and  oil 
were  duly  rendered. 

The  next  abuse  with  which  Nehemiah  grappled  was  the  viola- 
tion of  the  sabbath.  There  were  some  among  the  Jews  who  trod 
their  wine-presses  on  the  sabbath,  and  brought  sheaves  and  all 
manner  of  burthens  into  Jerusalem  ;  also  the  Tyrian  merchants 
brought  fish  and  all  kinds  of  ware,  and  sold  them  in  Jerusalem  on 
that  holy  day.  For  these  things  Nehemiah  sharply  reproved  the 
rulers  and  nobles  of  the  city,  saying,  "  Did  not  your  fathers  thus  ? 
and  did  not  our  God  bring  all  this  evil  upon  us  and  upon  this  city  ? 
Yet  ye  bring  more  wrath  upon  Israel  by  profaning  the  sabbath  " 
(chap.  xiii.  18).  From  this  time  Nehemiah  commanded  that  the 
gates  of  the  city  should  be  shut  the  evening  before  the  sabbath, 
and  that  no  secular  business  should  be  performed  either  within  the 
city  or  without  the  walls. 

At  the  same  time,  Nehemiah  discovered  that  many  of  the  Jews, 
and  some  even  of  the  priests,  had  corrupted  themselves  by  inter- 
marriages with  the  Philistines,  the  Moabites,  and  the  Ammonites. 
With  his  characteristic  energy,  he  attacked  this  evil  also,  and  had 


394  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  happiness  to  see  it  speedily  removed.  Those  who  had  taken 
strange  wives  were  obliged  either  to  put  them  away,  or  to  be  them- 
selves separated  from  the  congregation  of  the  Lord. 

Among  those  who  were  driven  out  from  the  congregation  was 
Manasseh,  one  of  the  sons  of  the  high  priest.  He  had  married  a 
daughter  of  the  notorious  Sanballat,  governor  of  Samaria,  and 
refused  to  put  his  wife  away.  "  Wherefore,"  says  Nehemiah,  "  I 
chased  him  from  me."  Manasseh  fled  to  Samaria,  carrying  with 
him  a  copy  of  the  book  of  the  law,  and  persuaded  Sanballat  to 
build  a  temple  for  him  on  Mount  Gerizim  after  the  same  pattern 
with  that  at  Jerusalem.  We  have  here  the  origin  of  the  Samari- 
tan Pentateuch,  and  of  the  worship  on  Mount  Gerizim,  Avhich  con- 
tinued until  after  the  coming  of  Christ.  We  have  also  one  of  the 
causes  of  that  inveterate  hatred  of  the  Samaritans  which  continued 
so  long  among  the  Jews. 

It  was  during  the  prevalence  of  those  corruptions  which  had 
crept  in  at  Jerusalem  during  the  absence  of  Nehemiah,  that  Mala- . 
chi,  the  last  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  made  his  appearance.  He 
does  not,  like  Haggai  and  Zechariah,  reprove  thie  people  for  neglect- 
ing to  build  the  fallen  temple,  but  for  neglecting  what  appertained 
to  the  true  worship  of  God  in  it.  In  short,  the  corruptions  which 
he  charges  upon  the  Jews  were  the  same  which  Nehemiah  under- 
took to  correct  on  his  return ;  which  leads  to  the  conclusion  that 
Malachi  must  have  lived  and  prophesied  in  these  days. 

How  long  after  this  Nehemiah  lived,  or  when  he  died,  we  are 
not  informed.  The  reformation  Avhich  he  so  happily  accomplished 
after  his  return  from  Persia  is  the  last  of  his  history  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge.  He  outlived  his  great  prince  and  patron, 
Artaxerxes ;  and  was  retained  in  office  by  Darius  Nothus,  his  son. 
Nehemiah,  Ezra,  and  the  prophet  Malachi,  —  fellow-laborers  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord  at  Jerusalem,  —  disappear  from  the  sacred  page 
together ;  and  with  them,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  names  in 
the  genealogies,*  the  canon  of  the  old  Testament  closes. 

I  need  not  here  speak  particularly  of  the  character  of  Nehemiah : 
this  is  best  known  from  his  works.  That  he  was  a  man  of  great 
firmness,  decision,  and  energy,  as  well  as  goodness,  —  "  a  terror  to 
evil-doers,  and  a  praise  to  them  that  do  well," — is  very  obvious  ; 
that  he  had  a  quick  insight  into  human  character,  and  much 
experience  and  wisdom  in  the  direction  of  public  affairs,  is  equally 
obvious.      In  short,  he  was  in  some   sense  a   model   magistrate^ 

*  See  1  Chron.  iii.  19-24;  Neh.  xii.  22. 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS.  395 

raised  up  and  qualified  for  the  particular  service  to  which  he  was 
called,  and  to  whom  his  nation  was  under  the  highest  obliga- 
tions. 

I  ought  to  say  a  word,  in  this  connection,  of  his  liherality,  his 
public  spirit.  During  the  whole  time  that  he  was  in  office,  he  sus- 
tained the  honors  of  it  with  a  princely  magnificence,  and  all  at  Ms 
own  personal  expeiise.  There  was  provided  for  his  table  daily,  as 
he  himself  tells  us,  "  one  ox  and  six  choice  sheep,  together  with 
fowls  and  wine ; "  yet  for  all  this  he  would  receive  no  salary  or 
support  from  the  people,  because  their  burthens  were  heavy  upon 
them  (Neh.  v.  18). 

Artaxerxes  Longimanus  (the  Ahasuerus  of  Esther)  reigned  over 
the  whole  Persian  Empire  forty-one  years.  His  administration 
was  in  general  peaceful  and  prosperous,  and  eminently  favorable 
to  the  Jews.  He  reconquered  the  Egyptians,  who  had  revolted 
from  him,  and  held  them  in  subjection  to  the  end  of  his  reign. 
Jle  succeeded  early  in  concluding  a  peace  with  the  Greeks,  which 
added  much  to  his  own  security  and  tranquillity.  During  the  lat- 
ter part  of  his  reign,  the  Peloponnesian  war  was  raging  in  Greece, 
which  furnished  sufficient  employment  for  that  restless  and  turbu- 
lent people,  without  turning  their  arms  '  against  the  Persians.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  Socrates  commenced  his  philosophical  career 
at  Athens,  and  that  Plato,  his  most  distinguished  pupil  and  fol- 
lower, was  born. 

Artaxerxes  was  succeeded,  after  some  petty  domestic  struggles, 
by  his  son  Darius  Nothus ;  of  whose  reign,  so  far  as  it  concerned 
the  Church  of  God,  I  shall  give  some  account  in  the  following 
chapter. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIAJTS    AND    GREEKS. 

THE  last  chapter  was  entirely  occupied  with  the  state  of  affairs 
among  the  Jews  during  the  long  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Longi- 
manus.  It  was  under  him  that  Jerusalem  was  rebuilt,  and  that 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  were  successively  appointed  to  be  governors 
of  Judsea.  With  the  closing  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Nehemiah,  the 
sacred  history  of  the  Old  Testament  ends.  Nehemiah  was  at  this 
time  an  old  man ;  and  the  probability  is  that  he  died  soon  after  at 
Jerusalem. 

After  him,  there  seem  not  to  have  been  any  more  governors  in 
Judaea.  This  country  was  annexed  to  the  province  of  Coelo-Syria, 
and  was  subject  to  its  prefect,  who  resided  at  Damascus.  The 
chief  ruler  at  Jerusalem,  in  affairs  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  was  the 
high  priest. 

During  the  government  of  Nehemiah,  Eliashib  was  high  priest. 
He  was  grandson  of  Joshua,  who  came  with  the  first  company  of 
exiles  from  Babylon.  He  was  succeeded  in  office  by  his  son,  Joia- 
da.  It  may  be  feared  that  neither  of  these  men  had  any  strict 
regard  for  the  religion  of  their  fathers ;  since  the  former  was  allied 
in  marriage  to  Tobiah  the  Ammonite,  and  prepared  for  him  a 
chamber  in  the  house  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  latter  was  similarly 
connected  with  Sanballat  the  Horonite,  as  stated-  in  the  last 
chapter. 

Darius  Nothus  was  now  on  the  throne  of  the  Persian  Empire. 
He  succeeded  in  quelling  revolts  and  rebellions,  and  in  keeping  his 
vast  empire  together.  By  aiding  the  Lacedsemonians,  he  enabled 
them  to  overcome  the  Athenians,  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  war;  but  this  only  left  the  Lacedsemonians  at  liberty  to. 
invade  the  Persian  provinces  in  Asia,  whereby  great  injury  accrued 
both  to  the  king  and  his  successors. 

Darius  died  after  a  reign  of  nineteen  years,  and  was  succeeded 

396 


THE   JEWS   UNDER   THE   MEDO-PERSIANS   AND   GREEKS.      397 

by  his  son,  Artaxerxes  Mnemon.  Mnemon  had  a  younger  brother, 
whose  name  was  Cyrus,  who  governed  the  provinces  of  Lesser 
Asia.  Cyrus  raised  a  great  army,  composed  in  part  of  Greeks,  and 
marched  into  Persia  for  the  purpose  of  driving  his  brother  from 
the  throne.  They  came  to  a  battle  on  the  plains  of  Cunaxa,  near 
Babylon,  where  Cyrus  was  slain.  The  Greeks  who  accompanied 
him,  under  the  direction  of  Xenophon,  effected  a  retreat  of  more 
than  two  thousand  miles,  —  the  longest  and  most  remarkable  that 
was  ever  made  through  an  enemy's  country.  This  expedition  and 
retreat  form  the  subject  of  Xenophon's  "  Anabasis."  The  "  Cyro- 
pedia  "  of  Xenophon  relates  to  a  very  different  person,  —  the  older 
Cyrus,  that  great  monarch  by  whom  Babylon  was  overthrown. 

The  reign  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon  was  long,  and,  on  the  whole, 
prosperous.  He  is  represented  as  a  mild  and  generous  prince,  who 
ruled  with  clemency  and  justice,  and  whose  name  was  revered  and 
honored  throughout  the  empire.  He  had  long  and  bloody  contests 
with  the  Greeks,  more  especially  the  Lacedaemonians,  who  harassed 
and  plundered  the  provinces  of  Lesser  Asia.  When  these  were 
quelled,  he  undertook  the  subjugation  of  Egypt,  which  had  been 
for  some  time  in  a  state  of  revolt ;  but  he  did  not  live  to  see  tliis 
object  accomplished. 

■  In  the  thirty-  fourth  year  of  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  Joiada,  the 
high  priest  at  Jerusalem,  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Jonathan, 
his  son.  This  Jonathan  was  a  man  of  blood  ;  for  when  one  of  his 
brothers  aspired  to  the  high  priest's  office,  and  undertook  to  drive 
him  from  it,  he  fell  upon  him,  and  slew  him,  in  the  inner  court  of 
the  temple.  By  this  murderous  act,  Jonathan  greatly  incensed  the 
governor  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  who,  in  punishment  of  it,  imposed 
a  fine  upon  the  temple.  He  condemned  the  priests  to  pay  him, 
for  every  lamb  they  offered  in  sacrifice,  a  tribute  of  fifty  drachms, 
which  is  about  eight  dollars  of  our  money. 

Artaxerxes  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-four  years,  forty-six  of 
which  he  had  reigned  over  the  Persian  Empire.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  cruel  and  wicked  son,  Artaxerxes  Ochus.  He  made 
his  way  to  the  throne  by  blood  ;  and,  when  he  had  secured  it,  he 
slew  most  of  the  members  of  the  royal  family,  without  regard  to 
age,  sex,  or  condition.  There  were  disturbances  in  the  provinces 
at  the  commencement  of  this  king's  reign  ;  but,  by  the  energy  of 
his  government,  these  were  ere  long  subdued,  when  he  bent  all 
his  force  for  the  reduction  of  Egypt.  With  this  view  he  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  his  army,  and  marched  in  person  into  Syria  and 


398  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Phoenicia.  He  inflicted  a  terrible  destruction  on  the  city  of  Sidon ; 
and,  because  he  suspected  the  Jews  of  favoring  the  Sidonians,  he 
had  a  quarrel  with  them.  He  sent  an  army  into  Judsea,  besieged 
and  took  Jericho,  and  made  many  of  the  Jews  captives.  A  part 
of  these  he  took  with  him  into  Egypt ;  and  a  part  he  sent  aAvay 
into  Hyrcania,  and  planted  them  on  the  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 
He  soon  effected  the  subjugation  of  Egypt,  and  drove  their  king, 
Nectanebus,  into  Ethiopia.  Tliis  king  was  the  last  native  Egyptian- 
that  ever  reigned  on  the  throne  of  Egypt.  From  that  time  to  the 
present,  Egypt  has  been  governed  by  strangers,  according  to  the 
prophecy  of  Ezekiel :  "  It  shall  be  the  basest  of  kingdoms  ;  neither 
shall  it  exalt  itself  any  more  among  the  nations ;  for  I  will  dimin- 
ish them,  that  they  shall  rule  over  the  nations  no  more  "  (Ezek. 
xxix.  15). 

After  the  reduction  of  Egypt  and  the  other  revolted  provinces, 
Ochus  gave  himself  up  to  his  pleasures,  spending  his  whole  time 
in  indolence  and  luxury.  He  was  poisoned  by  his  favorite  eunuch 
Bagoas,  and  died,  when  he  had  reigned  twenty-one  years. 

In  the  third  year'of  Ochus,  Alexander  the  Great  was  born, — 
he  who  was  destined  so  soon  to  effect  the  overthrow  of  Persia.  In 
the  eleventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Ochus,  Plato,  the  celebrated 
Athenian  philosopher,  died.  Seven  years  later  died  Jonathan,  the 
high  priest  at  Jerusalem :  he  was  succeeded  by  Jaddua,  his  son, 
who  is  the  last  of  the  high  priests  whose  names  occur  in  the  gene- 
alogies of  the  Old  Testament  (Neh.  xii.  11). 

After  the  death  of  Ochus,  Bagoas,  his  murderer,  placed  Arses, 
his  youngest  son,  upon  the  throne  ;  but,  being  offended  with  him, 
he  slew  him  when  he  had  reigned  only  two  years.  The  wretch 
now  gave  the  throne  to  Darius  Codomannus,  a  descendant  of 
Darius  Nothus,  but  not  a  son  of  the  late  king.  Not  finding  him 
so  obsequious  as  he  desired,  Bagoas  undertook  to  remove  him,  too, 
by  poison  ;  but  Darius,  being  advised  of  the  fact,  compelled  him 
to  drink  the  potion  himself.  In  this  way  he  destroyed  the  traitor, 
and  became  firmly  settled  in  the  kingdom.  Darius  is  represented 
as  of  an  imposing  stature,  of  great  personal  bravery,  and  of  a  mild 
and  generous  disposition.  In  ordinary  times,  he  might  have  reigned 
as  long  and  as  happily  as  any  of  his  predecessors ;  but,  having  the 
genius  of  Alexander  to  contend  with,  he  was  not  able  to  stand 
against  it. 

Shortl}^  after  his  father's  death,  Alexander,  being  now  about 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  was  appointed  generalissimo  of  all  the 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS    AND    GREEKS.     399 

Greeks  ;  and  each  of  the  (jrecian  cities  agreed  to'furnish  its  quota 
of  men  and  money  for  carrying  on  a  war  against  the  Persians. 
Thus  furnished,  this  brave  young  man  crossed  the  Hellespont  into 
Asia  in  the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Darius.  His  army  con- 
sisted, at  this  time,  of  only  thirty  thousand  men  ;  nor  had  he  the 
means  of  supporting  them  for  more  than  thirty  days.  Still  he 
was  not  discouraged  :  he  trusted  to  his  good  fortune  and  to  the 
providence  of  God  ;  and  Providence  favored  him  in  a  most  remark- 
able manner.  In  a  few  days,  he  gained  a  complete  victory  over 
a  Persian  army  five  times  as  great  as  his  own,  at  the  River  Granicus, 
which  put  him  in  possession  of  a  vast  amount  of  treasure  and  of 
all  the  provinces  of  Lesser  Asia.  In  the  year  following,  he  came 
to  the  still  more  decisive  battle  of  Issus,  in  which  he  defeated  an 
army  of  six  hundred  thousand  Persians,  and  left  a  hundi-ed  thou- 
sand dead  upon  the  field.  Darius  himself  hardly  escaped  ;  while 
his  camp,  his  baggage,  his  mother,  his  wife,  his  children,  all  fell 
into  the  enemy's  hands.  In  consequence  of  this  victory,  Damascus, 
with  its  immense  wealth,  came  into  possession  of  the  conqueror, 
and  with  it  the  entire  province  of  Syria- 
Alexander  now  bent  his  course  southward  in  the  direction  of 
Phoenicia  and  Egypt.  Most  of  the  cities  submitted  to  him  without 
a  struggle  :  but  the  siege  and  the  conquest  of  Tyre  cost  him  a 
great  effort  and  many  lives ;  and,  what  was  still  more  vexatious, 
it  retarded  him  for  months  in  his  career  of  blood. 

Tyre  having  fallen,  the  conqueror  next  turned  his  steps  towards 
Jerusalem.  The  Jews,  unwilling  to  forfeit  the  friendship  of  the 
Persians,  had  refused  to  grant  him  supplies  during  the  siege  of 
Tyre  ;  and  now  he  was  intending  to  punish  them  for  their  dis- 
obedience. But  God  interposed  in  a  most  remarkable  manner  for 
their  deliverance :  in  a  vision  of  the  night,  he  directed  Jaddua 
the  high  priest  not  to  fight  with  Alexander,  but  to  go  out  to  him 
in  his  pontifical  robes,  with  the  priests  following  him  in  their  proper 
attire,  and  all  the  people  in  white  garments.  Accordingly,  Jaddua 
prepared  to  do  as  he  was  directed.  The  next  day,  he  went  out  of 
the  city,  attended  by  the  priests  and  people  in  "k  long  and  sacred 
procession,  and  waited  in  the  most  solemn  manner  the  coming 
of  the  king. 

As  soon  as  Alexander  saw  him,  he  was  struck  with  a  profound 
astonishment  and  awe.  He  leaped-  from  his  chariot,  and,  rushing 
forward,  bowed  down  before  the  high  priest,  and  did  him  rever- 
ence, to  the  great  surprise  of  his  generals  and  of  all  who  attended 


400  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

him.  And,  when  he  was  inquired  of  as  to  the  reason  of  what  he 
had  done,  he  said  that  he  did  not  so  much  honor  the  priest  as 
tliat  Divine  Being  whose  priest  he  was  :  "  For,"  says  he,  "  when  I 
was  at  Dio,  in  Macedonia,  and  was  there  deliberating  with  ihyself 
how  I  shoukl  carry  on  this  war  against  the  Persians,  and  was  much 
in  doubt  as  to  the  issue  of  the  undertaking,  this  very  person,  and 
in  this  very  habit,  appeared  to  me  in  a  dream,  and  encouraged  me 
to  lay  aside  all  distrust  about  the  matter,  and  j)ass  boldly  over  into 
Asia,  promising  me  that  God  would  be  my  guide  in  the  expedition, 
and  give  me  the  empire  of  the  Persians.  Wherefore,  seeing  this 
sacred  personage,  and  knowing  him  to  be  the  same  that  appeared 
to  me  in  my  own  country,  I  feel  assured  that  this  present  war  is 
under  the  direction  of  the  Almighty,  and  that  he  will  conduct  it  - 
to  a  happy  issue."  Having  thus  said,  Alexander  kindly  embraced 
the  high  priest,  went  with  him  into  Jerusalem,  and  offered  sacrifices 
in  the  temple.*  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Jaddua  read  to  him 
those  portions  of  the  Book  of  Daniel  in  which  it  was  predicted 
that  the  Persian  Empire  should  be  overthrown  by  a  Grecian  king. 
By  these,  Alexander  was  still  further  assured  that  he  should  suc- 
ceed in  his  conflict  with  Persia  ;  and,  at  his  departure,  he  encour- 
aged the  Jews  to  ask  any  favor  of  him  which  they  desired.  Where- 
upon they  requested  that  they  might  enjoy  the  freedom  of  their 
country,  their  laws  and  religion,  and  be  exempted  every  seventh 
year  from  paying  tribute  ;  because  in  that  year,  according  to  their 
law,  they  neither  sowed  nor  reaped.  This  request  Alexander  very 
readily  granted,  and  treated  them  ever  afterwards  with  distin- 
guished favor. 

The  Samaritans,  seeing  how  kindly  the  Jews  had  been  treated, 
immediately  preferred  a  request  to  the  king  that  he  would  honor 
their  city  and  temple  with  his  presence,  and  exempt  them  also  from 
paying  tribute  every  seventh  year.  Alexander  did  not  absolutely 
deny  them,  but  deferred  the  consideration  of  their  case  until  his 
return  from  Egypt.  At  this  the  Samaritans  were  much  incensed ; 
and,  to  show  their  resentment,  they  rose  against  one  of  the  friends 
of  the  king  whom  he  had  made  governor  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  set 
fire  to  his  house,  and  burned  him  to  death.  When  Alexander 
returned,  he  took  exemplary  vengeance  upon  these  murderers,  and 
upon  the  Samaritans  generally.  Some  he  put  to  death ;  some  he 
exiled  into  Egypt ;  and  the  remainder  he  drove  from  Samaria  to 
Shechem,  where  they  builded  a  city,  and  where  their  descendants 

*  Josephus,  Autiq.,  book  ii.  chap.  8. 


THE    JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS    AND    GREEKS.      401 

still  reside.     Their  former  city  he  settled  with  Macedonians  :  their 
territory  he  gave  to  the  Jews. 

Alexander's  mission  into  Egypt  was  one  of  mingled  glory  and 
shame.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  the  subjugation  of  Egypt ;  indeed, 
it  could  hardly  be  called  a  subjugation  :  so  tired  were  the  Egyp- 
tians of  Persian  rule,  that  they  submitted  to  him  of  their  own 
accord,  and  even  ran  to  him  as  a  deliverer.  In  establishing  his 
authority  over  Egypt,  he  hardly  needed  to  strike  a  blow. 

But  Alexander  was  not  satisfied  with  the  possession  of  Egypt. 
In  the  pride  of  his  heart,  he  thought  to  be  deified  and  worshipped 
there  :  so  he  projected  a  journey  from  Mempliis  to  the  Temple  of 
Ammon,  situated  in  the  desert  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  off, 
and  bribed  the  priests  to  declare  him  a  son  of  the  god.  This  notion 
of  being  a  sort  of  demi-god  like  Bacchus  and  Hercules  seems  to 
have  possessed  him  ever  after,  and  was,  in  fact,  the  occasion  of  his 
ruin.  It  was  this  which  led  him,  like  Hercules,  foolishly  to  invade 
India,  and  more  foolishly  to  drink  himself  to  death  in  imitation 
of  Bac'chus. 

On  his, way  to  the  Temple  of  Ammon,  Alexander  observed  a 
place  over  against  the  Island  of  Pharos,  on  the  seacoast,  which  he 
thought  a  favorable  situation  for  a  new  city ;  and  there  he  caused 
to  be  built  Alexandria.  He  named  it  for  himself,  and  made  it  the 
future  capital  of  Egypt.  For  long  ages,  Alexandria  was  not  only 
the  grand  dep6t  of  European  commerce,  but  the  principal  seat  of 
learning  in  the  world.  At  present  it  is  a  poor  place,  remarkable 
chiefly  for  the  ruins  of  its  former  greatness. 

When  Alexander  had  settled  the  government  of  Egypt,  and 
disposed  of  all  things  according  to  his  will,  he  set  out  for  the  East 
in  pursuit  of  Darius.  The  two  armies,  with  their  leaders,  came 
together  beyond  the  Tigris,  not  far  from  the  site  of  ancient  Nine- 
veh. The  Persians  numbered  not  less  than  a  million,  while  the 
whole  force  of  Alexander  did  not  exceed  fifty  thousand  ;  yet  he 
had  no  hesitation  in  hazarding  battle,  and  that,  too,  on  an  open 
plain,  which  gave  great  advantage  to  the  Persians.  The  fortune 
of  the  day  was  soon  decided.  Darius  was  routed  and  defeated; 
and  the  whole  Persian  Empire,  to  the  utmost  extent  in  which  it 
was  possessed  by  Cyrus  or  by  any  of  his  successors,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Alexander.  And  herein  was  accomplished  what  had  long 
before.been  predicted  by  Daniel :  "  A  he-goat  came  from  the  west, 
on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  and  he  touched  not  the  ground ; 
and  the  goat  had  a  notable  horn  between  his  eyes.     And  he  came 

26 


402  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

to  the  ram  which  had  two  horns,  which  I  had  seen  standing  before 
the  river,  and  ran  unto  him  in  the  fury  of  his  power,  and  smote  tlie 
ram,  and  brake  his  two  liorns.  And  there  was  no  power  in  the  ram 
to  stand  before  him ;  but  he  cast  him  down  to  the  ground,  and 
stamped  upon  him :  and  there  was  none  tliat  could  deliver  the 
ram  out  of  his  hand"  (Dan.  viii.  5-7). 

Having  lost  the  battle,  Darius  fled  into  Media,  and  afterwards  into 
Bactria,  endeavoring  in  vain  to  raise  another  army ;  but  his  own 
followers,  becoming  weary  at  length  of  his  fallen  fortunes,  took 
his  life.  Alexander  shed  many  tears  over  his  dead  body:  he 
wrapped  it  in  his  own  cloak,  and  sent  it  to  Shushan  to  be  buried 
among  the  Idngs  of  Persia.  The  expenses  of  the  funeral  he  bore 
himself;  nor  did  he  cease  to  pursue  the  traitors  who  murdered 
Darius,  until  they  were  destroyed. 

I  have  no  occasion  to  speak  further  of  the  rapid  .marches  and 
flying  conquests  of  Alexander  in  the  East.  He  soon  made  himself 
master  of  all  those  wild  and  mountainous  regions  lying  north  and 
east  of  Persia,  penetrated  far  into  India,  and  returned  by  a  circui- 
tous route  to  Babylon.  He  seemed  rather  to  fly  than  to  march  ; 
and,  wherever  he  came,  the  terrified  nations  bowed  down  before 
him,  and  owned  him  as  their  lord :  so  remarkably  did  he  answer 
in  this  respect  to  Daniel's  prophetic  symbols  of  him,  —  a  he-goat 
coming  from  the  west,  and  7iot  touching  the  ground;  a  leopard, 
having  on  its  back  the  wings  of  a  fowl  with  wliich  to  fig  and  take 
the  prey  (Dan.  vii.  6  ;  viii.  5). 

While  Alexander  lay  at  Babylon,  he  was  constantly  projecting 
great  designs  for  the  future.  One  of  his  plans  was  to  prepare  a 
fleet  with  which  to  ^circumnavigate  the  African  continent,  and 
return  into  Greece  by  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  ;  another  was  to 
rebuild  the  ruined  Tower  of  Belus  and  the  city  of  Babylon,  and 
restore  both  to  more  than  their  ancient  splendor.  At  the  same 
time,  he  was  intent  upon  his  pleasures,  which  he  carried  to  the 
most  ruinous  excess.  He  often  spent  whole  days  and  nights  in 
drunkenness  and  debauchery,  drinking  quarts  and  (if  the  accounts 
are  to  be  credited)  gallons  at  a  sitting.  By  such  means,  he  brought 
on  a  fever  which  in  a  few  days  put  an  end  to  his  life.  He  feared 
not  to  meet  the  East  in  arms ;  but  its  vices  and  luxuries  destroyed 
him.  His  death  occurred  in  the  year  before  Christ  323,  when  he 
had  reigned  only  twelve  years  and  a  half. 

His  success  in  war  during  this  period  was  beyond  all  example. 
He  was  often  extravagant  in  his  plans,  and  rash,  almost  to  madness, 


THE   JEWS    UNDER    THE    MEDO-PERSIANS    AND    GREEKS.      403 

in  their  execution  ;  and  yet  none  of  tliem  failed.  He  seems  to 
have  been  raised  up  by  Providence  to  chastise  and  destroy  the 
guilty  nations  ;  and  most  remarkably  did  he  fulfil  his  destiny :  he 
subjected  all  to  his  sway,  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Ganges,  and 
from  the  unknown  regions  of  the  North  to  the  Indian  Ocean. 

After  the  death  of  Alexander,  there  was  great  confusion  among 
his  followers  about  the  succession.  At  length,  the  government  was 
settled  upon  his  idiot  brother  and  his  infant  son  ;  but  these  reigned 
only  in  name,  and  for  a  little  while  :  the  government  (what  of 
government  there  was)  was  really  in  the  hands  of  Alexander's  great 
military  leaders  ;  and  these  were  constantly  quarrelling  and  fighting 
among  themselves. 

During  these  commotions,  which  lasted  more  than  twenty  years, 
the  Jews  were  variously  and  often  painfully  affected.  In  the  fourth 
year  after  the  death  of  Alexander,  Jaddua,  their  high  priest,  died, 
and  Avas  succeeded  in  office  by  Onias,  his  son.  The  same  year, 
Jerusalem  was  besieged  by  Ptolemy  Soter,  who  had  been  consti- 
tuted governor  of  Egypt.  The  place  was  strongly  fortified,  and 
might  have  held  out  for  a  long  time  ;  but  Ptolemy,  knowing  the 
strictness  with  which  the  Jews  observed  their  sabbath,  made  choice 
of  that  day  in  which  to  attack  them  and  storm  their  city.  Having 
got  possession  of  Jerusalem,  he  was  at  first  inclined  to  treat  the 
inhabitants  with  rigor.  He  broke  down  their  walls,  and  removed 
not  less  than  a  hundred^  thousand  of  them  to  the  new  city  of 
Alexandria  in  Egypt :  hence  the  multitude  of  Jews  which  are 
known  to  have  dwelt  in  Alexandria  from  these  times  down  to  the 
age  of  the  apostles.  In  a  little  time,  the  heart  of  Ptolemy  began 
to  relent :  he  came  to  think  better  of  the  Jews,  restored  to  them 
their  privileges,  and  treated  them  with  much  favor.  He  was  not 
permitted,  however,  to  retain  permanent  possession  of  their  coun- ' 
tr3^  It  fell,  for  a  time,  under  the  power  of  Antigonus,  another  of 
Alexander's  generals  ;  on  which  occasion,  many  of  the  Jews  volun- 
tarily left  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  went  into  Egypt.  At 
length,  Ptolemy  succeeded  in  recovering  the  provinces  of  Syria 
and  Palestine,  and  in  attaching  them  to  his  dominions. 

After  a  long  period  of  confusion  and  bloodshed,  the  empire  of 
-Alexander  was  finally  divided  into  four  parts  ;  and  four  of  his  more 
distinguished  followers  assumed  the  title  of  kings,  and  reigned 
over  them.  Ptolemy  had  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  Palestine  ;  Cassander 
had  Macedon  and  Greece  ;  Lysimachus  had  Thrace,  Bythinia,  and 
some  other  provinces  in  North-western  Asia ;  and  Seleucus  had  all 


404  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  rest.  And  herein  was  fulfilled  several  of  Daniel's  most  remark- 
able predictions.  When  "  the  he-goat  had  waxed  very  great,  and 
was  strong,  the  notable  horn  between  his  eyes  was  broken  ;  and  for 
it  came  up  four  notable  horns  towards  the  four  winds  of  heaven." 
This  rough  goat,  we  are  expressly  told,  "  denotes  the  king  of 
Grecia ;  and  the  great  horn  between  his  eyes,  the  first  king.  Now, 
that  being  broken,  four  kingdoms  shall  stand  up  out  of  the  nation, 
but  not  in  his  power  "  (Dan.  viii.  8,  21).  We  have  the  same  events 
more  literally  predicted  in  another  place:  "A  mighty  king  shall 
stand  up,  that  shall  rule  with  great  dominion,  and  do  according  to 
his  will ;  and,  when  he  shall  stand  up,  his  kingdom  shall  be  broken, 
and  shall  be  divided  towards  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  but  not  to 
his  2)osterity^  nor  according  to  the  dominion  with  which  he  ruled  " 
(Dan.  xi.  3,  4).  It  is  remarkable  that  not  one  of  those  who  divided 
among  themselves  the  empire  of  Alexander  was  of  his  posterity  or 
kindred:  they  were  all  of  them  of  other  blood.  So  remarkably 
have  these  predictions  of  Daniel  been  fulfilled. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  Onias,  the  high  priest  of  the  Jews, 
died,  and  was  succeeded  in  office  by  his  son  Simon,  who,  on 
account  of  his  excellent  chai^acter  and  his  eminent  abilities  and 
holiness,  was  called  Simon  the  Just.  His  praises  are  devoutly  sung 
by  the  son  of  Sirach.  He  is  said  to  have  fortified  Jerusalem  and 
the  temple,  and  to  have  discharged  all  the  duties  of  his  high  office 
in  the  most  acceptable  manner.*  There  are  some  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament  —  &om.e  fragments  at  least —  which  could  not  have  been 
inserted  by  Ezra :  they  relate  to  events  which  occurred  after  his 
death.  The  genealogies  of  Zerubbabel  and  of  Joshua  are  carried 
down  to  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great  (see  1  Chron.  iii.  19-24  ; 
Nell.  xii.  10,  22).  The  Jews  have  a  tradition  (which  is  very  prob- 
able) that  these  names  were  inserted  by  Simon  the  Just :  if  so, 
to  him  belongs  the  honor  of  putting  the  last  finishing  touch  to  the 
canon  of  the  Old  Testament.  He  continued  in  office  only  nine 
years,  when  he  died,  and  Avas  succeeded  by  his  brother  Eleazer. 

Of  the  territories  assigned  to  the  four  kings  above  mentioned, 
those  of  Seleucus  were  much  the  largest,  extending  from  India  to 
the  Mediterranean  Sea.  He  built  many  cities,  the  principal  of 
which  were  Antioch,  situated  on  the  Orontes  in  Upper  Syria,  about 
twenty  miles  from  the  Mediterranean  ;  and  Seleucia,  on  the  Tigris, 
near  the  site  of  the  modern  Bagdad.  Antioch  soon  became  and 
long  continued  the  most  distinguished  city  of  Western  Asia.     It 

*  See  Ecclus.  chap.  1. 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE    MEDO-PERSIANS    AND    GREEKS.      405 

was  here  that  the  Syrian  kings  had  their  seat  of  empire  ;  here  the 
Roman  governors  afterwards  resided  ;  here  the  followers  of  Jesus 
were  first  called  Christians ;  and  here,  for  many  centuries,  was  the 
see  of  the  chief  patriarch  of  the  Asian  churches. 

Upon  the  building  of  Seleucia,  ancient  Babylon  became  almost 
entirely  deserted.  The  inhabitants  flocked  to  the  new  city,  which 
was  sometimes  called  New  Babylon  :  indeed,  from  this  time,  when- 
ever Babylon  is  spoken  of  as  an  inhabited  city,  whether  in  sacred 
or  secular  history,,  New  Babylon,  and  not  the  Old,  is  intended. 

Seleucus  was  a  firm  friend  and  patron  of  the  Jews.  He  ad- 
mitted them  into  all  his  cities,  and  granted  them  equal  privileges 
with  the  Greeks  and  Macedonians.  It  was  through  his  influence 
that  so  many  of  the  Jews  settled  in  Antioch  and  in  the  other  cities 
of  Western  Asia. 

From  the  time  of  the  captivity,  the  Jews  had  always  been  nu- 
merous in  the  East.  Notwithstanding  all  the  encouragement  given 
them  by  the  Persian  kings,  not  half  of  them  ever  returned  into 
Palestine.  They  were  of  great  service  to  Seleucus  in  his  wars  ; 
and  he  bestowed  upon  them  all  the  privileges  which  they  could 
reasonably  desire. 

The  Jews  of  Palestine  were  now  under  the  government  of  Ptol- 
em}^  king  of  Egypt ;  and  he  was  equally  favorable  to  them  in  his 
dominions  as  Seleucus  was  in  his.  They  had  special  privileges 
granted  to  them  at  Alexandria,  and  constituted  an  important  part 
of  the  population  of  that  great  city. 

In  the  year  283  before  Christ,  Ptolemy  Soter  died,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-four ;  having  governed  Egypt  from  the  death 
of  Alexander, — forty  years.  He  was  the  wisest  and  best  of  all  the 
Ptolemies,  and  left  an  example  of  prudence,  justice,  and  clemency, 
which  none  of  his  successors  cared  to  follow.  Before  his  death, 
he  had  admitted  his  son,  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  to  be  the  partner 
of  his  throne,  and  thereby  established  the  succession. 

The  famous  Alexandrian  Library  was  commenced  by  Ptolemy 
Soter.  It  was  greatly  increased  by  Philadelphus  and  his  succes- 
sors, until  it  numbered  at  length  seven  hundred  thousand  volumes. 
A  part  of  this  vast  library  was  destroyed  in  the  time  of  Julius 
Caesar  :  the  remainder  was  burned  by  the  command  of  the  caliph 
Omar,  A.D.  642.  His  reply  to  his  general,  who  inquired  of  him 
what  should  be  done  with  the  books,  was  as  follows :  "  If  their 
contents  agree  with  the  Koran,  we  have  no  need  of  them  ;  if  they 
disagree,  we  cannot  suffer  them :  therefore  let  them  be  burned." 


406  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

So  these  inestimable  treasures  of  ancient  learning  and  wisdom 
were  distributed  for  fuel  to  the  public  baths,  and  sufficed  to  heat 
all  the  baths  of  the  city  for  the  space  of  six  months. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  that  the  Greek 
version  of  the  Old  Testament,  commonly  called  the  Septuagint, 
was  commenced  at  Alexandria.  The  ancient  Jewish  legends  re- 
specting this  version,  —  such  as,  that  Ptolemy  sent  to  Jerusalem  for 
a  copy  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  for  six  learned  scribes  from  each 
of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  (making  seventy-two  in  all)  to  trans- 
late them  ;  that  these  were  secluded  in  distinct  cells,  on  the  Isle 
of  Pharos,  till  each  had  prepared  a  separate  version  ;  that,  on  com- 
paring these  versions,  they  were  found  to  agree  word  for  word 
with  each  other,  —  these  and  othei*  like  stories,  which  were  copied 
from  the  Jews  by  the  early  Christian  fathers,  and  on  account  of 
which  the  version  has  ever  since  been  called  the  Septuagint^  are 
deservedly  rejected  by  the  learned  of  the  present  day.  This  ver- 
sion, evidently,  was  not  all  made  at  once.  The  Pentateuch  may 
have  been  translated  for  the  use  of  the  synagogues  as  early  as  the 
reign  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  It  was  then  much  needed,  because 
the  Hebrew  languag  was  no  longer  understood  in  Egyj)t,  at  least 
by  the  common  people.  The  rest  of  the  Old  Testament  seems  not 
to  have  been  translated  until  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
when  the  Jews  were  forbidden  to  read  the  law  in  their  synagogues, 
and  commenced  reading  the  other  Scriptures. 

It  is,  moreover,  certain  that  tliis  translation  was  not  all  made  by 
the  same  hand.  The  differences  in  the  style  and  character  of  the 
translations ;  the  accuracy  with  which  some  of  the  books  are 
translated,  and  the  carelessness  and  inaccuracy  which  appear  in 
others,  —  are  full  proof  of  this. 

On  the  whole,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament  into  Greek  was  commenced  at  Alexan- 
dria as  early  as  the  days  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  and  that  in  a 
course  of  years  it  was  completed.  There  'can  be  no  doubt  that 
this  version  was  used  in  the  synagogues  of  Alexandria,  where,  as  I 
said,  it  was  now  needed ;  and  that  a  copy  of  it  was  deposited  in 
the  king's  great  library.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  version 
came  into  general  use  amons^  the  Jews  wherever  the  Greek  Ian- 
guage  was  spoken  ;  that  it  was  much  used  in  Palestine  in  the  days 
of  our  Saviour,  and  was  frequently  quoted  by  him  and  the 
apostles. 

As  to  the  origin  of  this  celebrated  version,  it  was  probably  made 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE   MEDO-PERSIANS   AND   GREEKS.      407 

by  learned  Alexandrian  Jews  in  Egypt,  and  from  some  authorized 
copy  which  was  there.  Why  should  the  king  send  to  Jerusalem 
for  a  copy,  when  there  were  doubtless  fifty  copies  in  Alexandria  ? 
or  why  should  he  send  to  Jerusalem  for  translators,  when  the 
scribes  at  Alexandria  were  much  better  qualified  for  the  work  than 
any  he  could  get  from  the  Holy  Land  ?  The  Greek  language  was 
vernacular  at  Alexandria ;  whereas  it  had  scarcely  begun  to  be 
spoken  at  this  time  in  Jerusalem. 

There  were  other  translations  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Greek, 
—  as  those  of  Aquila,  of  Theodotion,  and  Symmachus ;  but  these 
were  made  at  a  later  period,  and  were  never  regarded  as  of  equal 
authority  and  sacredness  with  the  Septuagint. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

THE   JEWS   UNDER   THE    KINGS    OF    SYPIA    AND    EGYPT. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter,  I  spoke  of  the  vast  empire  of  Alexander 
as  divided  among  four  of  his  great  generals,  who  governed  the 
different  parts  of  it  as  kings.  The  last  of  these  which  survived 
was  Seleucus.  He  reigned  over  all  the  East,  and  was  intent  on 
extending  his  empire  into  the  West.  While  on  his  way  to  invade 
Macedonia,-  he  was  treacherously  murdered  by  one  of  his  followers. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the  government  by  his  son  Antiochus,  com- 
monly called  Antiochus  Soter. 

Ptolemy  Philadelphus  still  reigned  over  Egypt  and  Palestine. 
In  the  year  274  before  Clii'ist,  he  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Romans ; 
and  the  Romans  the  next  year  sent  ambassadors  to  him.  This 
is  the  first  mention  we  have  of  the  Romans  as  concerning  them- 
selves with  the  affairs  of  the  East. 

Ptolemy,  that  he  might  advance  the  riches  of  his  kingdom,  con- 
trived to  direct  the  trade  of  the  East  from  its  accustomed  channels 
through  Tyre  and  Antioch,  and  bring  nearly  the  whole  of  it  to 
Alexandria.  For  this  purpose  he  established  a  port,  and  built  a 
city,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Red  Sea,  from  which  he  con- 
structed a  road  across  the  desert  to  the  Nile.  He  built  houses  of 
entertainment  on  the  way,  and  furnished  them  with  water  by  a 
channel  from  the  river.  In  this  way,  the  commerce  of  the  East, 
which  in  all  previous  ages  had  gone  through  Syria  and  Palestine, 
was  now  brought  directly  to  the  Nile,  down  which  it  floated  to 
the  great  city  of  Alexandria ;  and  in  this  channel  the  trade 
between  Asia  and  Europe  continued  to  flow  for  the  next  seventeen 
hundred  years,  —  until  a  better  route  was  discovered  by  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  age  of  the  Mishnical  doctors  (so 
called  from  their  love  of  tradition)  among  the  Jews.  The  first  of 
these  was  Antigonus  Socho,  who  was  president  of  the  Sanhedrim, 

'   408 


THE  JEWS   UNDER   THE   KINGS   OF   SYRIA  AND   EGYPT.     409 

and  teacher  of  tlie  law  at  Jerusalem.  Among  his  pupils  was  a  Jew 
named  Sadop.  Having  heard  his  master  often  insist  that  the  God 
of  Israel  should  not  be  served  from  mere  selfish  motives,  —  such  as 
the  love  of  reward,  and  fear  of  punishment,  —  Sadoc  came  at  last 
to  believe  that  there  are  no  rewards  or  punishments  beyond  the 
grave  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  there  is  no  future  life.  He  had 
many  followers,  particularly  among  the  higher  classes,  who,  taking 
their  name  from  him,  were  called  jSadduoees.  They  differed  from 
the  other  Jews,  not  only  in  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  immortality, 
but  in  discarding  all  tradition,  and  receiving  only  the  books  of 
Moses.  I  have  here  given  what  seems  to  me  the  most  probable 
account  of  the  name  and  origin  of  the  Sadducees.  I  hardly  need 
say  that  this  sect  of  liberalists  continued  and  flourished  till  the 
time  of  our  Saviour. 

In  the  year  261  before  Christ,  Antiochus  Soter  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Antiochus  Theos.  To  this  king,  Berosus, 
the  famous  Chaldsean  historian,  dedicates  his  history.  He  was  a 
priest  of  Belus,  and  lived  at  Babylon  in  the  days  of  Alexander. 
He  afterwards  rfesided  at  Cos  and  at  Athens,  where  he  wrote  his 
history  in  the  Greek  language.  The  entire  work  is  not  extant ; 
but  we  have  fragments  of  it  in  Josephus  and  in  Eusebius,  which 
shed  light  on  many  passages  of  the  Old  Testament.  At  the  same 
time,  also,  lived  Manetho,  the  historian  of  Egypt.  He,  too,  had 
been  a  priest  in  his  own  country.  His  history,  of  which  only  some 
extracts  remain,  was  written  in  Greek,  and  dedicated  to  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus. 

Between  Antiochus  Theos  and  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  there  were 
long  and  bloody  wars.  While  the  former  was  engaged  in  contend- 
ing with  the  latter,  his  eastern  provinces  —  nearly  all  beyond  the 
Tigris  —  revolted  from  him,  and  set  up  an  independent  government. 
As  he  was  not  able,  to  reduce  them,  a  commencement  was  made 
of  what  was  afterwards  the  Parthian  Empire. 

Antiochus  and  Ptolemy  died  the  same  year.  The  former  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  Seleucus  Callinicus ;  and  the  latter,  by  his  son 
Ptolemy  Euergetes.  These  two  princes,  like  their  fathers,  were 
almost  constantly  engaged  in  war,  in  which  Ptolemy  had  greatly 
the  advantage  of  his  rival.  He  carried  the  war  far  into  the  East ; 
and  might  have  entirely  overthrown  the  empire  of  Seleucus,  had 
he  not  been  summoned  home  to  suppress  a  revolt  in  Egypt.  On 
his  return  from  this  expedition,  he  brought  back  a  vast  amount  of 
treasure  ;  and  with  it  no  less  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  idols. 


410  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

which  in  former  times  had  been  carried  away.  All  these  he  re- 
stored to  the  temples  of  Egypt ;  on  which  account  he  received 
from  the  priests  the  cognomen  Euergetes^  the  Benefactor.  It  is  said, 
also,  that  on  his  return  he  visited  Jerusalem,  and  offered  sacrifices 
to  the  God  of  Israel  in  token  of  his  gratitude  for  the  victories  he 
had  gained  over  the  king  of  Syria. 

Seleucus  Callinicus  was  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  of  the 
Syrian  kings.  He  was  constantly  at  war,  and  almost  as  constantly 
defeated.  The 'very  elements  seemed  often  to  conspire  against 
him.  While  his  empire  was  gradually  diminishing  in  the  West, 
the  new  Partliian  kingdom  was  becoming  strong  in  the  East,  —  too 
strong  to  be  subverted  either  by  him  or  liis  successors.  In  his 
wars  with  the  Parthians  he  was  at  length  taken  prisoner,  and  died 
among  them. 

Meanwliile  Ptolemy  Euergetes  was  enjoying  peace  and  prosper- 
ity in  Egypt.  Like  his  father  and  grandfather,  he  was  the  patron 
and  promoter  of  learning.  He  gathered  around  him  learned  men, 
and  made  large  additions  to  the  royal  library  of  Alexandria. 

In  the  twenty -first  year  of  his  reign  he  had  a  quarrel  with  the 
high  priest  at  Jerusalem,  growing  out  of  the  failure  of  the  latter 
to  pay  the  customary  tribute.  The  priest  now  in  office  was  Onias 
II.,  a  son  of  Simon  the  Just ;  but  he  seems  to  have  been  the 
very  opposite  of  his  father  in  those  good  qualities  which  his  office 
required.  He  was  of  a  sluggish  temperament,  and  of  a  mean, 
sordid,  avaricious  spirit.  As  he  advanced  in  years,  his  covetous- 
ness  increased  upon  him,  till  at  length  he  withheld  the  twenty 
talents  which  was  required  to  be  paid  annually  to  the  king  of 
Egypt.  Upon  this,  Ptolemy  sent  an  officer  to  Jerusalem  to  demand 
the  money ;  threatening,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  invade  Judsea  with 
an  army,  and  dispossess  the  Jews  of  their  country.  In  this  emer- 
gency they  were  delivered  through  the  prudence,  the  energy  and 
perseverance,  of  a  young  kinsman  of  the  high  priest,  whose  name 
was  Joseph.  He  collected  the  tribute  which  had  been  kept  back, 
hastened  with  it  into  Egypt,  made  a  satisfactory  apology  to  the- 
king,  and  was  received  into  favor  with  him,  as  he  deserved. 

I  have  before  stated  that  the  unfortunate  Seleucus  Callinicus 
died  a  prisoner  among  the  Parthians.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
eldest  son  Seleucus,  who  took  the  name  of  Ceraunus,  the  Thunderer  ; 
but  never  was  such  a  title  less  deserved.  He  was  a  very  weak 
prince,  both  in  mind,  body,  and  estate  ;  and  accomplished  nothing 
worthy  of  notice.     Indeed,  he  reigned  only  two  years,  when  two 


THE  JEWS   UNDER  THE   KINGS   OF    SYRIA    AND   EGYPT.        411 

of  his  generals  conspired  against  liira,  and  cut  him  off.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  younger  brother,  known  in  history  as  Antiochus 
the  Great. 

The  following  year  (before  Christ  221),  Ptolemy  Euergetes  died, 
after  a  prosperous  reign  of  twenty-five  years.  He  was  succeeded 
by  his  profligate  and  wicked  son  Ptolemy  Philopator.  He  mur- 
dered his  mother  and  brother,  and  afterwards  his  wife  and  sister. 
His  reign  was  characterized  throughout  by  acts  of  barbarity, 
brutality,  and  wickedness.  There  were  long  wars  between  him 
and  Antiochus,  in  which  the  territory  of  the  Jews,  lying  as  it  did 
between  the  two,  suffered  repeatedly  and  severely.  In  the  year 
218  before  Christ,  Palestine  fell  into  the  hands  of  Antiochus-;  but 
the  next  year,  Antiochus  having  been  defeated  at  the  battle  of 
Raphia,  the  country  reverted  to  the  dominion  of  Egypt.  It  was  at 
this  time  that  Ptolemy  Philopator  came  to  Jerusalem.  He  took  a 
view  of  the  temple,  gave  gifts  to  the  priests,  and  offered  sacrifices 
to  the  God  of  Israel.  After  this,  he  insisted  upon  going  into  the 
temple,  —  even  into  the  holy  of  holies,  where  no  one  could  law- 
fully enter  except  the  high  priest,  and  he  only  once  a  year.  The 
high  priest  at  this  time  was  Simon,  son  of  Onias  II.,  and  grand- 
son of  Simon  the  Just.  He  did  what  he  could  to  dissuade  the 
king  ;  but,  the  more  he  was  opposed,  the  more  obstinate  he  became, 
until  he  had  pressed  into  the  inner  court  of  the  temple  ;  but,  on 
his  attempting  to  proceed  farther,  he  was  suddenly  smitten  with 
such  a  tremor,  with  such  terror  and  confusion  of  mind,  that  he 
fainted,  and  was  carried  out  of  the  place  in  a  state  of  insensibility. 
Upon  this  he  hasted  away  from  Jerusalem,  filled  with  wrath,  and 
uttering  the  most  terrible  threats  against  the  whole  nation  of  the 
Jews. 

On  his  return  to  Alexandria,  he  immediately  commenced  putting 
his  threats  into  execution.  He  first  degraded  the  Jews  of  Alexan- 
dria, and  deprived  them  (or  such  of  them  as  would  not  renounce 
their  religion)  of  the  privileges,  which,  from  the  first  founding  of 
the  city,  they  had  enjoyed.  He  next  commanded  that  all  the  Jews 
of  Egypt  should  be  brought  together  at  Alexandria,  and  shut  up 
in  the  hippodrome,  intending  there  to  expose  them,  for  his  own 
amusement  and  that  of  his  court,  to  be  destroyed  by  elephants ; 
but  when  the  elephants  were  brought  out,  —  having  been  mad- 
dened for  two  days  to  prepare  them  for  the  fray,  —  instead  of  fall- 
ing upon  the  defenceless  Jews,  they  turned  their  rage  upon  the 
spectators,  and  destroyed  many  of  them.     The  king  now  was  thor- 


412  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

ouglily  frightened :  he  dared  not  carry  out  his  threats  any  further, 
He  revoked  his  decrees  against  the  Jews,  restored  to  them  their 
privileges,  and  bestowed  upon  them  peculiar  favors.* 

Three  years  after  this,  the  people  of  Alexandria,  being  tired  of 
their  oppressions,  and  disgusted  with  the  abominable  government 
under  which  they  lived,  rose  in  arms  against  it.  In  this  rebellion, 
the  Jews  of  the  city  took  a  part ;  and  Eusebius  tells  us  that  no  less 
than  forty  thousand  of  them  were  slain. 

Ptolemy  Philopator  reigned  in  all  seventeen  years.  He  had 
naturally  a  robust  constitution,  which  was  thoroughly  worn  out  by 
his  intemperance  and  debaucheries  ;  and  he  died  at  the  early  age 
of  thirty-seven  :  so  true  is  it  that  "  the  wicked  are  driven  away 
in  their  wickedness,"  and  that  "bloody  and  deceitful  men  do  not 
live  out  half  their  days." 

His  successor  was  Ptolemy  Epiphanes,  a  little  son  only  five  years 
old.  But,  before  speaking  of  the  events  of  his  reign,  it  is  necessary 
that  we  turn  back,  and  give  some  account  of  Antiochus  the  Great. 
He  found  the  Syrian  Empire  in  a  state  of  great  weakness  and  con- 
fusion, curtailed  on  every  side,  and  apparently  tottering  to  its  fall ; 
but  by  the  energy  of  his  government,  and  the  success  of  his  arms, 
he  was  enabled  to  restore  it  almost  to  its  former  strength.  He  first 
established  his  authority  in  the  East,  and  (with  the  exception  of 
Parthia,  Bactria,  and  some  of  the  provinces  of  India)  recovered 
all  that  had  been  held  by  his  predecessors.  He  then  passed  into 
Western  Asia,  and  reduced  most  of  the  revolted  provinces  there. 
He  was  unfortunate  in  his  first  attempt  upon  Palestine  and  Egypt ; 
but  these  did  not  belong  properly  to  the  empire  of  his  fathers. 

In  the  year  195  before  Christ,  the  great  Carthaginian  general, 
Hannibal  (having  been  beaten  in  the  Second  Punic  War,  and 
being  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  Carthage),  threw  himself 
upon  the  hospitality,  and  implored  the  protection  and  friendship, 
of  Antiochus.  It  was  through  his  influence,  chiefly,  that  Anti- 
ochus was  induced  to  attempt  the  conquest  of  Greece,  and  to 
engage  in  war  with  the  Romans.  This  war,  though  undertaken 
by  the  advice  of  Hannibal,  was  not  prosecuted  according  to  his 
wise  suggestions.  It  proved  most  disastrous  to  Antiochus.  In 
his  encounters  with  the  Romans,  whether  by  sea  or  land,  he  was 
always  beaten.  They  drove  him  out  of  Europe,  took  from  him 
most  of  the  provinces  of  Lesser  Asia,  and  obliged  him,  on  settling 
a  treaty,  to  bear  all  the  expenses  of  the  war.    He  lived  but  a  little 

*  See  3  Mace,  chaps,  ii.-v. 


THE  JEWS    UNDER   THE    KINGS   OF   SYRIA   AND    EGYPT.        413 

while  after  this.  In  endeavoring  to  raise  money  with  which  to 
fulfil  his  treaty  with  the  Romans,  he  became  so  sacrilegious  and 
0]3pressive,  that  his  subjects  rose  against  him,  and  slew  him.  He 
is  represented  as  possessing,  according  to  the  standard  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived,  an  amiable  character.  He  was  mild,  humane, 
beneficent,  just ;  and,  until  his  last  unhappy  war,  was  almost  uni- 
formly prospered  in  his  undertakings.  He  died  in  the  year  187 
before  Christ,  and  left  his  throne  to  Seleucus  Philopator,  his  eldest 
son. 

We  return  now  to  the  affairs  of  Egypt.  I  have  said  that  Ptolemy 
Epiphanes  was  left  heir  to  the  throne  when  only  five  years  of  age. 
As  he  had  neither  father  nor  mother,  and  his  dominions  were 
menaced  on  every  side,  the  court  of  Egypt  sent  an  embassy  to  the 
Romans,  praying  them  to  accept  the  guardianship  of  their  king, 
and  a  regency  of  the  empire,  during  his  minority.  The  Romans 
readily  consented  to  the  proposal,  and  took  on  them  the  charge  of 
the  young  king.  Antiochus  had  before  this  marched  an  army  into 
Palestine,  and  taken  possession  of  it  the  second  time  ;  but  now 
an  army  of  Greeks  was  sent  there  to  recover  the  lost  province  to 
Egypt.  The  next  year,  Antiochus  took  possession  of  it  again  :  so 
that,  in  the  space  of  a  very  few  years,  Jerusalem  changed  masters 
no  less  than  four  times.  In  these  revolutions,  the  city  and  coun- 
try suffered  severely;  for,  with  every  change,  there  must  be  a 
repetition  of  carnage  and  plunder. 

At  this  time,  the  Jews  seem  to  have  become  tired  of  the  yoke 
of  Egypt.  They  preferred  the  rule  of  the  monarch  of  Syria :  he 
had  been  less  oppressive  in  his  government  over  them ;  and  then 
he  had  treated  their  brethren  in  the  East  with  distinguished  favor. 
Influenced  by  such  motives,  when  Antiochus  came  to  take  posses- 
sion of  their  country  the  third  time,  the  Jews  went  out  in  long 
procession  to  meet  him,  and  received  him  with  gladness  into  the 
city.  From  this  time,  the  land  of  Israel  continued  in  the  hands  of 
Antiochus  until  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  to  Ptolemy  Epipha- 
nes, when  it  was  voluntarily  given  back  to  Egypt  as  a  part  of  the 
dowry  of  the  youn^  princess.  This  transfer  took  place  in  the 
twelfth  year  of  the  reign  of  Ptolemy,  and  in  the  year  before 
Christ  193. 

It  was  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  Ptolemy  that  Antiochus  died. 
He  was  succeeded,  as  I  said,  by  Seleucus  Pliilopator,  his  eldest 
son.  He  was  obliged,  by  the  treaty  which  his  father  had  con- 
cluded with  the  Romans,  to  pay  them  a  thousand  talents  a  year 


414        •  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

for  twelve  years.  This  obligation  embarrassed  him,  and  led  him  to 
deal  more  hardly  by  his  people  than  he  would  otherwise  have  done. 
He  is  fitly  characterized  in  the  predictions  of  Daniel  as  "  a  raiser 
of  taxes"  (Dan.  xi.  20).  In  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  he  suc- 
ceeded (but  by  what  means  is  not  known)  in  getting  possession  of 
Palestine,  which  his  father  had  given,  with  his  sister,  to  Egypt. 
Under  his  government,  the  Jews  were  treated,  for  the  most  part, 
with  equity- and  kindness.  It  is  recorded  to  his  honor,  by  the 
writer  of  the  Second  Book  of  the  Maccabees,  that  "  the  holy  city 
was  inhabited  with  all  peace,  and  the  laws  were  kept  very  well, 
because  of  "the  godliness  of  the  high  priest,  Onias  III.,  and  his 
hatred  of  wickedness;"  while  "  Seleucus  himself,  out  of  his  own 
revenues,  bare  all  the  cost  belonging  to  the  service  of  the  sacri- 
fices "  (ghap.  iii.  1-3).  But  there  was  at  this  time  one  Simon, 
governor  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  who  had  a  quarrel  with  good 
Onias,  and  who,  to  injure  him,  made  report  to  the  king  that  there 
was  an  immense  treasure  laid  up  within  its  walls.  Seleucus  being 
poor,  and  the  Roman  tribute  pressing  heavily  upon  him,  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  of  seizing  this  wealth ;  and  he  despatched  his 
general-in-chief,  Heliodorus,  to  carry  it  away.  He  came  to  Jeru- 
salem, introduced  his  unwelcome  message,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  remonstrances  of  the  high  priest,  insisted  on  plundering  the 
temple ;  but  in  the  midst  of  his  sacrilege  he  was  met,  repulsed, 
and  stunned  by  a  most  terrific  apparition.  He  was  carried  stupe- 
fied and  senseless  from  the  temple,  and  Avas  recovered  only 
through  the  intercessions  of  the  high  priest  (see  2  Mace.  iii. 
24-36).  Not  long  after  this,  Seleucus  was  murdered  by  this  same 
Heliodorus,  when  he  had  reigned  only  twelve  years.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  brother,  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  in  the  year  before 
Christ  175. 

Ptolemy  Epiphanes  reigned  over  Egypt  twenty-four  years.  So 
long  as  he  was  under  tutors  and  governors,  the  affairs  of  the  king- 
dom were  managed  with  discretion  ;  but,  when  he  had  come  to  an 
age  to  take  the  government  upon  himself,  he  plunged  into  all  the 
evil  and  disgraceful  courses  of  his  father.  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  greater  tyrant  than  his  father,  —  so  much  so,  that  his  subjects 
twice  rose  upon  him,  and  in  the  second  instance  put  an  end  to  his 
life.  He  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  leaving  his  wife  (Cleo- 
patra, the  daughter  of  Antiochus  the  Great),  and  a  son  and  suc- 
cessor (Ptolemy  Philometor)  only  six  years  old. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  was  one  of  the  vilest  characters  and  most 


THE  JEWS   UNDER   THE   KINGS   OF   SYRIA   AND    EGYPT.        415 

cruel  persecutors  that  ever  sat  upon  a  throne.  He  was  no  sooner 
estabhshecl  in  the  kingdom  than  he  deposed  the  good  high  priest 
Onias,  and  sokl  the  office  (for  three  hundred  and  sixty  talents)  to 
his  unprincipled  brother  Jason.  Nor  did  this  satisfy  him  long  ;  for, 
only  tAvo  years  after,  he  sold  the  same  office  to  Menelaus,  a  younger 
and  still  more  wicked  brother,  for  three  hundred  talents  more.  In 
order  to  pay  the  debt  thus  contracted,  Menelaus  was'  under  the 
necessity  of  plundering  the  temple  ;  and  this  caused  a  tumult  at 
Jerusalem,  which  could  not  be  quieted  without  blood. 

A  quarrel  commenced  early  between  Antiochus  and  his  nephew, 
the  young  king  of  Egypt,  respecting  Palestine.  This  properly 
belonged  to  Ptolemy,  though  it  was  now  in  possession  of  Antiochus. 
Foreseeing  that  the  Egyptians  were  intending  to  claim  it,  Antio- 
chus commenced  a  war  upon  Ptolemy,  in  which  he  gained  several 
battles,  and  made  himself  master  of  nearly  all  Egypt  except 
Alexandria.  Indeed,  either  by  force  or  by  flattery,  he  obtained 
possession  of  the  young  king's  person,  and  had  him  with  him  at 
his  table  in  his  camp. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  Egypt,  a  report  came  to 
Jerusalem  that  Antiochus  was  dead  ;  which  caused  great  rejoicing 
among  the  Jews.  At  the  same  time,  Jason,  the  deposed  high  priest, 
came  to  Jerusalem  with  an  army,  that  he  might  crush  Menelaus, 
and  regain  his  office.  Antiochus,  hearing  of  these  things  in  Egypt, 
and  being  greatly  offended  that  the  rumor  of  his  death  should 
have  caused  so  much  exultation  among  the  Jews,  resolved  to  wreak 
his  vengeance  upon  them.  His  victorious  army  was  soon  before 
Jerusalem.  The  city  was  taken,  and  was  given  up  to  pillage  and 
slaughter.  Within  three  days,  forty  thousand  of  its  inhabitants 
were  slain,  and  as  many  more  were  sold  into  slavery.  Not  content 
with  this,  Antiochus  (under  the  guidance  of  the  traitorous  high 
priest  Menelaus)  forced  himself  into  the  recesses  of  the  temple, 
polluting  with  his  presence  even  the  holy  of  holies ;  and  that  he 
might  offer  the  grossest  insult,  not  only  to  the  people,  but  to  the 
God  of  Israel,  he  sacrificed  a  sow  on  the  altar  of  burnt-offering, 
and,  making  broth  of  a  portion  of  its  flesh,  sprinkled  with  it  the 
holy  place.  He  next  proceeded  to  plunder  the  temple  of  its  golden 
vessels  to  the  value  of  eighteen  hundred  talents,  and  made  off  with 
his  booty  and  his  army  to  Antioch. 

The  Alexandrians,  finding  that  Ptolemy  Philometor  was  not 
hkely  to  protect  them  against  the  intrusions  of  Antiochus,  took  a 


416  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

younger  brother  of  his  (known  in  history  as  Ptolemy  Physcon),. 
and  placed  him  on  the  throne.  When  Antiochus  heard  of  this, 
he  resolved  upon  a  second  expedition  into  Egypt,  —  professedly  to 
restore  Philometor,  but  really  to  subject  the  whole  kingdom  to 
himself.  When  the  Egyptians  knew  of  his  intentions,  they  sent 
at  once  an  embassy  to  the  Romans,  praying  them  to  interpose  to^ 
stay  the  ravages  of  Antiochus,  and  restore  peace  to  their  distracted 
country.  The  Romans  gladly  availed .  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  extend  their  influence  and  power  ;  and  their  ambassadors 
(at  the  head  of  whom  was  Caius  Popilius)  arrived  in  Egypt  just 
as  Antiochus  was  commencing  for  the  last  time  to  lay  siege  to 
Alexandria.  Seeing  Popilius  coming,  Antiochus  (who  had  known 
him  at  Rome)  put  forth  his  hand  to  embrace  him  as  an  old  ac- 
quaintance and  friend  ;  but  Popilius  withdrew  his  hand,  telling  him 
that  public  interests  must  take  the  precedence  of  private  friend- 
ships. He  immediately  handed  him  the  decree  of  the  senate,  re- 
quiring him  to  stay  all  further  proceedings  against  Egypt,  and 
withdraw  his  army  from  the  country.  Antiochus  hesitated,  and 
asked  time  for  consideration.  But  Popilius  replied,  that  the 
decision  must  be  made  upon  the  spot ;  and  then,  drawing  around 
him  a  circle  in  the  sand,  forbade  him  to  step  out  of  it  until  he  had 
settled  the  question  one  way  or  the  other.  The  proud  spirit  of 
Antiochus  was  compelled  to  yield.  He  dared  not  risk  a  quarrel 
with  the  Romans.  He  promised  to  raise  the  siege  of  Alexandria, 
and  to  withdraw  his  forces  out  of  Egypt. 

But  he  went  away  in  great  wrath  ;  and,  because  he  could  not 
punish  the  Egyptians,  he  determined  to  vent  his  spite  upon  Jeru- 
salem.    Accordingly,  as  he  passed  on  with  his  army  through  Pales- 
tine to  Antioch,  he  sent  Apollonius,  one  of  his  generals,  to  invest,, 
capture,  and  destroy  that  devoted  city. 

It  was  just  two  years  after  the  taking  of  the  city  by  Antiochus 
that  Apollonius  arrived  before  it  with  his  army.  He  concealed 
his  purpose  until  the  Jewish^sabbath  ;  when,  falhng  upon  the  un- 
suspecting and  defenceless  people,  he  slew  all  the  men  he  could 
find,  and  took  the  women  and  children  to  sell  them  into  slavery. 
After  this  he  plundered  the  city,  set  fire  to  it  in  several  places; 
demolished  the  houses,  and  broke  down  the  walls  ;  and  with  the 
ruins  which  had  accumulated  he  built  a  strong  tower,  high  enough 
to  overlook  and  command  the  temple.  Here  he  placed  a  garrison, 
and  furnished  it  with  abundant  provisions,  that  the  soldiers  might 


THE   JEWS    UNDER   THE   KINGS    OF    SYRIA   AND    EGYPT.       417 

guard  the  temple,  and  cut  off  all  who  came  there  to  worship.  From 
this  time  the  temple  was  entirely  deserted ;  the  daily  sacrifices 
were  omitted  ;  and  none  went  into  it  to  pay  their  devotions  for  the 
space  of  three  years  and  a  half. 

Nor  was  tliis  all  the  evil  which  now  befell  the  miserable  Jews. 
Upon  his  return  to  his  capital,  Antiochus  published  what  may  be 
called  in  modern  phrase  an  act  of  uniformity.  He  commanded 
all  people  throughout  his  dominions  to  renounce  their  former  rites 
and  usages,  and  conform  to  the  religion  of  the  State ;  and,  that 
his  decree  might  be  faithfully  executed,  he  sent  deputies  into  all 
the  towns  and  villages  of  the  empire  to  see  to  the  observance  of 
it,  and  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  new  religion  to  which  they 
were  required  to  conform.  This  decree,  to  be  sure,  was  couched 
in  universal  terms ;  but  then  it  was  known  to  be  designed  more 
especially  for  the  Jews.  The  king's  intention  was,  either  to  convert 
them  to  his  religion,  or  to  cut  them  all  off. 

The  deputy  who  was  sent  for  this  purpose  into  Judaea  was  re- 
solved to  execute  his  commission  thoroughly.  He  suppressed  all 
Jewish  festivals  and  observances,  forbade  the  practice  of  circum- 
cision, searched  out  and  destroyed  the  books  of  the  law,  shut  up 
the  synagogues,  and,  having  defiled  the  temple  in  every  part,  con- 
secrated it  to  Jupiter  Olympus.  He  set  up  an  image  of  Jupiter 
in  the  inner  court  of  the  temple,  and  built  an  altar  before  it,  on 
which  heathen  sacrifices  were  offered. 

A  portion  of  the  Jews,  and  nearly  all  the  Samaritans,  at  tliis 
time,  apostatized  from  thek  religion  :  for  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
Samaritans,  when  the  Jews  were  in  prosperity,  to  claim  connection 
and  favor  with  them  ;  but,  when  the  Jews  were  persecuted,  they 
would  disclaim  all  such  connection,  hoping  in  this  way  to  escape. 
There  were  those  among  the  Jews,  however,  and  they  were  not 
few,  —  in  the  deserts  and  mountains,  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth, 
— who  would  not  bow  the  knee  to  Baal.  Such  were  two  pious 
mothers  at  Jerusalem,  who,  having  lately  circumcised  each  of  them 
her  infant,  were  condemned  to  be  thrown  from  the  top  of  the  wall, 
with  their  murdered  children  hanging  about  their  necks  ;  such  was 
Salamona,  a  noble  Jewish  mother,  who,  with  her  seven  sons,  under- 
went a  most  terrible  death  rather  than  forsake  the  God  of  Israel 
(see  2  Mace.  vi.  7). 

It  was  just  at  this  awful  crisis,  when  the  people  of  God  and  the 
true  religion  seemed  likely  to   be  swallowed  up  together,  that 

27 


418  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  standard  of  revolt  was  raised  by  Matthias  and  his  valiant 
sons,  and  the  hour  of  Judah's  deliverance  came. 

"  The  mount  of  danger  is  the  place 
Where  we  shall  see  surprising  grace." 

But  this  brings  me  to  the  history  of  the  Maccabees,  of  which  I 
shall  treat  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 


THE    MACCABEES. 


IN  the  preceding  chapter,  we  traced  the  history  of  the  Jews  to 
the  time  of  their  deepest  depression  and  persecution  under 
Antiochus  Epiplianes,  when  their  city  was  deserted,  their  temple 
profaned,  the  holy  rites  of  their  religion  prohibited,  and  many 
of  the  pious  in  Israel  had  been  put  to  death.  As  the  deputies  of 
Antiochus  "  passed  through  all  quarters,"  searching  out  the  scat- 
tered people,  and  compelling  them  to  do  sacrifice  to  their  gods, 
they  found  at  Modin*  a  venerable  priest  named  Matthias,  a 
descendant  of  Asmonseus,  from  whom  the  family  are  sometimes 
called  Asmonaeans.  Matthias  had  seven  sons,  all  valiant  men,  who, 
like  him,  were  zealous  for  the  law  of  their  God.  The  deputy  at 
Modin  undertook,  first  of  all,  to  persuade  Matthias  to  lay  aside  his 
scruples,  and  conform  to  the  religion  of  the  king ;  urging  the 
influence  of  his  example  upon  others.  But  Matthias  declared  with 
a  loud  voice,  that  no  consideration  whatever  should  induce  him,  or 
any  of  his  family,  to  act  contrary  to  the  law  of  their  God  ;  and 
seeing  at  that  instant  a  recreant  Jew  presenting  himself  before  the 
heathen  altar,  and  preparing  to  offer  sacrifice  upon  it,  he  ran  upon 
him,  and,  in  the  heat  of  his  indignation,  slew  him.  He  next  fell 
upon  the  king's  deputy,  and,  by  the  help  of  his  sons,  slew  him  and 
all  who  attended  him. 

The  sword  of  revolt  was  now  fairly  drawn,  and  the  scabbard 
thrown  away.  Matthias  and  his  sons  retired  into  the  mountains, 
where  they  were  soon  followed  by  many  others.  Observing  that 
their  enemies  had  generally  taken  advantage  of  their  sabbath  to 
attack  and  destroy  them,  this  noble  band  of  fugitives  agreed  among 
themselves,  that  while  they  would  endeavor  always  to  keep  the 

*  A  town  north-west  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  tribe  of  Dan,  near  the  sea. 

419 


420  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

sabbath,   according   to   the  commandment,  they  would   have   no 
scruple,  if  assaulted,  in  defending  themselves  on  that  holy  day.         i 

Having  got  tggether  enough  followers  to  constitute  a  little  army, 
Matthias  and  his  sons  came  out  of  their  fastnesses,  and  went 
round  the  cities  of  Judah,  pulling  down  heathen  altars,  demolishing 
images,  circumcising  the  children,  and  destroying  apostates  and 
persecutors  wherever  they  could  be  found ;  and,  having  obtained 
copies  of  the  law,  they  set  uj)  the  worship  of  the  synagogues  as  it 
was  before.  But  Matthias,  bemg  an  old  man,  and  unable  to  endure 
this  kind  of  life,  expired  before  the  end  of  the  year.  As  he  lay 
dying,  he  called  his  sons  around  him ;  and  having  appointed  Judas 
to  be  their  captain,  and  Simon  their  chief  counsellor,  he  adjured 
them  to  stand  up  valiantly  for  the  law  of  their  God,  and  to  fight 
his  battles  against  their  persecutors.  Thus  saying,  he  gave  up 
the  ghost,  and  was  buried  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers  amid  the 
lamentations  of  the  faitliful  in  Israel. 

As  soon  as  the  funeral-rites  were  over,  Judas,  with  his  little 
army,  took  the  field.  Upon  his  standard  was  written  this  inspirit- 
ing motto.  Mi  OamoJca  Baalim  Jehovah,  —  "  Who  is  like  unto  thee 
among  the  gods,  Jehovah?"  (Exod.  xv.  11.)  The  first  letters  of - 
these  four  Hebrew  words,  Mem,  Kaph,  Beth,  Yod,  being  conjoined 
into  one  word,  make  Macahi :  hence  those  who  fought  under  this 
sacred  standard  were  called  Maccabees  ;  and  Judas,  their  captain, 
was  called,  by  way  of  eminence,  Judas  Maccabceus. 

Antiochus  was  at  this  time  celebratmg  games  at  Antioch,  after 
the  manner  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans ;  but  Judas  was  playing 
another  sort  of  game  in  Palestine.  He  was  marching  from  place 
to  place,  encouraging  and  delivering  the  faithful  people  of  God, 
cutting  off  idolaters  and  apostates,  and  destroying  so  far  as  possi- 
ble every  vestige  of  the  new  religion  ;  and  not  only  so,  he  was 
fortifying  the  towns,  establishing  garrisons,  and  making  himself 
strong  and  powerful  in  the  land.  Apollonius,  the  king's  heuten- 
ant,  hearing  of  liis  successes,  marched  against  him  with  a  great 
army;  but  Judas  met  him,  vanquished  him  in  battle,  and  took- 
much  spoil.  He  took,  among  other  things,  the  sword  of  Apollonius, 
which  he  himself  carried  ever  afterwards.  Another  of  Antiochus' 
generals  then  took  the  field  against  Judas,  followed  by  a  still  more 
numerous  army ;  but  they  met  the  same  fate  as  the  first.  Judas 
fell  upon  them,  slew  great  multitudes,  and  scattered  the  remnant 
to  the  winds. 

When  Antiochus  heard  of  these  disasters  in  Palestine,  he  was 


THE   MACCABEES.  421 

excited  to  the  intensest  indignation.  He  immediately  set  about 
collecting  a  vast  army  with  which  to  destroy  the  whole  nation  of 
the  Jews,  and  blot  out  the  remembrance  of  them  from  the  earth ; 
-but,  in  the  language  of  the  prophet,  "tidings  from  the  north  and 
from  the  east  troubled  him."  In  the  north,  the  king  of  Armenia 
had  revolted :  and  in  the  east  his  tribute  could  not  be  collected ; 
so  that  funds  for  the  sujDport  of  his  army  were  wanting.  In  this 
emergency,  the  long  concluded  to  divide  his  great  army  into  two 
parts.  With  the  one  part,  he  would  go  in  person  into  Armenia  and 
Persia ;  while  the  other  part,  under  Lysias,  his  chief  captain,  was 
to  defeat  and  exterminate  the  Jews. 

Lysias  was  not  slow  in  entering  upon  his  bloody  commission. 
Urged  on  by  the  king's  commandment,  he  set  forward  an  army  of 
forty  thousand  foot  and  seven  thousand  horse,  under  the  direction 
of  Nicanor,  one  of  his  lieutenants ;  intending  himself  soon  to  follow, 
should  it  be  found  necessary.  These  all  encamped  at  Emmaus, 
near  Jerusalem,  attended  by  thousands  of  Syrian  and  Phoenician 
merchants,  who  had  come  together  for  the  purchase  of  captives, 
which- they  supposed  would  of  course  be  taken  in  the  war. 

Judas,  although  he  could  not  muster  more  than  six  thousand 
men,  was  resolved  to  take  the  field,  and  fight  till  he  died  in  the 
service  of  God  and  his  country.  But,  first  of  all,  he  assembled  his 
forces  at  Mizpeh,  and  kept  a  day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayer, 
imploring  direction  and  strength  from  Heaven.  Then  he  made 
proclamation,  according  to  the  law,  that  all  those  who  that  year 
had  built  houses,  or  betrothed  wives,  or  planted  vineyards,  or  were 
dismayed  and  fearful,  might  depart.  In  consequence  of  this,  his 
army  of  six  thousand  was  reduced  to  three  thousand.  Still  this 
noble-hearted  man  was  not  discouraged  :  he  divided  his  little 
company  into  four  parts,  under  the  direction  of  his  brothers  and 
himself,  and  solemnly  waited  the  movements  of  the  enemy  and  the 
providential  direction  and  interposition  of  God.  In  these  circum- 
stances, he  learned  that  a  detachment  of  the  enemy,  under  Goro-ias, 
had  left  their  camp  in  the  night,  and  were  marching  round  secretly 
to  attack  him  in  his  rear :  whereupon  he  made  immediately  for 
the  deserted  camp,  took  it,  plundered  it,  and  set  it  on  fire.  The 
rest  of  the  Syrian  army,  under  Nicanor,  seeing  the  camp  of  Gorgias 
on  fire,  and  supposing  that  his  forces  had  been  captured  and 
destroyed,  fled  at  once  in  great  terror,  leaving  their  tents  also  to 
be  taken  by  the  Jews.  By  this  time,  Gorgias,  having  sought  in 
vain  for  Judas,  was  marching  back  to  his  own  place  ;  but  finding 


422  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

his  camp  destroyed,  and  the  rest  of  the  Syrian  army  fled,  he  fled 
also  in  great  amazement,  declaring  that  it  was  vain  to  fight  against 
the  God  of  Israel.  The  result  of  the  expedition  was,  that  Judas 
and  liis  company  took  the  whole  Syrian  camp,  with  a  vast  amount 
of  spoil  and  treasure,  slew  nine  thousand  of  the  enemy  on  the  field, 
dispersed  the  rest,  and  sent  most  of  the  merchants  into  captivity 
to  the  Jews,  who  had  come  there  thinking  to  make  captives  of 
them.  The  following  sabbath  was  kept  by  the  Jews  with  great 
rejoicing  ;  giving  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  God  for  their  wonder- 
ful deliverance. 

Greatly  strengthened  by  this  victory,  and  resolved  to  make  the 
most  of  it  in  his  power,  Judas  immediately  led  his  forces  across 
the  Jordan  to  attack  another  of  Antiochus'  generals  who  was  sta- 
tioned there.  Here  he  gained  another  battle,  and  left  twenty 
thousand  of  the  enemy  dead  upon  the  field. 

By  tliis  time,  Lysias,  who  had  not  yet  tried  his  fortune  in  Judsea, 
was  thoroughly  aroused.  As  speedily  as  possible,  he  mustered  an 
army  of  sixty  thousand  foot  and  five  thousand  horse,  and,  putting 
himself  at  the  head  of  it,  marched  into  the  land  of  Israel.  He 
pitched  his  camp  at  Bethsura,  a  fortified  town  lying  south  of  Jeru- 
salem, near  the  borders  of  Idumsea.  Here  Judas  met  him  with 
only  ten  thousand  men,  vanquished  him  in  battle,  slew  five  thou- 
sand of  his  soldiers,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight. 

Being  now  fairly  master  of  the  country,  Judas  proposed  to 
his  followers  that  they  should  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  purify  the  tem- 
ple, and  consecrate  it  anew  to  the  service  of  the  Lord.  On  coming 
to  the  holy  city,  they  found  every  thing,  as  they  expected,  in  a 
most  lamentable  condition.  The  walls  were  thrown  down,  the 
sanctuary  desolate,  the  altar  profaned,  the  gates  of  the  temple 
consumed,  the  priests'  chambers  demolished,  and  the  courts  about 
the  temple  grown  over  with  weeds  and  shrubs.  But  Judas  and 
his  company,  though  they  could  not  refrain  their  tears,  were  not 
men  to  be  discouraged.  They  immediately  set  about  repairing  the 
desolations,  and  cleansing  the  sanctuary.  They  pulled  down  the 
heathen  altars,  removed  and  destroyed  the  idols,  replaced  the  sacred 
vessels  which  Antiochus  had  carried  away,  rebuilded  the  altar  of 
the  Lord,  and  hung  up  a  new  veil  between  the  holy  and  most  holy 
place.  And,  when  every  thing  had  been  set  in  order,  they  ap- 
pointed a  day  on  which  the  temple  and  its  furniture  should  be 
consecrated  anew.  The  dedication  took  place  on  the  twenty-fifth 
day  of  the  ninth  Jewish  month,  Cisleu,  about  the  time  of  the  win-- 


THE   MACCABEES.  423 

ter  solstice,  — just  three  years  and  a  half  after  the  xiity  and  temple 
had  been  profaned  and  desolated  by  Apollonius.  The  solemnity 
continued  for  eight  successive  days  ;  and  an  annual  festival  in  com- 
memoration of  it  was  long  observed  among  the  Jews.  Tliis  Feast 
of  the  Dedication  our  Saviour  once  honored  with  his  presence  (John 
X.  22).  It  Avas  the  only  one  of  the  great  annual  festivals  which 
occurred  in  the  winter. 

When  the  Jews  had  recovered  and  purified  the  temple,  and  in- 
stituted anew  the  public  worship  of  God,  there  was  but  another 
thing  wliich  they  had  reason  to  desire  ;  and  this  was  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  tower  which  Apollonius  had  built,  and  garrisoned  with 
soldiers,  to  prevent  the  people  from  going  up  to  the  temple  to 
worship.  This  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  nor  was  Judas 
able,  either  by  siege  or  assault,  to  bring  them  to  surrender  :  where- 
fore he  built  walls  and  towers  round  about  the  temple,  and  placed 
soldiers  in  them,  that  they  might  defend  the  holy  places,  and  pro- 
tect the  priests  and  pious  worshippers. 

During  all  tliis  time,  Antiochus  was  in  the  East,  endeavoring  to 
collect  liis  tribute,  and  to  enrich  himself  from  the  plunder  of  tem- 
ples and  the  oppression  of  his  people.  When  he  heard  of  the 
exploits  of  Judas,  and  of  the  defeat  of  his  armies  in  Palestine,  he 
was  terribly  enraged.  The  furnace  of  his  wrath  was  kindled  seven- 
fold hotter  than  ever  before.  He  set  out  with  the  utmost  speed 
on  his  return ;  threatening,  as  he  hurried  on,  that  he  would  make 
Jerusalem  a  sepulchre  for  the  whole  Jewish  nation,  and  destroy 
them  to  a  man.  But,  while  thus  "  breathing  out  threatenings  and 
slaughter,"  the  judgments  of  insulted  Heaven  overtook  him.  He 
was  suddenly  smitten  with  an  incurable  disease  of  the  bowels,  and 
with  the  most  tormenting  anguish,  which  no  remedies  could  re- 
move or  abate.  Still  he  would  not  stop  in  his  career,  but  com- 
manded his  charioteer  to  drive  on,  that  he  might  the  sooner  be  in 
a  situation  to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  Jews.  In  a  little  time 
his  chariot  was  overset ;  and  he  was  so  sorely  injured,  and  so  ter- 
ribly diseased,  that  he  was  constrained  to  stop.  And  here  he  be- 
came, both  to  himself  and  to  all  around  him,  a  monument  of  the 
avenging  judgment  of  God.  His  sufferings,  both  of  body  and 
mind,  were  beyond  expression.  His  lower  extremities  became  pu- 
trid and  rotten,  filled  with  loathsome  vermin,  emitting  a  stench 
unendurable,  not  only  to  others,  but  to  himself.  At  the  same  time, 
his  imagination  was  haunted  with  horrid  spectres  and  apparitions, 
which  were  continually  reproacliing  him,  and  stkring  up  his  con- 


424  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

science  to  the  keenest  remorse.  He  was  brought,  at  length,  to 
confess  that  the  hand  of  an  offended  God  was  upon  hhn  for  what 
he  had  done  agamst  his  holy  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  against  the 
lives  of  his  faithful  servants.  He  deeply  lamented  his  cruel  perse- 
cutions, and  promised,  should  his  life  be  spared,  to  do  what  he  could 
to  make  reparation  ;  but  his  repentance  came  too  late.  God  would 
not  hear  him  ;  and  so,  after  languishing  for  a  time  in  these  unut- 
terable torments,  he  went  to  Ms  account  in  the  other  world,  hav- 
ing reigned  over  the  Syrian  Empire  eleven  years. 

Our  history  from  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great  has  been 
chiefly  confined  to  Syria  and  Egypt ;  and  that  for  two  reasons : 
first,  the  other  two  kingdoms  into  which  Alexander's  empire  was 
divided  became  ^  early,  to  a  great  extent,  merged  in  these  ;  and, 
secondly,  with  these  were  connected,  more  or  less,  the  destinies 
and  interests  of  God's  covenant  people.  The  Jews  during  all  this 
period,  though  considerably  dispersed  over  the  ancient  world,  had 
their  residence  chiefly  in  three  or  four  places,  —  such  as  Babylonia 
and  Antioch,  subject  to  the  Idngs  of  Syria  ;  Alexandria,  which  was 
in  Egypt ;  and  Palestine,  wliich  lay  between  the  two,  and  was 
subject  alternately  to  the  one  or  the  other. 

The  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  being  thus  intimately  connected 
with  the  Church  of  God,  we  might  expect  would  be  noticed  in  the 
language  of  prophecy  ;  and  so,  by  universal  consent,  we  find  them. 
There  is  not  a  more  remarkable  prediction  in  all  the  Bible  —  so 
remarkable,  that  infidels  have  often  alleged  that  it  must  have  been 
wiitten  subsequent  to  the  events  referred  to  —  than  that  relating 
to  the  kings  of  the  north  and  the  south,  or  (which  is  the  same)  of 
Syria  and  Egypt,  recorded  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Daniel.  Be- 
fore proceeding  further  with  our  history,  let  us  pause  a  moment,  and 
compare  these  predictions  with  the  facts  as  they  have  been  detailed. 
The  vision  of  which  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Daniel  forms  a  part 
was  seen  in  the  third  year  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  —  some  four 
hundred  years  previous  to  the  reign  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  The 
revealing  angel  commences  with  saying,  "  There  shall  yet  stand 
up  three  kmgs  in  Persia ;  and  the  fourth  shall  be  richer  than  they 
all,  and  by  his  strength  he  shall  stir  up  all  against  the  realm  of 
Grecia  "  (ver.  2).  The  three  Persian  kings  here  predicted  were 
Cambyses,  Smerdis,  and  Darius  Hystaspis.  The  fourth,  who  was 
to  be  richer  than  they  all,  and  who  was  to  stir  up  all  against  the 
realm  of  Grecia,  was  Xerxes  the  Great,  —  a  memorable  prediction, 
this,  of  his  most  unfortunate  expedition  into  Greece. 


THE  MACCABEES.  425 

The  mighty  king  who  was  to  stand  up  after  him,  as  predicted  in 
the  third  verse,  and  who  should  rule  with  great  dominion,  was 
Alexander  the  Great.  The  breaking-up  and  dividing  of  his  Idng- 
dom  unto  the  foui-  winds,  but  not  to  his  posterity  (ver.  4),  denotes, 
as  I  have  before  remarked,  the  sudden  death  of  Alexander,  and  the 
division  of  his  empire  to  his  four  great  generals,  —  Seleucus,  Ptole- 
my, Lysimachus,  and  Cassander. 

The  king  of  the  south,  who  shall  be  strong  (ver.  5),  is  Ptolemy 
Soter,  the  first  of  the  name  who  reigned  in  Egypt.  The  one  of 
his  (Alexander's)  princes  who  shall  be  "  strong  above  him,  and 
have  a  great  dominion,"  is  Seleucus  Nicator,  the  first  of  a  long 
succession  of  Syrian  kings,  whose  dominions  far  exceeded  those  of 
Ptolemy.  The  Idngs  of  the  north  and  the  south,  through  the  re- 
mainder of  the  chapter,  denote  the  successive  kings  of  Syria 
and  Egypt ;  the  former  lying  north  of  Palestine,  the  latter  south 
of  it. 

"  And  in  the  end  of  years  "  (i.e.,  in  process  of  time,  not  imme- 
diately), "they,"  the  kings  of  the  north  and  the  south,  "shall 
join  themselves  together;  for  the  king's  daughter  of  the  south 
shall  come  to  the  king  of  the  north  to  make  an  agreement  "  (ver. 
6).  After  long  wars  between  Syria  and  Egypt,  Ptolemy  Philadel- 
phus  gave  his  daughter  Berenice  iu  marriage  to  Antiochus  Theos, 
in  hope  of  putting  an  end  to  the  contests  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. "  But  she  shall  not  retain  the  power  of  the  arm  ;  neither 
shall  he  stand,  or  his  arm :  but  she  shall  be  given  up,  and  they 
that  brought  her,  and  he  that  begat  her,  and  he  that  strengthened 
her  in  these  times  "  (ver.  6).  When  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  was 
dead  (and  he  died  very  soon),  Antiochus  put  away  Berenice, 
and  took  again  his  former  wife  Laodice,  who  poisoned  her  husband, 
and  caused  Berenice  and  her  child  to  be  put  to  death.  Here, 
then,  is  the  death  of  Philadelphus,  who  brought  her,  begat  her, 
and  strengthened  her  ;  the  death  of  her  husband  who  received  her  ; 
her  own  death  ;  and  the  death  of  her  son,  who  was  the  intended 
heir  of  the  crown  of  Syria. 

"  But  out  of  the  branch  of  her  roots,"  or  from  the  same  root 
with  her,  "  shall  one  stand  up  in  his  estate  "  (ver.  7).  The  refer- 
ence here  is  to  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  brother  of  Berenice,  and  who, 
of  course,  sprang  from  the  some  root  with  her.  He  succeeded  his 
and  her  father  Philadelphus,  or  "  stood  up  in  his  estate."  To 
avenge  the  death  of  his  sister,  he  "  came  with  an  army,  and  entered 
into  the  fortress  of  the  king  of  the  north,"  and  prevailed  against 


426  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

liim.  On  his  return  into  Egypt,  he  carried  with  him,  in  the  very 
words  of  the  prophecy,  "  their  gods,  their  princes,  and  their  precious 
vessels  of  silver  and  gold"  (ver.  8).  Jerome  says  that  Euergetes 
brought  with  him  out  of  Syria  and  the  East  forty  thousand  talents 
of  silver,  and  twenty-five  hundred  statues  of  the  gods,  many  of 
which  were  Egyptian  idols  which  had  before  been  carried  into 
Syria.  "  And  he,"  says  Daniel',  "  shall  continue  more  years  than 
the  king  of  the  north."  Euergetes  outlived  Seleucus  Callinicus 
by  several  years. 

"  But  his  sons  shall  be  stirred  up,  and  shall  assemble  a  multitude 
of  great  forces  "  (ver.  10).  These  were  the  sons  of  Seleucus  Cal- 
linicus ;  viz.,  Seleucus  Ceraunus  and  Antiochus  the  Great.  "  And 
07ie  shall  certamly  come,  and  overflow,  and  pass  through :  then 
shall  he  return,  and  be  stirred  up,  even  to  his  fortress  "  (ver.  10). 
The  one  here  spoken  of  is  Antiochus  the  Great ;  for  Ceraunus  ac- 
complished very  little.  Antiochus  raised  a  mighty  arm}^  for  the 
invasion  of  Egypt,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  Pelusium.  Here 
Ptolemy  Philopator  made  a  truce  with  him  for  a  few  months.  At 
the  end  of  the  truce,  Antiochus  returned,  and  penetrated  to  Ra- 
■phia,  the  fortress  of  the  king  of  the  south.  "  And  the  king  of  the 
south  shall  be  moved  with  choler,  and  shall  come  forth  and  fight 
with  him :  and  he,"  the  king  of  the  north,  "  shall  set  forth  a  great 
multitude ;  but  the  multitude  shall  be  given  into  his  hand ; "  i.e.,  into 
the  hand  of  the  king  of  the  south.  "  And,  when  he  hath  taken 
away  the  multitude,  ...  he  shall  not  be  strengthened  by  it "  (ver. 
11, 12).  All  this  was  literally  fulfilled.  Ptolemy  defeated  Antio- 
chus at  Raphia,  and  took  and  destroyed  a  multitude  of  people. 
Still  he  was  not  strengthened  by  the  victory,  as  might  have 
been  expected.  He  made  peace  with  Antiochus  on  easy  terms, 
and  relapsed  into  liis  former  debauched  and  listless  course  of 
life. 

The  next  seven  verses  of  the  prophecy  relate  to  the  further 
proceedings  and  destiny  of  Antiochus  the  Great.  "  After  certain 
years,  the  king  of  the  north  shall  return  with  a  great  army  and 
with  much  riches  "  (ver.  13).  Some  fourteen  years  subsequent  to 
his  former  invasion,  after  he  had  gained  a  series  of  victories  in  the 
East,  Antiochus  did  return  for  the  conquest  of  Palestine  and  Egypt 
with  a  greater  army  than  before,  and  with  much  wealth.  "  And 
in  those  times  many  shall  stand  up  against  the  king  of  the  south  " 
(ver.  14).  Owing  to  the  feeble  and  wicked  government  now  ex- 
ercised in  Egypt,  many  did  rise  up  against  it.      The  provinces 


THE    MACCABEES.  427 

revolted  ;  there  were  insurrections  in  Egypt  itself :  the  king  of 
Macedon  entered  into  a  league  with  Antiochus  to  divide  the  em- 
pire of  Ptolemy  between  them.  "  Also  the  robbers  of  thy  people," 
or  among  thy  people,  "  shall  exalt  themselves  to  establish  the 
vision  "  (ver.  14).  The  prevailing  faction  among  the  Jews  broke 
away  at  this  time  from  the  dominion  of  Egypt,  and  placed  them- 
selves under  the  rule  of  Antiochus.  "  But,"  says  the  prophet, 
"  they  shall  fall  "  (ver.  14).  And  so  they  did;  for  no  sooner  had 
Antiochus  left  Palestine,  than  a  hired  army  of  Greeks,  under 
Scopas,  was  sent  by  Ptolemy  to  recover  the  country  and  Jeru- 
salem to  Egypt. 

"  But  the  king  of  the  north  shall  come,  and  cast  up  a  mount, 
and. take  the  most  fenced  cities  ;  and  the  arms  of  the  south  shall 
not  withstand ;  but  he  that  cometh  against  him  shall  do  according 
to  his  will,  and  none  shall  stand  before  him  "  (ver.  15,  16).  On 
hearing  of  the  success  of  Scopas,  Antiochus  very  soon  returned, 
recaptured  Palestine,  besieged  Scopas  in  Sidon,  and  took  him  ;  and 
none  was  able  to  stand  before  him.  "  He  also  shall  set  his  face 
to  enter"  Egypt  "with  the  strength  of  his  whole  kingdom" 
(ver.  17).  Antiochus  now  meditates  the  entire  subjugation  of 
Egypt.  But  for  some  reason  he  changes  his  plan,  and  enters 
into  a  pacification  ;  for  this  is  the  proper  rendering  of  the  next 
two  paragraphs.  Instead  of  trying  to  conquer  Egypt  by  force,  he 
plans  to  get  possession  of  it  by  treaty  ;  and  the  main  article  of  the 
treaty  is  next  indicated :  "  He  shall  give  him  the  daughter  of 
women,  corrupting  her  "  (ver.  17).  Antiochus  proposed  to  give  his 
daughter  Cleopatra  to  the  young  king  of  Egypt  in  marriage,  prom- 
ising to  bestow  upon  her  the  province  of  Palestine  as  her  dowry; 
but  all  this  he  did  with  a  corrupt  design,  expecting  through  his 
daughter's  infl.uence  to  make  himself  master  of  Egypt.  But  in 
this  he  was  disappointed  :  "  She  shall  not  stand  on  his  side,  neither 
before  him  "  (ver.  17).  After  her  marriage,  Cleopatra  preferred  her 
husband's  interests  to  those  of  her  father,  and  refused  to  carry 
out  the  plan  which  he  had  devised  for  her. 

"  After  this  shall  he  turn  his  face  unto  the  isles,  and  shall  take 
many ;  but  a  prince,  for  his  own  behalf,  shall  cause  the  reproach 
offered  by  him  to  cease  "  (ver.  18).  After  Antiochus  had  given  up 
his  designs  upon  Egypt,  he  turned  his  arms  against  the  Grecian 
isles,  and  took  several  of  them.  This  brought  him  into  conflict 
with  the  Romans  ;  and  the  Roman  generals  soon  caused  the  re- 
proaches which  he  had  uttered  against  them  to  cease.     They  beat 


428  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

him  at  every  point,  drove  him  out  of  Europe,  took  from  him  the 
provinces  of  Lesser  Asia,"  and  obUged  him  to  bear  all  the  expenses 
of  the  war.  "  Then  shall  he  turn  his  face  towards  the  fort  of  his 
own  land  ;  but  he  shall  stumble  and  fall,  and  not  be  found  "  (ver. 
19).  After  his  disgraceful  treaty  with  the  Romans,  Antiochus 
went  into  his  own  country  ;  and,  while  engaged  in  x^lundering  a 
temple,  he  was  killed  by  the  enraged  populace. 

"  Then  shall  stand  up  in  his  estate  a  raiser  of  taxes,"  &c.  (ver.  20.) 
Antiochus  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Seleucus  Philopator, 
a  weak  prince,  who  did  little  else  but  "  raise  taxes  "  and  collect 
tribute  to  pay  the  enormous  debt  which  his  father  had  contracted 
to  the  Romans. 

The  remainder  of  this  chapter,  or  at  least  the  greater  part  of  it, 
is  taken  up  in  predicting  the  character,  the  exploits,  the  persecu- 
tions, and  the  end  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  "  And  in  his  estate 
shall  stand  up  a  vile  person,"  &c.  (ver.  21.)  Antiochus  was  a 
younger  brother  of  Seleucus  Philopator,  and  succeeded  him.  He 
was,  indeed,  "  a  vile  person."  He  took  the  name  of  Epiphanes, 
Illustrious  ;  but  his  subjects  often  called  him  Epimanes  the  Madman. 
"  He  shall  come  in  peaceably,  and  obtain  the  kingdom  by  flat- 
teries "  (ver.  21).  There  were  several  aspirants  to  the  throne, 
among  whom  was  the  lawful  heir,  Demetrius,  son  of  the  former 
king  ;  but  by  flattering  the  court,  the  people,  and  some  of  the 
neighboring  princes,  Antiochus  succeeded  in  obtaining  peacefid 
possession  of  it. 

The  next  six  verses  (from  the  twenty-second  to  the  twenty- 
seventh)  contain  predictions  of  Antiochus'  two  first  successful 
expeditions  against  Egypt,  in  which  he  carried  the  war  to  the  very 
gates  of  Alexandria :  "  He  shall  stir  up  his  power  and  his  courage 
against  the  king  of  the  south  with  a  great  army  ;  and  the  king  of 
the  south  shall  be  stirred  up  to  battle  with  a  mighty  army ;  but 
he  shall  not  stand  "  (ver.  25).  "  With  the  arms  of  a  flood  shall 
they  be  overflown  from  before  him,  and  shall  be  broken  "  (ver. 
22). 

After  this,  Antiochus  entered  into  some  sort  of  covenant  or 
agreement  with  the  young  king  of  Egypt,  but  hypocritically^  deceit- 
fully;  hoping  in  this  way  to  get  possession  of  his  kingdom.  Hence 
it  is  said  in  these  vei^ses,  that,  "  after  the  league  made  with  him,  he 
shall  work  deceitfully  "  (ver.  23).  He  brought  over  to  his  interests 
some  of  the  household  of  the  king  of  Egypt ;  in  accordance  with 
which  it  is  said  in  the  prediction,  "  They  that  feed  upon  a  portion 


THE    MACCABEES.  429 

of  his  meat  shall  destroy  him  "  (ver.  26).  Antiochus  even  got  pos- 
session, in  some  way,  of  the  person  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  had 
him  with  him,  as  I  remarked  before,  in  his  camp  and  at  his  table. 
This  circumstance  is  also  noted  in  the  prediction :  "  They  shall 
speak  lies  at  one  table  ;  but  it  shall  not  prosper  "  (ver.  27). 

To  account  for  the  success  with  which  Antiochus  practised  his 
flatteries  and  falsehoods,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Ptolemy 
Philometor,  the  young  king  of  Egypt,  was  his  nephew,  his  own 
sister's  son.  After  having  tried  in  vain  to  extirpate  him  utterly, 
Antiochus  undertook  to  cajole  and  flatter  him,  and,  from  a 
pretended  concern  for  his  welfare,  to  get  possession  of  him  and 
his  kingdom. 

When  his  plans  had  been  fully  concerted,  Antiochus  returned, 
in  the  very  words  of  the  prophet,  "  with  great  riches  to  his  own 
land  "  (ver.  28).  And  what  does  he  do  on  his  way  thither  ?  "  His 
heart  shall  be  against  the  holy  covenant,  and  he  shall  do  exploits  " 
(ver.  28).  On  his  march  from  Egypt  to  Antioch,  the  kmg  came 
to  Jerusalem,  as  before  stated,  and  took  it.  He  slew  thousands  of 
the  Israelites,  forced  himself  into  the  recesses  of  the  temple,  sacri- 
ficed a  sow  on  the  altar  of  burnt-offering,  and  otherwise  defiled 
the  holy  place. 

"At  the  time  appointed,"  says  Daniel,  "he  shall  return,,  and 
come  toward  the  south ;  but  it  shall  not  be  as  the  former  or  as 
the  latter  "  (ver.  29).  This  relates  to  his  last  invasion  of  Egypt, 
which  was  very  different  in  its  results  from  either  of  his  former 
expeditions.  "  For  the  ships  of  Chittim  shall  come  against  him  : 
therefore  shall  he  be  grieved,  and  return  "  (ver.  30).  These  ships 
of  Chittim  are  those  which  brought  Popilius,  and  the  other  Roman 
ambassadors,  who  compelled  Antiochus,  much  to  his  grief  and  dis- 
appointment, to  raise  the  siege  of  Alexandria,  and  return  into  his 
own  land. 

We  have  before  seen,  that,  on  his  way  to  Antioch  at  this  time, 
Antiochus  despatched  Apollonius  to  Jerusalem,  again  to  vent  his 
rage  against  that  devoted  city.  All  this  is  very  distinctly  noted 
by  the  prophet :  "  He  shall  have  indignation  against  the  holy  cov- 
enant," and  "  shall  have  intelligence  with  them  that  forsake  the 
holy  covenant ;  "  i.e.,  with  the  renegade,  apostate  Jews.  "  And 
arms  shall  stand  on  his  part,  and  they  shall  pollute  the  sanctuary 
of  strength,  and  shall  take  away  the  daily  sacrifice,  and  they  shall 
place  the  abomination  that  maketh  desolate  ;  and  such  as  do  wick- 
edly against  the  covenant  shall  he  corrupt  by  flatteries  "  (ver.  30- 


430  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

32).  All  this  was  literally  fulfilled  in  the  sacking  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  temple  by  Apollonius,  as  before  stated. 

It  was  just  at  this  point,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  Maccabees 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  and  the  Jews  were  temporarily  de- 
livered. To  this  deliverance  there  is  a  reference  in  the  following 
verses :  "  The  people  that  know  their  God  shall  be  strong,  and 
shall  do  exploits  ;  and  they  that  understand  among  the  people  shall 
instruct  many  "  (ver.  32,  33).  The  Maccabees  "  were  strong,  and 
did  exploits  "  such  as  almost  no  other  military  leaders  ever  did. 

The  remainder  of  this  eleventh  chapter,  ov/ing  to  our  imperfect 
history  of  the  times,  is  not  of  so  obvious  interpretation  ;  yet  there 
are  passages  which  were  strikingly  fulfilled  upon  Antiochus.  Thus, 
while  he  was  meditating  a  more  terrible  infliction  upon  the  Jews 
than  any  they  had  before  suffered,  we  are  told  that  "  tidings  out 
of  the  east  and  out  of  the  north  shall  trouble  him :  therefore  he 
shall  go  forth  with  great  fury  to  destroy,  and  utterly  to  make  away 
many ;  yet  he  shall  come  to  his  end,  and  none  shall  help  him  " 
(ver.  44,  45).  These  tidings  related  to  the  revolts  in  Armenia 
and  Persia,  which  defeated  his  plan  of  going  at  once  and  in  per- 
son against  the  Jews.  While  prosecuting  his  designs  in  the  East, 
he  heard  of  the  successes  of  the  Maccabees  in  Palestine,  and  set 
out  in  great  wrath  and  fury  to  return.  But  now  the  vengeance  of 
insulted  Heaven  overtakes  him  :  he  comes  to  his  end,  and  there  is 
none  to  help  him. 

I  have  thus  detailed,  so  far  as  we  have  the  means  of  doing  it, 
the  fulfilment  of  this  remarkable  prediction.  It  is  so  remarkable, 
that  I  felt  justified  in  pausing  in  the  progress  of  our  history  for  the 
purpose.  We  know,  as  well  as  we  can  know  any  thing  on  the 
testimony  of  the  ancients,  that  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  was  written 
at  least  four  hundred  years  before  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
and  long  before  any  part  of  what  we  have  here  referred  to  was 
accomplished  ;  and  yet  with  what  wonderful,  circumstantial  ex- 
actness it  was  fulfilled  !  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  fulfilment 
would  appear  still  more  exact  if  we  had  the  history  as  accurately 
as  we  have  the  prophecy  ;  but,  as  it  is,  this  prediction  alone  is 
enough  to  confound  the  infidel,  and  to  vindicate  the  claim  of  the 
book  containing  it  to  its  place  among  the  oracles  of  God. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE    MACCABEES   TO   THE    DEATH    OF   JOHN    HYRCANUS. 

IN  our  last  chapter,  we  pursued  the  history  of  the  Jews  to  the 
death  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  I  spoke  of  the  rise  of  the  Mac- 
cabees and  of  their  astonishing  successes,  and  showed  how  re- 
markably one  of  the  last  predictions  of  Daniel  was  fulfilled  in  the 
kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Antiochus  Eu- 
pator,  a  child  only  nine  years  of  age.  By  his  will,  the  father  had 
intrusted  the  young  king  to  the  guardianship  of  Philip,  one  of  his 
most  faithful  servants,  who  hastened  to  Antioch  to  assume  the 
charge :  but,  when  he  arrived,  he  found  that  Lysias  had  already 
undertaken  that  office  ;  and  Philip,  being  too  weak  to  contest  the 
point  with  him,  fled  into  Egypt. 

Meanwhile  the  Maccabees  were  busy  in  Palestine  defending 
themselves  against  their  heathen  neighbors  the  Edomites,  Ammon- 
ites, and  Gileadites,  who  had  conspired  together  for  their  destruc- 
tion. Of  the  Edomites,  in  two  expeditions,  Judas  slew  not  less 
than  forty  thousand  men.  The  Ammonites,  under  Timotheus 
their  governor,  invaded  Judaea  with  a  very  great  army,  intending 
nothing  less  than  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Jews ;  but  Judas, 
having  commended  his  cause  to  God,  went  forth  to  meet  them, 
and  left  thirty  thousand  of  their  number,  horse  and  foot,  dead  upon 
the  field.  The  Gileadites  next  resolved  to  try  their  fortune  in  this 
war,  and  commenced  by  destroying  such  of  the  Jews  as  dwelt 
within  their  own  borders ;  but  Judas  hastened  to  the  relief  of  his 
brethren,  dispersed,  their  enemies,  and  slew  of  them  eight  thousand 
men.  At  the  same  time,  his  brother  Simon  was  sent  with  an  army 
into  Galilee  to  chastise  the  oppressors  of  God's  people  there. 

Lysias,  hearing  at  Antioch  of  these  successes  of  the  Jews,  thought 
it  time  for  him  to  interpose.  Wherefore,  getting  together  an  army 
of   eighty  thousand    men,  besides    horsemen  and   elephants,   he 

431 


432  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

pressed  into  Judaea,  threatening,  as  others  had  done  before  him, 
utterly  to  exterminate  the  Jews,  and  make  Jerusalem  a  habitation 
for  the  Gentiles.  He  encamped,  as  he  had  done  on  a  former  expe- 
dition, at  Bethsura,  a  strong  fortress  between  Jerusalem  and  Idu- 
msea ;  but  Judas,  notliing  daunted,  went  forth  to  meet  him,  slew 
eleven  thousand  foot  and  sixteen  hundred  horse,  and  put  the  rest 
of  his  great  army  to  flight.  Thus  humbled,  Lysias  was  willing  to 
give  peace  to  the  Jews.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  the  decree  of 
Epiphanes,  requiring  the  Jews  to  conform  to  the  religion  of  the 
Greeks,  was  wholly  rescinded,  and  they  were  permitted  to  hve. 
according  to  their  own  laws. 

But  the  peace  thus  established  was  soon  interrupted  by  the 
treachery  of  the  surrounding  tribes.  The  men  of  Joppa  rose  upon 
the  Jews  in  that  city,  and  threw  two  hundred  of  them  into  the 
sea.  To  chastise  them  for  this,  Judas  fell  upon  them  by  night, 
burned  their  shipping  and  their  fortifications,  and  slew  all  the  men 
of  the  city  that  could  be  found. 

He  was  next  drawn  quite  to  the  other  side  of  Palestine  to  the 
help  of  his  distressed  brethren  in  Gilead.  Here  he  encountered 
Timotheus  a  second  time,  who  had  now  collected  an  army  of  a 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  foot  and  twenty-five  hundred  horse 
to  oppose  him.  Judas  met  this  great  multitude  at  a  place  called 
Raphon,  on  the  River  Jabbok,  and  slew  of  them  thirty  thousand 
men.  In  another  engagement  with  the  remnant  of  the  same  army, 
he  slew  twenty-five  thousand  more.  On  his  return  to  Jerusalem, 
he  was  obliged  to  pass  through  the  city  of  Ephron,  where  Lysias 
had  a  garrison  of  soldiers.  He  desired  and  requested  that  he 
might  be  permitted  to  go  on  his  way  peaceably ;  but,  as  his  re- 
quest was  not  granted,  he  carried  the  place  by  assault,  slew 
twenty-five  thousand  of  the  inhabitants,  and  took  their  spoil. 
Arrived  at  Jerusalem  from  this  most  hazardous  but  triumphant 
expedition,  Judas  and  all  his  company  went  up  to  the  temple  and 
rendered  thanksgiving  and  praise  to  the  God  of  Israel  for  his  most 
merciful  interpositions  in  their  behalf. 

Judas  now  undertook,  for  the  second  time,  to  reduce  the  fortress 
of  Acra  at  Jerusalem,  —  the  same  which  ApoUonius  had  built  years 
before  to  overlook  and  command  the  temple  ;  but,  before  this 
could  be  accomplished,  Lysias  was  again  upon  him  with  an  army 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  horse  and  foot  and  thirty-two 
elephants,  attended  and  encouraged  by  the  presence  of  the  young 
king.     This  unwieldy  host  encamped  as  before  at  Bethsm-a,  where 


THE  MACCABEES  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  JOHN  HYRCANUS.   433 

Judas  fell  upon  them  by  night,  and  slew  four  thousand  of  them 
before  they  had  light  enough  to  see  where  to  oppose  him.  The 
next  day  the  two  armies  came  to  an  open  engagement,  in  which 
Eleazer,  one  of  the  brothers  of  Judas,  was  slain,  and  he  was  himself 
obliged  for  the  first  time  to  retreat.  He  fell  back  upon  Jerusalem, 
and  fortified  himself  within  the  precincts  of  the  temple.  Lysias  fol- 
lowed and  besieged  him ;  but,  before  the  fortresses  of  the  temple 
could  be  reduced,  he  was  summoned  to  Antioch  to  quell  a  for- 
-midable  insurrection  there.  When  about  to  withdraw  his  army 
from  Jerusalem,  he  renewed  his  former  treaty  with  the  Jews. 

The  ex-high-priest  Menelaus,  who  bought  the  office  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  and  who  had  been  the  cause  of  most  of  the  miseries 
which  the  Jews  liad  suffered,  was  present  with  the  Syrians  at  this 
time,  hoping  by  some  means  to  be  re-instated ;  but  Lysias,  who 
knew  his  character,  and  was  heartily  sick  of  the  conflict  which  he 
was  constantly  striving  to  foment,  seized  him  on  his  return  to  An- 
tioch, and  smothered  him  in  ashes,  —  a  kind  of  death  which  was 
inflicted  only  on  the  most  atrocious  criminals,  and  which  Menelaus 
richly  deserved.  The  pontifical  office  was  now  conferred  upon 
Alcimus,  a  man  scarcely  less  wicked  than  Menelaus  himself. 

But  the  end  of  Lysias,  and  of  the  young  king  whom  he  had  in 
charge,  was  now  come ;  for  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Seleucus  Philop- 
ator,  whom  Antiochus  Epiphanes  had  defrauded  of  his  right  to 
the  throne,  having  escaped  from  Rome,  where  he  had  long  been 
kept  as  a  hostage,  suddenly  made  his  appearance  in  Syria.  He 
pretended  that  he  had  been  sent  by  the  Roman  Senate  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  kingdom :  upon  which  the  court,  the  soldiers,  and 
the  people,  all  came  at  once  into  his  interest ;  and  Lysias  and  the 
young  king  were  slain. 

Demetrius,  who  took  the  name  of  Soter,  Avas  early  incited  by 
Alcimus,  the  wicked  high  priest,  to  renew  the  war  against  the 
Jews.  For  this  purpose,  Bacchides  was  sent  into  Judoea,  and  after 
him  Nica,nor,  an  old  adversary  whom  Judas  had  once  defeated. 
He  besieged  Jerusalem  and  the  temple,  and  uttered  blasphemous 
words  against  it,  threatening  to  pull  it  down,  and  build  a  temple  to 
Bacchus  in  its  place ;  but,  coming  to  a  battle  with  Judas,  Nicanor 
was  slain,  and  his  whole  army  routed.  So  entire  was  this  destruc- 
tion, that  the  writer  of  the  First  Book  of  the  Maccabees  says, 
"  There  was  not  a  man  of  the  army  left  to  carry  the  news  of  their 
defeat  to  Antioch." 

Shortly  after  this  victory,  Judas  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome,  pray- 

28 


434  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

ing  that  tlie  Jews  might  be  acknowledged  as  friends  and  allies  of 
the  Romans,  and  that  a  league  of  mutual  defence  might  be  estab- 
lished between  them.  The  ambassadors  were  favorably  received, 
and  the  request  granted ;  but,  before  tidings  to  this  effect  could 
reach  Jerusalem  or  Antioch,  Judas  Maccabseus  was  no  more.  Bac- 
chides  having  been  sent  a  second  time  into  Judoea  with  a  great 
army  to  avenge  the  defeat  and  death  of  Nicanor,  Judas  encoun- 
tered him  with  only  eight  hundred  men.  It  was  in  this  most 
unequal  and  desperate  conflict  that  he  lost  his  life.  His  body  was 
recovered  by  his  brothers  Jonathan  and  Simon,  and  honorably 
buried  in  the  sepulchre  of  his  fathers. 

Of  the  character  of  Judas  Maccabseus,  his  public  acts  are,  per- 
haps, the  best  expositors.  That  he  was  wise  in  council,  and  pow- 
erful in  action,  brave,  courageous,  and  all  but  invincible,  his  un- 
paralleled achievements  and  successes  declare  ;  but  he  possessed, 
we  think,  something  better  than  all  this.  He  had  a  steady  faith 
and  trust  in  God  ;  a  zeal  like  that  of  Phinehas,  his  great  progeni- 
tor ;  a  feeling  all  the  while  that  he  was  doing  the  Lord's  work, 
and  that  the  God  of  Israel  was  with  him.  It  M^as  this  which 
nerved  his  arm  for  the  deadly  conflict,  and  led  him  on  from  vic- 
tory to  victory.  It  will  be  said,  perhaps,  that  he  was  a  man  of 
blood  ;  and  so  he  was  :  but  then  his  wars  were  all  of  them  strictly 
defensive.  He  was  placed  in  circumstances  where  he  must  fight, 
or  die ;  and,  if  he  died,  to  all  human  appearance  the  cause  which 
he  supported  must  die  with  him.  His  battles  were  all  begun  with 
prayer,  and  ended  with  thanksgiving :  the  glory  of  his  achieve- 
ments he  felt  and  acknowledged  were  due  only  to  the  Lord.  In 
the  religious  aspects  of  his  character,  —  in  his  humble  prayer,  his 
dauntless  fortitude,  his  overcoming  faith,  and  his  devout  ascriptions 
of  thanksgiving  and  praise ;  in  the  manner  in  which  he  was  drawn, 
or  rather  driven,  into  the  field  of  conflict,  and  in  which  he  acquitted 
himself  there,  —  Judas  more  resembled  the  Puritan  Cromwell  than 
any  other  general  of  modern  times.  In  the  success  of  his  bat- 
tles, in  the  number  of  his  victories  against  overwhelming  odds,  he 
was  never  exceeded  by  any  warrior.  His  history  belongs  not 
merely  to  the  Jews,  but,  like  that  of  Moses  and  Joshua  and  David 
and  Nehemiah,  is  the  property  of  the  whole  Church  of  God. 

The  death  of  Judas  was  followed  with  great  distress  and  dis- 
couragement to  his  followers.  The  execrable  high  priest  Alcimus 
triumphed  everywhere,  and  many  of  the  Maccabseans  were  put  to 
death.     In  this  extremity,  those  of  them  which  remained  gathered 


THE  MACCABEES  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  JOHN  HYRCANUS.  435 

around  Jonathan  and  Simon,  the  surviving  brothers  of  Judas,  and 
placed  them  at  the  head  of  their  affairs.  In  the  first  year  of  Jona- 
than, which  was  160  before  Christ,  Alcimus,  the  great  troubler  of 
Israel,  died;  and  the  pontificate  remained  vacant  several  years. 
Demetrius  also  (influenced,  undoubtedly,  by  letters  from  Rome) 
withdrew  his  forces  from  the  country ;  and  the  land  had  a  season 
of  rest  and  peace. 

But,  as  in  times  of  old,  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  Israel  their 
heathen  neighbors  could  not  endure.  Filled  with  envy,  they 
ceased  not  to  tease  and  urge  the  king,  until  Bacchides  was  sent 
with  another  army  into  Judsea.  The  plan  was,  to  surprise  Jona- 
than and  his  followers,  and  cut  them  all  o&  in  a  single  night :  but 
Jonathan  had  timely  warning  of  the  plot ;  and,  falling  upon  the 
conspirators,  he  slew  the  most  of  them.  He  then  retired  to  one  of 
his  strong  fprtresses  in  the  wilderness,  where  he  so  wearied  and 
harassed  Bacchides,  that  he  was  glad  to  make  peace  with  him  on 
favorable  terms.  Bacchides  now  left  the  country,  heartily  sick  of 
this  kind  of  warfare,  and  declaring  that  he  would  never  more 
contend  against  the  Jews,  —  a  promise  which  he  faithfully  kept. 
Shortly  after  this,  Jonathan  established  himself  at  Michmash,  a 
little  way  from  Jerusalem,  where  he  judged  Israel  according  to  the 
law,  and  corrected,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  whatever  was  amiss  in 
Church  or  State. 

In  the  eighth  year  of  Jonathan,  an  impostor  calling  himself 
Alexander  Balas,  and  pretending  to  be  a  son  of  Antiochus  Epiph- 
anes,  made  an  attempt  upon  the  throne  of  Syria ;  and  so  strongly 
was  he  supported,  and  so  unpopular  had  Demetrius  made  himself 
with  his  subjects,  that  for  a  time  he  was  successful.  Alexander 
prevailed,  and  Demetrius  was  slain.  While  the  question  between 
them  was  pending,  both  kings  appealed  to  Jonathan,  and  made  to 
him  the  most  flattering  offers,  each  hoping  to  gain  him  over  to  liis 
own  party ;  but  Jonathan,  having  suffered  so  much  and  so  often 
from  Demetrius,  and  withal  having  no  confidence  m  his  promises, 
concluded  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  Alexander.  Nor  was  the  new 
king,  though  a  usurper,  false  to  the  engagements  which  he  had 
made.  He  constituted  Jonathan  high  priest  of  the  Jews ;  which 
office  continued  in  the  Asmonsean  family  till  the  time  of  Herod. 
He  also  clothed  him  with  purple,  and  caused  him  to  be  enrolled 
among  the  chief 'of  his  friends,  and  as  one  of  the  first  princes  of 
the  empire. 

In  giving  a  history  of  the  Jews  in  these  times,  we  must  not 


436  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

forget  the  large  body  of  tliem  who  dwelt  in  Egypt.  At  the  death 
of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  two  brothers,  Ptolemy  Philometor  and 
Ptolemy  Physcon,  were  contending  for  the  crown.  Philometor, 
the  eldest,  was  a  mild  and  amiable  but  unfortunate  prince ;  while 
Physcon  was  luxurious,  selfish,  debauched,  cruel,  and  altogether 
one  of  the  most  odious  characters  in  all  antiquity.  The  dispute 
between  them  was  referred  to  the  Roman  Senate,  who  concluded 
to  divide  the  kingdom,  giving  a  part  to  each.  Philometor  reigned 
at  Alexandria  and  in  all  Lower  Egypt,  —  the  part  which  was  most 
thicldy  settled  by  the  Jews.  Among  his  chief  counsellors  was  a 
Jew  named  Onias,  —  the  son  of  that  Onias  who  was  ejected  from  the 
pontifical  office  to  make  room  for  Jason,  and  afterwards  for  Mene- 
laus.  He  had  interest  enough  with  the  king  to  obtain  his  consent 
for  the  building  of  a  Jewish  temple  in  Egypt  very  like  to  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem.  This  was  situated  in  the  prefecture  of 
Heliopolis,*  about  twenty  miles  from  Memphis,  where  a  heathen 
temple  had  formerly  stood.  The  whole  province  was  thickly 
inhabited  by  Jews  ;  and  in  it  Onias  built  a  city,  calling  it  Onion, 
from  his  own  name.  In  this  Egyptian  temple,  divine  service  was 
celebrated  in  the  same  order  and  manner  as  in  the  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem for  more  than  two  hundred  years.  The  structure  was  finally 
demolished  by  the  command  of  the  Roman  emperor  Vespasian. 

Alexander  Balas  had  scarcely  become  settled  in  the  government 
of  Syria,  when,  giving  himself  up  to  luxury  and  pleasure,  and 
neglecting  almost  entirely  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom,  his  subjects 
grew  uneasy,  and  were  again  wishing  for  a  change :  whereupon 
Demetrius,  son  of  the  late  Demetrius  Soter,  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  Greece,  thought  it  a  favorable  opportunity  to  assert  his 
claims.  Accompanied  by  a  band  of  Cretans,  he  landed  in  Cilicia, 
and  soon  drew  around  him  a  great  army.  Jonathan  thought  it  his 
duty  to  stand  by  Alexander,  with  whom  he  was  in  treaty,  and 
from  whom  he  had  received  distinguished  favors ;  but  not  even 
his  powerful  support  could  save  him.  Demetrius  prevailed,  and 
Alexander  was  vanquished  and  slain.  In  consequence  of  his 
victory  over  the  usurper,  this  Demetrius  received  the  name  of 
Nicator,  the  Conqueror. 

The  year  of  Alexander  Balas'  death  (B.C.  145)  is  one  of  con- 
siderable note  in  history.  This  year  died  Ptolemy  Philometor, 
king  of  Lower  Egypt ;  this  year,  Carthage  was  ^destroyed  at  the 
close  of  the  Third  Punic  War  ;  this  year,  ancient  Corinth  was 
destroyed   by  Lucius   Mummius,  the    Roman  consul.     This,  too, 


THE    MACCABELS   TO   THE  DEATH   OF  JOHN    HYRCANUS.       437 

was  tliG  year  in  wliicli  Polybius  closed  his  celebrated  history  in 
forty  books,  only  five  of  which  remain.  Tliis  history  commences 
with  the  beginning  of  the  Second  Pnnic  "War,  and  extends  to  the 
close  of  the  Third. 

From  this  time,  the  affairs  of  Syria  become  exceedingly  per- 
plexed. Demetrius  Nicator  proves  himself  to  be  a  cruel  tyrant, 
neglects  his  duties,  violates  his  engagements,  and  alienates  the 
affections  of  his  subjects  :  whereupon  a  conspu'acy  is  formed  by 
one  Tryphon,  who  takes  Antiochus  Eutheus,  a  son  of  Alexander 
Balas,  and  sets  hun  up  for  king  in  place  of  Demetrius. 

This  plot  succeeds  for  a  while  ;  when  Tryphon  finds  it  convenient 
to  destroy  Eutheus,  and  put  the  crown  upon  his  own  head.  Still 
Demetrius  is  not  vanquished.  He  continues  the  war  against 
Tryphon  for  a  season,  and  then  marches  into  the  East  to  resist 
the  Parthians,  and  to  quell  disturbances  there :  he  falls  at  this 
time  iiito  the  hands  of  the  Parthians,  and  remains  a  captive  among 
them  for  several  years. 

But  the  captive  monarch  leaves  a  brother  behind  him,  —  a 
younger  son  of  Demetrius  Soter,  —  who  is  now  summoned  out 
of  Greece  to  resist  Tryphon,  and  take  possession  of  the  throne  of 
his  ancestors.  He  listens  to  the  call,  comes  into  Syria  with  an 
army  of  mercenaries,  drives  Tr}'phon  into  exile,  and  reigns  nine 
years.  He  is  known  in  history  as  Antiochus  Sidetes,  or  the 
Hunter. 

Such  is  a  brief  statement — the  briefest  possible  —  of  the  changes 
which  took  place  in  tlie  government  of  Syria  in  the  course  of  eight 
or  ten  years.  The  Jews  of  Palestine  were  variously  affected  during 
these  changes ;  but,  on  the  whole,  their  strength  increased.  The 
most  painful  event  of  the  times  to  them  was  the  death  of  their 
noble  and  faithful  chieftain,  Jonathan.  By  false  promises  and 
flatteries,  the  wretch  Trj^phon  got  him  into  his  hands,  and  took  his 
life.  He  was  buried  at  j\Iodin  by  the  side  of  his  father  and  his 
brother  Judas ;  and  Simon,  the  only  surviving  brother,  erected  a 
noble  monument  over  them,  which  was  standing  uninjured  in  the 
days  of  Eusebius,  after  a  space  of  five  hundred  years. 

On  the  death  of  Jonathan,  Simon  was  constituted  high  priest, 
and  was  acknowledged  as  the  ruler  and  judge  of  Israel.  He 
renewed  the  league  already  existing  between  the  Jews  and 
Romans,  and  was  constituted  by  Demetrius,  before  his  captivity, 
a  sovereign  prince  ;  he  demolished  that  heathen  fortress  which 
had  so  long  been  a  terror  and  a  trouble  to  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem, 


438  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

—  not  only  razing  it  to  its  foundations,  but  levelling  down  the  hill 
on  which  it  stood,  so  that  no  similar  structure  could  ever  again  be 
built  there  ;  he  established  garrisons  throughout  the  country,  and 
fortified  the  port  of  Joppa,  that  he  might  secure  to  his  people  the 
benefits  of  commerce.  Having  no  brother  to  succeed  liim,  and 
finding  his  son,  John  Hyrcanus,  to  be  a  true  and  valiant  man,  he 
appointed  him  general-in-cliief  of  all  the  forces  of  Judsea. 

Antiochus  Sidetes  had  hardly  become  seated  on  his  throne  when 
he  set  himself  to  recover  Judeea  to  his  empire,  and  for  this  purpose 
engaged  in  a  war  with  Simon.  But  John  Hyrcanus  and  Judas, 
two  of  the  sons  of  Simon,  vanquished  him  in  battle,  destroyed  his 
towers  and  fortresses,  and  slew  two  thousand  of  his  men. 

Three  years  after  this,  as  Simon,  with  two  of  his  sons,  was  making 
a  tour  through  the  cities  of  Judah  to  see  that  justice  was  duly 
administered,  they  came  to  Jericho,  and  were  invited  by  the  gov- 
ernor to  a  festival  which  he  had  prepared  for  them.  But,  while 
they  were  eating  and  drinking  in  his  house,  a  band  of  assassins,, 
who  were  had  in  readiness,  fell  upon  them  and  slew  them  ;  and 
thus  ended  the  family  of  good  old  Matthias,  and  the  first  generation 
of  Asmonsean  princes  and  warriors. 

Happily,  John  Hyrcanus  was  not  with  his  father  and  brothers 
at  this  time,  but  was  at  the  fortress  of  Gazara,  in  the  western  part 
of  Palestine.  The  treacherous  governor  of  Jericho  immediately 
despatched  messengers  to  surprise  and  destroy  him,  intending  to 
deliver  the  whole  country  into  the  hands  of  Antiochus  ;  but  John 
had  timely  warning  of  his  danger,  and  no  sooner  did  the  messen- 
gers appear  than  they  were  seized  and  put  to  death.  He  then 
hastened  to  Jerusalem  to  secure  the  city  and  the  fortresses  of  the 
temple  ;  and  was  unanimously  elected  to  the  place  of  liis  father, 

—  as  high  priest,  and  sovereign  ruler  of  the  Jews. 

But  Antiochus,  who  had  concerted  the  death  of  Simon,  was  still 
intent  upon  recovering  Judsea  to  his  empire.  He  therefore  raised 
an  army  and  ravaged  the  country,  and  shut  up  Hyrcanus  in  Jeru- 
salem. But  when  he  had  pressed  the  siege  to  the  last  extremity, 
and  the  distressed  Jews  were  almost  ready  to  yield,  the  Lord  put 
it  into  his  heart  (in  opposition  to  most  of  his  advisers)  to  listen 
to  proposals,  and  to  make  peace  with  them.  To  be  sure,  a  tribute 
was  exacted  of  them ;  but  the  deliverance  was  a  great  one,  and 
was  owing  entirely,  under  God,  to  the  unexpected  clemency  of 
the  king. 

Some  years  after  this,  Antiochus  led  a  great  army  into  the  East, 


THE  MACCABEES  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  JOHN  HYRCANUS.   439 

professedly  to  release  liis  captive  brotlier  Demetrius,  but  really  to 
increase  his  dominions  by  the  subjection  of  the  revolted  Eastern 
provinces.  At  the  first,  he  was  successful,  and  recovered  Media 
and  Babylonia.  John  Hyrcanus  accompanied  him  in  this  expedi- 
tion, participated  in  his  triumphs,  and  returned  with  glory  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  But  the  Syrians  determined  to  winter  in  the 
East ;  and,  while  scattered  about  in  different  places,  the  Parthians 
fell  upon  them,  and  cut  them  all  off.  Antiochus  himself  was  slain  ; 
and  scarcely  a  man  returned  to  tell  the  story  of  the  disaster. 

Meanwhile  the  captive  monarch,  Demetrius,  made  his  escape, 
and  came  back  to  take  possession  of  his  kingdom.  *  Hyrcanus  also, 
taking  advantage  of  these  disturbances,  enlarged  his  dominions, 
freed  himself  from  all  subjection  to  the  Syrian  yoke,  and  became 
an  independent  prince.  He  took  Shechem,  the  principal  seat  of 
the  Samaritans,  and  destroyed  their  temple  which  Sanballat  had 
built  on  Mount  Gerizim.  He  conquered  the  Idumseans,  who  had 
long  dwelt  in  the  southerly  part  of  what  was  anciently  Judaea ; 
and  compelled  them  either  to  embrace  the  Jewish  religion,  or  to 
leave  the  country.  They  chose  the  former  alternative,  were  cir- 
cumcised, and  became,  as  to  their  religion,  Jews.  From  this 
period  we  hear  no  more  of  the  Idumseans,  or  Edomites,  as  a  distinct 
people.  Hyrcanus  also  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Romans  to  inform 
them  of  his  position  and  prospects,  and  to  seek  the  continuance  of 
their  friendship.  His  ambassadors  were  graciously  received  ;  the 
independence  of  Judeea  was  acknowledged ;  and  it  was  decreed 
that  the  Sjo-ians  should  no  more  be  permitted  to  invade  the  Jewish 
territories,  or  to  march  their  armies  through  them. 

I  have  before  said  that  Demetrius,  after  having  been  so  long  a 
captive  among  the  Parthians,  escaped  on  the  death  of  his  brother 
Antiochus,  and  recovered  his  kingdom.  He  projected  an  expedi- 
tion against  Egypt,  and  marched  an  army  to  Pelusium  to  com- 
mence the  war :  but  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  quell  disturb- 
ances in  his  own  kingdom  ;  soon  after  which  he  was  dethroned  and 
slain. 

The  kingdom  of  Syria  was  now  divided  between  Cleopatra,  the 
widow  of  the  late  king,  and  a  usurper  by  the  name  of  Zebina, 
who  claimed  to  be  a  son  of  Alexander  Balas  ;  but  neither  of  them 
lived  more  than  a  year.  Zebina  was  slain  in  a  tumult  at  Antioch  ; 
and  Cleopatra,  who  was  a  very  wicked  woman,  was  compelled  by 
her  son  to  drink  a  cup  of  poison  which  she  had  prepared  for  him. 

The  Syrian  Empire,  after  some  severe  struggles,  was  again  rent 


440  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

into  two  parts.     Two  sons  of  Cleopatra,  the  one  by  Demetrius,    ^ 
and  the  other  by  Antiochiis,  divided  it  between  themselves.    Anti-    ^ 
ochiis  Cyzicenus  reigned  at  Damascus  over  Coelo-Syria  and  Phoeni-  'v_ 
cia,  and  Antiochus  Grypus  reigned  at  Antioch  over  all  the  rest.      • 
While  these  brothers  were  contending  one  with  the  other,  Hyrca- 
nus  was  profiting  by  their  dissensions,  and  growing  continually  in 
riches  and  in  power.    In  the  year  110  before  Christ,  he  besieged  and 
took  Samaria,  which  had  been  inhabited  by  Greeks  from  the  time 
of  Alexander  the  Great.      He  not  only  demolished  its  walls  and 
houses ;  but,  by  means  of  trenches,  he  laid  the  whole  site  of  the 
city  under  water.     From  this  time,  he  became  master  of  all  Judsea, 
Samaria,  and  Galilee,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  consid- 
erable princes  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 

We  turn  now  for  a  moment  from  Syria  and  Palestine  to  contem- 
plate the  affairs  of  Egypt.  On  the  death  of  Philometor,  Ptolemy 
Physcon  married  his  widow,  and  became  sole  monarch  of  the 
country.  He  was,  as  I  have  said,  one  of  the  most  odious  and 
brutal  characters  in  all  antiquity.  He  was  deformed  in  body  as 
well  as  mind.  He  was  ugly  in  features,  short  in  stature,  and  of 
such  monstrous  lateral  dimensions,  that  no  one  man  could  encom- 
pass him  with  both  his  arms.  Yet,  notwithstanding  his  deformi- 
ties and  his  wickedness,  he  reigned  over  Egypt  fifty-two  years, 
—  twenty-three  in  connection  with  Philometor,  and  twenty-nine 
alone.  His  ancestors  had  distinguished  themselves  as  friends  of 
learning,  and  had  gathered  around  them  learned  men  from  all  parts 
of  the  world ;  but  Physcon  by  his  cruelty  drove  these  men  from 
him,  and  scattered  them  abroad  wherever  they  could  find  a  place. 
Indeed,  'he  drove  out  or  destroyed  most  of  the  ancient  families  of 
Alexandria,  and  peopled  the  city  chiefly  with  foreigners. 

In  the  thirty-eighth  year  of  his  reign,  Jesus,  the  son  of  Siracb, 
came  from  Jerusalem  into  Egypt,  and  translated  from  the  original 
Hebrew  into  Greek  the  book  which  in  our  Apocryphal  Scriptures 
is  called  Ecclesiasticus.  It  was  written  by  Jesus,  the  father  of  • 
Sirach,*  about  the  time  of  Seleucus  Philopator,  while  Onias  II.  was 
high  priest  at  Jerusalem.  It  consists  chiefly  of  short,  pithy  sen- 
tences, or  proverbs,  after  the  manner  of  Solomon  5  many  of  which 
are  weighty,  and  valuable  for  the  conduct  of  life. 

Ptolemy  Physcon  was  succeeded  in  the  government  of  Egypt 
by  his  two  sons,  Lathyrus  and  Alexander. 

Hyrcanus  continued  in  the  government  of  Palestine,  after  the 

*  The  grandfather  of  the  translator. 


THE   MACCABEES   TO  THE   DEATH  OF  JOHN   HYRCANUS.      441 

death  of  his  father  Simon,  twenty-nine  years.  He  was  the  founder 
of  the  Castle  Baris,  near  the  temple  in  Jerusalem,  which  was  the 
palace  of  the  Asmonsean  princes  as  long  as  they  reigned  there. 
Herod  afterwards  converted  it  into  the  Castle  Antonia,  which  was 
standing  in  the  age  of  the  apostles  (Acts  xxi.  37). 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  Hyrcanus  had  a  quarrel  with  the 
Pharisees,  which  caused  him  and  his  successors  no  little  trouble. 
Up  to  this  time  he  had  rather  favored  the  Pharisees,  and  was 
regarded  as  one  of  their  number ;  but  being  charged  by  one  of 
them  falsely  with  being  the  son  of  a  captive  woman,  and  therefore 
incapable,  according  to  the  law,  of  sustaining  the  high  priest's 
office,  and  the  rest  of  the  Pharisees  not  consenting  that  the  slan- 
derer should  be  punished  as  Hyrcanus  felt  that  he  deserved,  he 
regarded  them  as  in  some  way  concerned  in  the  libel,  and  respon- 
sible for  it.  He  separated,  therefore,  from  the  Pharisees,-  and 
sympathized  rather  with  the  Sadducees  than  with  them. 

Hyrcanus  died  in  the  year  before  Christ  106,  —  the  same  in 
which  Pompey  and  Cicero  were  born.  He  was  succeeded  in  both 
the  royal  and  pontifical  office  by  his  eldest  son,  Aristobulus. 

As  I  have  said  something  here  of  the  Pharisees,  it  may  not  be 
improper  to  close  the  chapter  Avith  a  short  account  of  this  trouble- 
some sect.  Of  the  origin  of  the  Sadducees  I  have  before  spoken. 
They  were  the  followers  of  Sadoc,  a  religious  teacher  at  Jerusalem 
who  flourished  in  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Philadelplius.  They  ad- 
hered strictly  to  the  law,  rejecting  the  traditions,  and  rejecting  also 
the  doctrine  of  future  rewards  and  punishments.  These  men  were 
the  Uberalists  of  their  times.  They  were  never  numerpus,  but 
embraced  many  of  the  higher  and  wealthier  families  among  the 
Jews. 

The  Pharisees,  on  the  contrary,  were  a  popular  sect.  They 
carried  with  them,  not  only  the  scribes,  and  men  learned  in  the 
law,  but  the  great  mass  of  the  common  people.  They  received  as 
of  divine  authority,  not  only  the  books  of  the  law,  but  all  the 
other  books  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  not  only  so,  they  received 
the  traditions  of  the  elders,  ascribing  to  them  the  same  authority 
as  to  the  written  Word.  They  held  to  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection, and  to  a  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  beyond  the 
grave.  In  practice  they  were  strict  formalists,  who  tithed  their 
mint,  anise,  and  cumin ;  talked  much  about  religion ;  and  made 
pretensions  to  extraordinary  sanctity.  They  are  supposed  to  have 
derived  their  name  from  the  Hebrew  word  Pharos^  which  signifies 


442  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

to  separate ;  because  they  separated  themselves  from  others  who 
did  not  receive  their  doctrines  and  come  up  tcLtheir  standard  of 
Hfe.  They  probably  originated  near  the  time  of  the  Mishnical 
doctors,  not  long  after  the  days  of  Simon  the  Just.  They  were 
sometimes  called  Cliasidim,  or  Chasidseans  ;  i.e.,  pious  men.  Many 
of  them  enhsted  in  the  Maccabsean  armies,  and  fought  valiantly 
for  the  God  of  Israel.  We  do  not  hear  of  them  under  the  name 
of  Pharisees  untd  about  the  age  of  Hyrcanus.  They  continued 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Saviour. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

THE    MACCABEES    TO   THE    REIGN    OF    HEROD. 

AT  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  two  kings  were  reignmg  in 
Syria,  —  Antiochus  Cyzicenus  and  Antiochus  Grypus.  Two 
kings  .were  also  reigning  in  Egypt,  —  Lathyrus  and  Alexander, 
both  sons  of  Ptolemy  Physcon.  Aristobulus,  the  son  of  Hyrcanus, 
was  high  priest  and  ruler  of  the  Jews. 

From  this  point,  it  will  no  longer  be  necessary  to  give  a  detailed 
account  of  the  aifairs  of  Syria  and  Egypt.  Both  nations  were 
enervated  by  vice,  and  torn  and  weakened  by  perpetual  dissensions; 
and  the  way  was  fast  preparing  for  them  to  be  swallowed  up  in  the 
wide-spreading,  ingulfing  power  of  Rome.  Antiochus  Grypus  was 
slain  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  reign,  —  the  year  96  before 
Christ ;  and,  three  years  later,  Cyzicenus  was  slain  by  Seleucus,  the 
eldest  son  of  Grypus.  Shortly  after  this,  Seleucus  was  slain  by 
Antiochus  Eusebes,  a  son  of  Cyzicenus.  Antiochus,  the  second  son 
of  Grypus,  then  attacked  Eusebes,  and  was  overcome  and  killed ; 
and  his  army  was  cut  to  pieces.  The  contest  was  now  carried  on, 
with  various  success,  between  Eusebes  and  the  three  surviving  sons 
of  Grypus,  —  viz.,  Philip,  Demetrius,  and  Dionysius,  —  until  the 
Syrians,  wearied  out  with  the  contentions  of  these  troublesome 
princes,  offered  the  crown  of  Syria  to  Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia. 
This  took  place  in  the  year  83  before  Christ. 

Meanwliile  the  affairs  of  Egypt  were  scarcely  less  disturbed  than 
those  of  Syria.  Although  there  were  nominally,  as  I  said,  two 
kings  of  Egypt,  yet  Cleopatra,  the  mother  of  both,  was  virtually 
the  sovereign  ruler.  Because  Lathyrus,  her  eldest  son,  displeased 
her,  she  took  from  him  his  wife,  cbove  him  out  of  Egypt,  and  left  him 
only  the  government  of  Cyprus.  Upon  this,  Alexander,  her  other 
son,  fled  from  her  in  disgust,  and  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to 
return.  Some  years  after  this,  Cleopatra  undertook  to  destroy 
Alexander,  that  she  might  reign  alone  ;  but  he  discovered  her  de- 

443 


444  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

sign,  and  put  her  to  death.  For  the  murder  of  his  mother,  Alexan- 
der was  driven  from  the  country,  defeated,  and  slain ;  and  Lathy- 
rus  became  the  sole  monarch  of  Egypt.  In  the  year  80  before 
Christ,  Lathyrus  died ;  and  the  crown  descended  to  a  son  of  his 
deceased  brother,  who  was  named  for  his  father,  Alexander. 

With  these  brief  notices  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  let  us  now  turn 
back  to  the  history  of  the  Jews.  The  first  generation  of  INIac- 
cabfean  princes  were  noble  men :  some  of  them  were  truly  pious 
men.  Our  knowledge  of  the  second  generation  is  limited  almost 
entirely  to  John  Hyrcanus,  the  son  of  Simon.  And  though  his 
character  was  less  virtuous  and  honorable  than  that  of  his  immedi- 
ate predecessors,  yet  he  was,  on  the  whole,  a  brave,  true-hearted, 
and  faithful  ruler.  Certainly  the  Jews  owed  to  him  a  debt  of 
gratitude  which  some  of  them  were  little  inclined  to  pay. 

Hyrcanus  left  five  sons  :  but  these  had  not  been  trained  and  dis- 
ciplined like  their  fathers  ;  and^they  exhibited  very  different  traits 
of  character,  as  we  shall  see.  Aristobulus,  the  eldest  (who  took 
upon  him  the  title  of  king),  commenced  his  reign  by  casting  his 
mother  into  prison,  where  she  perished  with  hunger.  He  also  im- 
prisoned his  three  younger  brothers.  For  Antigonus,  who  was  next 
to  himself  in  age,  he  had  more  regard,  and  trusted  to  him,  in  part, 
the  administration  of  affairs.  The  two  brothers  conquered  the 
Iturteans,  who  dwelt  in  the  north-easterly  part  of  Palestine,  and- 
proselyted  them  to  the  Jewish  religion.  After  his  return  from 
this  expedition,  Aristobulus  became  jealous  of  Antigonus,  and 
caused  him  to  be  waylaid  in  one  of  the  secret  passages  leading  to 
and  from  the  temple ;  and  there  he  was  put  to  death. 

But  from  this  time  the  ruthless  monarch  enjoyed  not  one  mo- 
ment's peace.  He  was  sick  in  body,  but  more  diseased  and  dis- 
tressed in  mind.  His  guilt  in  destroying  his  mother,  and  then 
murdering  his  faithful  brother,  tortured  his  conscience,  and  contrib- 
uted with  other  causes  to  hasten  his  end.  He  reigned  only  one 
year. 

Upon  his  death,  his  three  brothers  were  released  from  prison ;  - 
and  Alexander  Janneus,  the  eldest  of  them,  succeeded  to  the  mitre 
and  the  throne.    The  next  older  brother  attempted  to  depose  Alex- 
ander, and  was  executed ;  but  the  youngest,  Absalom,  being  con- 
tented to  live  in  a  humble,  quiet  way,  was  tolerated  by  the  king. 

Alexander  was  a  restless,  ambitious  prince,  who  experienced  al- 
most every  variety  of  fortune,  but  left  his  dominions  wider  than  he 
found  them.     This  was  partly  owing  to  his  own  bravery  and  skill, 


THE   MACCABEES   TO   THE   REIGN   OF   HEROD.  445 

but  more  to  the  dissensions  of  the  neighboring  States.  His  borders 
were  first  invaded  by  Lathyrus,  king  of  Egypt,  who  defeated  and 
might  have  ruined  him,  had  not  Cleopatra,  who  was  hostile  to 
Lathyrus,  come  to  his  relief.  Next  he  was  drawn  into  a  snare  by 
Cleopatra,  and  would  have  been  slain  by  her  but  for  the  interces- 
sion of  one  of  her  chief  counsellors,  who  was  an  Alexandrian  Jew. 
After  the  departure  of  Cleopatra,  Alexander  made  some  important 
conquests.  He  took  the  fortresses  of  Gadara  and  Amathus,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Jordan  ;  and  then,  directing  his  march  southward, 
he  got  possession  of  Raphia  and  Gaza  and  Anthedon.  He  subdued 
the  Moabites  and  Gileadites ;  but  in  an  expedition  against  Gaulo- 
nitis  he  fell  into  an  ambush,  lost  his  army,  and  came  very  near 
losing  his  life. 

In  the  year  9X  before  Christ,  a  civil  war  broke  out  in  Judj3ea, 
which  wasted  the  country  for  the  space  of  six  years,  and  cost  the 
lives  of  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  Jews.  It  grew  out  of  the  old 
quarrel  of  Hyrcanus  with  the  Pharisees,  and  their  consequent  hatred 
of  him  and  his  house.  While  Alexander  was  offering  sacrifices 
in  the  temple,  they  commenced  pelting  him  with  citrons,  and  call- 
ing him  by  the  most  opproljrious  names  ;  which  enraged  him  to  such 
a  degree,  that  he  fell  upon  them,  and  slew  six  thousand  men.  Still 
the  Pharisees  were  not  humbled  or  subdued  ;  but,  persisting  in  their 
opposition,  the  king  asked  them  what  they  would  have,  promising 
to  satisfy  them  if  it  was  in  his  power.  To  this  they  replied,  that 
but  one  thing  would  satisfy  them  ;  and  that  was  for  him  to  cut 
his  throat.  On  no  other  tei^ms  would  they  be  at  peace  with  him ; 
and  he  might  think  himself  happy  if  they  suffered  him  to  rest 
even  in  his  grave. 

Seeing  them  actuated  by  such  a  spirit,  Alexander  prepared  in 
earnest  for  war ;  and  his  enemies  called  in  the  aid  of  the  Syrian 
kings  to  oppose  him.  In  this  contest  Alexander  was  beaten,  and 
would  have  been  ruined,  had  not  his  enemies  become  alarmed  at 
their  own  successes,  and  volunteered,  some  of  them,  for  his  relief. 
They  preferred  Jiis  rule  to  that  of  the  Syrians.  From  this  time 
Alexander  pursued  the  rebels  with  great  energy,  and  drove  the 
most  of  them  into  the  fortress  of  Bethsura,  where  they  Avere  be- 
sieged and  captured.  To  be  revenged  on  them  for  their  obstinacy, 
he  took  eight  hundred  of  the  leaders  to  Jerusalem,  and  crucified 
them  together ;  and  as  though  this  were  not  enough,  while  they 
hung  dying  on  the  cross,  he  ])utchered  their  "wives  and  children  be- 
fore their  eyes.      This  was  an  act  of  barbarity  and  cruelty  such  as 


446  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  world  has  seldom  witnessed,  and  for  which  he  could  have  no 
excuse  ;  and  yet  it  was  not  without  an  effect  upon  those  of  the 
rebels  who  sur\dved.  Horror-stricken  at  such  an  example,  they 
fled  the  country  ;  and  Alexander  had  no  more  trouble  from  them 
to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Being  thus  relieved  from  civil  war,  Alexander  undertook  still 
farther  to  extend  liis  dominions.  He  took  Dios  and  Pella,  and  the 
strong  fortress  of  Gerasa,  where  he  obtained  a  large  amount  of 
treasure. 

Two  3'ears  later,  he  pushed  his  conquests  still  farther  beyond 
the  Jordan.  He  subdued  Golan,  Seleucia,  the  vale  of  Antiochus, 
and  the  fortress  of  Gamala. 

Retiu-ned  from  these  conquests,  Alexander  became  more  quiet 
and  luxurious  ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  contracted  a  quartan 
fever,  from  which  he  never  recovered.  He  died  m  his  camp  at  the 
siege  of  Rayaba,  a  fortress  beyond  the  Jordan,  in  the  country  of 
the  Geraseans,  having  governed  Israel  twenty-seven  years. 

He  left  a  widow,  Alexandra,  who  was  to  succeed  him  in  the 
government ;  and  two  sons,  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus.  Fearing 
the  rage  of  the  Pharisees,  who  were  still  very  numerous  among  the 
Jews,  he  enjoined  upon  his  wife,  before  his  death,  to  make  her 
peace  with  them,  and  to  be  guided  in  her  administration  by  their 
counsels.  She  followed  his  directions,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining 
for  him  an  honorable  burial,  and  for  herself  and  her  sons  a  quiet 
establishment  in  the  government. 

It  may  appear  to  those  who  hear  only  of  the  wars  and  cruelties 
of  these  times  that  there  were  no  pious  people  left  in  Israel ;  that 
the  true  Church  of  God  had  become  extinct :  but  tliis  would  be 
an  unwarrantable  conclusion.  As,  in  the  daj's  of  Ahab,  God  re- 
served to  himself  seven  thousand  men  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee 
to  Baal ;  so,  in  these  times,  there  was  undoubtedly  a  remnant. 
Down  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life,  away  from  the  tumult  and  the 
strife  of  kings,  we  may  hope  there  were  many  who  loved  the  God 
of  Israel,  and  served  him  in  sincerity  and  truth.  It  was  in  these 
times,  or  near  them,  that  good  Zechariah  and  Elisabeth  were 
born,  —  the  father  and  mother  of  John  the  Baptist.  In  these 
times,  also,  were  born  Simeon  and  Anna,  who  were  present  in  the 
temple  when  the  infant  Saviour  was  brought  there  by  his  parents 
"to  do  for  him  after  the  custom  of  the  law  "  (Luke  ii.  25-38). 

In  the  year  89  before  Christ  commenced  the  war  of  the  Romans 
against  Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus.     Tliis,  next  to  the  Cartha- 


THE   MACCABEES   TO   THE   REIGN   OF   HEROD.  447 

•ginian  wars,  was  the  most  terrible  contest  in  which  the  Romans 
ever  engaged ;  and  Mithridates,  next  to  Hannibal,  was  the  most 
fearful  enemy  which  they  were  ever  called  to  encounter.  This 
war  was  begun  by  Lucius  Cassius,  Roman  prefect  of  Pergamos ; 
was  carried  on  chiefly  by  LucuUus  and  Sylla  ;  and  was  finished  by 
Pompey  in  the  year  before  Christ  62.  It  continued,  with  little 
cessation,  for  twenty-seven  years.  It  brought  the  Romans  into 
contact  with  nearly  all  those  parts  of  Asia  which  had  constituted 
the  old  Grecian  and  S\Tian  empires,  and  in  its  issue  subjected  all 
to  their  power.  But  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  speak  of  these  con- 
quests any  further  than  they  affected  directly  or  indirectly  the  con- 
cerns of  the  Jews. 

I  have  before  said  that  the  Syrians,  tired  of  the  dissensions  of 
the  Antiochian  princes,  had  placed  the  government  of  their  coun- 
try in  the  hands  of  Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia.  In  the  progress 
of  the  Mithridatic  war,  in  which  Tigranes  was  deeply  involved, 
Antiochus  Asiaticus,  a  son  of  Antiochus  Eusebes,  seized  the  gov- 
ernment of  S}T^a,  and  reigned  over  it  several  years.  He  was  the 
last,  however,  of  this  race  of  kings  ;  for  when  Pompey  came  into 
Syria,  in  the  year  64  before  Christ,  he  took  from  him  the  scepti-e, 
and  put  a  final  end  to  the  empire  of  the  Seleucidpe,  after  it  had- 
continued  two  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years.  From  this  time, 
S}"Tia,  of  wliich  we  have  had  occasion  to  speak  so  frequently,  be- 
came a  Roman  province. 

Egypt  was  at  this  time  too  much  enfeebled  to  exert  much  in- 
fluence upon  the  surrounding  nations.  It  claims  notice  here  chiefly 
from  the  fact  that  it  contained  a  Jewish  tem,ple  and  altar,  and  a 
large  body  of  the  descendants  of  Israel.  I  have  before  remarked, 
that,  upon  the  death  of  Lathyrus,  Alexander,  a  son  of  his  deceased 
brother,  came  to  the  throne.  He  reigned,  by  the  sufferance  of 
the  Romans,  fifteen  years  ;  when  the  people  rose  against  him,  and 
drove  him  out  of  the  kingdom.  He  died  shortly  afterwards  at 
Tyre.  His  successor  was  an  illegitimate  son  of  Lath}*rus,  called 
_ Ptolemy  Auletes,  or  the  Piper.  He  is  said  to  have  exceeded  all 
the  Ptolemies  in  effeminacy,  as  much  as  his  grandfather,  Ptolemy 
Physcon,  did  in  brutality  and  wickedness.  StiU  he  was  suffered 
to  rule  over  Egypt  fourteen  years.  Dying,  he  left  the  throne  to 
his  eldest  son  and  daughter,  Ptolemy  and  Cleopatra.  This  is  that 
Cleopatra  who  afterwards  became  so  famous,  or  rather  infamous, 
for  her  amours  with  Julius  Caesar,  Mark  Antony,  and  other  distin- 
guished Romans.     After  the  fall  of  Antony,  she  caused  herself  to 


448  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

be  Litten  by  an  asp,  which  she  carried  with  her  for  the  purpose  ;* 
and  so  died  in  the  thirtieth  year  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  And 
in  her  ended  the  dynasty  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt,  after  it  had 
continued,  from  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  two  hundred 
and  ninety-four  years.  From  this  time  Egypt  became  a  Roman 
province,  and  was  governed  by  a  prefect  sent  from  Rome. 

We  now  come  back  to  the  history  of  the  Jews.      Alexander 
Janneus  left  his  government,  as  I  have  said,  to  his  queen  Alexandra, 
to  be  held  by  her  in  reserve  for  her  two  sons,  Hyrcanus  and  Aris- 
tobulus.     Hyrcanus,  who  was  a  quiet  man,  she  advanced  to  the 
high  priesthood  ;    while  to  Aristobulus,  who  had  more  capacity . 
and  ambition,  she  intrusted  the  command  of  tha  army.     As,  in 
obedience  to  her  dying  husband,  Alexandra  had  made  her  peace 
with  the  Pharisees,  and  consented  to  rule  according  to  theu'  wishes, 
they  undertook  the  direction  of  her  affairs.     They  re-established 
the    authority   of  the    traditio7is  which   Hyrcanus   had   rejected ; 
they  Oldened  the  prisons,  and  set  those  at  liberty  who  were  con- 
fined on   the  charge  of  rebellion   against   the   late   government ; 
they  recalled   those  from  exile  who  had  fled  or  been   banished 
from  the  same   cause ;  they  instigated  the  c^ueen  to  put  some  of 
.  the  principal  supporters  of  the  late  king  to  death,  on  the  ground 
of   their  participation  in  the  cruelties  he  had  perpetrated  ;    and 
they  would  have  destroyed   more  of  this  number,  but  that  the 
queen,  in  order  to  save  them,  dispersed  them  in  the  garrisons  and 
frontier-towns  of  her  dominions.     Alexandra  died  in  the  year  69 
before  Christ,  after  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  reign  of  nine  years. 
She  designated  no  one  to  succeed  her ;  but  the  Pharisees  imme- 
diately placed  Hyrcanus,  her  eldest  son,  upon  the  throne.     Aris- 
tobulus, however,  was  intent  upon  being  king  ;  and  being  popu- 
lar with  the  army,  and  having  most  of  the  garrisons,  under  his 
control,  he  had  every  facility  for  carrying  his  purpose  into  effect. 
The  question  was  ere  long  decided  in  battle,  in  which  Hyrcanus 
was  vanquished,  and  Aristobulus  mounted  the  throne.     Hyrcanus 
retired  into  ^Drivate  life  ;  and  there,  coidd  he  have  been  left  to  his 
own  preference,  he  would  have  remained.    But  there  was  about  him 
one  Antipater,  the  father  of  Herod,  who  professed  the  warmest 
attachment  to  him,  and  who  persuaded  him  that  he  must  either 
recover  his  crown,  or  die  by  the  hand  of  Aristobulus.     This  An- 
tipater was  an  Idumsean  by  birth,  who  had  embraced  the   Jews' 
religion  at  the  time  when   his  people  were  proselyted  by  John 
Hyrcanus.     At  his  instigation,  the  conquered  king  fled  to  Aretas,  an 


THE   MACCABEES   TO   THE   REIGN   OF   HEROD.  449 

Arabian  prince,  who  came  with  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men  with 
a  view  to  replace  him  on  his  throne.  Unable  to  withstand  so  great 
a  force,  Aristobulus  retreated,  and  shut  himself  uj)  in  Jerusalem. 
He  was  here  closely  besieged,  and  might  have  been  taken,  but 
that  the  Roman  prefect  at  Damascus  interposed,  and  compelled 
Aretas  to  return  to  his  own  country.  Hyrcanus,  therefore,  was 
again  an  exile ;  and  Aristobulus  kept  possession  of  the  throne. 

Not  long  after  this,  Pompey  arrived  at  Damascus,  where  he  was 
met  by  ambassadors,  and  loaded  with  rich  presents  from  all  the 
surrounding  nations.  Among  the  rest,  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus 
appeared  before  him  to  obtain  a  settlement  of  their  disputes. 
Pompey  listened  to  their  respective  statements,  but  deferred  decid- 
ing the  question  between  them  until  his  return  from  an  expedition 
into  Arabia.  Meanwhile  Aristobulus  was  strengthening  his  gar- 
risons, and  making  all  possible  preparation  for  war,  which  was  an 
injury  to  his  cause  in  the  eyes  of  the  Romans. 

On  the  return  of  Pt)mpey,  the  courage  of  Aristobulus  forsook 
him.  He  offered  to  surrender  all  his  fortified  places,  and  to  give  a 
large  sum  of  money,  on  condition  that  the  war  might  cease.  Pom- 
pey agreed  to  the  proposal,  and  sent  Gabinius  with  a  division  of 
the  army  to  Jerusalem  to  receive  the  stipulated  sum ;  but,  when 
he  arrived  there,  he  found  the  gates  shut  against  him,  and  no 
money  was  to  be  had.  Pompey  now  invested  the  city,  and,  by  the 
help  of  Hyrcanus'  party,  soon  gained  admission  within  the  walls. 
Aristobulus  and  his  followers  retreated  to  the  temple,  where  they 
hoped  to  be  able  to  hold  out  for  a  long  time.  But  Pompey  brought 
up  his  military  engines,  and  pressed  the  siege  with  great  vigor. 
He  had  an  advantage  over  the  Jews,  on  account  of  their  unwill- 
ingness to  do  any  thing  to  oppose  or  hinder  him  on  the  sabbath 
day.  At  the  end  of  three  months,  a  breach  was  made  in  the  wall, 
and  the  temple  was  taken.  The  Romans  rushed  in,  and  put  twelve 
thousand  of  the  Jews  to  the  sword.  Among  these  were  many  of  the 
priests,  who,  being  then  engaged  in  the  sacrifices,  would  not  move 
from  the  altars,  nor  interrupt  their  sacred  rites,  to  escape  the  attack 
of  their  enemies.  They  were  accordingly  slain,  and  their  blood 
was  Hterally  mingled  with  their  sacrifices. 

The  temple  was  taken  in  midsummer  of  the  year  63  before 
Christ,  during  the  consulship  of  M.  T.  Cicero,  —  on  the  very  day 
which  was  observed,  with  fasting  and  lamentation,  in  remembrance 
of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar. 

Pompey,  attended  by  his  generals,  went  into  the  temple,  —  even 

29 


450  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

into  the  holy  of  holies ;  but  he  left  untouched  all  the  sacred 
utensils,  and  even  the  treasures  of  the  temple,  amounting  to  two 
thousand  talents  of  gold.  He  gave  orders  that  the  holy  places 
should  be  purified,  and  divine  service  continued  as  before.  He 
appointed  Hyrcanus  to  be  high  priest,  and  prince  of  the  country, 
but  forbade  that  he  should  wear  a  crown,  or  call  himself  king,  or 
extend  his  territories  beyond  their  ancient  boundaries. 

.  Soon  after  this,  Pompey  returned  to  Rome  laden  with  the  spoils 
of  conquered  countries,  and  attended  by  hundreds  of  noble  prison- 
ers to  grace  his  triumph.  Among  these  were  Aristobulus,  with  his 
two  daughters,  and  two  sons,  Antigonus  and  Alexander.  Before 
they  arrived  at  Rome,  however,  Alexander  contrived  to  make  his 
escape,  and,  returning  into  Judsea,  soon  gathered  around  him  a  little 
army.  So  Iqng  as  he  was  opposed  by  Hyrcanus  alone,  he  carried 
every  thing  before  him ;  but,  when  the  Romans  came  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  high  priest,  Alexander  was  constrained  to  retreat,  and 
take  refuge  in  a  fortified  castle.  Here  he  was  closely  besieged, 
and  in  the  end  was  obliged  to  submit ;  after  which,  for  a  time, 
Hyrcanus  was  permitted  to  enjoy  his  honors  unmolested. 

These,  however,  were  more  nominal  than  real ;  for  Gabinius,  the 
Roman  general,  proceeded  to  new-model  the  Jewish  governments- 
making  it  rather  an  aristocracy  than  a  monarchy.  He  deprived 
the  Sanhedrim  of  all  authority ;  and,  setting  up  five  independent 
tribunals  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  he  committed  to  them 
the  power  of  administering  justice,  each  in  its  respective  district. 
This  necessarily  threw  the  power  of  the  government  into  the 
hands  of  the  nobles  who  presided  in  these  courts,  leaving  to  Hyr- 
canus little  more  than  a  name  ;  and  so  things  continued  for  the 
next  ten  years,  when  Julius  Csesar  restored  them  to  their  ancient 
order. 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  Aristobulus  and  his  son  Antigo- 
nus escaped  from  Rome,  returned  into  Judaea,  and  made  another 
attempt  to  recover  their  lost  power  :  but  it  ended,  as  Alexander's 
had  done,  in  their  defeat  and  capture  ;  though  their  condition  was 
so  much  bettered  by  it,  that  all  the  family,  except  Aristobulus, 
succeeding  in  obtaining  their  liberty. 

In  the  year  54  before  Christ,  Gabinius  was  removed  from  the 
government  of  Syria ;  and  M.  L.  Crassus  came  into  his  place.  But 
the  pro^dnce  was  not  at  all  benefited  by  the  change.  Crassus  was 
even  more  faithless  and  grasping  than  his  predecessor.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  in  the  country,  he  came  to  Jerusalem  with  his  soldiers 


THE   MACCABEES   TO   THE   REIGN   OF   HEROD.  451 

that  he  might  plunder  the  temjile.  Eleazer,  who  had  charge  of 
the  treasures,  promised  him  a  bar  of  gold,  weighing  three  hundred 
minre,*  which  was  concealed  in  a  beam  at  the  entrance  of  the  holy 
of  holies,  on  condition  that  he  would  leave  the  remaining  treasures 
untouched.  This  condition  Crassus  solemnly  swore  to  observe  ; 
but,  as  soon  as  he  had  got  possession  of  the  golden  bar,  he '  pro- 
ceeded to  rob  the  temple  of  ten  thousand  talents  more,  —  a  sum 
exceeding  two  millions  of  pounds  sterling,  or  ten  millions  of  our 
money.  But  his  ill-gotten  treasure  did  him  no  good :  he  expended 
it  in  fitting  out  an  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  in  which  he 
was  drawn  into  an  ambush,  and  put  to  death.  So  true  is  the  decla- 
ration of  Solomon,  that  "  the  robbery  of  the  wicked  shall  destroy 
them  "  (Prov.  xxi.  ly. 

In  the  wars  which  now  commenced  between  Csesar  and  Pompey, 

^.Aristobulus  and  his  sons  espoused  the  cause  of  Caesar,  and  were 
sent  by  him  into  Syria  that  they  might  oppose  the  interests  of 
Pompey  there.  But  Aristobulus  was  poisoned  while  on  the  jour- 
ney ;  and  his  son.Alexander  was  seized  and  beheaded  in  Judsea. 
There  remained,  therefore,  only  Antigonus.  Nor  was  Ctesar,  after 
the  defeat  of  Pompey,  at  all  inclined  to  show  him  favor.  He 
continued  Hyrcanus  in  the  priesthood ;  abolished  the  courts  which 
Gabinius  had  established  ;  restored  the  government  to  its  ancient 
form  ;  and,  passing  over  entirely  the  claims  of  Antigonus,  appointed 
.two  sons  of  Antipater,  Phasael  and  Herod,  —  the  one  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Jud[ea,  and  the  other  to  that  of  Galilee.  This  is  the  first 
that  we  hear  of  Herod  in  Jewish  history. 

»  Julius  Caesar  had  received  much  assistance  from  the  Jews, 
especially  during  his  campaign  in  Egypt ;  and  he  showed  himself 
their  constant  friend.  Before  leaving  Egypt,  he  confirmed  all  the 
privileges  of  the  Egyptian  Jews,  and  commemorated  their  impor- 
tant services  by  an  inscription  on  a  brazen  pillar  which  he  caused 
to  be  erected  at  Alexandria ;  and  in  Judaea  the  people  are  said  to 
have  enjoyed  greater  prosperity  during  his  brief  administration 
than  they  had  done  at  any  time  since  the  Babjdonish  captivity. 
The  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  rebuilt,  which  Pompey  had  broken 
down ;  the  tribute  due  to  Rome  was  relinquished  every  sabbatical 
year ;  while  the  affairs  of  the  government  were  wisely  adminis- 
tered (Hyrcanus  being  high  priest)  by  Antipater  and  his  two  sons. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  Hyrcanus  sent  to  the  Roman  Senate  a 
shield  of  gold  of  very  great  value  ;  on  which  occasion  the  Jews,  by 

*  Forty-three  thousand  dollars  of  our  money. 


452  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

a  decree  of  the  senate,  were  publicly  acknowledged  as  the  allies  of  - 
the  Romans. 

Herod,  the  youngest  son  of  Antipater,  was  now  governor  of 
Galilee ;  and  he  gave  early  proof  of  a  bold  and  enterprising  spirit. 
He  attacked  the  robbers  of  Galilee,  who  were  very  numerous,  and 
put  all  to  death  who  fell  in  his  power.  By  this  means  he  secured 
the  confidence  of  the  people  and  of  the  prefect  of  Syria.  But  the 
Sanhedrim  at  Jerusalem,  thinking  that  he  had  made  too  free  with 
human  life,  summoned  him  before  them.  He  obeyed  the  summons  ; 
but,  instead  of  appearing  as  a  criminal,  he  j)resented  himself  armed, 
in  purple,  and  surrounded  with  his  body-guard.  The  members  of 
the  Sanhedrim  were  terrified,  and  dare  not  proceed  against  him : 
whereupon  one  old  man,  Sameas,  reproved  them  for  their  coward- 
ice, and  told  them  that  the  time  would  come  when  Herod  would 
not  pardon  them  as  readily  as  they  were  now  disposed  to  pardon 
him,  —  a  prediction  which  was  literally  fulfilled. 

The  year  43  before  Christ  was  a  very  long  one.  It  was  made  to 
consist  of  four  hundred  and  forty-five  days  to  compensate  for  the 
errors  of  the  ancient  calendar.  The  next  year  was  the  commence- 
ment of  the  new  calendar,  —  the  Julian  year,  consisting  of  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days  and  six  hours.  Two  years  after  this, 
Csesar  gave  permission  to  the  Jews  to  fortify  Jerusalem.  He  also 
restored  to  them  all  that  they  had  formerly  possessed,  and  con- 
firmed them  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  privileges.  The  same 
year  (41  before  Christ),  while  preparing  to  leave  Rome  on  an 
expedition  against  the  Parthians,  this  great  man  was  treacherously 
murdered  by  Brutus,  Cassius,  and  some  others,  in  the  senate-house, 
after  he  had  governed  the  Roman  Empire  three  years  and  six 
months. 

The  death  of  Caesar  was  followed  with  much  confusion,  not  only 
at  Rome,  but  in  all  the  provinces.  Brutus  and  his  party  were 
obliged  to  flee  from  the  city,  leaving  the  direction  of  affairs  chiefly 
in  the  hands  of  Mark  Antony  and  Octavius  Csesar,  This  Octavius 
Csesar  (afterwards  the  great  Augustus)  was  a  nephew  of  Julias 
Csesar,  and  claimed  to  be  his  adopted  son  and  heir.  After  much 
contention  between  these  two  rivals  for  power,  Lepidus  was  asso- 
ciated with  them  ;  and  thus  was  constituted  a  triumvirate  who 
thought  to  govern  Rome.  It  was  during  their  bloody  administra- 
tion that  Cicero  was  put  to  death. 

Meanwhile  the  East  was  in  open  rebellion  against  the  trium- 
virate.    Brutus  and  his  party  controlled  all  the  country  from  the 


THE  MACCABEES   TO   THE   REIGN   OF   HEROD.  453 

Euphrates  to  Macedon.  The  fate  of  Brutus  was  decided  in 
the  battle  of  Philippi  (in  the  year  39  before  Christ),  where  he 
was  defeated,  and,  in  despair,  put  an  end  to  his  Hfe.  The  following 
year,  the  triumvirate  divided  the  empire  between  themselves ; 
Lepidus  receiving  Africa,  Antony  the  East,  and  Octavius  Caesar 
the  West.     Italy  they  agreed  to  hold  in  common. 

During  these  commotions,  the  Jews  had  no  great  reason  to  com- 
plain of  the  Romans,  except  that  oppressive  pecuniary  exactions 
were  sometimes  made  upon  them  ;  but  they  had  frequent  dis- 
turbances among  themselves.  Antipater  was  put  to  death  by  one 
Malichus,  a  Jew,  through  envy  that  an  Idumsean  should  have  so 
much  power  and  influence  at  Jerusalem.  Next  Phasael  and  Herod 
slew  Malichus,  that  they  might  avenge  the  death  of  their  father. 
Hyrcanus,  the  high  priest,  espoused  at  first  the  cause  of  Malichus  ; 
but,  not  being  able  to  resist  the  two  brothers,  he  was  fain  to  make 
-his  peace  with  them  by  giving  Mariamne,  Ms  beautiful  grand-daugh- 
ter, to  Herod  to  wife. 

The  discontented  among  the  Jews  made  repeated  solicitations  to 
Antony  against  Herod,  but  all  without  effect.  They  then  recalled 
Antigonus,  the  surviving  son  of  Aristobulus,  into  Palestine,  intend- 
ing to  place  him  on  his  father's  throne ;  but  he  was  defeated  by 
Herod,  and  compelled  for  a  time  to  relinquish  his  purpose. 

But  Herod's  turn  at  length  came  to  experience  reverses  and  de- 
feat. While  Antony  was  dallying  with  Cleopatra  in  Egypt,  the 
Parthians,  assisted  by  some  discontented  Romans,  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity to  invade  Western  Asia,  and  were  carrying  all  before  them. 
Not  daring  to  encounter  them  single-handed,  Herod  fled,  —  first  to 
Arabia,  and  then  to  Egypt  in  pursuit  of  Antony ;  but,  not  find- 
ing him,  he  passed  on  to  Rome.  Meanwhile  Antigonus,  by  the 
help  of  the  Parthians,  —  which  help  he  purchased  for  a  thousand 
talents  and  five  hundred  female  slaves,  —  took  upon  himself  the 
goverment  of  Judaea.  He  seized  his  venerable  uncle  Hyrcanus, 
cut  off  his  ears,  and  gave  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Parthians. 
Phasael,  the  brother  of  Herod,  he  meant  to  have  crucified ;  but 
his  victim  anticipated  him  by  putting  an  end  to  his  own  hfe.  He 
now  garrisoned  Jerusalem,  and  provided  it  with  ample  stores,  in- 
tending, if  attacked,  to  hold  out  to  the  last  extremity. 

Nor  were  these  precautions  needless.  Herod  pleaded  his  cause 
so  effectually  at  Rome,  that  he  obtained  a  grant  of  the  crown  of 
Judaea  for  himself,  and  the  assistance  of  a  Roman  army  to  put  him 
in  possession  of  it.      Thus  furnished,  he  was  again  in  Palestine 


454  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

sooner  than  could  have  been  anticipated,  to  renew  the  war.  After 
various  reverses  and  dehiys,  he  at  length  drove  Antigonus  witliin 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  where  he  closely  besieged  him  with  an 
army  of  sixty  thousand  men.  After  a  desperate  resistance,  which 
continued  about  a  year,  the  city  was  again  taken  by  storm,  and 
suffered  the  extreme  rigor  of  mihtary  execution. 

Enraged  at  the  obstinate  defence  which  the  Jews  had  made,  the 
soldiers  continued  to  massacre  and  pillage  after  all  resistance  had 
ceased ;  and,  to  prevent  the  total  destruction  of  his  capital,  Herod 
was  obliged  to  buy  them  off  with  a  large  sum  of  money.  Twenty- 
seven  years  before  this,  and  at  about  the  same  time  of  the  year, 
Jerusalem  had  been  taken  and  sacked  by  Pompey.* 

The  fate  of  Antigonus  was  such  as  he  had  reason  to  expect. 
Antony  was  inclined  to  spare  him  for  the  purpose  of  gracing  his 
triumph  at  Rome ;  but,  at  the  solicitation  of  Herod,  he  was  con- 
demned to  death,  and  was  executed,  like  a  common  malefactor,  by 
the  axe  of  the  lictor. 

And  thus  ended  the  Asmonsean  dynasty,  after  it  had  subsisted  a 
hundred  and  twenty-six  years,  —  "a  noble  and  illustrious  house," 
says  Josephus,  "  distinguished  by  their  descent,  by  the  dignity  of 
their  pontificate,  and  by  the  great  exploits  of  their  ancestors  for 
the  house  of  Israel." 

In  the  year  37  before  Christ,  Herod  came  to  the  throne  of  Judaea, 
not  as  an  independent  king,  but  as  subject  and  tributary  to  the 
Romans.  Of  the  events  of  his  reign  I  shaU  speak  in  the  following 
chapter. 

*  At  the  same  time  of  the  year,  Jerusalem  was  taken  and  destroyed  by  N^ebuchadnezzar; 
viz.,  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  Jewish  month  Tammus,  —  about  midsummer  with  us. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 


HEROD   TO   THE    BIRTH    OF    CHRIST. 


IN  the  last  chapter,  we  pursued  the  history  of  the  Jewish  state 
to  the  termination  of  the  Syrian  and  Egyptian  dynasties  \)y 
which  it  had  been  successively  ruled ;  also  of  the  Asmonsean  dynas- 
ty, under  which  it  assumed  for  a  time  a  degree  of  independence ;  and 
down  the  broad  pathway  of  Roman  dominion  to  the  time  of  Herod. 
Under  the  triumvirate,  which  was  still  in  power,  Antony  had  the 
chief  government  of  the  East ;  and  Herod  was  a  tributary  under 
him.  Of  the  principal  events  of  Herod's  checkered  and  eventful 
administration  I  am  now  to  speak. 

Herod  commenced  his  reign  by  murdering  most  of  the  Jewish 
nobles  who  had  favored  Antigonus  and  opposed  himself.  He  con- 
demned to  death  all  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  except  two ; 
viz.,  Shammai  and  Hillel,  the  founders  of  two  separate  schools 
of  Jewish  law.  He  exalted  to  the  high  priesthood  Ananel,  a  com- 
mon priest  from  Babylon,  who  had  neither  connections  nor  influ- 
ence to  render  him  dangerous.  Hyrcanus,  who  had  been  so  long 
high  priest,  and  who  was  now  living  in  exile  among  the  Parthians, 
Herod  invited  back  to  Jerusalem  ;  but  it  was  only  to  insnare  him, 
and  accomplish  his  destruction.  At  the  age  of  more  than  eighty 
years,  he  caused  this  venerable  old  man  to  be  put  to  death. 

At  the  earnest  request  of  Mariamne  his  wife,  who  was  a  grand- 
daughter of  Hyrcanus,  Herod  deposed  Ananel  from  the  pontificate 
when  he  had  held  it  only  two  years,  and  put  her  brother  Aristo- 
,bulus  into  his  place  ;  but  this  lasted  but  a  little  while.  Herod 
soon  grew  jealous  of  him,  and  caused  him  also  to  be  put  to  death. 

But,  by  this  act  of  cruelty,  he  endangered  his  own  life  to  Anto- 
ny :  for  Alexandra,  the  mother  of  the  murdered  young  man,  ac- 
cused Herod  to  Cleopatra,  and  Cleopatra  to  Antony ;  and  he  was 
summoned  to  Laodicsea  to  give  an  account  of  himself.  But,  by 
flatteries  and  bribes,  he  succeeded  in  satisfying  his  Roman  master, 
and  came  off  in  safety.  455 


456  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Meanwhile  the  triumvirate,  which  for  several  years  had  governed 
Rome,  was  hastening  to  its  dissolution.  First,  Octavius  had  a 
quarrel  with  Lepidus,  defeated  him,  and  obliged  him  to  retire  into 
private  life.  The  empire  was  now  in  the  hands  of  Octavius  and 
Antony.  But  Antony,  instead  of  exerting  himself  as  a  wise  man 
should,  was  wasting  his  time,  and  forfeiting  his  character  and  in- 
fluence, in  the  arms  of  Cleopatra.  He  was  either  with  her  at 
Alexandria,  or  she  must  be  with  him  wherever  the  affairs  of  the 
public  required  his  presence.  At  one  time,  he  had  proceeded  as  far 
as  Antioch  on  an  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  when  Cleopatra 
sent  after  him  that  she  was  sick  of  love,  and  should  certainly  die 
if  he  did  not  return :  so  he  gave  up  all  thoughts  of  the  Partliian 
war,  and  hastened  back  to  the  embrace  of  his  mistress. 

This  insnaring  and  wicked  connection  at  length  proved  the  ruin 
of  Antony ;  for,  in  addition  to  the  neglect  and  consequent  confu- 
sion of  public  affairs,  it  brought  him  into  direct  conflict  with  Octa- 
vius Csesar.  Antony  had  a  wife  all  this  while  at  Rome,  and  she 
was  the  sister  of  Octavius  ;  and  it  could  not  be  expected  that  Octa- 
vius would  look  coldly  on  and  see  the  honor  of  his  sister  sacrificed 
to  the  influence  of  a  harlot. 

Octavius  declared  war  against  Antony  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  30  before  Christ.  Two  years  afterwards,  the  question  be- 
tween them  was  decided  in  a  sea-fight  at  Actium,  where  Antony 
was  beaten.  His  land-forces  now  forsook  him  ;  and  very  soon  his 
affairs  became  desperate.  Even  Cleopatra  turned  against  him  at 
the  last,  hoping  thereby  to  ingratiate  herself  with  his  rival ;  but 
in  this  she  was  disappointed.  She  had  insnared  Julius  Csesar  and 
Antony,  but  could  make  no  impression  upon  the  heart  of  Octavius. 
Both  Antony  and  Cleopatra  fell  by  their  own  hands  in  the  year 
27  before  Christ. 

From  this  time  Octavius  (or,  as  he  was  called  afterwards,  Augus- 
tus) became  the  virtual  emperor  of  Rome ;  though  he  declined 
using  the  title,  and  kept  up  for  a  time  the  ancient  republican  forms 
of  government.  From  Eg3rpt,  he  returned  through  Asia  Minor 
and  Greece  to  Rome,  where  he  arrived  in  the  month  Sextilis  of  the 
following  year,  which  is  still  called  August,  after  his  name  ;  as  the 
previous  month  is  called  Jul^,  from  the  name  of  Julius  Csesar. 

Herod  had  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  Antony,  and  con- 
tinued to  support  him  as  long  as  there  was  any  hope  ;  but,  when 
Antony  fell,  he  was  resolved,  if  possible,  to  make  his  peace  with 
Augustus.     He  was  aware  that  this  was  a  doubtful  undertaking ; 


HEROD   TO   THE   BIRTH   OF   CHRIST.  457 

and,  before  entering  upon  it,  he  placed  his  favorite  wife  Mariamne 
and  her  mother  in  the  castle  of  Alexandrium,  with  stiict  orders  to 
the  commandant  to  put  both  of  them  to  death  whenever  it  should 
be  certainly  known  that  he  had  been  slain.  Ha^d.ng•  completed  his 
preparations,  Herod  set  forward  to  meet  Augustus,  and  found  him 
refreshing  himself  at  Rhodes.  Being  admitted  into  his  presence, 
he  took  off  his  crown,  and  laid  it  at  Ms  feet.  He  fi-ankly  acknowl- 
edged all  that  he  had  done  for  Antony,  and  what  a  faithful  friend 
he  had  been  to  him  so  long  as  his  good  offices  were  accepted. 
"  And  now,"  says  he,  addressing  himself  to  Augustus,  "  I  propose 
to  be  the  same  to  you.  I  am  in  your  power,  and  at  your  disposal : 
will  you  accept  of  such  a  friend  ?  "  Augustus,  who  had  at  the 
first  exerted  himself  to  procure  the  crown  of  Judsea  for  Herod, 
was  pleased  with  his  frankness,  accepted  his  proposals,  and  con- 
firmed him  in  his  kingdom. 

Herod  returned  to  Judaea  much  elated  with  his  success,  and  found 
the  state  of  affairs  such  as  he  could  wish,  except  that  his  beloved 
wife  Mariamne,  who  had  learned  his  murderous  orders  respecting 
her,  was  in  great  trouble,  her  affections  being  entirely  alienated  from 
her  husband.  She  repelled  with  disdain  all  his  attempts  to  please 
her  and  to  promote  a  reconciliation  with  her.  She  reproached 
him  with  the  murder  of  her  family,  —  her  father,  her  brother,  her 
uncle  Antigonus,  her  grandfather  Hyrcanus.  She -reproached  his 
mother  and  sister  on  account  of  thejneanness  of  their  birth  ;  and 
they,  in  turn,  spared  no  pains  to  excite  the  hatred  of  Herod  against 
her.  These  domestic  troubles  continued  and'  increased  till  they 
could  be  endured  no  longer.  Herod  added  another  to  the  list  of 
his  murders.  He  caused  Mariamne  to  be  put  to  death  on  the  false 
charge  of  adultery. 

But  this  new  cruelty,  instead  of  relieving,  served  only  to  ag- 
gravate, his  distress.  Such  was  his  remorse  for  his  crimes,  and 
his  anguish  in  remembrance  of  his  murdered  wife,  that  he  withdrew 
from  all  society,  and  shut  himself  up  in  Samaria,  where  he  was 
attacked  with  a  dangerous  disease.  He  at  length  recovered ;  but 
liis  afflictions  were  not  sanctified  to  him.  So  far  from  softening, 
they  tended  only  to  harden  his  heart.  He  became  more  ferocious 
and  tyrannical  than  ever,  and,  on  the  slightest  suspicions,  would 
order  his  best  friends  to  be  put  to  death. 

When  the  Asmongean  family  had  been  all  removed,  and  there 
were  no  longer  any  aspu-ants  to  the  throne,  Herod  began  openly  to 
introduce  innovations  upon  the  Jewish  customs.     He  built  a  theatre 


458  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

at  Jerusalem,  and  also  an  ampliitheatre,  in  which  games  were  cele- 
brated every  fifth  year  in  honor  of  Augustus.  These  were  a 
source  of  great  dissatisfaction  to  the  Jews ;  and  a  band  of  them 
conspired  together  to  assassinate  Herod  as  he  was  going  into  the 
theatre.  The  conspirators  were  discovered  and  executed ;  and 
many  others  were  executed  with  them  as  being  implicated  in  the 
plot. 

Finding  that  he  could  no  longer  trust  his  subjects,  Herod  pro- 
ceeded to  erect  fortresses  for  his  own  seciu'ity,  and  to  garrison 
them  with  foreign  soldiers  hired  for  the  purpose.  He  fortified 
Samaria,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  John  Hyrcanus,  »nd  rebuilt, 
but  not  fortified,  by  the  prefect  Gabinius.  He  fortified  Strabo's 
Tower,  a  strong  castle  in  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  called  it. 
Caesarea.     He  also  built  Gaba  in  Galilee,  and  Heshbon  in  Persea. 

Still  Herod  was  not  indifferent  to  the  good  opinion  of  his 
subjects :  he  valued  it  highly,  and  often  made  great  sacrifices  in 
order  to  obtain  it.  In  the  year  22  before  Christ,  there  was  a  dis- 
tressing drought  in  Palestine,  followed  by  famine,  and  its  usual  con-. 
comitant,  pestilence.  Herod  exhausted  his  treasury,  and  even 
sold  the  plate  from  his  table,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  provisions 
from  Egypt.  At  this  time,  most  of  the  sheep  in  the  country  were 
slaughtered,  both  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  and 
because  the  drought  had  destroyed  their  pasturage.  Herod,  at  his 
own  expense,  procured  great  quantities  of  wool  in  order  to  supply 
the  people  with  clothing.  By  kindnesses  such  as  these,  he  did 
something  to  abate  the  hatred  of  his  subjects  ;  but  soon  again  his 
government  would  become  so  tyrannical,  that  all  remembrance  of 
past  favors  would  be  obliterated. 

When  Palestine  had  recovered  in  some  degree  from  the  effects 
of  famine,  Herod  commenced  building  him  a  splendid  palace,  after 
the  Grecian  style  of  architecture,  on  Mount  Zion.  He  also  built 
a  castle  called  Herodium,  which  was  afterwards  his  tomb.  He 
was  exceedingly  fond  of  architecture,  and  erected  many  sjDlendid 
edifices  in  different  parts  of  his  kingdom,  hoping  thereby  to  im- 
mortalize his  fame.  About  this  time,  Herod  sent  the  two  sons 
which  his  murdered  Mariamne  had  borne  to  him  to  Rome  to  be 
educated.  Augustus  received  them  with  great  favor,  and,  in  token 
of  confidence,  still  farther  enlarged  the  dominions  of  Herod. 

But  his  increase  of  power  gave  him  no  additional  favor  with  the 
Jews  :  they  distrusted  him  ;  they  hated  him  ;  and  were  constantly 
watching  an  opportunity  to^rise  against  him.     This  led  him  to 


HEROD   TO   THE   BIRTH   OF   CHRIST.  459 

institute  a  stricter  espionage  and  a  more  rigorous'  government  over 
them.  He  forbade  all  assemblages  of  the  people  under  the  severest 
penalties.  He  employed  a  great  number  of  spies,  and  spared  no 
pains  or  expense  to  make  them  diligent  and  faithful.  He  fre- 
quently disguised  himself,  and  went  out  secretly  among  the  people, 
that  he  might  learn  their  real  sentiments  respecting  him.  Many 
of  the  discontented  and  refractory  were  by  these  means  dis- 
covered, and  put  out  of  the  way.  He  at  length  required  the 
whole. body  of  his  people  (with  the  exception  of  a  few  who  deemed 
all  oaths  unlawful)  to  bind  themselves  to  him  by  an  oath  of 
allegiance. 

In  the  year  16  before  Christ,  Herod  formed  the  design  of  erect- 
ing a  new  temple  at  Jerusalem  on  a  larger  scale,  and  in  a  style  of 
greater  magnificence,  than  the  old  one.  He  laid  his  project  before 
the  people  at  one  of  the  great  festivals,  when  many  were  brought 
together  at  Jerusalem ;  and,  Avlien  he  found  that  they  distrusted 
his  intentions,  he  promised  not  to  disturb  the  old  temple  till  the 
materials  for  the  new  one  should  be  all  in  readiness.  Two  years 
were  spent  in  collecting  materials  ;  and  then  the  old  temple  was 
taken  down  piecemeal,  as  its  parts  could  be  replaced  by  those 
of  the  new  building.  In  this  way,  the  Jews  were  never  without 
a  temple ;  and  the  new  building  seemed  but  an  improved  con- 
tinuation of  the  old  one.  Thus  the  temple  which  was  standing 
in  the  time  of  Christ  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  second  temple, 
though  with  more  propriety  it  may  be  called  the  third;  and  the 
prophecy  of  Haggai,  that  the  glory  of  the  latter  Jiouse  should  exceed 
that  of  the  former,  in  that  it  should  receive  "  the  desire  of  all 
nations,"  was  fulfilled  (Hag.  ii.  7-9). 

The  main  body  of  the  new  temple  was  completed  in  nine  years 
and  a  half;  but  the  whole  structure,  including  the  courts  and 
cloisters,  was  not  finished  till  long  after  the  death  of  Herod,  nor  till 
years  after  the  death  of  Christ.  Hence  the  Jews  said  to  our  Saviour 
(changing  our  translation  a  little),  "  Forty  and  six  years  has  this 
temple  been  in  hidlding  ;  and  wilt  thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days  ?  " 
(John  ii.  20.)  Just  forty-six  years  before  this  declaration  was 
made,  Herod  began  to  rebuild  the  temple.  The  work  was  con- 
tinued, and  artificers  were  employed  in  it,  during  the  whole  period 
that  our  Saviour  was  on  earth :  hence  the  propriety  of  what  his 
disciples  said  to  him  when  "  they  came  to  shoiv  him  the  buildings 
of  the  temple  : "  "  Master,  see  what  manner  of  stones  and  what 
buildings  are  here  "  (Matt.  xxiv.  1).     The  expression  implies  that 


460  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  work  of  the  temple  was  still  in  progress.  This  great  work  was 
finally  completed  under  the  administration  of  Gessius  Florus,  only 
a  few  years  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans. 

The  year  after  he  had  commenced  building  the  temple,  Herod 
made  a  journey  to  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with  much  favor 
by  Augustus.  On  his  retui-n,  he  took  his  two  sons  with  him,  who 
had  before  been  sent  to  Rome  to  be  educated,  —  the  one  of  them 
to  be  married  to  a  daughter  of  Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia ;  and 
the  other  to  a  daughter  of  his  sister  Salome. 

The  following  year,  Agrippa,  the  son-in-law  of  Augustus,  and 
governor  under  him  of  all  the  East,  made  a  visit  to  Jerusalem. 
He  was  received  with  the  greatest  honor,  not  only  by  Herod,  but 
by  all  the  people  ,  and  nothing  was  omitted  which  could  contribute 
to  his  gratification.  Nor  was  Agrippa  insensible  to  the  honors 
conferred  upon  him.  He  brought  a  hecatomb  of  offerings  to  the 
temple,  and  made  a  feast  to  all  the  people.  Soon  after  this,  at  the 
intercession  of  Herod,  Agrippa  confirmed  to  the  Jews  in  Ionia,  Asia 
Minor,  and  in  other  places,  their  religious  freedom  ;  exempted  them 
from  military  service  ;  and  conferred  upon  them  other  important 
privileges. 

I  have  just  stated  that  Herod,  on  his  return  from  Rome,  took 
with  him  his  two  sons.  These  had  not  been  long  at  Jerusalem 
before  the  other  members  of  his  family  began  to  envy  them,  and 
to  excite  the  suspicions  of  their  father  against  them.  The  young 
princes  were  not  always  as  prudent  as  they  should  have  been ; 
and  every  incautious  word  they  dropped,  or  deed  they  performed, 
was  seized  upon,  and  magnified,  to  fan  the  flame  of  Herod's  jeal- 
ousy, and  involve  them  in  new  troubles.  This  difficulty  continued, 
with  some  intervals  of  quiet,  but  on  the  whole  waxing  worse  and 
worse,  till,  in  the  third  year  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour,  these 
innocent  young  men  were  condemned  and  executed.  And  then 
—  when  the  deed  was  done,  and  could  not  be  recalled  —  the  eyes 
of  the  wretched  father  were  opened.  He  had  full  proof  furnished 
him,  not  only  of  the  innocence  of  his  murdered  children,  but  that 
those  members  of  his  family  —  in  particular,  his  brother  Pheroras, 
and  his  eldest  son  Antipater  —  who  had  been  their  cliief  accusers 
were  really  guilty  of  a  conspiracy  against  his  life.  They  had  re- 
solved to  take  him  off  by  poison,  and  would  have  accomplished 
their  purpose  but  that  Pheroras  was  taken  sick  and  died.  The 
whole  plot  was  discovered  soon  after  his  death ;  and  Antipater  was 
publicly  executed. 


HEROD   TO  THE   BIRTH   OF   CHRIST.  461 

But  the  end  of  Herod's  bloody  career  was  now  come.  He  was 
seized  with  his  last  sickness.  He  had  a  violent  internal  fever  ;  his 
intestines  were  ulcerated ;  his  feet  were  swollen ;  his  breath  was 
fetid;  and,  like  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  he  was  literally  eaten  of 
worms.  He  now  gave  ujd  all  hope  of  recovery,  and  made  prepara- 
tions for  leaving  the  world.  He  appointed  his  son  Archelaus  to  be 
his  successor  in  the  kingdom  of  Judah ;  made  Herod  Antipas, 
another  son,  tetrarch  of  Galilee ;  and  Philip,  a  younger  son, 
tetrarch  of  Gaulonitis,  Trachonitis,  and  other  provinces  in  the 
north-east  part  of  Palestine.  He  gave  rich  presents  to  the  Em- 
peror Augustus,  to  his  wife  Julia,  and  to  other  relatives  and 
friends ;  and  died,  in  the  utmost  distress  both  of  body  and  mind, 
in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirty-seventh  of  his 
reign. 

Well  knowing  how  much  the  Jews  hated  him,  he  called  together 
some  of  the  principal  men  of  the  nation  just  before  his  death,  con- 
fined them  in  the  hippodrome,  and  gave  strict  orders  to  his  attendants 
to  massacre  them  as  soon  as  he  had  breathed  his  last,  that  so  there 
might  be  a  mourning  when  he  was  gone.  But  this  cruel  order  was 
not  executed.  His  corpse  was  carried  with  great  pomp  to  Herodi- 
um,  near  Jericho,  and  there  laid  in  a  sepulchre  which  he  had  him- 
self prepared. 

The  character  of  Herod  may  be  given  in  few  words.  He  was 
ambitious  of  power,  and  altogether  unscrupulous  as  to  the  means 
of  securing  it ;  he  was  suspicious,  jealous,  fond  of  magnificence 
and  display,  blood-thirsty  and  cruel  to  the  last  degree.  The  mur- 
ders which  he  committed  in  his  own  family  —  to  say  nothing  of 
the  thousands  whom  he  sacrificed  out  of  it  —  are  full  proof  of 
this.  So  harshly  did  he  treat  his  own  children,  that  it  passed  into 
.  a  proverb,  "  Better  be  Herod's  hog  than  his  son."  And  yet  he  may 
be  said,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  terms,  to  have  been  a 
lucky  man.  In  repeated  instances,  he  seemed  to  be  on  the  very 
brink  of  ruin  ;  and  then  he  escaped,  and  rose  to  power,  when  he 
had  the  least  reason  to  expect  it.  Nor  was  he  without  some  redeem- 
ing qualities.  He  knew  how  to  show  kindness  to  his  people,  and 
he  often  did  it  when  he  could  do  it  with  safety  and  advantage  to 
himself ;  and  he  managed  to  hold  the  Jewish  state  together,  and  to 
maintain  its  honor  and  its  power,  until  Shiloh  came^  and  the  prom- 
ises of  the  Messiah  were  fulfilled. 

But  this  brings  us  to  an  event  which  took  place  a  little  previous 
to  the  death  of  Herod,  and  which  was  of  more  importance  than 


462  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

any  that  had  ever  transpired,  —  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christy 
the  Saviour  of  the  ivorld. 

Of  the  events  immediately  connected  with  the  birth  of  Christ 
we  have  no  mention  in  secular  history  ;  nor  could  this  have  been 
reasonably  expected.  The  wise  men  who  came  to  the  court  of 
Herod  from  the  East  were  probably  Magians  from  northern 
Arabia  or  Persia.  The  star  which  guided  them  was  a  meteor, 
providentially  (perhaps  miraculously)  prepared  and  sent.  The 
murder  of  .the  children  at  Bethlehem  accords  well  with  the  suspi- 
cious, cruel  temper  of  Herod,  and  must  have  been  among  the  last 
acts  of  his  life. 

According  to  Josephus,  Herod  had  nine  wives  and  many  chil- 
dren. Three  of  his  sons,  as  before  related,  he  put  to  death. 
Archelaus  succeeded  him  on  the  throne  of  Judaea.  He  was  a 
cruel  king ;  and,  through  fear  of  him,  Joseph  and  Mary,  on  their 
return  from  Egypt,  declined  settling  in  Judaea,  but  "  turned  aside 
into  the  parts  of  Galilee"  (Matt.  ii.  22).  Archelaus  reigned  ten 
years,  when,  for  his  great  wickedness,  he  was  deposed  by  Angus- „ 
tus,  and  banished  into  Gaul. 

Herod  Antipas  was  tetrarch  of  Galilee.  He  divorced  the  wife 
of  his  youth,  and  married  Herodias,  his  brother  Phihp's  wife. 
Being  reproved  for  this  by  John  the  Baptist,  he  seized  his  reprover, 
shut  liim  up  in  prison,  and  then  (to  gratify  his  adulterous  wife 
and  her  wicked  daughter)  put  him  to  death  (Matt.  siv.  1,  2). 
This  is  the  Herod  who  was  at  Jerusalem,  and  who  became  recon- 
ciled to  Pilate  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  crucifixion.  He,  with 
his  wife  Herodias,  was  afterwards  banished  to  Lyons,  in  Gaul. 

Of  Philip,  the  tetrarch  of  Itursea,  Trachonitis,  and  Gaulonitis, 
little  is  known,  except  that  his  brother  took  away  his  wife,  and 
that  he  died  early. 

Of  the  grandchildren  of  Herod  the  Great  (as  he  is  sometimes 
called),  the  most  distinguished  was  Herod  Agrippa,  who  "  killed-a 
James,  the  brother  of  John,  with  the  sword,"  and  intended  "  to 
take  Peter  also,"  but  was  miraculously  prevented  (Acts  xii.  1,  2). 
After  passing  through  many  changes  in  the  early  part  of  his  life, 
Caligula  made  him  king  of  what  had  been  the  tetrarchy  of  his  -. 
uncle  Philip.     Upon  the  death  of  Caligula,  Claudius  gave  him  the 
entire  kingdom  of  his  grandfather  Herod.    He  reigned  over  Judsea 
about  three  years,  and  died  in  the  wretched  manner  described  in   j 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles :    "  The  angel  of  the  Lord  smote  him 
because  he  gave  not  God  the  glory ;  and  he  was  eaten  of  worms, 


HEROD   TO   THE   BIRTH   OF   CHRIST.  463 

and  gave  up  the  ghost."  The  Herodias  who  instigated  the  murder 
of  John  the  Baptist  was  his  sister.  These  were  the  cliildren  of 
Aristobulus,  one  of  the  sons  of  Herod  by  Marianine. 

Tlie  Herod  Agrippa  of  whom  we  have  spoken  left  a  son  Agrippa, 
who  became  a  king,  and  reigned  over  several  provinces  in  the 
•northern  part  of  Palestine.  Drusilla,  the  wife  of  Felix,  was  his 
sister.  He  had  another  sister,  Berenice,  whom  he  kept  constantly 
with  him,  and  with  whom  he  is  said  to  have  lived  in  incest.  They 
were  the  great-grandchildren  of  Herod  the  Great  and  Mariamne. 
This  is  that  King  Agrippa  before  whom  Paul  pleaded  his  cause  at 
Csesarea  (Acts  xxvi.).  No  wonder  he  was  not  entirely  persuaded  to 
be  a  Christian. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Herod  and  his  descendants  were 
IdumjBans  by  birth,  though  they  professed  the  Jews'  religion.  The 
Idumaeans  were  all  proselyted  to  the  Jewish  religion  by  John  Hyr- 
canus  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  Still 
the  Herods  were  none  of  them  heartily  Jews.  Their  principal 
endeavor  was  to  please  the  Romans ;  and  their  whole  influence 
went  to  break  down  the  spirit  and  corrupt  the  religion  of  the 
Jewish  people. 

The  ground  over  which  we  have  passed  thus  far  should  teach  us 
GocVs  love  a7id  faithfulness  to  his  Church.  God  has  had  a  Church  on 
the  earth  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time  ;  but  its  continued 
existence  is  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  any  inherent  virtue  in  man,  but 
entirely  to  his  own  love  and  faithfulness.  Why  was  it  not  drowned 
in  the  Deluge  ?  Why  was  it  not  crushed  and  consumed  in  Egypt  ? 
Why  did  it  survive  the  captivity  at  Babylon  ?  Why  was  it  not 
utterly  destroyed  (as  the  tyrant  often  threatened)  under  Antiochus 
Epiphanes  ?  How  was  the  holy  fire  kept  alive  through  those  long 
centuries  of  darkness,  when  there  was  no  voice  of  prophecy,  no 
open  vision,  and  nothing  to  cheer  the  desponding  people  of  God 
but  the  promise  of  a  Shiloh  to  come  ?  The  answer  to  all  these 
questions  is  the  same :  God  loves  his  Church  ;  he  kindly  and  con- 
stantly watches  over  it ;  he  is  inviolably  faithful  to  preserve  it.  In 
faithfulness  he  corrects  it,  but  has  never  abandoned  it,  and  never 
will. 

Another  lesson  taught  us  in  this  history  is,  that  Christ  made  his 
appearance  in  our  world  at  the  right  time.  He  is  said  to  have  come 
"  in  the  fulness  of  time ; "  which  may  mean  the  right  time..,  the 
best  time.  God  had  been  preparing  the  way  for  his  coming  through 
four  thousand  long  years.     He  had  been  using  means  and  trying 


464  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

experiments  for  tlie  benefit  of  our  lost  race  ;  all  which  had  suc- 
cessively failed,  and  left  our  prospects  more  and  more  dark,  until 
in  our  greatest  extremity,  and  as  the  last  effort  wliich  could  be  made 
on  our  behalf,  he  sent  into  the  world  his  Son;  he  sent  him  "  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  ivas  lost.  He  directed  that  his  name  should 
be  called  Jesus,  Saviour,  because  he  would  "  save  his  people  from 
their  sins." 

In  this  view,  we  have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  Christ  came  just 
when  he  did,  —  no  sooner,  no  later.  He  came  when  the  way  had 
been  fully  prepared  for  him  ;  he  came  when  .the  world  had  come 
to  feel  in  some  measure  its  need  of  him  ;  he  came,  as  Paul  well 
expresses  it,  "in  the  fulness  of  time." 

Let  us,  then,  receive  him,  love  him,  consecrate  and  devote  our- 
selves to  him,  and  do  what  we  can  to  make  the  world  acquainted 
with  his  salvation. 


PAET    11. 

HISTORY  OF  GOD'S 'CHURCH  FROM  THE  COimO  OF  CHRIST 
TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


30  ,  465 


.^,-.^  '  "''- 
'^^^^^:- 


J  (_)  Hif  wi(r  J^ 


PART  II. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

THE  history  of  what  may  properly  be  termed  the  Cliristian 
Church  commences  with  the  gospel  dispensation,  and  con- 
tinues down  through  the  intervening  ages  to  the  present  time. 
It  is  a  history  of  the  changes  through  which  this  great  spiritual 
organization  has  passed  ;  of  the  causes  wliich  have  operated  to 
produce  these  changes ;  and  of  the  influence  which  it  has  exerted 
upon  individuals,  upon  society,  and  the  world. 

Church  history  is  commonly  divided  into  the  external  and  the 
internal.  The  former  includes  all  those  outward  occurrences, 
whether  prosperous  or  adverse,  —  the  result  of  causes  foreign  to 
itself^  —  which  have  come  upon  this  sacred  institution.  The  inter- 
nal treats  of  the  changes  through  which  the  Church  has  passed, 
springing  up  within  itself^  and  relating  to  its  own  appropriate 
concerns.  This  department  includes  an  account  of  its  teachers 
and  other  officers ;  of  its  forms  of  government ;  of  its  rites  and 
ceremonies  ;  of  revivals  and  declensions  ;  of  its  doctrines,  ordi- 
nances, and  laws  ;  also  of  the  false  teachers  and  heresies  with 
which,  from  time  to  time,  it  has  been  infested.  The  external  and 
internal  history  of  the  Church  is  so  closely  connected,  and  so 
often  intermingled,  that  the  difference  between  them  cannot, 
indeed,  be  very  sharply  defined.  Still  the  distinction  is  a  valid 
one,  and  worthy  to  be  regarded. 

The  benefits  of  Church  history,  when  accurately  written  and 
faithfully  studied,  are  very  great.  In  the  first  place,  it  is,  like  all 
other  history,  instructive.  It  enlarges  the  circle  of  our  ideas,  and 
makes  us  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  God's  providence  and  grace. 


468  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

It  shows  US  what  God  has  been  domg  in  the  world,  and  doing 
in  reference  to  his  own  spiritual  and  eternal  kingdom.  It  shows 
us,  also,  the  method  of  his  operations,  the  means  he  employs, 
and  the  laws  by  which  the  general  course  of  things  is  regulated. 
As,  without  geographical  knowledge,  our  ideas  are  necessarily 
confined,  shut  up  within  the  narrow  circle  of  our  own  personal 
observation ;  so,  without  history,  the  past  is  all  a  blank  to  us,  and 
we  can  only  know  what  is  passing  before  our  eyes. 

In  the  history  of  God's  Church  we  have  striking  illustrations 
of  the  truths  of  his  Word.  The  depravity,  the  guilt,  the  ingrati- 
tude of  man  ;  the  goodness,  the  patience,  the  long-suffering  of 
God,  his  faithfulness  to  his  promises,  his  displeasure  at  sin,  his 
love  for  his  people,  his  watchful  care  and  providence  over  them,  — 
these  are  among  the  lessons  which  the  word  of  God  inculcates ; 
and  they  are  all  of  them  illustrated  a  thousand  times  over  in  the 
history  of  his  Cliurch.  We  thus  have  history  teaching  by  example, 
and  impressing  upon  us  by  a  united  testimony  the  truths  and  pre- 
cepts of  the  Bible. 

The  history  of  God's  Church  as  a  means  of  illustrating  his  truth 
and  ivill  is  of  great  importance  to  all  men,  but  more  especially  to 
the  ministers  of  Christ.  In  addressing  their  fellow-men  on  gospel 
themes,  how  often  do  ministers  need  appropriate  illustrations !  And 
the  most  fertile  source  of  them,  next  to  the  Bible,  is  the  history 
of  the  Church.  For  example :  The  power  of  Christian  faith  and 
love  under  the  most  trying  circumstances  is  beautifully  illustrated 
in  the  case  of  Polycarp,  who,  when  urged  by  his  persecutor  to 
swear,  and  reproach  Christ,  said,  "  Eighty  and  six  years  have  I 
served  him,  and  he  hath  never  wronged  me  :  how,  then,  can 
I  blaspheme  m}'  King  and  m}^  Saviour  ?  "  And  the  good  effects 
of  a  decidedly  Christian  maternal  influence  are  nowhere  more 
strikingly  illustrated  than  in  the  case  of  Augustine,  whose  mother 
followed  him  with  her  counsels,  praj^ers,  and  tears  through  more 
than  thirty  years  of  discouragement  and  darkness,  and  never  gave 
over  till  she  found  him  in  the  embrace  of  Christ. 

The  study  of  ecclesiastical  history  is  calculated  to  confirm  our 
faith  in  the  divine  origin  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Church :  for  here 
is  a  bush  which  has  been  always  burning,  and  yet  never  consumed  ; 
here  is  a  cause,  an  interest,  a  religion,  a  kingdom,  which  has  been 
subjected  through  long  ages  to  the  most  adverse  influences,  and 
been  bro'ught  often,  apparently,  to  the  verge  of  ruin  ;  and  yet  it 
lives.     It  has  been  sustained,  recovered,  strengthened,  builded  up, 


INTRODUCTORY.  469 

and  is  expecting  ere  long  to  triumph  and  fill  the  earth.  Is  not, 
then,  this  kingdom  from  Heaven  ?  Is  it  not  the  cause  of  truth  and 
of  God  ?  Who  but  God  could  have  preserved  it  through  all  its 
i^erils,  and  brought  it  along  thus  far  triumphant  and  glorious  ? 

But  this  leads  to  another  remark.  The  history  of  God's  Church 
is  full  of  encouragement  and  comfort  to  his  people.  They  are  here 
encouraged  to  cling  to  their  covenant  God  and  Saviour,  and  to 
confide  in  him  even  in  the  darkest  times.  The  God  who  saved 
Noah  and  his  family  in  the  ark,  and  Lot  from  the  flames  of  Sodom, 
and  the  congregation  of  Israel  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  will  never 
leave  or  forsake  his  people.  He  who  has  done  so  much  for  his 
Church  in  other  ages,  under  both  the  old  dispensations  and  the 
new,  will  not  desert  it  in  time  to  come.  The  most  tender  mother 
may  forget  her  sucking  child,  that  she  should  not  have  compassion 
on  the  son  of  her  womb ;  yet  saith  the  God  of  Israel,  "  I  will  not 
forsake  thee.  Behold,  I  have  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  my 
hands :  thy  walls  are  continually  before  me."  Let  the  people  of 
God,  then,  as  they  ponder  the  history  of  his  Church,  take  courage 
from  it,  and  rejoice. 

And  the  lessons  of  church  history  should  encourage  us,  not  only 
to  put  our  trust  in  God,  but  to  labor  perseveringly  for  the  advance- 
ment of  his  kingdom.  Our  Lord  has  a  service  for  us  to  perform ; 
and,  all  along  down  the  track  of  time,  we  see  how  faithfully  holy 
men  have  served  him,  and  how  much  they  have  done  for  the 
advancement  of  his  cause.  Now,  the  example  of  such  men,  stand- 
ing out  upon  the  page  of  history,  should  not  be  lost  upon  us.  It 
should  shame  us  out  of  our  negligence  and  sloth,  and  stimulate  us 
to  increased  exertion.  This  world  is  the  field  of  labor  for  the 
Christian  :  his  rest  is  in  heaven ;  and  it  is  only  after  the  toils  of 
this  weary  life  that  the  rest  of  heaven  will  be  sweet. 

Among  the  important  lessons  of  ecclesiastical  history  are  those 
of  caution  and  of  ivarnhig.  We  learn  not  only  what  we  are  to  do, 
but  what  to  shun.  We  see  the  snares  in  which  others  have  been 
taken,  and  learn  to  avoid  them.  We  see  the  rocks  on  which 
thousands  before  us  have  been  wrecked ;  and,  if  we  dash  upon  them, 
the  fault  will  be  our  own.  Sailing  as  we  now  do  on  the  dark  ocean 
of  life,  we  need  a  compass  and  a  chart.  Let  us  be  thankful  that 
we  have  them,  not  only  in  the  sacred  Word,  but  (in  a  lower  degree) 
in  the  history  of  God's  Church ;  and  let  us  study  them  with  all 
diligence,  that  so  we  may  escape  the  ills  which  beset  us,  and  make 
our  callino-  and  election  sure. 


470  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

But  I  need  not  enlarge  on  the  benefits  of  the  study  to  which 
attention  is  here  called.  History,  in  general,  is  full  of  interest  and 
importance ;  but  church  history  has  advantages  peculiar  to  itself. 
It  relates  to  higher  subjects,  it  dwells  on  nobler  themes,  than  those 
pertaining  merely  to  the  present  life  :  it  treats  of  a  kingdom  which 
is  to  survive  all  other  kingdoms ;  wliich  is  to  fill  the  earth,  and 
exist  forever.  It  is  proof  of  the  benefits  of  this  study,  and  also  an 
honor  to  it,  that  so  much  of  the  Bible  is  church  history ;  that  so 
large  a  part  of  what  the  Holy  Spirit  has  indited  comes  to  us  in  this 
form,  by  the  diligent  study  and  practice  of  which  "  the  man  of 
God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  every  good  word 
and  work." 

Before  entering  directly  on  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
it  ma}^  be  necessary  to  say  something  as  to  the  state  of  the  world 
at  the  time  of  his  appearing.  The  vast  Roman  Empire  was  then 
in  the  zenith  of  its  power.  Augustus  Cpesar,  having  vanquished 
his  rival  Antony,  reigned  supreme  and  alone  from  India  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  from  the  African  deserts  and  the  Indian  Ocean 
to  the  unknown  regions  of  the  North.  This  was  the  celebrated 
Augustan  age^  pre-eminent  in  power  and  splendor,  in  literature  and 
the  arts.  The  grouping  of  the  nations  together  under  one  vast 
government  had  some  advantages  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel.  It 
gradually  civilized  the  barbarous  nations,  and  gave  free  access  to 
them.  It  was  a  protection,  in  many  instances,  to  the  first  mission- 
aries ;  more  especially  to  those  of  them  who,  like  Paul,  were  Roman 
citizens.  It  also  furnished  a  well-nigh  universal  language  ;  the 
Greek  being  spoken  almost  everywhere  in  the  times  of  the  apostles 
and  their  immediate  successors. 

At  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  birth,  the  Roman  Empire  had  a 
respite  from  its  long  intestine  and  foreign  wars,  and  was  enjoying 
a  season  of  comparative  peace.  Some  have  supposed  that  it  was  a 
time  of  perfect  peace,  and  that  the  gates  of  the  Temple  of  Janus 
were  closed.  It  is  admitted  by  all  to  have  been  a  time  of  general 
peace,  —  fit  opportunity  for  the  advent  of  Him  who  is  appropriately 
denominated  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

The  religions  of  the  nations  at  this  period  —  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  Jews  —  were  idolatrous.  Their  gods  and  god- 
desses were  numerous  and  various  ;  and  a  vast  temple  was  built  at 
Rome  during  the  reign  of  Augustus,  called  the  Pantheon,  which 
contained  all  their  shrines,  and  was  appropriately  dedicated  to 
them  all.     The  greater  part  of  these  divinities  were  no  other  than 


INTRODUCTORY.  '     471 

ancient  heroes  and  heroines  famous  for  their  achievements  and 
illustrious  deeds,  whom  a  grateful  posterity  had  deified.*  To 
these  were  added  some  of  the  more  splendid  and  useful  objects 
in  the  natural  world ;  such  as  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  the  earth, 
the  ocean,  the  winds,  the  rivers,  &c.  The  worshippers  of  these 
different  gods  were  not  accustomed  to  quarrel  about  their  religions  ; 
for  the  most  of  them  were  mere  local  divinities  presiding  over 
different  objects,  or  portions  of  the  earth  :  and  the  common 
impression  was,  "  Your  gods  may  be  good  for  you  as  mine  are 
for  me  :  conduct  your  worship  as  you  please,  and  leave  me  at 
liberty  to  do  the,  same." 

The  moral  influence  of  these  pagan  superstitions,  the  world 
over,  was  corrupting.  They  tended,  not  to  make  men  better, 
but  everywhere  and  always  to  make  them  worse.  The  characters 
of  the  gods  themselves  were  stained  by  the  most  degrading  vices. 
Though  called  holy  and  just,  they  were  involved  in  perpetual 
jealousies  and  quarrels ;  full  of  envy  and  wrath,  hatred  and  lust ; 
ever  provoking  each  other  to  lying  and  cruelty,  perjury  and  wicked- 
ness. No  people  can  be  expected  to  be  much  better  than  their 
gods  ;  and,  if  the  ancient  heathen  were  not  better  than  theirs, 
certainly  they  must  have  been  degraded  and  vicious. 

The  heathen  priests,  too,  were  monsters  of  wickedness,  who 
neither  by  precept  nor-  example  encouraged  the  people  in  the 
practice  of  virtue.  To  be  sure,  they  inculcated  a  future  life,  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  ;  but  then  these  were 
dubious  and  uncertain,  and  of  a  nature  to  excite,  not  fear  and 
respect,  but  rather  ridicule  and  contempt.  If  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  therefore,  that  a  universal  corruption  of  morals  prevailed, 
and  that  crimes  which  cannot  at  this  day  be  named  with  decency 
were  practised  without  restraint. 

We  have  seen  what  were  the  religions  of  the  heathen  nations  at 
the  time  of  our  Saviour's  advent :  their  systems  of  philosophy 
were  little,  if  at  all,  better.  The  Oriental  or  Gnostic  philoso- 
phy, which  had  long  prevailed  in  the  East,  had  been  gradually 
extending  itself  into  the  West.  Pythagoras  had  introduced  it 
into  Greece ;  and  the  religion  of  the  Alexandrian  Jews  had  been 
corrupted  by  it  previous  to  the  coming  of  the  Saviour.     It  traced 

*  Most  of  the  Grecian  gods  and  goddesses,  as  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Titan,  Pluto,  Minerva,  Juno, 
Venus,  &c.,  are  said  to  have  been  princes  among  the  Gomerites  (descendants  of  Gomer,  a 
grandson  of  Noah),  from  whom  descended  the  GeiTnans  and  Celts.  They  are  supposed  to  have 
lived  about  the  time  of  Abraham,  and  were  afterwards  deified  and  worshipped  by  the  Greeks.  — 
See  Universal  Hist.,  vol.  vi.  pp.  34,  175,  203. 


472     •  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

all  the  evils  which  afflict  mankind  to  the  corrupting  influence  of 
matter ;  and  inculcated  either  the  most  rigid  asceticism,  with  a 
view  to  mortify  the  body,  or  a  wanton  degrading  of  it  by  the  unre- 
strained indulgence  of  fleshly  lusts. 

The  different  sects  of  Grecian  philosophy,  such  as  the  Epicurean 
and  Stoic,  the  Platonic  and  Aristotelian,  had  their  schools  at  Athens 
and  Alexandria,  to  which  the  nobility  of  Rome  and  of  other  na- 
tions continually  repaired;  but,  while  some  of  these. were  directly 
injurious  in  their  moral  influence,  the  best  of  them  had  no  power 
to  stem  the  torrent  of  corruption  which  was  pouring  in  upon  the 
world. 

The  state  of  the  Jews  at  this  eventful  period  was  little  better 
than  that  of  the  surrounding  nations.  For  more  than  thirty  years, 
they  had  been  under  the  iron  rule  of  Herod,  an  Idumsean  by  birth, 
but  a  Jew  by  profession,  who  had  been  set  over  them  by  the 
Romans,  to  whom  he  was  tributary.  He  was  unprincipled,  am- 
bitious, tyrannical,  and  cruel,  whose  chief  concern  was  to  please 
the  Romans  and  to  gratify  himself.  He  drew  on  himself  universal 
hatred,  and  exhausted  the  wealth  of  the  unhappy  nation,  by  his 
extravagance  and  his  wars.  Under  his  administration,  Roman 
luxury  and  licentiousness  everywhere  prevailed. 

The  Jews  were  indeed  permitted  to  retain  most  of  their  national 
laws,  and  to  practise  the  religion  which  had  been  established  by 
Moses.  Their  religious  affairs  were  still  conducted  by  a  high 
priest,  with  priests  and  Levites  under  him,  and  by  their  national 
senate,  or  Sanhedrim  ;  but  the  amount  of  evil  which  they  suffered 
from  the  cruelty  and  avarice  of  their  governors,  and  from  the 
frauds  and  rapacity  of  the  publicans,  is  almost  incalculable. 

Two  religions  now  flourished  in  Palestine,  —  the  Jeivish  and  the 
Samaritan,  —  between  the  followers  of  which  a  deadly  hatred  had 
for  a  long  time  prevailed.  Both  looked  for  a  deliverer,  —  not  a 
holy,  spiritual  Saviour,  such  as  the  prophets  had  foretold,  but 
a  temporal  sovereign,  an  invincible  warrior,  a  vindicator  of  their 
national  liberties.  Both  placed  the  sum  of  religion  in  the  observ- 
ance of  external  rites  and  ceremonies  which  had  been  enjoined 
by  Moses,  and  excluded  the  rest  of  mankind  from  the  hope  of 
salvation. 

The  principal  sects  among  the  Jews  were  the  Pharisees,  Sad- 
ducees,  Herodians,  and  Essenes.  The  Pharisees  were  the  most 
numerous  and  powerful.  They  received  the  entire  Old  Testament 
as  a  revelation  from  God,  and  believed  in  a  future  state  of  rewards 


INTRODUCTORY.  473 

and  punishments.  They  were  strict  religionists,  but  self-righteous 
and  ostentatious;  stickling  not  only  for  the  letter  of  the  Jewish 
law,  but  for  the  traditions  of  the  elders.  The  Sadducees  were  a 
more  liberal  class,  embracing  many  of  the  rich  and  the  noble,  who 
wished  the  show  of  a  religion  without  its  restraints.  They 
rejected  the  traditions,  and  received  only  the  books  of  Moses. 
They  had  no  faith  in  angel  or  spirit,  or  in  the  doctrine  of  a  future 
life.  The  Herodians  were  rather  a  political  party  than  a  religious 
sect:  they  stood  up  for  the  rights  of  the  Roman  government 
and  for  the  claims  of  Herod.  Of  the  Essenes,  we  hear  nothing 
directly  in  the  New  Testament :  they  were  a  sect  of  recluses, 
residing  in  the  deserts  of  Palestine  and  Egypt,  and  mingling  little 
with  the  other  Jews.  They  had  received  their  monastic  ideas  and 
habits  from  the  heathen,  and  most  probably  from  the  Gnostic 
philosophy. 

Such  being  the  state  of  things  among  the  Jews  at  the  time  of 
our  Lord's  appearance  in  the  flesh,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  piety 
was  at  a  very  low  ebb.  There  were  some  truly  religious  people, 
as  Simeon  and  Anna,  Zechariah  and  Elisabeth,  Joseph  and  Mary, 
and  probably  others  whose  names  have  not  reached  us,  though 
they  are  written  in  the  book  of  life.  But  the  state  of  religion 
among  the  common  people  was  exceedingly  low.  They  were 
sunk  in  deplorable  ignorance  and  darkness,  and  knew  no  way  of 
rendering  themselves  acceptable  to  God  but  by  ablutions  and 
sacrifices,  and  other  ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  law.  Hence  our 
Saviour  describes  them  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd,  and  their 
teachers  as  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  Both  Jews  and  Gentiles 
were  groping  together  in  error  and  in  sin,  feehng  after  God,  but 
unable  to  find  him  ;  and  seemed  looking,  waitmg,  and  silently  im- 
ploring, for  a  deliverer  from  heaven. 

God  had  long  been  preparing  the  way  for  the  coming  of  Christ ; 
and  he  made  his  appearance  in  the  best,  the  appointed  time. 
The  world  was  now  ready  for  him,  and  was  expecting  him.  '  The 
Jews  had  become  so  corrupt,  that  their  own  historian  has  declared 
his  belief  that  the  doom  of  Sodom  must  have  come  upon  Jeru- 
salem if  it  had  not  been  captured  by  the  Romans.  Greece  had 
long  passed  its  culminating  point,  and  fallen  under  the  dominion 
of  all-conquering  Rome.  Its  light-hearted  religion  had  lost  what- 
ever of  power  it  had  before  possessed,  and  lived  only  to  minister 
to  a  depraving  sensuality.  Its  better  systems  of  philosophy  had 
done  all  they  could  —  and  this  was  very  little  —  towards  reform- 


474  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

ing  the  minds  and  morals  of  men  ;  while  Epicureanism  and  Scep- 
ticism and  Stoicism  had  loosened  the  bonds  of  moral  obligation, 
and  imparted  barely  light  enough  to  make  the  darkness  visible. 
Over  all  minds  there  brooded  an  ever-increasing  darkness  and 
doubt  in  regard  to  the  deepest  matters  of  human  thought  and 
feeling.  Men  found  it  much  easier  to  refute  the  views  of  others 
than  to  reach  the  truth  themselves.  The  immortality  of  the  soul 
was  a  question  of  curious  discussion ;  but,  whatever  the  conclusions 
of  the  disputants,  not  one  of  them  had  such  a  settled  conviction 
as  could  afford  comfort  in  affliction,  or  throw  a  relieving  gleam  of ' 
hope  over  the  hour  of  death.  The  elder  Pliny  condenses  into  a 
few  sentences  what  we  may  suppose  to  have  been  the  general  feel- 
ing on  tliis  momentous  subject :  "  The  vanity  of  man,  and  his 
insatiate  longing  after  existence,  have  led  him  to  dream  of  a  life 
after  death.  A  being  full  of  contradictions,  he  is  the  most  wretched 
of  creatures.  Other  creatures  have  no  wants  which  transcend  the 
boundary  of  their  natures ;  but  man  is  full  of  desires  and  wants 
which  reach  to  infinity,  and  can  never  be  satisfied.  His  very 
nature  is  a  lie,  uniting  the  greatest  poverty  with  the  greatest  pride. 
Among  these  so  great  evils,  the  best  thing  that  God  has  bestowed 
upon  man  is  the  power  to  take  his  own  life." 

The  state  of  society  throughout  the  Roman  Empire  was  at  this 
time  such  as  must  have  forced  upon  the  minds  of  men  the  most 
desponding  thoughts.  Every  portion  of  this  vast  domain  was 
barely  breathing  from  its  wasting  wars,  and  groaning  under  its 
heavy  burthens  ;  and  yet  in  all  that  sages  had  taught,  and  poets 
sung,  and  priests  disclosed,  and  oracles  muttered,  there  was  no  relief. 
Foreign  religions  had  been  tried  in  vain  ;  magicians  and  astrologers 
had  been  multiplied :  and  still  the  darkness  and  misery  increased. 
It  was  just  in  this  crisis  of  the  world's  history,  when  all  experiments 
had  been  tried  and  failed,  and  hope  was  giving  place  to  black 
despair,  that  the  Light  of  the  world  commenced  its  shining  :  "  the 
Desire  of  all  nations  "  came. 


CHAPTER    II. 


LIFE    OF    CHRIST. 


A  HISTORY  of  the  Church  of  Christ  commences,  properly, 
with  the  life  of  its  Founder.  Without  such  an  introduction, 
the  originating  facts  of  the  history  would  be  left  out  of  the  account, 
and  the  whole  fabric  would  be  baseless  and  imperfect.  Then  it  is 
meet,  certainly,  that  every  follower  of  Christ  should  be  familiarly 
acquainted  with  the  life  of  Christ.  On  such  a  subject,  no  Chris- 
tian can  consent  to  be  in  ignorance  or  doubt. 

In  what  follows,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  present  any  new  facts 
concerning  our  Saviour.  All  that  we  know  of  him,  or  shall  ever 
know  in  this  world,  is  spread  out  before  us  in  the  Gospels.  My 
object  will  rather  be  to  exhibit  the  facts  of  his  life  in  their  proper 
connections,  in  an  harmonious  and  consistent  order,  that  we  may 
look  at  them  in  a  single  view.  Nor  will  this  be  a  vain  or  profitless 
labor.  We  shall  find  that  it  gives  additional  interest  to  particular 
events  in- the  life  of  Christ,  and  helps  to  a  right  understanding  of 
his  discourses  and  parables,  to  know  where  in  his  history  they 
come  in ;  to  know  in  what  places,  and  under  what  circumstances, 
his  acts  were  performed,  and  his  discourses  delivered. 

The  year  of  our  Saviour's  birth  is  not  certainly  known.  Accord- 
ing to  the  common  reckoning,  which  was  fixed  by  Dionysius  Ex- 
iguus  and  one  of  the  popes  in  the  sixth  century,  he  was  born 
in  the  year  of  the  world  4004 ;  but  I  have  assigned  reasons  in  a 
previous  chapter  *  for  supposing  that  his  birth  was  several  years 
earlier  than  this.  He  was  certainly  born  before  the  death  of  Herod ; 
and  Herod  died  in  the  year  of  the  world  4001.  Also  Jesus  was 
about  thirty  years  of  age  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tibe- 
rius Csesar  (Luke  iii.  1)  ;  and  this  would  fix  his  birth  to  the  four 
thousandth  year  of  the  world.  And  the  same  conclusion  is  reached 
by  another  fact  mentioned  in  Scripture.     The  enrolment  or  taxing 

*  Part  I.,  Chap.  V. 

475 


476  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

spoken  of  by  Luke  (ii.  1-5)  was  made  when  Cyrenins  was  first 
governor  of  Syria ;  at  which  time  our  Saviour  was  born :  but  this, 
it  is  pretty  well  ascertained,  was  the  four  thousandth  year  of  the 
world.  Ten  years  later,  Cyrenius  was  again  governor  of  Syria, 
when  there  was  another  taxing,  and  an  insurrection  m  consequence 
(see  Acts  v.  37). 

The  probability  therefore  is,  that  our  Saviour  was  born  in  the 
year  of  the  world  4000 :  and  this  agrees  with  an  old  tradition  of 
the  Jews,  that  the  world  was  to  stand  seven  thousand  years,  —  two 
thousand  of  which  were  to  be  before  the  law,  tAvo  thousand  under 
the  law,  and  two  thousand  under  the  Messiah ;  after  which  was  to 
follow  the  sabl)atical  millennium,  or  the  thousand  years  of  rest. 

Respecting  the  month  and  day  of  Christ's  birth,  we  are  left  al- 
most wholly  to  conjecture.  The  disagreement  of  the  early  fathers 
is  evidence  that  the  day  was  not  celebrated  in  apostolic  times. 

Of  the  remarkable  events  which  preceded  and  immediately  fol- 
lowed the  birth  of  Christ,  —  such  as  the  appearance  of  the  angel 
Gabriel  to  Zechariah  to  announce  the  coming  of  his  forerunner ; 
the  appearance  of  the  same  angel  to  Mary  to  inform  her  of  her 
miraculous  conception  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  visit  of  Mary  to 
Elisabeth ;  the  revelation  to  satisfy  the  mind  of  Joseph  ;  the  birth 
of  our  Saviour  in  a  stable  at  Bethlehem  ;  the  song  of  the  angels, 
and  the  visit  of  the  astonished  shepherds  to  the  infant  Saviour,  — 
of  these  and  other  remarkable  events  occurring  in  the  same  connec- 
tion, I  have  no  occasion  now  to  speak.  They  were  all  designed 
and  calculated  to  do  honor  to  the  Saviour,  to  herald  his  coming, 
and  direct  to  him  the  eyes  of  a  careless,  thoughtless  world. 

On  the  eighth  day  after  his  birth,  our  Lord  was  circumcised,  and 
received  his  name,  —  the  same  that  before  had  been  given  him  by 
the  angel.  Thirty-three  days  subsequent  to  this,  when  his  mother's 
purification  was  accomplished  according  to  the  law  of  jNIoses  (Lev. 
xii.  3),  he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Jerusalem,  and  presented 
in  the  temple  before  the  Lord.  A  sacrifice  was  offered  for  him,  — 
"a  pair  of  turtle-doves,  or  two  young  pigeons;"  which  was  all 
that  the  straitened  circumstances  of  his  parents  enabled  them  to 
bring.  It  was  at  this  time  that  good  old  Simeon  took  him  into  his 
arms,  and  blessed  God  on  his  account.  Pious  Anna  was  also  pres- 
ent to  give  thanks  because  of  him,  and  to  speak  of  him  to  all  those 
that  looked  for  redemption  in  Jerusalem. 

When  the  parents  of  Jesus  had  performed  all  these  things  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  Lord,  they  returned  to  Bethlehem,  where 


LIFE  OF   CHRIST.  477 

they  were  visited  by  the  wise  men  of  the  East.  These  were  probably 
Magians  from  Northern  Arabia  or  Persia.  The  star  which  guided 
them  was  a  meteor  providentially,  perhaps  miraculously,  prepared 
and  sent.  Their  visit  to  the  holy  family  was  opportune  every  way. 
It  was  not  only  an  honor  to  the  Saviour,  and  a  testimony  to  his 
Messianic  character,  but  it  furnished  the  means  of  his  sustenance ; 
at  least,  for  a  time.  Without  the  rich  presents  which  they  brought, 
his  parents  might  not  have  been  able  to  carry  him  into  Egypt 
and  support  him  there,  and  thus  elude  the  bloodthirsty  Herod.* 

How  long  Joseph  and  Mary  remained  in  Egypt,  we  are  not  in- 
formed ;  certainly  till  they  heard  of  the  death  of  Herod,  which  oc- 
curred, probably,  the  following  year.  When  admonished  to  return 
into  the  land  of  Israel,  their  first  thought  was  to  go  and  reside 
at  Bethlehem  ;  perhaps  because  it  was  the  city  of  David,  and 
they  deemed  it  appropriate  that  He  whom  they  could  but  regard 
as  the  great  Son  of  David  should  be  trained  up  there.  But  when 
they  found  that  Archelaus,  who  inherited  all  the  cruelty  of  his 
father  Herod,  reigned  in  Judfea,  they  were  afraid  to  go  there,  and 
concluded  to  return  to  their  old  home  at  Nazareth.  And  here  they 
dwelt,  probably,  as  long  as  Joseph  lived,  —  until  near  the  com- 
mencement of  our  Saviour's  public  ministry. 

The  next  that  we  hear  of  Jesus  is  at  Jerusalem,  when  he  was 
about  twelve  years  of  age.  The  males  in  Israel  were  required  to 
go  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  great  festivals  three  times  in  a  year. 
The  more  devout  women,  though  exempt  by  law  from  regular  at- 
tendance, usually  accompanied  their  husbands  or  other  relatives 
on  these  occasions.    Doubtless  the  parents  of  Jesus  had  been  often 

*  The  apocryphal  writers  of  the  New  Testament  have  much  to  say  respecting  the  journey 
into  Egypt.  The  following  are  some  of  their  foolish  and  incredible  stories:  "  As  they  journey, 
they  seek  repose  in  a  cave.  Many  dragons  suddenly  appear;  but  Jesus  leaps  down  from  his 
mother's  bosom,  and  they  worship  him.  Lions  and  other  wild  beasts  go  before  them  to  point 
out  the  way.  Being  hungry  and  thirsty,  Jesus  commands  a  palm-tree  to  bend  down  its  boughs 
laden  with  fruit,  and  a  fountain  to  spring  forth  at  its  root.  As  they  enter  Egj'^pt,  all  the  idols 
fall  down  in  the  temples ;  and  Jesus  heals  the  son  of  a  priest  possessed  with  devils.  Almost 
every  day,  he  performs  some  miracle,  —  now  healing  the  sick  and  leprous;  now  freeing  the  en- 
chanted, and  frightening  robbers;  now  causing  w.'fter  to  spring  from  the  ground  with  which  to 
wash  his  clothes,  and  changing  drops  of  sweat  into  balsam." 

"  After  the  return  from  Egypt,  Jesus  is  taken  to  Bethlehem,  where  his  mother  heals  sick 
children,  and  cures  lepers,  by  sprinkling  them  with  water  in  which  he  had  been  washed.  A 
portion  of  one  of  his  garments  made  into  a  tunic  preserves  a  boy  from  drowning,  and  also 
from  being  burned.  One  child  is  healed  by  lying  in  his  bed.  He  makes  sparrows  of  clay,  which 
come  to  life  and  fly  away.  Garments  are  instantly  dyed  of  any  color  which  the  owner  wishes. 
Joseph's  poor  carpenter-work  is  miraculously  perfected.  A  single  kernel  of  wheat  produces 
enough  flour  for  all  the  poor  of  the  town."  But  enough  of  these  silly  marvels.  How  strongly 
do  they  contrast  with  the  sober  and  reliable  narratives  in  the  Gospels ! 


478  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

to  Jerusalem  during  his  younger  years :  but  at  the  age  of  twelve 
they  took  him  with  them ;  .for  such  was  the  custom  of  the  feast. 
In  the  Jewish  Church,  children  were  not  allowed  to  go  to  the 
Passover  earlier  than  this  :  but,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  they  were 
brought  to  the  temple,  where  a  sacrifice  was  offered,  and  some 
other  initiatory  rites  were  performed ;  after  which  they  were  al- 
lowed to  eat  of  the  Passover,  and  to  participate  in  the  other  festi- 
vals of  the  Church.* 

To  this  custom  of  the  Jews  our  Saviour  and  his  parents  con- 
formed. But  when  the  feast  was  ended,  and  Joseph  and  Mary 
commenced  their  journey  homeward,  Jesus  was  not  with  them : 
he  tarried  behind  at  Jerusalem.  And,  when  they  returned  for 
him,  to  their  astonishment  they  found  him  among  the  doctors  in 
the  temple,  both  hearing  them,  and  asking  them  questions ;  and 
all  that  heard  him  were  astonished  at  his  understanding  and  his 
answers. 

From  Jerusalem,  Jesus  returned  with  his  parents  to  Nazareth, 
and  was  subject  unto  them,  and  doubtless  labored  with  them  to 
procure  a  subsistence.  He  was  not  only  the  son  of  a  carpenter, 
but  in  one  instance  is  called  a  carpenter  (Mark  vi.  3)  ;  which  im- 
plies that  he  pursued  the  same  occupation  as  his  reputed  father. 

Of  his  character  and  conduct  for  the  next  eighteen  years,  we 
can  only  speak  in  the  most  general  terms.  Without  doubt,  it  was 
blameless,  dutiful,  holy,  perfect.  Luke  tells  that  "he  was  strong 
m  spirit,  filled  with  wisdom ;  and  that  the  grace  of  God  was  upon 
him."  He  increased  not  only  in  stature,  but  in  wisdom,  and  in 
favor  with  God  and  with  men  (Luke  ii.  40,  52). 

While  Jesus  was  growing  up  to  manhood  at  Nazareth,  his  fore- 
runner, John,  was  leading  a  solitary,  contemplative  life  in  the 
deserts  of  Judsea.  Zechariah  and  Elisabeth,  who  were  old  at  his 
birth,  in  all  probability  were  now  dead.  When  John  had  arrived 
at  the  age  of  thirty,  the  time  appointed  for  entering  upon  the  more 
public  services  of  religion  (Num.  iv.),  he  commenced  preaching 
and  baptizing,  —  first  in  the  deserts  of  Judsea,  but  afterwards  in  the 

*  The  following  account  is  from  a  Jewish  magazine  entitled  "Once  a  Week:"  "Until  the 
Jew  attains  his  thirteenth  j'ear,  he  is  entirely  under  the  control  of  his  parents,  who  are  sup- 
posed to  be  accountable  for  all  the  sins  he  may  commit  up  to  that  period;  but  their  responsi- 
bility ceases  on  the  sabbath  succeeding  his  thirteenth  birthday,  when  a  ceremony  akin  to  that 
of  confirmation  takes  place.  The  boy  is  called  up  to  the  reading-desk  in  the  synagogue,  and  is 
required  to  read  a  portion  of  the  law.  If  he  cannot  read,  the  minister  does  it  for  him;  after 
which  the  father  lays  his  hands  on  the  head  of  his-  son,  and  solemnly  renounces  his  responsi- 
bility for  his  future  actions." 


LIFE   OF   CHRIST.  479 

neighborhood  of  the  Jordan.  His  preaching  produced  a  great  sen- 
sation ;  and  muldtudes  of  all  classes  and  ages  flocked  to  hear  him, 
and  to  receive  his  baptism.  Among  those  who  came  to  Inm  for  this 
purpose  was  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  had  now  arrived  at  the  age 
of  thirty;  being  only  six  months  younger  than  John  (Luke  i.  36). 
He  was  about  to  enter  upon  his  public  labors ;  and  though  he  had 
no  need  of  baptism  in  token  of  repentance  or  of  spiritual  purifica- 
tion, yet,  as  Moses  had  enjoined  a  lustration  for  the  priests  before 
entering  upon  their  public  duties  (Exod.  xxix.  4),  he  chose  to  follow 
them  in  this,  and  so  "fulfil  all  righteousness  "  (Matt.  iii.  15). 

These  young  men,  John  and  Jesus,  though  relatives  on  their 
mother's  side,  seem  not  to  have  been  previously  acquainted  with 
each  other.  They  had  rarely  if  ever  met.  John  says  of  Jesus 
expressly,  "  I  knew  him  not "  (John  i.  31).  But,  though  John 
had  no  previous  acquaintance  with  Jesus,  his  true  character  was 
soon  revealed.  When  John  saw  the  heavens  opened  at  his  bap- 
tism, and  saw  the  Divine  Spirit  descending  on  him  like  a  dove,  and 
heard  that  memorable  voice,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased,"  he  could  not  doubt.  He  knew  that  he  had 
seen  and  baptized  the  promised  Messiah,  —  the  Lamb  of  God.  . 

The  place  of  our  Lord's  baptism  was  Bethabara,  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Jordan.  It  was  a  common  fording-place  near  Jericho  and 
Gilgal,  about  twenty  miles  east  of  Jerusalem.  It  must  have  been 
near  the  place,  if  not  the  very  spot,  where  the  Israelites  passed 
over  the  Jordan  when  they  entered  Canaan. 

Immediately  after  his  baptism,  Jesus  retired  into  the  desert  west 
of  the  Jordan,  where  he  remained  fasting,  praying,  communing 
with  God  and  with  his  own  spirit,  forty  days.  It  was  during  this 
period  that  he  had  those  sore  and  repeated  temptations  of  which 
we  have  an  account  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Matthew  ;  but,  in 
every  encounter  with  the  wily  Tempter,  he  came  off  victorious. 

On  leaving  the  desert,  Jesus  returned  to  John,  who  again  bore 
testimony  in  the  most  solemn  terms  to  his  Messiahship.  He  here 
made  the  acquaintance  of  several  persons  whom  he  afterwards 
selected  to  be  his  apostles  ;  such  as  Andrew  and  Peter,  Philip  and 
Nathanael,  and  probably  John. 

After  this  second  visit  to  John,  Jesus  went  into  Galilee  and  met 
his  mother.  His  reputed  father,  it  is  likely,  was  no  longer  living. 
In  company  with  his  mother,  he  attended  a  "wedding  at  Cana  in 
Galilee,  where  he  turned  water  into  wine.  This  is  spoken  of  by 
the  apCstle  John  as  the  first  of  his  miracles  (John  ii.  11).     After 


480  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

this,  he  went  with  his  mother  to  Capernaum ;  but  soon  left  there, 
and  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  Passover. 

Our  Saviour's  ministry  embraced  four  Passovers,  and  continued 
between  three  and  four  years.  The  one  at  which  we  have  now 
arrived  was  the  first :  besides  this,  he  attended  the  second  and 
the  fourth,  but  not  the  third.  In  what  follows,  we  shall  attempt 
to  sketch  very  briefly  his  course  of  life  from  one  Passover  to 
another. 

While  our  Lord  was  at  Jerusalem  at  this  his  first  Passover 
after  entering  upon  his  public  ministry,  he  undertook  and  accom- 
plished the  difficult  work  of  purging  the  temple :  he  did  the  same 
again,  as  we  shall  see,  near  the  close  of  his  public  ministry.  He 
drove  out  those  from  the  courts  of  the  temple  who  sold  oxen, 
sheep,  and  doves  for  sacrifice  ;  he  poured  out  the  changers' 
money,  overthrew  their  tables,  and  told  them  not  to  make  his 
'Father's  house  a  house  of  merchandise ;  and,  when  the  Jews  de- 
manded of  him  a  sign  in  proof  of  his  authority  to  do  these  things, 
he  said,  ''  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up." 
Understanding  him  to  speak  of  the  literal  temple,  the  Jews 
replied,  "  Forty  and  six  years  has  this  temple  been  in  building ; 
and  wilt  thou  rear  it  up  in  three  days  ?  "  The  temple  here  spoken 
of  was  Herod's  temple,  which  he  commenced  sixteen  years  before 
the  birth  of  Christ,  and  which  at  this  time  had  been  in  progress  of 
erection  just  forty-six  years.  It  was  not  finished  till  long  after  the 
Saviour's  crucifixion,  nor  until  a  few  years  previous  to  its  destruc- 
tion and  that  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus. 

While  Jesus  was  at  Jerusalem,  he  wrought .  numerous  miracles, 
which  made  him  an  object  of  much  thought  and  conversation  with 
the  people.  Among  those  who  felt  a  deep  interest  in  him  was 
Nicodemus,  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  a  ruler  of  the  Jews. 
This  man  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  said  unto  him,  "  We  know 
that  thou  art  a  teacher  sent  from  God ;  for  no  man  can  do  these 
miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with  him."  Our  Saviour, 
having  so  good  an  opportunity,  entered  into  conversation  with  Nico- 
demus, and  delivered  to  him  a  most  important  discourse.  Perhaps 
he  never  gave  utterance  to  so  much  solemn,  gospel  truth,  in  so  few 
words,  as  on  this  occasion.  Nor  were  his  instructions  lost  upon 
the  mind  of  the  ruler :  they  made  an  impression  never  to  be 
effaced ;  for  we  find  Nicodemus  afterwards  interposing  his  -good 
offices  in  favor  of  Jesus ;  and,  when  he  had  expired  on  the  cross, 
Nicodemus  assisted  in  taking  down  the  bod}^i  and  brought  a  hun- 


LIFE   OF   CHRIST.  4S1 

dred  pounds'  weight  of  myrrh  and  aloes  for  the  purpose  of  embahn- 
ing  it. 

From  Jerusalem,  our  Saviour  passed  into  the  towns  and  villages 
of  Judaea,  where  he  preached,  and  his  disciples  baptized.  These 
baptisms  seem  to  have  been  of  the  same  nature  with  those  admin- 
istered by  John,  —  not  a  proper  Christian  ordinance,  but  an  impres- 
sive rite,  designed  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  full  introduction  of 
the  Messiah's  kingdom. 

John  had  now  removed  from  Bethabara,  and  was  baptizing  at 
Enon,  —  a  place  on  the  west  side  of  the  Jordan,  about  twenty  miles 
south  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  He  here  bore  a  new  testimony  to 
Jesus  as  being  the  Christ,  and  exhorted  his  followers  to  put  their 
trust  in  him  :  "  He  must  increase  ;  but  I  must  decrease.  He  that 
believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life ;  but  he  that  believeth 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him." 

John  was  now  in  the  dominions  of  Herod  Antipas,  tetrarch  of 
Peraea  and  Galilee.  Herod,  for  a  time,  was  deeply  interested  in 
him,  went  often  to  hear  him,  and  was  persuaded  by  him  to  attempt 
some  reformation  of  life.  But,  when  John  had  reproved  him  for 
his  adultery  and  incest  in  cohabiting  with  his  brother's  wife,  the 
king's  pride  was  wounded,  his  anger  was  kindled,  and  he  shut  up 
the  reformer  in  prison ;  and  here  John  remained  in  the  dungeons 
of  Mach£erus  unto  the  day  of  his  death. 

When  Jesus  heard  of  the  imprisonment  of  John,  he  left  Judaea, 
and  retired  into  Galilee.  On  his  way,  he  passed  through  the 
country  of  Samaria,  and  had  that  interesting  conversation  with 
the  Samaritan  woman,  recorded  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  John. 

While  in  Galilee,  our  Saviour  visited  Nazareth,  where  he  had 
been  brought  up,  and  where  he  had  spent  the  greater  part  .of  his 
life.  He  went  into  the  synagogue,  as  his  custom  was,  on  the  sab- 
bath day,  and  there  read  and  expounded  the  Scriptures.  At  first, 
the  people  heard  him  with  admiration  ;  but,  as  he  proceeded  to 
apply  the  truth  more  particularly  to  their  case,  their  admiration 
was  turned  into  wrath,  and  they  madly  sought  to  take  his  life. 
He  made  his  escape,  however,  and  came  down  to  Capernaum, 
where  he  abode  some  considerable  time. 

While  here,  our  Saviour  was  continually  occupied  in  his  appro- 
priate work.  He  preached  in  the  synagogues,  healed  the  sick, 
procured  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  and  summoned  Andrew 
and  Peter,  James  and  John,  and  Matthew  the  publican,  to  leave 

31 


482  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

their  customaiy  employments,  and  become  hi-s  ministers.  The 
fame  of  him  was  at  this  time  so  great,  that  multitudes  continually 
thronged  him,  and  sometimes  hindered  him  in  his  work.  To  avoid 
them,  he  left  Capernaum,  and  went  into  the  country,  preaching  in 
the  synagogues  throughout  all  Galilee.  It  was  during  this  preaching 
tour  that  our  Saviour  delivered  that  most  remarkable  of  all  divine 
or  human  productions,  —  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  decide  at  this  day  on  what  particular  mountain  the  sermon 
was  delivered.  We  only  know  that  it  was  in  Galilee,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  lake,  and  at  no  great  distance  from  Capernaum.  In 
labors  such  as  have  been  described,  —  teaching,  preaching,  per- 
forming miracles,  going  about  doing  good,  —  our  Saviour  had  filled 
up  the  year.  The  time  had  come  for  another  Passover  when  he 
went  up  to  Jerusalem*  (John  v.  1). 

Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  our  Lord  visited  the  Pool  of 
Bethesda,  where  he  saw  a  poor  man  who  had  been  bowed  down 
with  infirmity  thirty-eight  years.  He  was  waiting  with  others  for 
the  moving  of  the  waters  ;  but  had  little  prospect  of  relief,  as  he  had 
none  to  help  him,  and  some  one  would  be  sure  to  step  into  the 
agitated  pool  before  liim.  Jesus  had  compassion  on  him,  and  said, 
"  Rise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk ; "  and  immediately  he  was 
made  whole,  took  up  his  bed,  and  went  his  way.  As  it  was  the 
sabbath  when  this  was  done,  the  Jews  were  greatly  excited,  and 
charged  both  the  healed  man  and  Jesus  with  violating  the  sabbath. 
This  led  to  a  long  discourse  from  our  Saviour,  in  which  he  asserts 
his  divine  authority,  and  vindicates  himself  from  the  charge  which 
had  been  urged  against  him, 

Grieved  at  the  blindness  and  intolerance  of  the  Pharisees,  our 
Saviour  tarried  but  a  short  time  at  Jerusalem.  On  his  return  to- 
wards Galilee,  he  had  repeated  discussions  with  the  Jews,  who 
continued  to  accuse  him  of  violating  the  sabbath.  Unable  to 
meet  him  in  argument,  they  took  counsel  together  to  destroy  his 
life.  But  he  withdrew  himself  from  them  ;  and  soon  we  find  him, 
where  he  had  so  often  been  before,  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

In  Galilee  and  the  parts  adjacent,  sometimes  on  one  side  of  the 

*  There  has  been  much  dispute  on  the  question,  whether  the  feast  here  spoken  of  was  the 
Passover,  or  one  of  the  other  Jewish  festivals.  And  this  is  really  a  very  important  question : 
for  on  the  decision  of  it  depends  whether  our  Saviour's  public  ministiy  included  four  Pass- 
overs, or  only  two;  whether  it  continued  three  years  and  a  half,  or  only  one  and  a  half.  I 
agree  with  the  most  approved  commentators,  that  this  feast  was  the  Passover,  and  that  his 
ministry  included  four  Passovers.  I  find  it  impossible  to  harmonize  all  the  events  of  his  public 
life,  and  crowd  them  into  the  short  space  of  a  year  and  a  half. 


LIFE   OF  CHRIST.  483 

sea,  and  sometimes  on  the  other,  and  sometimes  sailing  and  even 
walking  upon  its  surface,  our  Saviour  filled  up  the  next  year  of  his 
public  ministry.  It  was  a  busy  and  most  important  year.  He 
was  everywhere  surrounded  by  wondering  multitudes,  whom  he 
carefully  instructed,  whom  he  miraculously  fed,  and  whose  sick 
he  healed.  He  raised  the  dead  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain ;  cast 
out  many  devils ;  uttered  some  of  his  most  interesting  parables, 
as  that  of  the  sower  and  of  the  tares  in  the  field  ;  and  performed 
other  preaching  tours  through  the  cities  and  villages  of  Galilee. 
It  was  during  this  year  that  he  appointed  his  twelve  apostles,  and 
sent  them  forth  with  the  glad  news  of  salvation  to  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel. 

When  our  Saviour  had  come  down  from  the  mountain,  —  where 
•he  had  spent  the  whole  previous  night  in  prayer,  and  where  he  had 
appointed  the  twelve  apostles,  —  he  found  a  vast  multitude  waiting 
for  him  ;  to  whom  he  repeated,  with  some  variations,  a  considerable 
part  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Luke  vi.  20-40). 

I  am  aware  that  some  interpreters  make  this  the  identical  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  They  insist  that  it  was  never  preached  but  once, 
and  that  this  was  the  place  and  occasion  of  its  delivery  ;  but  I 
cannot  be  of  this  opinion,  and  for  the  following  reasons :  1.  The 
sermon  contained  in  Matthew  (chaps,  v.-vii.)  was  delivered  on  a 
mountain,  but  this  on  a  plain  (comp.  Matt.  v.  1  with  Luke  vi.  7). 
2.  The  sermon  as  given  by  Matthew  was  delivered  the  year  previous 
to  the  calling  and  commissioning  of  the  apostles,  but  this  in  Luke 
immediately  after  their  call.  3.  The  two  discourses,  though  con- 
taining many  similar  passages,  are  very  unlike.  Matthew's  is  four 
times  as  long  as  that  of  Luke  ;  and  yet  Luke  has  several  expres- 
sions which  do  not  occur  in  Matthew.  The  structure  of  the  sen- 
tences, and  the  connections  in  which  they  stand,  are  also  different. 
In  short,  the  discourse  in  Luke  is  precisely  what  it  purports  to  be, 
—  a  repetition  in  part,  with  occasional  omissions  and  alterations, 
of  the  sermon  as  given  by  Matthew.  And  those  who  know  the 
excellence  of  this  sermon  will  not  wonder  or  regret  that  our 
Saviour  thought  proper  to  repeat  some  parts  of  it.  When  minis- 
ters preach  as  well  as  this,  we  will  consent  that  they  repeat  their 
old  sermons  as  often  as  they  please. 

It  was  during  this  year's  labor  that  the  Pharisees  ascribed  the 
miracles. of  our  Saviour  to  diabolical  influence  :  "  He  casteth  out 
devils  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils."  Our  Lord  refuted 
the  objection,  and  solemnly  warned  them  against  such  language  in 


484  ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 

future.  It  constituted  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  —  a  sin  for 
which  there  could  be  no  forgiveness  (Matt.  xii.  24-32). 

It  was  during  this  year,  also,  that  John  the  Baptist,  who  was 
still  in  prison,  sent  two  of  his  disciples  to  Jesus,  saying,  "  Art  thou 
he  that  should  come  ?  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?  "  Without  di- 
rectly answering  the  question,  our  Saviour  said  to  those  who  came, 
"  Go  and  tell  John  what  things  ye  have  seen  and  heard,  —  how  that 
the  blind  receive  their  sight,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed, 
the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  to  the  poor  the  gospel 
is  preached.  And  blessed  is  he  that  shall  not  be  ojffended,"  i.e., 
stumbled,  scandalized,  "  in  me."  This  led  to  a  long  discourse  re- 
specting John,  in  which  our  Saviour  bore  the  highest  testimony  to 
the  ability  and  fidelity  of  this  holy  man  of  God :  "  Among  those 
that  are  born  of  women,  there  is  not  a  greater  prophet"  oi> 
preacher  "  than  John  the  Baptist :  nevertheless,  he  that  is  least 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  or  in  the  new  dispensation  about  to 
be  ushered  in,  "  is  greater  than  he  (Luke  vii,  18-28). 

But  the  sufferings  of  John  were  now  about  to  end.  He  had  been 
for  months  in  close  confinement  in  the  Castle  Macha3rus,  east  of  the 
Jordan ;  but,  to  gratify  his  adulterous  wife  and  her  wicked  daughter, 
Herod  sent  and  beheaded  him  in  prison.  Still  the  conscience  of 
the  tyrant  seems  not  to  have  l^een  easy  with  what  had  been  done ; 
for,  when  he  heard  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus,  he  was  alarmed  under 
the  apprehension  that  John  had  risen  from  the  dead,  and  might 
stand  up  to  avenge  his  previous  injuries  and  wrongs. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  another  Passover,  —  the  third  which 
occurred  during  our  Saviour's  ministry.*  He  did  not  attend  it, 
but  abode  still  in  Galilee.  The  reason  assigned  is,  that  his  enemies 
in  Juda3a  were  intent  on  destroying  him  :  "  He  would  not  walk  in 
Jewry  because  the  Jews  sought  to  kill  him  "  (John  vii.  1). 

*  There  must  have  been  a  Passover  abont  this  time  (see  John  vi.  4).  In  all  probability,  it 
comes  in  here.  \ 


CHAPTER   III. 


LIFE    OF    CHRIST. CONTINUED. 


WE  now  enter  upon  the  last  year  of  our  Saviour's  ministry. 
As  he  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  adventure  himself  before 
his  time  among  the  Jews  at  the  Passover,  he  took  the  opportunity 
to  travel  into  the  north  country,  and  proceeded  even  to  the  borders 
of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  And  here  he  found  a'  Syro-Phcenician  woman, 
whose  daughter  was  possessed  with  a  devil ;  and  having  conversed 
Avith  the  afflicted  mother,  and  sufficiently  tried  and  tested  her  faith, 
he  healed  her  daughter.  This  is  the  only  miracle  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge  which  our  Saviour  performed  upon  a  Gentile. 

From  Syria  our  Lord  returned  to  Galilee,  where  he  was  sur- 
rounded, as  usual,  by  a  great  multitude,  whom  he  miraculously  fed 
a  second  time  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes.  He  tarried  here  but  a 
short  time,  when  he  took  a  journey  to  Caesarea  Philippi,  situated 
in  the  north-easterly , part  of  Palestine.  Here  he  had  a  season  of 
retirement  with  his  disciples.  He  prayed  with  them,  and  entered 
into  conversation  with  them,  saying,  "  Whom  do  men  say  that  I 
am  ?  "  They  answered,  "  Some  say  that  you  are  John  the  Baptist ; 
some,  that  you  are  Elias ;  and  some,  that  you  are  Jeremias,  or  one 
of  the  old  prophets,  risen  from  the  dead."  —  "But  whom  say  ye 
that  I  am?"  Peter  answered,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Messiah, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God."  For  this  noble  confession,  our  Saviour 
blessed  Peter,  and  said,  "Thou  art  Peter;  and  upon  this  rock"  — 
this  foundation-truth  which  you  have  uttered  —  "I  will  build  my 
Church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

Our  Saviour  next  proceeded  to  instruct  the  disciples  in  regard  to 
his  approaching  sufferings  and  death  ;  when  Peter  discovered  how 
little  he  understood  as  yet  the  nature  of  the  gospel.  He  took  his 
Master  aside,  and  began  to  rebuke  him,  saying,  "Be  it  far  from 
thee.  Lord :  this  suffering  and  death  shall  not  be  unto  thee."  Our 
Saviour  now  rebuked  Peter  with  as  much  earnestness  as  before  he 

485 


486  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

had  blessed  him :  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan  ;  thou  art  an  offence 
unto  me ;  thou  receivest  not  with  a  relish  the  things  that  be  of 
God,  but  only  such  as  be  of  men." 

It  was  during  this  retirement  in  the  northern  part  of  Galilee  that 
our  Saviour  took  Peter  and  James  and  John,  and  went  up  into  a 
mountain  with  them  for  prayer ;  and,  as  he  prayed,  he  was  trans- 
fiofured  before  them.  The  form  of  his  countenance  and  of  his 
whole  appearance  was  suddenly  and  gloriously  changed  ;  and 
there  appeared  unto  them  Moses  and  Elias,  talking  with  Jesus 
in  regard  to  his  approaching  sufferings  and  death.  They  heard 
also  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased  :  hear  ye  him."  This  whole  scene  was 
calculated,  and  without  doubt  designed,  to  impress  upon  the 
disciples  that  great  cardinal  truth  which  they  were  so  slow  to 
learn,  —  that  Christ  must  suffer  and  die  for  the  sins  of  men. 

When  Jesus  and  his  disciples  had  returned  to  Capernaum,  the 
collectors  of  tribute  came  to  Peter,  and  said,  "  Doth  not  your 
master  pay  tribute  ?  "  Peter  answered  that  he  did.  When  our 
Saviour  met  Peter,  he  showed  him  that  the  collectors  had  no  right 
to  exact  tribute  from  him.  "Nevertheless,"  said  he,  "that  we 
may  not  offend  them,  go  to  the  s'ea,  and  cast  in  thy  hook :  and  in 
the  mouth  of  the  fish  that  first  cometh  up  thou  shalt  find  a  piece 
of  money  called  a  stater;  that  take,  and  pay  your  tribute  and 
mine."  And  Peter  did  as  he  was  directed :  he  found  the  stater 
in  the  fish's  mouth,  with  Avhich  he  paid  his  own  and  his  master's 
tribute. 

During  this  visit  to  Capernaum,  Jesus  had  much  interesting 
conversation  with  his  disciples.  He  reproved  their  ambition ; 
inculcated  humility,  self-sacrifice,  and  self-denial ;  and  gave  direc- 
tions as  to  the  manner  in  which  scandalous  offenders  in  his  church 
and  kingdom  should  be  treated.  He  insisted  on  the  importance  of 
a  forgiving  spirit,  and  illustrated  it  by  the  parable  of  the  unfor- 
giving servant  (Matt,  xviii.). 

Intending  soon  to  leave  Galilee,  our  Lord  appointed  other 
seventy  besides  the  twelve  apostles,  and  sent  them  forth,  two 
and  two,  into  all  the  cities  and  villages  where  he  expected  soon 
to  come.  He  gave  them  instructions  very  similar  to  those  which 
he  had  before  given  to  the  twelve ;  and  concluded  by  saying,  "  He 
that  heareth  you  heareth  me,  and  he  that  despiseth  you  despise th 
me,  and  he  that  despiseth  me  despiseth  Him  that  sent  me  "  (Luke 
X.  1-16).     It  is  not  likely,  however,  that  these  seventy,  like  the 


LIFE   OF   CHRIST.  487 

apostles,  were  intended  to  be  a  permanent  body  of  missionaries. 
They  ^Yere  appointed  for  a  particular  purpose,  which  they  soon 
accomplished ;  and  we  hear  no  more  of  them  in  the  Scriptures. 

The  Jews'  Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  now  at  hand ;  and,  as  Jesus 
had  failed  to  go  both  to  the  Passover  and  Pentecost,  his  brethren 
urged  him  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem :  "  Why  seclude  thyself  here  in 
Galilee  ?  If  thou  really  doest  these  things,  show  thyself  to  the 
world."  But  Jesus  declined  going  with  them  to  the  feast :  never- 
theless, after  they  and  the  rest  of  the  people  had  gone,  he  went 
rather  privately  to  Jerusalem  ;  and,  when  he  had  arrived  there,  he 
went  up  into  the  temple  and  taught.  But  he  soon  came  in  conflict 
with  the  prejudices  and  the  hostility  of  the  Jews.  They  charged 
him  with  having  a  devil ;  and  he  charged  them  with  plotting 
against  his  life.  The  Pharisees  and  chief  priests  sent  officers  to 
take  him ;  but  they  returned  without  him,  saying,  "  Never  man 
spake  like  this  man."  There  was  much  discussion  among  the 
people  whether  he  was  the  Christ,  or  no ;  nor  were  the  members 
of  the  Sanhedrim  entirely  agreed  respecting  him.  Nicodemus  in 
particular  stood  up  for  him,  and  spake  boldly  on  his  behalf. 

It  was  during  this  visit  to  Jerusalem  that  the  Jews  brought  be- 
fore him  an  adulterous  woman  for  judgment,  thinldng  that,  whether 
he  cleared  or  condemned  her,  they  should  find  occasion  against 
him.  But  he  managed  to  convict  them  rather  than  the  woman ; 
and  they  slunk  away  confounded  from  his  presence  (John  viii.  11). 

Our  Saviour  continued,  therefore,  to  teach  in  the  temple,  holding 
up  the  light  of  truth,  and  having  frequent  altercation  with  those 
who  rejected  it.  And  this  course  of  things  continued,  until  the 
Jews  became  so  much  exasperated,  that  they  took  up  stones  to 
stone  him  ;  but  he  went  out  of  the  temple,  and  escaped  their 
hands  (John  viii.). 

It  was  while  our  Saviour  lingered  about  Jerusalem,  before  his 
last  return  to  Galilee,  that  the  seventy  disciples  returned  to  him 
from  their  mission,  which  they  seem  to  have  accomplished  very 
successfully.  They  reported  to  their  Master  their  journeyings  and 
miracles,  saying,  "  Lord,  even  the  devils  are  subject  unto  us  through 
thy  name."  Our  Saviour  received  them  with  words  of  comfort 
and  instruction,  telling  them  that  they  should  not  so  much  rejoice 
in  the  subjection  of  evil  spirits  as  that  their  names  were  written 
in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  our  Lord  made  that  visit  to  his  friends  at 
Bethany  of  which  we  have  an  account  in  Luke  x.  38-42.     Martha 


488  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

"  was  cumbered  about  mucli  serving  ;  "  but  Mary  sat  at  the  feet 
of  J'esus  to  hear  his  words.  For  this,  Martha  was  reproved,  and 
Mary  commended :  "  Mary  hath  chosen  that  good  part  which  shall 
not  be  taken  from  her." 

On  his  way  from  Bethany  to  Galilee,  our  Saviour  had  much 
interesting  conversation  with  his  disciples.  He  instructed  and  en- 
couraged them  in  the  duty  of  prayer,  and  repeated  to  them  a  new 
form  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  (comp.  Luke  xi.  2  with  Matt.  vi.  9)  ; 
he  cautioned  them  against  hypocrisy,  and  strengthened  them 
against  the  fear  of  man  by  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  he  re- 
peated many  of  the  cautions  and  arguments  against  a  covetous, 
anxious  spirit,  which  he  had  before  given  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount ;  he  finally  exhorted  them  to  continual  watchfulness  in 
expectation  of  his  coming,  and  of  the  account  which  they  must 
render  at  the  last  for  all  their  privileges. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  one  came  to  Christ,  and  told  him  of 
the  slaughter  of  the  Galileans  at  Jerusalem,  whose  blood  Pilate 
had  mingled  with  their  sacrifices.  Perhaps  this  was  said  in  hope 
that  he  would  denounce  either  the  cruelty  of  Pilate  or  the  wick- 
edness of  the  Galileans,  in  either  of  which  cases  they  might  bring 
him  into  trouble.  But  he  made  the  fact  which  had  been  reported 
to  him  the  occasion  of  a  most  solemn  call  to  repentance  :  "  Except 
ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish."  And,  the  more  deeply  to 
impress  the  necessity  of  repentance  and  reformation,  he  uttered 
the  parable  of  the  barren  fig-tree  which  stood  only  to  cumber  the 
ground. 

Our  Saviour  had  now  arrived  in  sOme  part  of  Galilee,  and  was 
performing  his  last  labor  in  its  towns  and  villages.  And,  as  he  was 
teaching  in  one  of  the  synagogues  on  the  sabbath  day,  he  saw 
there  a  poor  woman,  who  had  been  bowed  down  with  an  infirmity 
eighteen  years,  and  could  not  lift  up  herself ;  and  he  said  unto  her, 
"  Woman,  thou  art  loosed  from  thine  infirmity."  And  immedi- 
ately she  rose  up,  and  glorified  God.  But  the  ruler  of  the  syna- 
gogue was  filled  with  indignation,  and  said,  "  There  are  six  days 
in  which  men  ought  to  work :  in  them,  therefore,  come  and  be 
healed,  and  not  on  the  sabbath  day."  To  him  our  Saviour  replied 
with  unwonted  severity,  "  Thou  hypocrite  !  doth  not  each  one  of 
you  on  the  sabbath  day  loose  his  ox  or  his  ass  from  the  stall,  and 
lead  him  away  to  watering  ?  and  ought  not  this  woman,  being  a 
daughter  of  Abraham,  Avhom  Satan  hath  bound  these  eighteen 
years,  to  be  loosed  from  her  bond  on  the  sabbath  day  ?  "  And  all 
his  adversaries  were  ashamed. 


LIFE   OF   CHRIST.  489 

Then  some  of  the  Pharisees  came  to  Jesus,  and  said,  "  Depart  at 
once  out  of  Galilee,  or  Herod  will  kill  thee,  as  he  lately  killed 
John  the  Baptist."  The  probability  is,  that  Herod  sent  this  mes- 
sage to  him  with  a  view  to  terrify  him,  and  drive  him  away.  The 
purport  of  our  Saviour's  answer  was,  that  he  must  preach  and  per- 
form miracles  in  Galilee  a  few  days  longer,  and  only  a  few ;  that 
his  work  on  earth  would  soon  be  done ;  and  that  then  he  should 
die,  as  many  of  the  old  prophets  had  died  before  him,  at  Jerusalem. 

During  this  visit  to  Galilee,  our  Saviour  was  invited  by  one  of 
the  chief  Pharisees  to  dine  with  him ;  and,  while  they  sat  at  meat, 
one  of  the  company  said,  "  Blessed  is  he  that  shtiU  eat  bread  in  the 
kingdom  of  God."  This  led  our  Lord  to  utter  the  parable  of  the 
great  supper,  from  which  those  who  were  first  bidden  excused 
themselves,  but  which  was  furnished  with  guests  from  the  high- 
ways and  hedges ;  purporting,  as  the  Pharisees  themselves  must 
have  understood  it,  the  rejection  of  the  gospel  by  leading  Jews, 
and  the  ingathering  of  the  Gentile  nations. 

As  he  came  out  of  the  Pharisee's  house,  our  Saviour  was  quickly 
surrounded  by  a  class  of  people  who  could  not  have  been  admitted 
there  ;  viz.,  publicans,  and  those  who  were  accounted  notorious 
sinners.  At  this  the  Pharisees  took  offence  ;  and,  to  justify  himself, 
our  Saviour  uttered  the  j)arables  of  the  lost  sheep,  the  lost  piece 
of  money,  and  of  the  prodigal  son  (Luke  xv.).  He  uttered 
also  in  this  connection  the  parable  of  the  unjust  steward,  and  took 
occasion  from  it  to  reprove  the  Pharisees  for  their  covetousness  and 
hypocrisy  (Luke  xvi.  1-18).  Still  further  to  show  the  vanity  of 
earthly  riches  in  comparison  with  true  piety,  he  narrated  the 
story  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  *  (Luke  xvi.  19-31). 

Our  Saviour  had  now  finished  his  work  in  Galilee,  and  was  on 
his  way  to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the  Feast  of  Dedication.  And,  desir- 
ing to  go  through  Samaria,  he  sent  messengers  forward  to  prepare 
the  way  for  him  ;  but  the  Samaritans,  finding  that  he  was  intent 
upon  going  to  Jerusalem,  refused  to  receive  him.  Whereupon 
the  disciples  James  and  John  were  highly  indignant,  and  requested, 
that  they  might  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  the  inhos- 
pitable Samaritans,  as  Elijah  did  ;  but  our  Saviour  rebuked  them, 
saying,  "Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of." 

*  This  is  frequently,  but  improperly,  called  a  parable.  It  is  not  a  parable,  has  none  of  the 
requisites  of  a  parable,  and  is  never  called  one  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  a  simple  narrative  of 
occurrences,  partly  in  this  world,  and  partly  in  the  next.  Our  Saviour  vv^as  as  competent  to 
speak  of  occurrences  iii  one  world  as  the  other. 


490  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

As  they  went  on  their  way,  they  came  to  a  village  inhabited  by 
lepers,  —  a  class  of  diseased  persons  who  were  obliged  to  live  by 
themselves.  And  no  less  than  ten  lepers  came  out  to  meet  them, 
standing  afar  off,  and  crying  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Jesus,  Master, 
have  mercy  on  us  !  "  And  Jesus  said,  "  Go  show  yourselves  to  the 
priests."  And,  as  they  went,  they  were  all  cleansed ;  and  one  of 
them,  a  Samaritan,  when  he  saw  that  he  was  cleansed,  turned  back, 
and  with  a  loud  voice  glorified  God. 

Our  Saviour  at  length  arrived  at  Jerusalem ;  and,  as  he  was 
walldng  the  street,  he  met  a  man  who  had  been  blind  from  his 
birth  :  and  he  spat  upon  the  ground,  made  soft  clay  with  the  spittle, 
rubbed  it  on  the  eyes  of  the  blind  man,  and  told  him  to  go  and 
wash  in  the  Pool  of  Siloam ;  and,  when  he  had  washed,  he  came 
back  healed. 

This  miracle  excited  more  attention  among  the  Jews  than  any 
which  Jesus  had  performed.  They  resolved  to  investigate  the 
matter  to  the  bottom,  hoping  to  find  some  clew  to  the  secret  of 
these  miraculous  Avorks  ;  but  they  were  obliged  to  give  it  up,  and 
could  only  say  to  the  restored  man,  "  Give  God  the  glory  "  (Jolm 

ix.). 

And,  as  Jesus  walked  in  the  temple  in  Solomon's  porch,  the  Jews  . 

gathered  round  him,  and  said,  "  How  long  dost  thou  make  us  to 

doubt  ?     If  thou  be  the  Christ,  tell  us  plainly."     Jesus  Avent  on  to 

speak  of  the  proofs  of  his  Messiahship,  and  among  other  things 

said,  "  I  and  my  Father  are  one."     Upon  this  the  Jews  accounted 

him  guilty  of  blasphemy,  and  took  up  stones  to  stone  him ;  but  he 

left  the  place  in  safety,  and  retired  for  a  time  to  Bethabara,  beyond 

the  Jordan,  —  the  place  where  he  had  been  baptized  (John  x.). 

And  here  great  multitudes  resorted  unto  him,  to  whom  he  preached 

the  gospel  and  healed  their  sick. 

While  he  tarried  here,  the  Pharisees  came  to  him  with  a  subtle 
question  about  marriage  and  divorce.  Our  Saviour  discussed  the 
matter  with  them,  and  laid  down  what  was  to  be  the  law  of  his 
kingdom ;  viz.,  that  there  was  only  one  cause  for  which  a  man  could 
be  justified  in  putting  away  his  wife,  or  the  wife  in  putting  away 
her  husband :  and,  when  Moses  was  appealed  to  as  teaching  a  dif- 
ferent doctrine,  he  replied,  "Because  of  the  hardness  of  your 
hearts,  Moses  suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives ;  but  from  the 
beginning  it  was  not  so." 

While  Jesus  remained-  at  Bethabara,  many  parents  in  the  vicinity 
brought  their  little  children  to  him  that  he  might  lay  his  hands  on 


LIFE   OF  CHRIST.  491 

them  and  bless  them  ;  but  for  some  reason  his  disciples  discoun- 
tenanced the  practice.  WhereuiDon  he  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Stiffer 
the  little  children  to  come  imto  me,  and  forbid  them  not ;  for  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 

During  otu'  Sa^•iotu•'s  abode  in  this  yicinity,  another  remarkable 
circumstance  took  place.  A  wealtlw  young  ruler  came  running  to 
him,  and,  kneeling  down  before  him,  said,  "  Good  Master,  what 
good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life  ?  "  To  tr\- 
him,  our  Saviour  told  him  to  keep  the  commandments.  The  young 
man  insisted  that  he  had  kept  all  these  from  his-  youth.  Our  Sa- 
viour, beholding  him  with  tender  compassion,  said,  "  One  thing  thou 
lackest.  Go  sell  whatsoever  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and 
thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and  come,  follow  me."  But 
the  young  man  could  not  consent  to  such  a  proposition.  He  went 
away  sorrowful ;  for  he  had  great  possessions.  Oiu"  Lord  improved 
the  occasion  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  danger  of  riches,  and 
the  necessity  of  being  willing  to  forsake  all  for  him. 

While  Jesus  continued  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Jordan, 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  east  of  Jerusalem,  he  heard  that  his 
friend  Lazarus  was  sick  at  Bethany.  On  receiving  the  intelligence, 
our  Sa\dour  did  not  hasten  at  once  to  Bethany,  but  tarried  two 
whole  days  in  the  place  where  he  was.  He  then  told  his  disciples 
that  Lazarus  was  dead,  and  proposed  that  they  should  go  at  once 
to  the  afflicted  family :  but  the  disciples  discouraged  him,  sa^-ing, 
"  The  Jews  of  late  sought  to  stone  thee  ;  and  goest  thou  thither 
again  ?  "  He  insisted,  however,  upon  going ;  and  the  disciples 
went  with  him. 

When  Jesus  arrived  at  Bethany,  he  found  ^lartha  and  Mary  in 
great  affliction ;  for  their  brother  had  been  dead  four  days.  He 
repaired  with  them  to  the  sepulchre ;  commanded  that  the  stone 
which  closed  it  should  be  removed ;  and.  ha^'ing  offered  up  a  short 
praj'er,  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  '*  Lazarus,  come  forth  I  and 
he  that  was  dead  came  forth,  bound  hand  and  foot  with  grave- 
clothes.  And  Jesus  said  imto  them.  Loose  him.  and  let  him 
.go." 

This  miracle,  as  might  have  been  expected,  had  a  great  effect  in 
Judaea.  Many,  in  consequence  of  it,  were  led  to  believe  on  Christ ; 
and  this  alarmed  the  Jewish  rulers  the  more,  who  came  at  once  to 
the  conclusion  that  Jesus  must  be  put  to  death.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  Caiaphas  gave  utterance  to  that  oracular  expression, 
"  Ye  know  nothing  at  all.  nor  consider  that  it  is  exjjedient  for  us 


492  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people,  and  that  the  whole  nation 
perish  not." 

To  avoid  his  enemies,  who  constantly  sought  his  life,  Jesus  now 
retired  to  a  little  city  called  Ephraim,  lying  north  of  Jerusalem, 
at  the  distance  of  some  ten  or  twelve  miles.  But  the  Passover 
was  at  hand,  and  he  soon  left  his  retreat  to  return  to  Jerusalem. 
On  the  way,  he  spoke  further  to  his  disciples  of  his  approaching 
sufferings  and  death  ;  but  they  could  not  understand  him.  Their 
minds  were  still  intent  upon  a  temporal  kingdom ;  and  they  were 
even  plotting  among  themselves,  as  they  passed  along,  who  should 
be  the  greatest  in  that  kingdom. 

On  their  way  from  Ephraim  to  Jerusalem,  they  took  a  circuitous 
route  through  Jericho.  And  as  they  went  out  of  Jericho  they 
passed  two  blind  men,  who  sat  by  the  wayside,  begging.  One  of 
them,  and  the  only  one  spoken  of  by  Mark  and  Luke,  was  Bar- 
timeus,  who  seems  to  have  been  more  importunate,  and  to  have 
attracted  greater  notice,  than  the  other.  He  persisted  in  crying 
aloud,  and  would  not  be  silenced,  "  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  David, 
have  mercy  on  us  !  "  And  Jesus  called  them  to  him,  and  kindly 
inquired  what  they  desired  of  him ;  and  they  said,  "  Lord,  that 
we  may  receive  our  sight."  And  Jesus  touched  their  eyes,  and 
said,  "  Receive  your  sight ; "  and  their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they 
followed  him  in  the  way. 

It  was  on  this  journey  from  Jericho  to  Jerusalem  that  our  Lord 
met  and  converted  Zaccheus  the  publican  (Luke  xix.  1).  It  was 
at  this  time  also  that  he  uttered  the  parable  of  the  ten  pounds, 
designed  to  set  forth  the  reward  of  his  faithful  servants  and  the 
destruction  that  was  about  to  overwhelm  his  enemies. 

Arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem  six  days  before  the 
Passover,  Jesus  was  entertained  by  his  faithful  friends,  Martha 
and  Mary,  at  Bethany ;  also  by  Simon,  who  had  been  a  leper, 
but  whom,  in  all  probability,  Jesus  had  healed.  Here  they  made 
him  a  supper ;  and  Martha  served,  while  the  raised  Lazarus  sat 
with  him  at  the  table.  But  Mary  was  otherwise  employed  :  she 
was  anointing  her  Lord's  feet  with  spikenard  exceedingly  precious ; 
which  gave  occasion  to  the  spiteful  remark  of  Judas  Iscariot, 
"  Why  was  not  this  ointment  sold  for  more  than  three  hundred 
pence,  and  given  to  the  poor  ?  "  Our  Saviour  rebuked  Judas,  and 
vindicated  Mary,  saying,  "  She  hath  wrought  a  good  work  upon 
me  ;  and,  wheresoever  this  gospel  shall  be  preached  throughout 
the  whole  world,  this  also  that  this  woman  hath  done  shall  be 
spoken  of  for  a  memorial  of  her." 


LIFE   OF  CHRIST.  493 

The  next  day,  in  fulfilment  of  an  ancient  prophecy  (Zech.  ix. 
9),  Jesus  rode  into  Jerusalem  on  an  ass's  colt,  —  the  only  instance 
recorded  of  his  riding  (except  on  the  sea)  during  his  whole  public 
ministry.  And  now  he  rode  in  a  sort  of  triumph ;  some  of  his 
friends  spreading  their  garments  in  the  way,  and  others  strewing 
it  with  green  boughs,  and  all  crying  together,  "  Hosanna  to  the 
Son  of  David !  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  !  Hosanna  in  the  highest !  "  They  seem  to  have  anticipated 
that  the  temporal  kingdom  so  long  desired  was  now  about  to  be 
set  up. 

Arrived  at  Jerusalem,  our  Lord  went  into  the  temple,  and  saw 
with  sorrow  what  was  done  there  ;  and  he  undertook  to  accom- 
plish —  what  he  had  done  before,  near  the  commencement  of 
his  public  ministry  —  a  purgatio7i  of  the  temple.  He  cast  out  them 
that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and  overthrew  the  tables  of 
the  money-changers  and  the  seats  of  them  that  sold  doves,  and 
would  not  that  any  one  should  carry  any  vessel  through  the  temple 
(Mark  xi.  15,  16).  The  chief  priests  and  scribes  were  not  slow 
to  demand  of  him,  "  By  what  authority  doest  thou  these  things  ?  " 
But,  instead  of  answering  them  directly,  our  Saviour  put  to  them 
a  question:  "The  baptism  of  John  —  was  it  from  heaven,  or  of 
men?"  This  question  they  did  not  care  to  answer  either  way; 
and  so  our  Lord  declined  answering  their  question. 

From  this  time,  our  Saviour  continued  his  discourses  in  the 
temple  for  several  days,  in  a  way  to  arouse  and  exasperate  the 
chief  priests,  the  Pharisees  and  scribes.  He  delivered  the  parable 
of  the  vineyard  let  out  to  unfaithful  husbandmen,  which  they 
could  not  but  interpret  against  themselves  ;  also  the  parable  of 
the  marriage-feast,  to  which  those  who  were  first  invited  would 
not  come.  He  confounded  the  Pharisees  and  Herodians,  who 
came  to  hiin  with  an  artful  question  about  paying  tribute  to  Csesar. 
He  met  the  Sadducees,  and  answered  their  foolish  objection  against 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  He  replied  to  one  of  the  scribes 
respecting  the  first  and  greatest  commandment  of  the  law,  and 
puzzled  the  Pharisees  with  a  question,  from  Ps.  ex.  1  :  "  The 
Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand  until  I  make 
thine  enemies  thy  footstool."  David  here  calls  the  Messiah  his 
Lord :  how  is  he,  then,  his  son  ?  He  reproved  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  for  their  manifold  hypocrisy,  oppression,  and  wickedness, 
and  denounced  woe  after  woe  upon  them,  till  it  seemed  as  though 
their  measure  of  woe  was  full.     Christ  knew  that  he  was  deliver- 


494  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

ing  his  last  message  to  tliem ;  and  he  meant  that  it  should  be  one 
of  searching  plainness,  of  terror,  and  of  power. 

Our  Saviour  had  now  finished  his  discourses  in  the  temple  ;  and, 
as  he  left  it,  the  disciples  came  to  show  him  the  stones  and  build- 
ings of  the  temple.  This  was  Herod's  temple,  which  he  had  com- 
menced building  several  years  before  his  death,  and  which  was  not 
as  yet  completed.  Jesus  said  unto  them,  "  See  ye  not  these  great 
buildings  ?  The  days  are  coming  when  there  shall  not  be  left 
one  stone  upon  another  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 

This  prediction,  which  was  astounding  to  the  disciples,  led  to 
another  question  on  their  part :  "  Master,  when  shall  these  things 
be  ?  and  what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming  and  of  the  end  of 
the  world  ?  "  In  answer  to  these  inquiries,  our  Saviour  was  led 
to  speak  very  particularly  of  the  approaching  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem and  the  temple,  and  of  the  signs  which  should  precede 
this  terrible  catastrophe.  And  then,  passing  over  from  the 
type  to  the  antitype,  and  following  out  further  the  inquiry  of  the 
apostles,  he  was  led  to  speak  of  the  final  judgment  and  the  end 
of  the  world ;  interspersing  with  the  prediction  the  parables  of 
the  ten  virgins  and  of  the  talents,  designed  to  impress  upon  his 
disciples  the  importance  of  constant  watchfulness,  and  a  diligent 
preparation  for  his  coming  and  kingdom.  This  most  impressive 
discourse  was  delivered  by  him  while  sitting  with  his  disciples 
on  the   Mount   of   Olives  over  against  the  temple  (Matt,  xxiv., 

XXV.). 

We  have  now  come  to  the  eve  of  our  Saviour's  fourth  and  last 
Passover ;  and,  as  the  journeyings  of  his  public  ministry  are  over, 
it  may  be  well,  in  the  briefest  manner,  to  sum  them  up,  that  so  we 
may  get  a  connected  view  of  them. 

From  early  infancy  until  about  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age,  he 
spent  his  time  chiefly  at  Nazareth,  an  obscure  village  of  Galilee, 
subject  to  his  reputed  father,  and  laboring  with  him  as  a  carpenter. 
In  his  thirtieth  year  he  left  Galilee,  and  came  to  John  at  Bethab- 
ara,  where  he  was  baptized.  After  his  baptism,  he  retired  into 
what  was  called  "the  wilderness  of  Judsea,"  where  he  tarried 
forty  days,  and  was  tempted  of  the  Devil.  Thence  he  returned 
to  John,  and  soon  after  went  into  Galilee  to  meet  his  mother. 
From  Galilee  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  his  first  Passover,  and 
spent  several  months  teaching  and  preaching  in  Judsea.  After  the 
imprisonment  of  John,  he  retired  into  Galilee,  where  he  remained 
till  the  second  Passover.     He  went  up  to  the  feast,  but  tarried  in 


LIFE   OF   CHRIST.  495 

Jerusalem  but  a  short  time.  He  returned  to  Galilee,  and  there 
continued  through  the  year.  He  did  not  go  to  the  third  Passover, 
but  took  a  journey  into  Syria,  almost  to  the  confines  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon.  Returned  from  this  excursion,  he  took  another  into  the 
north-easterly  part  of  Galilee,  going  as  far  as  Ccesarea  Philippi. 
He  came  back  to  Capernaum,  and  soon  set  forward  to  Jerusalem 
to  attend  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  From  Jerusalem,  he  returned 
to  Galilee  for  the  last  time  ;  and,  having  finished  his  work  there, 
he  went  again  to  Jerusalem  to  the  Feast  of  the  Dedication.  Here 
the  Jews  sought  his  life  ;  and  he  retired  for  a  season  to  Bethabara, 
—  the  place  where  he  was  baptized.  From  this  place  he  was  sum- 
moned to  Bethany,  near  Jerusalem,  by  the  sickness  and  death  of 
Lazarus,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead.  When  the  Jews  again 
sought  to  kill  him,  he  retired  to  the  little  village  of  Ephraim,  some 
ten  or  twelve  miles  north  of  Jerusalem.  Here  he  remained  until 
a  short  time  before  the  Passover,  when  he  returned  by  the  way 
of  Jericho  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  ate  the  Passover,  was  betrayed 
and  crucified. 

From  this  it  appears,  that,  in  something  more  than  three  years, 
our  Saviour  made  four  journeys  from  Galilee  into  Judaea,  and  back 
again,  in  addition  to  the  last,  from  which  he  did  not  return.  This 
would  carry  him  over  the  ground  nine  times,  besides  his  excur- 
sions to  the  north  of  Galilee  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem,  and 
his  long  and  repeated  preaching  tours  in  different  parts  of  both 
countries.  All  these  journeys  he  accomplished  on  foot,  surrounded 
generally  by  thronging  multitudes,  whom  he  carefully  instructed 
and  repeatedly  fed,  and  for  whose  benefit  he  performed  the  greatest 
miracles.  Who  will  say  that  his  public  life  was  not  a  beneficent 
one  and  a  weary  one  ?  What  Christian  will  complain  of  labor 
after  this  ? 


CHAPTER    IV. 


LIFE    OF    CHRIST. CONCLUDED. 


IN  the  preceding  chapter,  we  sketched  the  life  of  Christ  to  very- 
near  the  time  of  his  last  Passover  at  Jerusalem. 

Two  days  before  the  Passover,  while  the  chief  priests  and  scribes 
were  in  secret  conclave,  plotting  how  they  might  destroy  Jesus, 
Judas  Iscariot  went  to  them  privately,  and  said,  "  What  will  ye 
give  me,  and  I  will  deliver  him  unto  you  ?  And  they  covenanted 
with  him  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver,"  —  less  than  twenty  dollars  of 
our  money. 

On  the  fifth  day  of  the  Jewish  week  (answering  to  our  Thurs- 
day), Jesus  despatched  Peter  and  John  to  the  city  to  make  ready 
the  Passover  ;  giving  them  particular  directions  where  to  go,  and 
with  whom  to  find  the  necessary  accommodations.  They  went, 
and  found  all  things  as  their  Master  had  described. 

Meanwhile  the  disciples  had  been  having  one  of  those  strange 
disputes  of  which  we  hear  so  much  ;  viz.,  which  of  them  should 
be  the  greatest.  So,  to  reprove  them,  after  they  had  set  down  to- 
gether to  the  paschal  supper,  Jesus  rose  from  the  table,  laid  aside  his 
outward  garments,  girded  himself  with  a  towel,  and  began  to  wash 
his  disciples'  feet.  This  he  did  to  set  them  an  example  of  humili- 
ty and  condescension :  "  If  I,  your  Lord  and  Master,  have  washed 
your  feet,  so  ought  ye  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  Instead  of 
striving  together  as  to  which  of  you  shall  be  the  greatest,  be  ready 
at  all  times  to  perform  for  one  another  every  needed  act  of  conde- 
scension and  love." 

When  our  Saviour  had  washed  his  disciples'  feet,  he  sat  down 
with  them  again ;  and,  as  they  did  eat,  he  testified,  and  said,  "  Be- 
hold, one  of  you  shall  betray  me."  This  astounding  declaration  led 
to  instant  personal  inquiry ;  when  our  Saviour  indicated,  though 
not  in  a  manner  to  be  generally  understood,  that  the  traitor  was  no 


496 


LIFE    OF   CHRIST.  497 

other  than  Judas  Iscariot.  Soon  after  this,  Judas  left  them,  and 
went  out  to  carry  into  effect  his  traitorous  design. 

After  the  departure  of  Judas,  our  Saviour  had  a  long  and  affecting 
conversation  with  the  eleven  disciples,  in  Avhich  he  exhorted  them 
to  mutual  love  ;  told  them  what  was  to  come,  and  urged  them 
to  be  f)repared  for  it.  After  this,  he  took  bread,  and  blessed  and 
brake  it,  and  instituted  tlie  sacred  supper,  to  take  the  place  of  the 
Passover,  and  to  be  a  standing  memorial,  in  all  coming  time,  of  his 
sufferings  and  death. 

Nor  did  our  Saviour  immediately  leave  the  chamber  when  the 
supper-  was  ended.  He  sat  long  there  with  his  disciples,  and  de- 
livered those  most  instructive  and  comforting  discourses,  and 
offered  up  that  remarkable  intercessory  prayer,  which  we  find  re- 
corded from  the  fourteenth  to  the  seventeenth  chapters  of  John. 

When  his  prayer  was  ended,  and  he  had  sung  a  hymn  with  his 
disciples,  they  went  out  of  Jerusalem  on  the  way  to  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  As  they  passed  along,  our  Saviour  continued  his  conver- 
sation with  the  disciples,  repeating  his  warnings  as  to  what  was 
coming,  and  its  effect  upon  them.  He  told  them,  that  in  a  very 
short  time  they  would  all  be  offended  (stumhled^  at  him,  and  scat- 
tered from  him.  To  this  Peter  replied  with  his  usual  self-confi- 
dence, "  Though  all  shall  be  offended,  yet  will  not  I."  Upon 
which  our  Saviour  turned  to  him,  and  said,  "  Tliis  very  night,  be- 
fore the  cock  crow  twice,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice." 

Having  passed  the  Brook  Kedron,  they  came  to  the  Garden  of 
Gethsemane,  —  a  secluded  spot  near  the  foot  of  Olivet,  where 
Jesus  often  went  with  his  di'sciples.  Here  he  fell  into  a  most  intense 
and  indescribable  agony,  under  which  his  human  nature  seemed 
ready  to  sink.  He  prayed  repeatedly,  though  with  the  most  entire 
submission  to  the  divine  will,  that  the  cup  of  suffering  might  pass 
from  him.  So  intense  was  his  agony,  that  his  sweat  was,  as  it  were, 
great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground.  He  had  exhort- 
ed his  disciples  to  watch  with  him  in  his  extremity ;  but,  by  some 
strange  fatuity,  they  were  overcome  with  sleep. 

It  was  at  this  time,  and  under  these  circumstances,  that  Judas, 
with  his  ruffian  band,  came  upon  him  to  take  him.  He  voluntarily 
surrendered  himself  to  his  persecutors,  and  consented  to  be  bound, 
and  led  away  as  a  captive  criminal  to  the  palace  of  the  high 
priest. 

In  this  terrible  transaction,  there  were  several  touching  incidents 
which  require  to  be  noticed.     One  was  our  Saviour's  care  for  his 

32 


498  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

disciples  :  "  If  ye  seek  me,"  said  he  to  the  guard,  "  let  these  my  dis- 
ciples go  away:  do  not  molest  or  injure  them."  And  so  the 
disciples  went  away.  As  had  been  just  before  predicted,  they  all 
forsook  him,  and  fled. 

Another  incident  which  I  cannot  fail  to  notice  was  the  healing 
of  the  ear  of  Malchus,  which  Peter  had  cut  off.  The  soldiers 
were  just  now  in  the  act  of  binding  the  hands  of  Jesus :  but  he 
said,  "  Suifer  ye  thus  far ;  let  me  have  my  hand  a  moment ;  "  when, 
raising  it,  he  touched  the  wounded  ear,  and  it  was  well.  Was  not 
this  Godlike  ?  Did  ever  any  thing  like  it  take  place  beneath  the 
sun? 

Jesus  was  first  examined  in  the  palace  of  the  high  priest.  It 
was  here  that  Peter  denied  hun,  and  soon  and  bitterly  repented 
of  his  denial. 

At  break  of  day,  he  was  .removed  to  the  great  council-chamber, — 
the  hall  of  the  Sanhedrim,  —  where  he  was  still  further  exam- 
ined ;  and  on  his  confessing  himself  to  be  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of 
God,  and  futiu-e  Judge  of  the  world,  he  was  charged  with  blasphemy, 
and  pronounced  guilty  of  death.  And,  had  the  Jews  been  permit- 
ted to  execute  their  sentence,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
stoned ;  for  this  was  the  form  of  death  prescribed  by  the  Jewish 
law  for  the  blasphemer  (Lev.  xxiv.  16). 

But  our  Saviour  was  not  to  die  in  this  manner.  He  was  to  "  be 
lifted  up,"  —  to  be  "  hanged  on  a  tree  ;  "  or,  in  other  words,  to  be 
crucified.  Hence  it  was  necessary,  in  the  purpose  of  God,  that  he 
should  be  put  to  death  by  the  Romans  ;  for  crucifixion  was  not  a 
Jewish,  but  a  Roman  mode  of  executing  criminals. 

Early  in  the  morning,  therefore,  on  Friday  of  our  week,  Jesus 
was  brought  before  Pilate,  the  Roman  governor.*  And  here  the 
accusation  against  him  was  entirely  changed.  "Before,  he  had  been 
accused  of  blasphemy ;  but  now  he  is  charged  with  setting  himself 
up  to  be  a  king,  and  thus  conspiring  against  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. This,  it  was  thought,  was  a  charge  in  which  Pilate  would 
feel  some  interest ;  whereas  he  would  care  little  for  a  •  charge  of 
blasphemy  against  the  God  of  the  Jews.  Pilate  examined  our 
Saviour  closely  on  the  charge  presented,  and  had  concluded  to 

*  Of  the  hii5tory  of  Pilate,  little  is  known ;  but  that  little  warrants  the  belief  that  "  he  was 
a  Roman  officer  of  average  capacity,  deeply  imbued  with  the  pride  and  prejudice  of  his  class, 
and  resolute,  sometimes  cruel,  in  asserting  the  rights  of  his  imperial  master,  and  in  main- 
taining his  personal  authority."  He  was  in  frequent  conflict  with  the  Jewish  rulers;  sometimes 
yielding  to  them,  but  more  frequently  chastising  them  with  blood.  —  See  Luke  xiii.  1. 


LIFE    OF   CHRIST.  499 

■  release  him ;  but,  learning  incidentally  that  he  was  a  Galilean,  he 
resolved  to  pass  him  over  to  Herod,  who  Avas  at  this  time  in  Jeru- 
salem. But  Herod  Avith  his  men  of  war  set  him  at  nought,  mocked 
him,  arrayed  him  in  a  gorgeous  robe,  and  sent  him  again  to  Pilate. 

Pilate  now  made  another  effort  to  release  him  ;  but  he  was  over- 
come by  the  clamor  of  the  Jews.  He  repeatedly  declared  that  he 
found  no  fault  in  him ;  but  the  enemies  of  Christ  would  listen  to 
nothing  but  his  crucifixion.  The  governor,  therefore,  was  corii- 
pelled  to  yield.  He  first  took  the  blessed  Jesus  and  scourged  him. 
Then  the  soldiers  took  off  his  garments,  and  arrayed  him  in  purple, 
and  platted  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  put  it  on  his  head ;  and,  still 
further  to  ridicule  his  pretensions  to  royalty,  they  j)ut  a  reed  into 
his  right  hand  to  represent  a  sceptre,  and  bowed  the  knee  before 
him,  saying,  "  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews !  "  They  also  spat  upon  him, 
and  took  the  reed  out  of  his  hand,  and  smote  him  on  the  head. 

While  this  profane  mockery  and  cruelty  were  going  on,  Pilate 
received  a  message  from  his  wife,  charging  him  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  that  just  man.  This,  with  other  circumstances  which  came 
to  light,  caused  the  governor  still  further  to  hesitate.  He  went 
again  into  the  judgment-hall,  examined  anew  his  bleeding  victim, 
and  was  more  earnest  than  before  to  release  him.  But,  the  more 
he  wavered,  the  more  fierce  and  clamorous  were  the  Jews :  "If 
thou  let  this  man  go,  thou  art  not  Csesar's  friend.  Crucify  him ! 
crucify  him  ! " 

"  When  Pilate  saw  that  he  could  prevail  nothing,  but  that  rather 
a  tumult  was  made,  he  took  water  and  washed  his  hands  before 
the  multitude,  saying,  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just 
person."  Then  tile  Jews  answered,  and  said,  "  His  blood  be  on 
us  and  on  our  children,"  —  an  imprecation  which  has  been  most 
terribly  fulfilled. 

When  the  Jews  had  received  their  victim,  they  took  off  from 
him  the  purple,  put  his  own  clothes  upon  him,  and  led  him  forth  to 
the  place  of 'crucifixion.  On  the  way,  he  was  attended  by  his 
faithful  female  friends,  who  bewailed  and  lamented  him,  and 
to  whom  he  administered  words  of  consolation  and  instruction : 
"  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me,  but  Aveep  for  your- 
selves and  for  jonv  children." 

Meanwhile  the  traitor  Judas,  when  he  knew  that  Jesus  had 
been  condemned,  was  sorry  and  distressed  for  what  he  had  done  ; 
not  Avith  that  godly  sorroAv  which  worketh  repentance  unto  life, 
but  with  that  sorroAv  of  the  world  Avhich  Avorketh  death :  so  he 


500  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

brought  back  tlie  thirty  pieces  of  silver  which  he  had  received, 
and,  ill  his  desperation,  went  out  and  hanged  himself. 

The  place  of  our  Saviour's  crucifixion  is  called  Golgotha  and 
Calvary  ;  but  the  precise  locality  is  uncertain.  We  only  know  that 
it  was  without  the  walls  of  the  ancient  city,  and  probably  on  the 
north-western  border.  Here  Jesus  was  led,  bearing  his  cross  (so 
long  as  he  was  able  to  bear  it),  and  attended  by  two  thieves,  who 
were  to  suffer  with  him  ;  and  here  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory  was 
crucified.  His  hands  and  feet  were  nailed  to  the  fatal  wood ; 
the  cross  was  erected  ;  and  here  he  hung  in  shame  and  agony, — 
a  monument  at  once  of  the  justice  and  the  grace  of  God,  and  of 
the  insatiate  cruelty  of  man.  It  was  wliile  the  nails  were  driving 
through*his  flesh,  and  every  nerve  within  him  must  have  twinged 
with  the  keenest  torture,  that  he  prayed  for  his  murderers : 
"  Father,  forgive  them  ;  for  they  know  not  what  'they  do."  * 

Our  Saviour  lived  after  he  came  to  the  cross  about  six  hours ; 
i.e.,  from  nine  in  the  morning  to  three  in  the  afternoon.  During 
the  first  three  hours,  he  was  continually  insulted  and  reproached 
by  those  who  stood  by.  They  wagged  their  heads,  saying,  "  Ah ! 
thou  that  destroyest  the  temple,  and  buildest  it  in  three  days,  save 
thyself,  if  thou  be  the  Son  of  God.  He  saved  others :  himself  he 
cannot  save."  It  was  during  these  first  hours  that  he  commended 
his  mother  to  the  care  of  John,  and  pardoned  and  assured  the 
penitent  thief. 

At  the  end  of  three  hours,  i.e.  about  noon,  there  came  a  super- 
natural darkness  over  all  the  land  until  the  ninth  hour,  —  fit 
emblem  of  the  darkness  and  horror  which  seem  to  have  pervaded 
the  pure  mind  of  the  Saviour  during  this  period.  At  the  ninth 
hour,  when  the  sufferer  could  endiu^e  no  longer,  he  uttered  that 
loud  and  bitter  cry,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me  ?  "  Shortly  after,  when  he  had  sucked  some  vinegar  from  a 
sponge  that  was  put  to  liis  lips,  and  thus  fulfilled  the  last  predic- 
tion which  had  been  uttered  respecting  his  sufferings, -he  said,  "It 
is  finished ; "  and  he  bowed  his  head,  and  gave  up  the  ghost. 

Thus  died  the  immaculate  Son  of  God,  and  made  expiation  for 
the  sins  of  the  world.  Thus  ended  in  a  moment  all  his  sufferings, 
and  liis  pure  soul  took  its  flight  to  the  paradise  of  God.     No  indig- 

*  There  is  a  discrepancy  in  the  evangelists  as  to  the  time  of  the  day  when  our  Lord  was 
crucified.  Mark  says  it  was  the  third  hour,  or  about  nine  o'clock  (xv.  25).  John  says  it 
was  about  the  sixth  hour  when  Pilate  delivered  him  up  to  be  crucified  {xix.  14).  I  incline  to 
the  opinion  that  the  reading  in  John  was  originally  the  third  hour;  and  to  this  agree  some 
ancient  manuscripts  of  very  high  authority. 


LIFE   OF    CHRIST.  501 

nity  was  offered  to  his  lifeless  body,  except  that,  to  make  sure  of 
his  death,  it  was  pierced  shortly  after  with  a  soldier's  spear. 

But  the  throes  and  convulsions  of  Nature  at  this  awful  moment 
Avere  terrible.  In  addition  to  the  appalling  darkness  which  brooded 
over  the  whole  land,  there  was  now  a  terrible  earthquake,  which 
rent  the  rocks  asunder,  and  burst  open  the  tombs.  The  thick  veil 
of  the  temple  which  separated  the  holy  from  the  most  holy  place 
was  also  rent  in  pieces ;  thus  indicating  that  the  dispensation  of 
types  and  shadows  was  ended,  and  that  the  way  into  the  holy 
of  holies  was  made  manifest  by  the  blood  of  the  cross. 

The  earthquake  and  the  darkness  put  an  end  to  the  profane 
mockeries  which  had  been  so  recently  indulged  in  around  the 
cross.  Every  one  quaked  and  shuddered  with  fear :  they  smote 
upon  their  breasts,  and  said,  "  Certainly  tliis  was  a  righteous  m,an ; 
he  was  the  Son  of  God !  " 

Towards  evening  of  the  same  day,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a  member 
of  the  Sanhedrim,  who  had  not  consented  to  their  vile  proceedings, 
came  boldly  to  Pilate,  and  asked  that  he  might  have  the  body  of 
Jesus ;  and,  when  Pilate  had  ascertained  that  he  was  truly  dead, 
he  gave  the  body  to  Joseph.  Then  Joseph,  assisted  by  other 
friends,  took  down  the  body,  and  wrapped  it  in  a  clean  linen  cloth. 
Nicodemus  also  came  to  his  assistance,  bringing  a  hundreds  pounds' 
weight  of  myrrh  and  aloes  to  prepare  the  body  for  its  burial :  and, 
having  swathed  it  with  the  spices,  they  laid  it  in  a  new  tomb  near 
by  which  had  been  hewed  out  of  a  rock,  in  which  no  person  had 
ever  yet  been  laid ;  and  they  rolled  a  great  stone  to  the  door  of 
the  sepulchre,  and  departed. 

During  all  this  while,  the  faithful  female  friends  of  Christ  had 
not  deserted  him  for  a  moment.  They  saw  him  die ;  saw  him 
taken  down  from  the  cross ;  followed  him  to  the  tomb,  and  saw 
where  he  was  laid. 

The  Jews,  too,  were  on  the  alert.  To  make  sure  against  any 
attempt  to  remove  the  body  privately,  they  procured  an  order  from 
Pilate  that  the  door  of  the  tomb  should  be  sealed,  and  a  watch  set 
to  guard  it,  at  least  until  after  the  third. day.  When  this  was  done, 
the  tomb  was  left  in  charge  of  the  guards  ;  and  friends  and  enemies 
departed  together  to  keep  the  Passover  sabbath,  which  by  the  Jews 
was  regarded  as  a  great  day. 

And  in  truth  it  was  a  great  day.  Never  before  had  such  a 
sabbath  been  kept  in  Jerusalem.  The  chief  priests  and  Pharisees 
were  in  high  exultation,  though  not  altogether  without  anxieties 


502  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  fears.  The  terrible  portents  attending  the  death  of  Jesus, 
together  with  his  known  prediction  that  he  should  rise  on  the  third 
day,  were  enough  to  fill  them  with  apprehension. 

To  the  friends  of  Christ,  this  sabbath  was  a  time  of  deep  distress. 
They  knew  not  how  to  understand  the  trying  scenes  through  which 
they  had  passed,  or  what  to  think  of  them.  They  trusted  that 
they  had  found  the  long-promised  Messiah  who  was  to  deliver' 
Israel ;  but  he  was  dead  and  buried,  and  all  their  hopes  were 
buried  with  him. 

But  the  sabbath  passed  quietly  away,  and  the  night  following  it ; 
and  the  first  day  of  the  week  began  to  dawn.  And  now  we  come 
to  a  new  chapter  in  our  Saviour's  history,  —  his  triumphant  resur- 
rection, his  occasional  appearances  for  forty  days,  and  his  final  and 
fflorious  ascension  into  heaven. 

Some  have  thought  it  impossible  to  harmonize  the  different 
accounts  of  the  evangelists  in  regard  to  our  Saviour's  resurrection 
and  subsequent  appearances ;  but  I  am  satisfied  that  they  admit 
of  a  consistent  harmony,  and  shall  proceed  to  detail  the  several 
events  in  the  order  in  which  I  suppose  them  to  have  taken  place. 

Towards  morning  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  while  the  guard 
was  keeping  watch  about  the  sepulchre,  suddenly  there  was  a  great 
earthquake.  One  of  the  chiefest  of  the  angels  of  light  descended 
from  heaven,  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre, 
and  sat  upon  it.  His  countenance  was  like  lightning,  and  his  rai- 
ment white  as  snow.  For  fear  of  him  the  keepers  trembled, 
swooned  away,  and  became  as  dead  men ;  so  that  they  were  no 
longer  able  to  see  or  tell  what  was  passing  around  them.  At  this 
time,  Jesus  awoke  from  the  dead,  threw  aside  his  grave-clothes, 
and  left  the  sepulchre.  At  the  same  time,  also,  many  bodies  of 
the  old  saints  which  had  been  buried  round  about  Jerusalem,  and 
whose  tombs  had  been  burst  open  b}^  the  earthquake  at  the  time 
of  Christ's  death,  arose  from  the  dead,  went  into  the  holy  city,  and 
appeared  unto  many. 

While  these  things  were  passing  at  the  sepulchre  and  among 
the  dead,  the  female  friends  of  Christ  were  awake,  and  preparing 
to  go  to  the  sepulchre,' that  they  might  more  formally  and  perfectly 
embalm  the  body  of  Jesus.  Foremost  among  them  were  Mary 
Magdalene,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James  and  Joses,  and  Joanna, 
and  some  others  ;  and,  as  they  passed  along  to  the  sepulchre,  they 
had  some  anxiety  and  conversation  between  themselves  respecting 
the  stone  at  the  mouth  of  it.     It  was  very  great ;  and  who  should 


LIFE    OF    CHRIST.  503 

assist  them  in  rolling  it  away  ?  But,  as  they  approached  the  sepul- 
chre, they  saw  that  the  stone  was  rolled  away.  The  guard  by  this 
time  had  recovered  from  their  swoon,  and  gone  into  -the  city  to 
report  respecting  the  earthquake  and  the  angel. 

As  soon  as  the  women  saw  that  the  stone  had  been  removed, 
they  stopped  and  turned  back ;  Avhile  Mary  Magdalene,  leaving 
them,  ran  into  the  city  to  inform  the  disciples.  And  Peter  and 
John  arose,  and  ran  to  the  sepulchre.  They  went  down  into  it, 
and  found  the  grave-clothes  carefully  laid  away ;  but  the  body  was 
not  there.  They  then  returned  in  doubt  and  wonder  to  the  city, 
leaving  Mary  Magdalene  alone  weeping  at  the  sepulchre :  and  as 
she  wept  she  stooped  down,  and  looked  into  it ;  and  there  she 
saw  two  angels  sitting  —  the  one  at  the  head,  and  the  other  at  the 
feet — where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  been  laid.  They  seem  to  have 
been  in  the  form  of  men,  so  that  she  Avas  not  frightened  at  all  by 
the  apparition.  And  one  of  them  said,  "  Why  weepest  thou  ?  " 
She  answered,  "  Because  they  have  taken  away  my  Lord,  and  I 
know  not  where  they  have  laid  him."  And,  having  said  this,  she 
turned  round,  and  saw  Jesus  standing  near  her ;  and,  supposing 
him  to  be  the  gardener,  she  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  if  you  have  removed 
the  body  of  my  Lord,  please  tell  me  where  you  have  laid  it,  and  I 
will  take  it  away."  Then  Jesus  said  unto  her  in  his  usual  voice 
and  tone,  "  Mary !  "  Instantly  she  knew  him,  and  was  about  to 
fall  at  his  feet  and  embrace  him :  but  he  told  her,  "  No,  not  now : 
rather  run  quickly  and  tell  my  disciples  what  you  have  seen." 

While  Mary  Magdalene  was  gone  with  her  message  to  the  dis- 
ciples, the  other  women,  from  whom  she  had  been  separated,  came 
to  the  sepulchre  at  the  rising  of  the  sun.  They  even  ventured  to 
go  down  into  it ;  and  there,  instead  of  the  body  of  Jesus,  they  saw 
two  angels  in  the  form  of  men,  —  probably  the  same  which  had 
before  appeared  to  Mary  Magdalene,  —  sitting  in  shining  garments 
on  the  right  side  of  the  sepulchre.*  The  angels  spoke  kindly  to 
them,  told  them  not  to  be  affrighted,  and  no  longer  to  seek  the 
hving  among  the  dead :  "  Your  Lord  is  not  here ;  he  is  risen : 
come  see  the  place  where  they  laid  him.  And  now  go  quickly 
and  tell  his  disciples  that  he  is  indeed  risen  from  the  dead." 

And,  as  they  went  to  tell  the  disciples,  Jesus  met  them,  and  said 
unto  them,  "All  hail!"  And  they  fell  together  at  his  feet,  and 
worshipped  him.      But  he  hastened  their  departure,  as  he  had 

*  Matthew  and  Mark  speak  of  but  one  angel,  —  the  one,  it  is  likely,  which  addressed  the 
women. 


604  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

before  done  in  the  case  of  Mary  Magdalene,  saying,  "  Go  tell  my 
brethren  that  I  am  alive,  and  that  ere  long  they  shall  see  me."  So 
they  ran,  and  united  their  testimony  with  that  of  Mary  Magdalene 
that  they  had  seen  the  Lord.  But  the  disciples  were  slow  of  heart 
to  believe :  they  thought  the  women  had  been  deluded,  and  their 
words  seemed  to  them  as  idle  tales. 

Some  time  in  the  course  of  the  day,  our  Saviour  appeared  to 
Simon  Peter ;  but  when  he  made  this  appearance,  and  under  what 
circumstances,  we  are  not  informed  (Luke  xxiv.  34 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  5). 
In  the  afternoon  of  this  same  day,  he  appeared  to  two  of  the  disci- 
ples as  they  went  to  Emmaus,  —  a  village  a  few  miles  west  of  Jeru- 
salem. One  of  these  disciples  was  Cleopas,  or  Alpheus,  the  hus- 
band of  Mary,  and  father  of  James  and  Joses.  Appearing  in 
another  form,  so  that  he  was  not  recognized  by  the  disciples,  he 
discoursed  with  them  on  the  way  respecting  the  recent  events  at 
Jerusalem ;  showed  them  that  the  Messiah  promised  in  the  Old 
Testament  must  necessarily  suffer ;  and,  beginning  at  Moses  and 
all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures 
the  things  concerning  himself.  Arrived  at  Emmaus,  he  went  in 
to  tarry  with  these  disciples,  and  made  himself  known  to  them 
in  the  breaking  of  bread. 

As  soon  as  they  knew  him,  he  vanished  from  their  sight ;  and 
they  arose  at  once,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem.  Here  they  found 
the  apostles  assembled  with  closed  doors,  and  other  disciples  with 
them  ;  and  no  sooner  had  they  commenced  telling  their  story 
than  Jesus  himself  appeared  in  their  midst,  and  said,  "  Peace  be 
unto  you."  They  were  all  terrified  and  affrighted,  and  supposed 
that  they  had  seen  a  spirit ;  but  Jesus  took  measures  to  convince 
them  that  he  was  something  more  than  a  spirit.  "  Handle  me  and 
see  ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as  ye  see  me  have."  He 
kindly  reproved  them  for  their  unbelief,  and  hardness  of  heart,  in 
not  receiving  the  testimony  of  those  who  had  seen  him  after  he 
was  risen  ;  and  then  repeated  the  comforting  salutation,  "  Peace 
be  unto  you.     As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  so  send  I  you." 

Thus  closed  the  transactions  of  this  important  day,  —  the  first 
Lord's  day  under  the  new  dispensation.  Christ  appeared  visibly 
during  the  day  no  less  than  five  times,  —  first,  to  Mary  Magdalene  ; 
secondl}^  to  the  other  females;  third,  to  Simon  Peter;  fourth, 
to  the  two  disciples  on  the  way  to  Einmaus  ;  and,  fifth,  to  the 
assembled  apostles  and  disciples  at  Jerusalem. 

A  question  arises  here  as  to  the  properties  of  our  Saviour's  risen 


LIFE    OF   CHRIST.  505 

body.  Christ  is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  "the  first-fruits 
from  the  dead;"  "the  first  that  should  rise  from  the  dead,"  &c. 
(Acts  xxvi.  23.)  I  suppose  he  was  the  first  that  ever  rose  with 
a  proper  resurrection-body,  — rose  to  die  no  more.  And  the  ques- 
tion presents  itself,  Wliat  where  the  projjerties  of  his  raised  body  ? 
It  evidently  had  some  properties  after  the  resurrection  which  it  had 
not  before  :  it  could  enter  and  leave  a  room  with  closed  doors ;  it 
could  go  from  place  to  place  otherwise  than  by  the  ordinary 
processes  of  locomotion ;  it  could  appear  in  (^her  than  its  natural 
form  ;  it  could  make  itself  visible  and  invisible  at  pleasure. 

And  yet  it  seems  not  to  have  parted  with  all  its  grossness.  It 
had  "  flesh  and  bones,"  if  not  flesh  and  blood ;  and,  in  repeated 
instances  afteir  the  resurrection,  we  find  our  Saviour  partaking  of 
material  food. 

I  know  not  how  to  account  for  all  the  phenomena  in  the  case 
but  by  supposing  that  the  change  from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual 
body  commenced  at  his  resurrection,  but  was  not  consummated  till 
the  time  of  his  ascension.  As  he  was  to  remain  on  the  earth  forty 
days,  and  furnish  "  infallible  proofs,"  meanwhile,  of  his  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead,  it  was  necessary  that  his  body  should  retain  at 
least  some  of  its  natural  properties  ;  else  how  could  these  "  infalli- 
ble proofs  "  be  given  ?  But  when  they  had  been  adequately  fur- 
nished, and  his  work  on  earth  was  done,  and  he  was  about  to 
ascend  to  the  right  hand  of  God  in  heaven,  then  these  remaining 
natural  properties  were  laid  aside,  and  the  entire  spiritual  body,  in 
all  its  fulness  and  glory,  was  assumed. 

From  the  first  Lord's  day  to  the  second,  our  Lord  made  no  visi- 
ble manifestation  of  himself:  nor  do  we  know  how  the  disciples 
were  employed  ;  but  when  they  were  again  assembled,  on  the 
second  Lord's  day,  Christ  appeared  in  the  midst  of  them  as  before. 
The  circumstances  under  which  he  appeared  were  these :  Thomas 
was  not  with  them  at  the  previous  meeting,  nor  had  he  yet  seen 
his  risen  Lord  ;  and  he  was  very  incredulous  as  to  his  being  alive  : 
"  Except  I  shall  see  in  his  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my 
finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my  hand  into  his  side, 
I  will  not  believe."  Now,  though  his  unbelief  was  quite  inexcusa- 
ble, yet  was  his  gracious  Master  pleased  to  overlook  it,  and  take 
him  at  his  word.  Thomas  was  present  on  the  second  Lord's  day, 
when  Christ  said  to  him,  "  Reach  hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  my 
hands  ;  and  reach  hither  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side  ;  and 
be  not  faithless,  but  believing."      The   incredulous  disciple  was 


506  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

overcome  at  once.  He  exclaimed  in  accents  of  joy  and  wonder, 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God  !  " 

Our  Lord's  next  appearance  was  in  Galilee,  where  the  disciples 
had  gone  in  expectation  of  meeting  him  (see  Matt,  xxviii.  7). 
They  were  together  near  the  lake,  and  concluded  to  go  a-fishing. 
All  night  they  had  toiled,  and  taken  nothing.  In  the  morning,  a 
stranger  appeared  on  the  shore,  and  asked  if  they  had  any  meat. 
They  told  him  they  had  none.  Then  said  he  unto  them,  "  Cast 
the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship,  and  ye  shall  find."  They  did 
so,  and  enclosed  more  fishes  than  they  could  draw  to  the  shore. 
And  now  it  was  evident  to  them  all  that  this  apparent  stranger  was 
the  Lord.  At  once  they  rushed  on  shore  to  meet  him,  and  had  a 
most  interesting  season  of  communion  with  him.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  he  thrice  demanded  of  Peter,  "  Lovest  thou  me  ?  "  and 
received  the  thrice-repeated  protestations  of  Peter's  love.  It  was 
at  this  time  that  he  predicted  Peter's  martyrdom,  and  intimated 
that  John  might  long  survive  him. 

Our  Savioiu''s  ne;i:t  appearance  was  also  in  Galilee,  on  a  moun- 
tain, where  he  had  appointed  to  meet  his  friends,  and  where  "  he 
was  seen  by  more  than  five  hundred  brethren  at  once.  After 
that,  he  was  seen  of  James;  then  of  all  the  apostles"  (1  Cor. 
XV.  6,  7).  Our  Lord  repeatedly  met  his  disciples  at  Jerusalem, 
and  instructed  them  in  the  things  pertaining  to  his  kingdom.  He 
told  them  that  all  power  Avas  given  unto  him  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  and  directed  them  to  tarry,  at  Jerusalem  until  they  were 
endued  with  power  from  on  high.  He  instituted  Christian  bap- 
tism, —  baptism  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  —  and  made  it  one  of  the  standing  ordinances  of  his  kingdom. 
And  whereas  he  had  formerly  restricted  them  in  their  missionary 
labors  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  he  now  greatly 
enlarged  their  commission  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature."  He  promised  to  aid  them  by  mi- 
raculous powers  and  gifts  as  long  as  these  should  be  needed,  and  to 
be  with  them  by  his  gracious  Spirit  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world. 

And  now  the  forty  days  of  his  continuance  on  earth  were  ended, 
and  the  time  of  his  ascension  had  come.  He  met  his  disciples  in 
Jerusalem,  and  led  them  out  over  the  Brook  Kedron,  by  the  same 
path  in  which  they  went  the  night  before  the  crucifixion.  And 
when  they  came  to  Bethany,  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  he  lifted  up  his  hands  and  blessed  them ;  and  it  came  to 


LIFE    OF    CHRIST.  507 

pass,  while  he  blessed  them,  that  he  was  separated  from  them,  and 
a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight.  And,  while  they  looked 
steadfastly  towards  heaven,  suddenly  two  angels  stood  beside  them, 
and  said,  "  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  here  gazing  towards 
heaven  ?  This  same  Jesus  which  has  been  taken  from  you  into 
heaven  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go 
into  heaven."  And  the  disciples  worshipped  him,  and  returned  to 
Jerusalem  with  great  joy.  They  spent  most  of  the  time  for  the 
next  eight  or  ten  days  in  some  one  of  the  porches  of  the  temple 
in  united  prayer,  waiting  for  the  promised  descent  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  account  that  our  Saviour's  ap- 
pearances after  his  resurrection  were  confined  to  his  disciples  and 
friends.  And  the  question  has  been  asked,  "  Why  did  he  not 
appear  to  the  unbelieving  Jews,  and.  convince  them  all,  at  once,  of 
his  resurrection  and  Messiahship  ?  "  I  migljt  answer  this  question 
by  asking  another  :  "  Why  does  not  Christ  appear  now  in  celestial 
glory,  and  substantiate  his  divinity  and  his  Messiahship  at  once 
and  forever  ?  " 

I  can  conceive  of  two  reasons  why  Christ  did  not  appear  to  his 
enemies  after  his  resurrection.  In  the  first  place,  they  were  not  in 
a  state  of  mind  to  be  convinced  by  any  amount  of  evidence  which 
he  could  consistently  afford  them.  They  had  perverted  all  the 
evidence  which  had  been  given  them  during  his  life ;  had  charged 
him  with  blasphemy ;  had  ascribed  his  miracles  to  Beelzebub ;  had 
procured  his  murder,  and  imprecated  his  blood  upon  themselves 
and  their  children ;  and  in  these  ways  had  proved  themselves  to 
be  incorrigible.  If  Christ  had  appeared  to  them  after  his  resurrec- 
tion, they  would  have  called  him  a  spectre,  an  illusion,  a  demon ; 
any  thing,  rather  than  the  risen  Saviour. 

Hence,  secondly,  these  Jews  had  reached  the  point  (or  many 
of  them  had)  to  which  sinners  under  the  gospel  not  unfrequently 
come,  —  the  point  of  judicial  abandonment.  God  had  said  of  them, 
as  he  had  long  before  said  of  Ephraim,  "  Let  them  alone."  They 
had  been  given  over  to  hardness  of  heart,  and  blindness  of  mind  ; 
and  no  further  means  of  instruction  or  conviction  were  to  be 
wasted  upon  them. 

I  have  thus  presented  a  brief  sketch  of  the  life  of  Christ,  —  the 
briefest  possible  that  should  contain  a  connected  account  of  the 
facts  of  his  history.    And,  now,  are  we  not  all  ready  to  say  in  review, 


508  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

"  A  wonderful  life,  a  divine  life  !  —  fuUy  attesting  his  high  claims 
to  be  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world  "  ?  Such  a  life 
surely  is  worthy  our  daily  and  constant  study.  It  can  never  grow 
old  to  us ;  it  can  never  be  pondered  but  with  interest  and  profit 
to  the  Christian.  The  Lord  assist  each  one  of  us  to  study  as  we 
ought  the  life  of  Christ !  and,  in  so  doing,  may  we  drink  deep  of 
his  spirit,  grow  into  his  image  and  likeness,  and  thus  be  preparing 
for  his  everlasting  kingdom  ! 


PEEIOD    I. 

THE  CHURCH  UNDER  THE   APOSTLES   AND  THEIR  IMMEDIATE 

SUCCESSORS. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NEW    DISPENSATION. 

THE  last  three  chapters  were  occupied  with  the  life  of  Christ. 
I  have  spoken  of  his  work  of  humiliation  and  suifering  on 
the  earth,  of  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  of  his  triumphant 
ascension  into  heaven.  We  are  now  to  treat  of  the  opening  of 
the  new  dispensation  under  the  apostles. 

I  have  before  said  that  the  Church  of  God,  though  passing 
through  several  dispensations,  has  always  been  the  same  body : 
"  My  dove,  my  undefiled,  is  but  one :  she  is  the  only  one  of  her 
mother."  Pious  persons  in  every  age  have  not  only  possessed,  but 
professed,  the  same  true  religion,  and  have  been  members  of  the 
same  Church  of  the  living  God.  Righteous  Abel  belonged  to 
the  same  Church  with  Abraham,  and  Abraham  to  the  same  with 
Moses,  and  Moses  to  the  same  with  Peter,  John,  and  Paul,  and 
they  to  the  same  with  Christians  now.  The  dispensations  have 
changed  ;  but  the  Church  has  remained  the  same. 

The  earliest  dispensation  of  God's  Church,  as  I  have  before  re- 
marked, was  the  patriarchal.  This  was  succeeded  by  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  which  commenced  at  Sinai  at  the  giving  of  the  law. 
The  Israelites  had  now  ceased  to  be  a  tribe  or  clan,  and  had  become 
a  nation.  They  grew  to  be  a  great  and  powerful  nation,  of  which 
God  was  the  Sovereign  and  the  Head,  and  in  which  Church  and 
State  were  inseparably  united. 

Under  the  gospel,  although  the  Church  entered  upon  a  new  dis- 

509 


510  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

pensation,  it  still  continued  to  be  the  same  body.  Christ  came, 
not  to  destroy  the  floor,  but  to  purge  it  (Ma'tt.  iii.  12).  Accord- 
ing to  his  own  prediction,  the  Gentiles  were  gathered  into  the 
same  kingdom  or  church  of  God  from  which  the  unbelieving  Jews 
were  ejected  (Matt.  viii.  11).  They  were  grafted  into  the  same 
olive-tree  from  which  the  Jews  were  broken  off  (Rom.  xi.  17). 

But  ivhen  did  the  Mosaic  economy  end,  and  that  of  the  gospel 
begin  ?  And  who  constituted  the  Churchy  —  the  acknowledged 
visible  Church,  which  passed  over  from  the  one  to  the  other? 
These  are  important  questions,  and  require  a  careful  consideration. 

1.  When  did  the  Mosaic  dispensation  end,  and  that  of  the  gospel 
begin  ?  It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  Mosaic  dispensation 
continued  till  the  coming  of  Christ,  and  till  he  entered  upon  his 
public  ministry.  Did  it  cease  then  ?  or  did  it  continue  till  his 
death  ?  My  own  opinion  is,  that  the  Mosaic  dispensation  did  not 
cease  till  the  death  of  Christ.  In  proof  of  this,  I  urge  the  follow- 
ing reasons :  — 

*  1.  Our  Saviour  observed  all  the  rites  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation 
to. the  end  of  his  life,  and  enjoined  their  observance  upon  others. 
Soon  after  his  birth,  he  was  brought  to  the  temple  to  be  presented 
as  the  first-born  unto  the  Lord  (Luke  ii.  22).  At  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  he  went  up  with  his  parents  to  the  Passover,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  feast ;  and,  from  that  time  to  the  day 
of  his  death,  we  find  him  a  punctual  attendant  upon  all  the  fes- 
tivals and  rites  of  the  Jewish  religion.  He  worshipped  in  the 
synagogue  every  sabbath.  During  his  public  ministry,  we  find 
him  in  Jerusalem  at  the  Feast  of  the  Dedication,  at  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles,  and  repeatedly  at  the  Passover.  He  celebrated  the 
Passover  with  his  disciples  on  the  last  evening  of  his  life. 

And  he  not  only  observed  these  institutions  himself ;  he  enjoined 
them  upon  others :  "  The  scribes  and  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat. 
All  therefore  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do  ; 
but  do  not  ye  after  their  works  "  (Matt,  xxiii.  2).  "  Go  thy  waj^, 
show  thyself  to  the  priest,  and  offer  the  gift  which  Moses  com- 
manded, for  a  testimony  unto  them  "  (Matt.  viii.  4).  Certainly 
the  Mosaic  institutions  must  have  been  binding  at  this  time,  else 
our  Saviour  would  not  have  observed  them,  and  so  positively  en- 
joined them. 

2.  The  bloody  rites  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  lost  none  of  their 
significance  until  the  death  of  Christ.  The  great  object  of  these 
rites  was  to  prefigure  his  death.     The  blood  of  bulls  and  lambs 


THE   NEW   DISPENSATION.  511 

and  goats  had  no  efficacy  in  itself :  its  use  and  efficacy  all  lay  in 
its  typical  character  and  import.  It  directed  the  faith  of  the  offerer 
to  a  nobler  sacrifice,  a  more  precious  blood,  which  alone  was  able 
to  cleanse  from  sin.  Hence  these  bloody  rites  must  continue  until 
that  nobler  sacrifice  was  offered,  and  that  more  precious  l^lood  was 
spilt.  They  were  as  significant  and  as  necessary  the  year,  the 
month,  the  day,  before  the  crucifixion,  as  they  had  been  in  the  days 
of  Moses  or  of  Samuel.     Hence,  — 

3.  We  find  it  expressly  stated  by  the  apostle  Paul,  that  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  terminated,  not  at  the  birth  of 
Christ,  nor  at  the  commencement  of  his  public  ministry,  but  at  Ms 
death :  "  Blotting  out  the  hand-writing  of  ordinances  that  was 
contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the  way,  nailing  it  to  his  cross  " 
(Col.  ii.  14).  It  was  on  the  cross,  th-en,  that  the*  rites  of  the  old 
dispensation  were  taken  out  of  the  way.  It  was  the  sacrifice  of 
the  cross  which  removed  their  significancy  and  necessity ;  and  when 
these  were  gone,  and  there  was  no  further  use  for  them,  they  ceased 
to  be  binding,  and  ere  long  ceased  to  be  observed.  And  with  them  •  ? 
ended  the  dispensation  of  which  they  were  an  integral  part. 

Immediately  after  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  we  find 
the  Church  in  a  new  position.  It  has  entered  on  the  dispensation 
of  the  gospel.  New  rit^es  have  been  instituted,  and  are  beginning 
to  be  observed.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  instituted  at  the  close  of 
the  last  Passover,  —  as  late  as  it  could  be  previous  to  the  death  of 
Christ.  Christian  baptism  was  instituted  after  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  but  before  his  ascension :  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach 
all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  There  had  been  baptisms  in  the 
Church  previous  to  this.  Paul  speaks  of  "  divers  washings,"  or 
baptisms,  among  the  institutions  of  Moses  (Heb.  ix.  10).  There 
had  been  the  baptism  of  John,  and  the  baptisms  administered  by 
the  disciples  of  Christ  during  his  public  ministry ;  but  none  of 
these  were  proper  Christian  baptism.  They  all  belonged  to  the  old 
dispensation,  which  continued  till  the  death  of  Christ ;  and,  besides, 
they  were  not  administered  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity.  Accord- 
ingly, we  find  those  who  had  received  John's  baptism  afterwards 
receiving  Christian  baptism  at  the  hands  of  the  apostles  (Acts 
xix.  5). 

II.  We  come  now  to  our  second  inquiry :  Who  constituted  the 
visible  Church,  which,  at  the  time  of  Christ's  death,  passed  over 
from  the  old  dispensation  to  the  new  ?     Not  the  whole  body  of  the 


512  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Jewish  nation,  which  had  constituted  the  visible  Church  before. 
This  people,  generally,  had  rejected  their  Messiah  :  "  He  came  to 
his  own  ;  but  his  own  received  him  not."  He  had  appeared  among 
them  with  all  needed  evidence  to  substantiate  his  claims.  They 
had  seen  his  miracles  ;  they  had  listened  to  his  words  ;  and,  while 
a  faithful  few  adhered  to  him,  the  great  body  of  the  nation  had 
openly  rejected  him.  They  had  been  in  a  fearful  sense  the  pro- 
curers of  his  death;  and  now 'his  death  had  done  for  them  what 
they  little  expected,  —  it  had  blotted  out  forever  the  handwriting 
of  Jewish  ordinances ;  it  had  put  an  end  to  the  dispensation  of 
Moses,  of  which  they  were  so  tenacious  and  so  proud  ;  it  had  sun- 
dered their  connection  with  the  visible,  or  even  the  nominal.  Church 
of  God ;  it  had  brought  that  Church  out  into  a  new  dispensation, 
with  which  they  had  no  spnpathy,  and  to  the  privileges  of  which 
they  had  no  claim.  As  the  idolatrous  world  was  abandoned  at  the 
calling  of  Abraham,  and  the  visible  Church  thenceforth  was  con- 
fined to  his  family ;  so  the  great  body  of  Abraham's  descendants 
were  now  abandoned,  and  the  Church  was  confined  to  the  faithful 
few  who  had  followed  Christ  in  the  regeneration,  and  adhered  to 
him  through  the  dark  period  of  his  sufferings  and  death. 

The  hour  of  Christ's  death,  then,  was"  the  time  of  the  great 
excision^  —  when  the  fioor  of  the  visible  Church  was  purged ;  when 
the  great  body  of  its  members  were  broken  off  for  their  unbelief ; 
when  the  stock  of  the  good  olive  was  pruned  almost  to  utter  naked- 
ness, preparatory  to  the  reception  of  new  and  better  branches.  The 
faithful  few  who  adhered  to  Christ  through  the  period  of  his  trial, 
and  thus  proved  themselves  to  be  his  true  disciples  and  followers, 
—  these  were  they  who  bridged  the  gulf  of  separation ;  who 
passed  over  from  the  old  dispensation  to  the  new  ;  and  who,  sub- 
sequent to  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  constituted  the  Church  of 
the  living  God.  Here  were  the  eleven  apostles ;  here  were  Christ's 
faithful  female  friends,  —  "last  at  the, cross,  and  first  at  the  sepul- 
chre." The  whole  number  of  names,  we  read  in  one  place,  was 
a  hundred  and  twenty.  On  another  occasion,  there  seem  to  have 
been^ue  hundred  assembled  together.  We  nowhere  read  of  a  higher 
number  than  this.  These  then,  at  the  first,  constituted  the  Ghurch 
of  the  new  dispensation.  They  were  the  only  remaining  branches 
of  the  stricken  and  terribly  pruned  olive-tree.  They  were  the 
nucleus  about  which  the  Christian  world  was  now  to  gather,  and 
into  which  converted  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  soon  to  be  received. 

And  here  we  see  the  reason  why  these  five  hundred  brethren 


THE    NEW    DISPENSATION.  513 

and  sisters,  more  or  less,  did  not  receive  Christian  baptism,  and 
were  not  formally  admitted  to  membership  in  the  Christian  Church. 
They  were  members  of  the  Church  already.  They  had  never  been 
exscinded.  They  were  church-members  under  the  former  dispen- 
sation ;  and,  when  all  the  rest  were  cut  off  for  their  unbelief,  these 
alone  remained.  It  was  their  privilege,  and  theirs  alone,  to  stand 
"  the  refiner's  fire  and  the  fuller's  soap  ; "  to  abide  the  great  win- 
nower's fan ;  to  pass  over  the'  separating  line  between  Moses  and 
Christ ;  and  to  constitute  the  Church  of  the  new  dispensation. 
Of  course,  they  did  not  need  to  be  taken  into  this  Church :  they 
were  never  out  of  it.  They  had  received  the  seal  of  the  church- 
covenant  under  the  former  dispensation,  and  needed  not  to  have 
it  rej)eated  under  the  new. 

But,  as  soon  as  the  unbelieving  exscinded  Jews  began  to  be  con- 
verted, those  being  out  of  the  Church  must  be  taken  into  it :  they 
must  receive  the  initiatory  rite  of  baptism.  The  apostles  under- 
stood this  matter,  and  baptized  all  those  who  were  received  at  the 
Pentecost  and  on  subsequent  occasions.  And  though  many  of 
these,  undoubtedly,  had  been  baptized  by  John,  this  made  no  dif- 
ference. John's  baptism  was  a  mere  preparatory  rite  ;  it  was  not 
Christian  baptism ;  and  when  any  were  received  to  the  Christian 
Church,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  they  must  be  baptized. 

The  period  we  have  here  contemplated  —  the  time  of  Christ's 
suffering  and  death  —  was  the  most  deeply  interesting  one  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  church  or  of  the  world.  It  was  so  on  many 
accounts,  and  particularly  this :  The  Church  of  God  was  now 
purged  and  purified  ;  its  decayed  and  rotten  branches  were  broken 
off ;  while  the  faithful  few  who  loved  their  Saviour  and  trusted  in 
him,  being  sheltered  in  the  arms  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  passed 
over  the  line  of  separation,  and  became  the  Church  of  the  Neio  Tes- 
tament., —  the  Church  which,  in  after-days,  was  to  expand  and  fill 
the  earth  ;  which  was  to  exist  thenceforth,  without  any  further 
change  of  dispensation,  to  the  end  of  time.  Around  this  little 
body,  which  had  been  saved  from  the  wreck  of  the  old  Jewish 
Church,  others  began  almost  immediately  to  cluster.  In  a  few 
days,  the  number  was  three  thousand  ;  in  a  little  time  more,  it  had 
swelled  to  five  thousand.  It  spreads  beyond  Jerusalem  into  Sama- 
ria and  Galilee  and  other  parts  of  Palestine ;  it  opens  its  bosom 
to  the  Gentile  as  well  as  the  Jew ;  and,  within  the  period  of  a  sin- 
gle generation,  it  diffuses  itself  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the 
then  known  world.     But  wherever  diffused,  from  that  day  to  the 

33 


514  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

present,  it  looks  back  always  to  the  same  humble  beginning,  —  to 
that  little  band  who  were  believers  before  the  death  of  Christ; 
who,  of  course,  were  not  exscinded  for  their  unbelief ;  who  passed 
over,  church-members,  from  one  dispensation  to  the  other,  and  were 
the  connecting  link  between  the  two.  A  most  interesting  period, 
this,  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  —  the  crowning  event 
of  which,  and  the  greatest  event  that  ever  occurred  on  this  earth, 
was  the  death  of  Christ. 

Before  our  Lord's  ascension,  he  had  promised  his  disciples  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  he  had  directed  them  to  tarry  in  Jeru- 
salem until  this  promise  was  fulfilled.  Accordingly,  they  returned 
from  Mount  Olivet  into  the  city,  and  spent  most  of  the  time  for 
the  next  eight  or  ten  days  in  united  and  earnest  prayer.  They 
had  a  protracted  meeting  for  conference  and  prayer ;  they  were 
"with  one  accord  in  one  place,"  imploring  the  descent  of  that 
blessed  Comforter  which  their  divine  Master  had  promised  to 
bestow.  The  only  article  of  business  to  which  they  attended  in 
this  interval  was  the  appointment  of  Matthias,  in  place  of  Judas 
Iscariot,  to  the  apostleship. 

But  when  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully  come,  and  the  disciples 
were  assembled  in  their  usual  place*  of  meeting  (which,  I  supj)ose, 
was  one  of  the  porches  or  chambers  about  the  temple),  suddenly 
the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  them  like  a  rushing  mighty  wind  from 
heaven,  filling  all  the  place  where  they  were  sitting,  and  filling 
each  of  their  hearts  with  light  and  love.  It  was  attended  also  with 
miraculous  appearances  and  gifts  :  for  there  appeared  in  the  room 
pointed,  glittering,  lambent  flames,  in  shape  like  tongues  of  fire, 
and  they  settled  on  the  heads  of  each  of  the  apostles  ;  and  imme- 
diately these  apostles  began  to  speak  with  pther  tongues,  —  in 
languages  which  they  had  never  learned,  —  as  the  Holy  Spirit  gave 
them  utterance. 

Jerusalem  was  at  this  time  filled  with  people,  —  Jcavs,  speaking 
different  languages,  from  all  the  surrounding  countries,  -—  who  had 
come  together  to  celebrate  the  Pentecost :  so,  when  the  strange 
occurrences  in  the  apostles'  meeting  came  to  be  known,  many 
rushed  in  there  to  see  and  hear  for  themselves  ;  and  they  were  all 
amazed  and  confounded  to  hear  these  unlettered  Galileans  speaking 
the  languages  of  the  nations  round  about,  —  the  Median,  the  Per- 
sian, the  Chaldsean,  the  Greek,  the  Arabic,  the  Egyptian,  the 
Roman,  —  and  publishing  forth,  in  all,  the  wonderful  works  of 
God.     And  not  knowing  what  else  to  make  of  it,  and  resolved  to 


THE    NEW    DISPENSATION.  515 

turn  it,  if  possible,  to  the  discredit  of  the  apostles,  some  insisted 
that  the  J  must  be  intoxicated.  But  Peter,  standing  up  in  the 
midst,  refuted  this  slander  in  few  words.  He  then  went  on  to 
preach  to  the  people  a  long  and  pointed  discourse,  in  which  he 
explained  to  them  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  strange  appearances 
which  they  had  witnessed.  This  was  no  other  than  an  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit  in  fulfilment  of  an  ancient  prediction  of  the  prophet 
Joel.  It  was  also  a  fulfilment  of  an  express  promise  of  Jesus,  who 
had  been  crucified  and  slain,  but  whom  God  had  raised  from  the 
dead,  and  taken  up  visibly  into  heaven  ;  of  which,  said  he,  "  we  all 
are  witnesses."  He  proceeded  to  show  that  this  same  Jesus  was 
the  promised  Messiah,  and  that  they  had  been  guilty  of  crucifying 
the  Lord  from  heaven. 

When  the  people  heard  this,  they  were  pricked  to  the  heart. 
Their  hearts  bled  and  brake  under  a  sense  of  their  guilt ;  and  they 
began  to  cry  out  in  bitterness  of  soul,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what 
shall  we  do  ? "  To  this  inquiry,  Peter  had  an  answer  ready : 
"  Repent,  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins ;  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost."  The  people  complied  with  this  direction  on  the 
spot ;  and  the  same  day  there  were  added  to  the  little  company  of 
disciples  no  less  than  three  thousand  souls. 

It  has  been  often  asked,  "  On  what  day  of  the  week  did  this  great 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  occur  ?  "  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  occurred 
on  the  first  day  of  the  tveek,  —  that  wliich  was  afterwards  called 
the  Lord's  Day.  The  Pentecost  always  occurred  on  the  first  day 
of  the  Jewish  week.  The  law  of  the  Pentecost  runs  in  this  wise : 
"  From  the  morrow  after  the  sabbath,"  i.e.  the  sabbath  in  the 
Passover  week,  "  ye  shall  count  unto  you  seven  sabbaths,  even 
unto  the  morrow  after  the  seventh  sabbath ; "  and  then  the  Pente- 
cost begins  (Lev.  xxiii.  15, 16).  This  festival  was  called  the  Feast 
of  Weeks'^  and  the  Feast  of  the  First-fruits.  It  is  called  Peritecost, 
from  the  Greek  mvTrfAovra.,  "  fifty,"  because  it  came  fifty  days  after 
the  Passover.  As  it  was  appointed  to  commence  on  "  the  morrow 
after  the  seventh  Jewish  sabbath,"  reckoning  from  the  sabbath 
of  the  Passover  week,  of  course  it  must  always  commence  on  the 
first  day  of  the  Jewish  week,  which  is  our  Lord's  Day,  or  Sunday. 

Our  Saviour  honored  and  set  apart  the  first  day  of  the  week  by 
his  resurrection  from  the  dead ;  he  further  honored  it  by  appear- 
ing repeatedly  to  his  disciples  on  this  day  after  his  resurrection ; 
and  now  he  put,  if  possible,  a  still  higher  honor  upon  it  by  pouring 


516  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

out  his  Spirit  on  this  day,  and  gathering  in  the  first-fruits  of  the 
Christian  harvest. 

The  great  accession  to  the  Church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
changed  materially  the  position  and  circumstances  of  the  disciples. 
From  being  a  feeble,  despised  band,  they  now  came  to  be  a  great 
company ;  they  were  in  honor  and  favor  with  the  people ;  and 
"  continuing  with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread 
from  house  to  house,  they  did  eat  their  meat  with  gladness,  and 
singleness  of  heart ;  and  the  Lord  added  unto  them  daily  such  as 
should  be  saved." 

It  is  said  of  them  at  this  time,  that  "  they  sold  their  possessions, 
and  parted  to  all  men  as  every  one  had  need."  They  "  had  all 
things  common,"  This  measure  was  partly  one  of  necessity,  show- 
ing at  the  same  time  their  abounding  liberality.  Many  of  these 
new  disciples  were  strangers  in  Jerusalem,  drawn  together  for  the 
purpose  of  celebrating  the  feast.  Probably  the  greater  part  of 
them  were  not  residents  in  the  city.  They  were  thrown  together 
in  these  peculiar  circumstances  from  all  parts  of  Palestine,  and 
from  beyond  it ;  they  were  draAvn  together  by  the  cords  of  Chris- 
tian love  ;  they  felt  as  though  they  could  not  be  separated,  at  least 
for  a  time.  But  how  were  they  to  subsist  ?  How  shall  they  be 
supported  ?  These  trying  questions  were  readily  answered :  "  Let 
us  put  all  our  property  into  a  common  stock,  and  live  upon  it  so 
long  as  it  lasts :  when  it  is  gone,  the  Lord  will  provide." 

It  is  very  certain  that  this  mode  of  living  was  never  designed  to 
be  perpetuated  in  the  Church.  It  came  in  for  the  time  as  a  meas- 
ure of  necessity ;  and,  when  the  necessity  ceased,  it  passed  away. 

The  next  noticeable  event  in  the  history  of  the  infant  Church 
was  the  healing  of  the  lame  man  at  the  gate  of  the  temple.  This 
excited  much  attention,  and  led  to  many  inquiries  among  the  peo- 
ple ;  in  replying  to  which,  Peter  was  led  to  deliver  another  of  his 
stirring  discourses.  He  charged  home  upon  the  Jews,  as  before, 
the  guilt  of  rejecting  and  murdering  the  Lord ;  and  concluded  by 
solemnly  calling  them  to  repentance  :  "  Repent,  and  be  converted, 
that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out."  The  result  of  this  discourse 
was  another  large  addition  to  the  Church.  The  whole  number 
had  now  come  to  be  five  thousand. 

The  Jewish  rulers,  therefore,  thought  it  time  for  them  to  inter- 
fere. They  had  hoped  that  the  death  of  Jesus  would  effectually 
scatter  and  discomfit  his  followers :  but  they  were  preaching,  work- 
ing miracles,  and  making  many  proselytes ;  and  something  effectual 


THE    NEW    DISPENSATION.  517 

must  be  clone.  So  tliey  laid  hold  of  Peter  and  John,  and  put  them 
in  prison,  and  brought  them  before  the  council  for  examination. 
At  their  examination,  Peter  addressed  the  rulers  of  his  nation  in 
the  boldest,  plainest  manner.  He  asserted  the  resurrection  and 
ascension  of  Christ,  together  with  his  divine  authority  and  power, 
and  proclaimed  liim  the  only  Saviour  of  lost  men  :  "  Neither  is 
there  salvation  in  any  other ;  for  there  is  none  other  name  given 
amojig  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

The  Jewish  rulers  were  puzzled  to  know  what  to  do  with  their 
prisoners.  They  had  committed  no  offence  against  the  laws ;  and 
they  were  in  great  favor  with  the  people  generally.  They  con- 
cluded, therefore,  to  threaten  them,  and  let  them  go. 

Thus  far  the  Lord  had  favored  his  Church  with  uninterrupted 
prosperity :  it  had  had  nought  but  one  continued  shower  of  bless- 
ings. The  time  had  come  when  it  needed  a  trial ;  and  so  a  trial 
was  sent.  It  came  in  the  detected  hypocrisy  and  death  of  two  of 
their  own  number.  Ananias  and  Sapphira  had  drifted  into  the 
Church  on  the  high-tide  of  the  Pentecost  revival,  without  having 
the  selfishness  of  their  hearts  subdued  ;  and  yet  they  wished  to 
stand  well  Avith  the  disciples,  and  keep  up  the  appearance  of  being 
as  liberal  as  any  of  them.  So  when  they  saw  others  selling  their 
land,  and  laying  the  proceeds  at  the  feet  of  the  apostles,  they  con- 
cluded that  they  w^ould  do  the  same.  They  sold  their  land,  and 
brought  a  part  of  the  proceeds  to  the  apostles,  pretending  at  the 
same  time  to  have  brought  it  all.  And  here  was  their  error  and 
their  sin.  They  were  not  obliged  to  sell  their  land  unless  they 
chose  ;  and,  when  they  had  sold  it,  they  might  have  retained  the 
whole  price  of  it,  or  any  part  of  the  price,  in  their  own  hands,  if 
they  pleased.  But  they  deceived  and  lied  about  it.  They  wished 
to  have  the  credit  of  giving  up  all,  when  in  fact  they  kept  back  a 
part.  But  the  lie  was  instantly  detected,  and  they  were  struck 
down  dead  for  their  sin.  An  awful  example  to  the  infant  Church 
of  the  guilt  and  danger  of  hypocrisy !  an  awful  warning  to  those 
who  knew  of  it  then,  who  have  since  read  of  it,  or  ever  will  read 
of  it  to  the  end  of  the  world,  to  be  afraid  of  sinning  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  tempting  the  Almighty  in  similar  ways ! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EARLY    LABORS    AND    SUCCESSES    OF    THE    APOSTLES. LIVES    OF    THE 

APOSTLES    COMMENCED. 

THE  last  chapter  closed  with  an  account  of  the  death  of  Ana- 
nias and  Sapphira.  The  apostles  had  been  once  already 
before  the  Jewish  rulers,  but  were  dismissed  with  the  simple 
charge  that  they  should  stop  their  preaching,  —  a  thing  which,  of 
course,  they  were  determined  not  to  do.  Hence,  as  they  continued 
to  preach,  and  work  miracles,  and  great  numbers  were  attracted  to 
them,  they  were  arrested  and  imprisoned  again ;  but  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  opened  the  prison-doors  by  night,  brought  them  out,  and 
said  unto  them,  "  Go  stand  and  speak  to  the  people  in  the  temple 
all  the  words  of  this  life."  They  did  so ;  and  hence,  when  the 
rulers  called  for  them  the  next  day,  instead  of  finding  them  in  the 
prison,  they  found  them  engaged  in  tlieir  old  work  of  preaching. 
They  summoned  them  to  a  trial,  and  perhaps  might  have  punished 
them ;  but  Gamaliel,  a  celebrated  doctor  of  the  Jewish  law,  dis- 
suaded them  from  it :  "  Refrain  from  these  men,  and  let  them 
alone  :  for,  if  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of  men,  it  will  come  to 
nought ;  but,  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it,  lest  haply 
ye  be  found  to  fight  even  against  God."  This  good  advice  was 
heeded  by  the  Jewish  rulers ;  and  so,  with  another  charge  to  stop 
their  preaching,  the  apostles  were  dismissed. 

The  next  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  mother  Church 
at  Jerusalem  was  the  choice  of  deacons.  In  addition  to  their  duties 
as  teachers,  the  apostles,  with  such  other  help  as  they  could  ob- 
tain, had  been  much  engaged  in  distributing  supplies  from  the 
common  stock,  and  especially  in  caring  for  the  poor ;  and,  after  all 
their  labor,  entire  satisfaction  was  not  given.  There  was  a  mur- 
muring of  the  foreign  Jews  against  the  Hebrews  because  their 
widows  were  overlooked  in  the  daily  ministration.  Wherefore 
the  apostles  called  the  Church  together,  and  said,  "  It  is  not  meet 

518 


LIVES    OF   THE   APOSTLES.  519 

that  we  should  leave  the  word  of  God  to  serve  tables.  Choose 
3^011,  therefore,  seven  men,  of  honest  report,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  wisdom,  Avhom  we  may  appomt  over  this  business ;  but  we 
Avill  give  ourselves  to  prayer  and  the  ministry  of  the  word." 
This  suggestion  was  cordially  accepted  by  the  Church:  the  seven 
deacons  were  appointed,  and  solemnly  consecrated  to  their  work 
by  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  prayer. 

The  first-named  of  these  deacons,  and  probably  the  most  dis- 
tinguished and  eloquent  among  them,  was  Stephen.  He  wrought 
numerous  miracles,  and  was  much  engaged  in  propagating  the 
faith.  Being  a  foreign  Jew  himself,  he  had  frequent  disputes  in 
the  synagogue  of  the  foreign  Jews ;  and  they,  being  unable  to 
withstand  him  in  argument,  undertook  to  destroy  his  life.  They 
arraigned  him  before  the  Sanhedrim  on  the  charge  of  having 
spoken  blasphemous  words  against  Moses  and  against  God.  In 
his  defence,  Stephen  delivered  a  long  and  eloquent  discourse, 
sketching  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  the  Israelitish  nation 
in  ancient  times,  that  he  might  overcome  prejudice,  and  better  in- 
troduce his  testimony  in  favor  of  Christ.  The  Jewish  rulers  heard 
him  for  a  while ;  but  at  length,  becoming  impatient,  they  inter- 
rupted him,  and  brought  his  address  to  a  sudden  conclusion  :  "  Ye 
stiff-necked  and  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  ears,  ye  do  always 
resist  the  Holy  Ghost :  as  your  fathers  did,  so  do  ye."  Hearing 
this,  the  Jews  were  cut  to  the  heart,  and  gnashed  upon  Stephen 
with  their  teeth.  But  he,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  looked  up 
steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  said,  '''  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens 
opened,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God."  Then  the 
Jews  cried  out  "  Blasphemy ! "  with  a  loud  voice,  and  ran  upon  him 
with  one  accord,  and  thrust  him  out  of  the  city,  and  stoned  him. 
So  Stephen  died,  like  liis  divine  Master,  with  the  language  of  for- 
giveness and  supplication  on  his  lips  :  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spkit ; "  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge." 

If  it  be  inquired,  "  Where  was  Pilate  at  this  time  ?  and  what  au- 
thority had  the  Jews  to  put  Stephen  to  death  without  his  consent 
and  approbation?"  my  answer  is,  that  Stephen  may  have  died  in  a 
popular  tumult,  without  the  regular  forms  of  law ;  or  Pilate  may 
have  been  at  the  time  absent  from  Jerusalem ;  or  (what  is  more 
probable)  he  may  have  given  a  general  license  to  persecute  and  de- 
stroy the  Christians.  Having  put  their  Master  to  death,  he  may  have 
permitted  the  Jewish  rulers  to  treat  his  followers  as  they  pleased. 

There  was  one  young  man  particularly  active  in  the  murder  of 


520  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Stephen,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  much  in  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  Apostolic  Church.  This  was  Saul  of  Tarsus.  The  false 
witnesses  Avho  accused  Stephen,  and  afterwards  stoned  him,  laid 
down  their  clothes  at  the  feet  of  Saul. 

The  murder  of  Stej)hen  was  but  the  prelude  to  a  great  perse- 
cution against  the  Christians,  in  which  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  par- 
ticularly active.  It  is  said  that  "  he  made  havoc  of  the  Church," 
entering  into  the  houses  of  the  Christians,  and  committing  many 
of  them  to  prison ;  and,  when  they  were  put  to  death,  he  gave  his 
voice  against  them  (Acts  xxvi.  10). 

But  this  persecution,  though  most  maliciously  intended  and 
wickedly  executed,  was  overruled  for  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel. 
Up  to  this  time,  the  Christian  community  had  clung  together  at 
Jerusalem.  They  revered  the  apostles  ;  they  loved  one  another  ; 
and  they  were  unwilling  to  be  separated.  But  God  designed  that 
they  should  be  separated,  and  he  overruled  their  bitter  persecution 
for  this  very  purpose.  The  apostles  still  resided,  for  the  most  part, 
at  Jerusalem  ;  but  the  members  of  the  Church  were  scattered 
abroad.  And,  to  whatever  parts  of  the  land  they  were  driven,  they 
carried  the  gospel  message  with  them  :  "  They  went  forth  every- 
where preaching  the  Word." 

Their  labors,  we  have  reason  to  know,  were  not  in  vain ;  for 
almost  immediately  we  begin  to  hear  of  little  communities  of  Chris- 
tians in  all  the  principal  cities  of  Palestine  and  Syria.  The  success 
of  one  of  these  first  missionaries  was  so  considerable,  that  the  pen 
of  inspiration  has  recorded  it.  Philip,  one  of  the  seven  deacons 
(who  very  soon  became  an  evangelist),  went  down  to  Samaria,  and 
preached  Christ  there.  The  Samaritans  were  at  this  time  greatly 
interested  in  the  performances  of  one  Simon,  a  magician,  who  pre- 
tended to  work  wonders,  and  to  have  at  his  command  the  great 
power  of  God ;  but  when  Philip  came  among  them,  and  preached 
the  gospel,  and  performed,  not  magical  tricks,  but  real  miracles^ 
they  all  forsook  Simon,  and  gathered  round  the  evangelist.  And 
very  soon  there  was  a  great  revival  of  religion,  and  many  were 
baptized.  Even  Simon  himself  professed  to  be  a  believer,  received 
baptism,  and  continued  with  Philip,  beholding  the  signs  and 
miracles  which  were  done. 

Soon  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem  heard  of  the  success  of  Philip's 
labors,,  and  sent  to  his  assistance  Peter  and  John.  When  these 
were  come,  they  did  for  the  new  converts  at  Samaria  what  Philip 
could  not  do,  —  they  laid  their  hands  upon  them,  and  unparted  to 


LIVES   OF  THE   APOSTLES.  521 

them  the  miraculous  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  in  other 
words,  they  imparted  the  power  of  performing  miracles.  These 
converts  had  received  the  Holy  Ghost  already  in  liis  awakening 
and  sanctifying  influences  ;  but  now  they  received  his  miraculous 
influences.  This  gift  could  be  imparted  by  the  laying-on  of  the 
apostles'  hands,  and  in  no  other  way.  Others  wrought  miracles  in 
the  apostolic  age  ;  but  none  but  the  apostles  could  impart  the  gift. 

And  this  was  that  which  Simon  the  sorcerer  wanted  to  buy,  — 
not  the  power  of' performing  miracles,  but  the  apostolical  power 
of  imparting  the  gift :  "  Give  me  ailso  this  power,  that,  on  whom- 
soever I  lay  my  hands,  he  may  receive  the  Holy  Ghost."  His 
preferring  such  a  request  as  fliis,  accompanied  by  the  offer  of 
money,  was  what  revealed  the  secrets  of  his  character,  and  led 
Peter  to  say  to  him,  with  mingled  emotions  of  indignation  and 
scorn,  "  Thy  money  perish  with  thee  !  Thou  hast  neither  part 
nor  lot  in  this  matter ;  for  thy  heart  is  not  right  in  the  sight  of 
God." 

When  a  church  had  been  planted  and  organized  at  Samaria,  the 
apostles  returned  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  Philip  was  sent  by  the  Spirit 
on  another  errand.  He  must  travel  into  the  south  of  Palestine 
to  meet  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  and  preach  the  gospel  of  salvation 
to  him.  The  eunuch  was  soon  convinced,  converted,  and  baptized, 
and  returned  to  the  court  of  his  royal  mistress  rejoicing ;  and 
Philip,  turning  his  feet  northward,  preached  in  all  the  cities  till 
he  came  to  Csesarea. 

While  these  things  were  transacting  in  other  parts  of  the  land, 
Saul  was  still  engaged  in  his  bloody  work  at  Jerusalem.  Nor  was 
he  satisfied  to  confine  his  persecuting  zeal  to  the  holy  city ;  but, 
hearing  that  there  were  Christians  at  Damascus,  he  went  to  the 
high  priest,  and  desired  of  him  letters  to  the  synagogues  at  Da- 
mascus, that,  if  any  of  the  hated  sect  were  secreted  there,  he  might 
ferret  them  out,  and  bring  them  bound  unto  Jerusalem. 

But  the  end  of  Saul's  persecuting  career  was  now  come  ;  for, 
as  he  approached  Damascus  on  his  journey  thither,  suddenly  there 
shone  round  about  him  a  light  from  heaven,  before  which  he  was 
instantly  struck  bhnd,  and  prostrated.  And  then  he  heard  a  voice 
crying  in  his  ear,  "  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me  ?  "  And 
Saul  astonished  asked,  "  Who  art  thou.  Lord?  "  And  the  Lord 
said,  "  I  am  Jesus  ivliom  thou  jyersecutest.^''  And  now,  if  a  thunder- 
bolt had  struck  the  prostrate  persecutor,  he  could  not  have  been 
more  confounded.     He  saw  at  once  what  he.  had  been  doins:.     He 


522  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

saw  that  tliis  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  really  what  he  claimed  to 
be,  —  the  Messiah  of  the  Scriptures,  whom  he  had  been  mfidly 
persecuting  in  his  followers.  He  saw  his  guilt,  his  danger,  his 
ruin  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  submitted  to  his  Redeemer  at  once. 
And  so,  turning  to  him  the  eye  of  faith  (for  his  natural  eye  was 
for  the  time  extinguished),  he  said  to  him  in  accents  of  love, 
"  Lord,  ivJiat  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  "  As  much  as  to  say,  "  My 
whole  course  of  life  is  changed.  I  am  now  3'our  servant.  I  am 
ready  to  do  any  thing.  Lord,  wilt  thou  accept  me  ?  Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  " 

Being  risen  from  the  earth,  Saul  was  led  by  the  hand  into  Da- 
mascus, where,  after  three  days  of  reflection  and  repentance,  he  was 
baptized  by  Ananias,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 
At  the  same  time,  his  sight  was  restored  to  him.;  and  he  began  at 
once  to  preach  Christ  in  the  synagogues,  proving  to  his  Jewish 
brethren  that  he  is  the  Son  of  God. 

About  this  time,  the  apostle  Peter  performed  a  missionary  tour 
through  different  parts  of  Palestine.  In  the  course  of  it,  he  visited 
Lydda,  — a  town  lying  between  Jerusalem  and  Joppa,  about  a  dozen 
miles  from  the  latter  place.  Here  he  healed  Eneas  of  a  palsy 
which  had  confined  him  to  his  bed  eight  years.  This  miracle  ar- 
rested the  attention  of  the  people ;  and  great  numbers  in  Lydda 
and  in  the  surrounding  country  were  converted. 

While  Peter  was  laboring  in  this  revival,  a  very  solemn  event 
occurred  at  Joppa.  A  beloved  female  disciple,  whose  name  was 
Dorcas,  was  taken  sick,  and  died.  And  forasmuch  as  Lydda  was 
nigh  to  Joppa,  and  the  bereaved  friends  had  heard  that  Peter 
was  there,  they  sent  messengers  unto  him,  desiring  that  he  woidd 
not  delay  to  come  to  them.  So  Peter  went  with  them  to  Joppa,  and 
visited  the  family  of  the  deceased  woman ;  and,  in  answer  to  his 
prayer,  she  was  raised  from  the  dead.  This  great  miracle  extended 
still  farther  the  fame  of  the  apostle  ;  and  many  in  Joj)pa  believed 
on  the  Lord. 

It  was  while  Peter  was  staying  at  Joppa  that  he  had  his  vision 
of  the  great  sheet  let  down  from  heaven,  on  which  were  all  man- 
ner of  beasts,  clean  and  unclean,  and  creeping  things,  and  fowls 
of  the  air ;  and  Peter  was  astonished  to  hear  himself  commanded 
to  eat  of  them  promiscuously,  —  a  thing  which  he  had  never  done, 
and  which  he  was  forbidden  to  do  by  the  Jewish  law.  While 
Peter  was  revolving  this  strangef  command,  he  received  a  message 
from  Ccesarea  which  threw  some  light  upon  it,  and  helped  him  to 
understand  it  arifrht. 


LIVES   OF  THE  APOSTLES.  523 

It  seems  that  at  Caesarea,  a  city  about  thirty  miles  north  of 
Joppa,  there  resided  a  pious  military  officer  whose  name  was  Cor- 
nelius. Though  still  a  Gentile,  he  had  come  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  true  God,  and  was  a  devout  and  spiritual  worshipper.  In 
answer  to  his  prayers,  an  angel  had  appeared  to  him,  who  directed 
him  to  send  to  Joppa  for  Peter,  who  would  come  and  instruct  him 
in  the  gospel.  Accordingly,  he  sent ;  and  the  messengers  of  Cor- 
nelius arrived  at  Joppa  just  as  Peter  had  recovered  from  his  vision. 
Putting  the  two  revelations. together,  Petei-  could  not  doubt  as  to 
the  import  of  his  call  or  as  to  the  path  of  duty.  He  must  go  with 
the  messengers  of  Cornelius,  and  open  the  door  of  faith  to  the 
Gentiles,  though  in  so  doing  he  might  contravene  some  of  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  Jewish  law.  Accordingly,  he  went  with  them,  met 
Cornelius  and  his  family,  and  preached  to  them  the  gospel ;  and, 
as  he  was  preaching,  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  them  as  it  did  upon 
the  disciples  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  enabling  them  to  speak  with 
tongues,  and  to  perform  other  miraculous  works.  Then  Peter 
said,  "  Can  any  man  forbid  water  that  these  should  not  be  bap- 
tized, who  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we  ?  And 
'he  commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus." 

Such  was  the  entrance  of  the  gospel  among  the  Gentiles,  —  a 
work  which  shortly  spread,  under  the  auspices  of  the  converted 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  into  all  parts  of  the  Roman  world.  Peter  was 
soon  called  to  an  account  for  what  he  had  done  by  his  Jewish 
brethren  at  Jerusalem ;  but,  when  he  had  expounded  the  whole 
matter  to  them,  they  joyfully  acquiesced,  saying,  "  Then  hath  God 
granted  also  unto  the  Gentiles  repentance  unto  life." 

The  gospel  was  next  preached  to  the  Gentiles  in  the  great  city 
of  Antioch,  where  many  believed,  and  turned  unto  the  Lord. 
When  the  brethren  at  Jerusalem  heard  of  this  revival  at  Antioch, 
they  sent  thither  Barnabas,  a  native  of  Cyprus,  "  a  good  man,  full 
of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  that  he  should  go  and  assist  his 
brethren.  He  did  so,  and  had  great  encouragement  in  his  labors ; 
but,  finding  the  work  too  great  for  his  strength,  he  went  to  Tarsus, 
and  secured  a  most  efficient  helper  in  Saul,  —  afterAvards  the  great 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  These  men  now  spent  a  whole  year  at 
Antioch,*  where  they  gathered  a  flourishing  church,  and  taught 

*  It  will  be  recollected  that  there  are  two  Antiochs  spoken  of  in  the  Acts.     The  one  here  j 
referred  to  was  on  the  Orontes,  in  Syria,  nearly  opposite  the  Island  of  Cyprns,  —  aljout  twenty 
miles  from  the  Mediten-anean.    It  had  been  for  a  long  time  the  chief  city  and  capital  of  Syria. 


524  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

mucli  people ;  and  the  disciples  were  first  called  Christians  here 
at  Antioch.  Probably  the  name  was  first  applied  to  them  in 
reproach  by  their  enemies  ;  but  it  was  cheerfully  adopted  by  them, 
and  has  been  their  glory  ever  since. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  so  prosperously  in  Syria,  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem  was  tlu^eatened  with  another  persecution. 
Herod  Agrippa,  a  grandson  of  Herod  the  Great,  had  come  into  favor 
with  the  Emperor  Claudius,  who  gave  him  the  entire  kingdom  of  his 
grandfather.  He  reigned  over  Judsea  and  Palestine  about  three 
years,  and  then  died  in  the  wretched  manner  described  in  Acts 
xii.  23.  It  was  during  his  short  reign  that  "  he  stretched  forth  his 
hand  to  vex  certain  of  the  Church,  and  slew  James,  the  brother 
of  John,  with  the  sword."  This  James  was  the  first  of  the  apostles 
who  was  called  to  seal  his  testimony  with  his  blood.  Finding  that 
this  act  of  cruelty  was  pleasing  to  the  Jews,  Herod  next  proceeded 
to  take  Peter  also  ;  and,  when  he  had  apprehended  him,  he  put  him 
>.in  prison  under  charge  of  no  less  than  sixteen  soldiers,  intending, 
when  the  feast  was  over  (for  it  was  now  the  Passover),  to  bring 
him  forth  unto  the  people.  But  pra3'er  was  made  without  ceasing 
of  the  Church  unto  God  for  liim :  and  the  prayers  of  God's  people 
prevailed ;  for,  lo,  while  Peter  was  sleeping  between  two  soldiers, 
bound  with  chains,  and  the  keepers  of  the  prison  were  guarding 
the  door,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  prison,  aAvoke  the 
apostle,  knocked  off  his  chains,  and  said  to  him,  "  Gird  on  thy 
sandals,  and  follow  me."  So  the  angel  led  him  forth  through  all 
the  barred  gates  and  guarded  wards,  till  he  was  quite  at  liberty  in 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  Being  thus  miraculously  delivered,  Peter 
wended  his  way  to  the  house  of  IN'Iary,  one  of  the  sisters  of  the 
Church,  where  many  were  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  prayer. 
He  gained  access  to  the  meeting,  rehearsed  the  story  of  his  dehver- 
ance,  commanded  them  to  go  and  tell  the  other  apostles  of  the  fact, 
and  then  retired  to  some  place  of  safety. 

After  this  event,  we  do  not  often  hear  of  the  apostle  Peter  in 
the  sacred  history.  For  several  years,  he  seems  to  have  resided 
for  the  most  part  at  Jerusalem.  Here  Paul  met  him  when  he 
went  up  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem  on  the  question  of  circum- 
cising the  Gentile  converts.  This  was  about  the  year  49,  —  fourteen 
years  subsequent  to  the  conversion  of  Paid  (Gal.  ii.  1).     It  was  at 

The  other  Antioch  was  in  Pisidia,  —  some  two  hundred  miles  north-west  of  the  former.  Here 
Paul  and  Barnabas  preached  the  gospel  during  their  first  missionary  tour  among  the  heathen. 


LIVES   OF  THE    APOSTLES.  525 

this  time  that  Paul  received  from  Peter,  James,  and  John  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  that  he  should  go  to  the  heathen,  while  they 
continued  to  labor  chiefly  among  the  Jews. 

Soon  after  this,  we  find  Peter  at  Antioch,  where  he  dissembled 
through  fear  of  the  Jews,  refused  to  associate  with  the  Gentile 
converts,  and  acted  contrary  to  the  decree  which  had  been  passed 
at  Jerusalem.  For  this  his  brother  Paul  rebuked  him;-  which 
rebuke  he  received  in  a  Christian  manner,  being  convinced,  no 
doubt,  that  it  was  deserved. 

After  this,  he  spent  some  time  at  Corinth ;  for,  when  this  Church 
became  divided  respecting  its  ministers,  some  claimed  that  they 
were  of  Paul,  and  some  of  ApoUos,  and  some  of  Cephas  (i.e.,  Feter^, 
and  some  of  Christ  (1  Cor.  i.  12).  Still  later  in  life,  we  find  him 
at  Babylon,  —  either  Babylon  in  Egypt,  or  more  probably  New 
Babylon  in  Assyria,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  many  Jews  had 
resided  ever  since  the  Babylonish  captivity.  It  is  from  this  place 
that  Peter  dates  his  First  Epistle  (1  Pet.  v.  13).  According  tp 
Origen,  Peter's  last  missionary  labors  were  chiefly  among  the  dis- 
persed Jews  in  the  regions  of  Pontus,  Galatia,  Bithynia,  Cappado- 
cia,  and  Asia ;  and  this  agrees  with  the  representation  of  Paul, 
that,  while  he  was  commissioned  to  go  to  the  heathen,  Peter  was 
the  apostle  of  the  circumcision.  It  agrees  also  with  the  repre- 
sentation of  Peter  himself,  who  addresses  his  First  Epistle  "  to  the 
strangers,"  i.e.  foreign  Jews,  "  scattered  throughout  Pontus,  Ga- 
latia, Cappadocia-,  Asia,  and  Bithynia." 

The  Romanists  contend  very  strenuously  that  Peter  resided  long  | 
at  Rome,  and  was  the  first  bishop  of  Rome ;  but  the  Scriptures, ' 
instead  of  favoring  this  supposition,  give  their  testimony  decid- 
edly against  it,     Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans  about  the. 
year  57, — long  after  Peter,  according  to  the  Papists,  had  become 
bishop   of  that   Church ;    yet  there  is  not   a  word   in   it    about 
Peter,  nor  so  much  as  an  intimation  that  he,  or  any  other  apostle, 
had  ever  been  there.    In  the  last  chapter  of  this  epistle,  Paul  sends 
salutations  to  beloved  Christian  friends  at  Rome,  mentioning  them 
by  name,  and  stating  a  variety  of  circumstances  respecting  them ; 
but  not  a  word  do  we  find  in  respect  to  Peter.    Two  or  three  years . 
later,  Paul  himself  arrived  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  and  was  received  | 
with  great  favor  by  the  Church ;  but  still  no  mention  is  made  of  ' 
Peter.     Paul  dwelt  two  whole  years  in  his  own  hired  house  at 
Rome,  whence  he  wrote  several  of  his  epistles  to  the  churches ; 
but  in  none  of  these  epistles  do  we  find  the  slightest  allusion  to 


526  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Peter.  In  one  of  his  epistles,  Paul  says  of  those  about  him,  "All 
seek  their  own,  not  the  things  that  are  Jesus  Christ's  "  (Phil.  ii.  21). 
And  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  the  last  that  the  apostle 
'  ever  wrote,  he  says,  "At  my  first  answer,  no  man  stood  with  me  ; 
but  all  men  forsook  me.  I  pray  God  that  it  may  not  be  laid  to 
,  their  charge"  (2  Tim.  iv.  16).  If  Peter  was  now  at  Rome,  why 
did  he  desert  his  brother  Paul  on  this  trying  occasion  ? 

In  view  of  all  these  representations,  who  can  believe,  that,  up  to 
the  time  of  Paul's  writing  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  Peter 
had  ever  resided  at  Rome,  —  much  less  that  he  had  long  been  the 
bishop  of  that  Church  ? 

In  short,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Peter  ever  was,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  term,  a  bisJiop  anywhere ;  or,  in  other  words, 
that  he  ever  took  upon  himself  a  pastoral  charge.  He  was  an 
/  apostle,  and  not  a  bishop.  Not  only  are  these  two  offices  not  the 
same :  they  are  incompatible  one  with  the  other.  An  apostle  is  a 
missionary,  a  minister  at  large ;  one  who  has  (what  Paul  tells  us 
he  had)  "the  care  of  all  the  churches."  A  bishop  has,  or  should 
have,  a  pastoral  charge  ;  he  is  the  overseer  of  a  jDarticular  flock ;  he 
is  confined  in  his  attentions  to  some  particular  field  of  labor.  But 
to  what  particular  field  of  labor  were  the  apostles  individually  con- 
fined ?  They  were  appointed  expressly  that  they  might  be  "  wit- 
l/iUwAiM  jiggggg  for  Christ  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judsea,  and  in  Samaria, 
4'^*^!  and  to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.''  They  were  given  to  the 
Church  at  large,  and  would  have  been  guilty  of  a  violation  of  duty 
had  they  confined  their  labors  to  any  particular  portion  of  it.  Pe- 
ter is  degraded  by  the  supposition,  that,  from  being  a  distinguished 
apostle,  he  became  the  bishop  of  a  single  city,  even  though  that 
city  were  Rome. 

In  short,  we  have  no  certain  evidence  that  Peter  ever  saw  the 
city  of  Rome  ;  though  the  probability  is  that  he  came  there,  or  was 
carried  there,  a  little  while  before  his  death.  According  to  the 
unbroken  testimony  of  the  ancient  Church,  he  was  crucified  at 
Rome  in  the  persecution  under  Nero,  —  about  the  year  65.  At 
his  own  request,  he  was  crucified  head  downwards. 

The  apostle  Peter  had  a  brother  Andrew,  who  became  a  follower 
of  Christ  even  sooner  than  he  did.  They  were  born  at  Bethsaida, 
near  the  northern  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee ;  were  fishermen  by 
/  profession ;  and  were  both  of  them  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist. 
When  John  had  pointed  out  Jesus  as  the  Lamb  of  God  who  should 
take  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  Andrew  at  once  commenced  fol- 


LIVES   OF  THE   APOSTLES.  527 

lowing  him.  Shortly  after,  he  found  his  brother  Simon,  and  brought 
him  to  Christ ;  and  henceforward  they  followed  the  Lamb  of  God 
together.  During  the  personal  ministry  of  Christ,  though  Andrew 
was,  so  far  as  we  know,  a  consistent  and  faithful  disciple,  still  we 
hear  but  little  of  him.  While  his  brother  Peter  was  naturally  for- 
ward, talkative,  impulsive,  Andrew  was  a  very  different  character : 
he  was  a  silent  witness  of  our  Saviour's  miracles,  and  listener  to 
his  instructions,  and  received  no  special  tokens  of  his  Master's 
affection  and  regard. 

After  the  ascension  of  Christ,  he  doubtless  remained  for  a  time 
at  Jerusalem,  as  all  the  other  apostles  did.  He  then  went  forth  to 
pul)lish  the  gospel ;  but  the  ancients  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  field 
of  his  labors.  Some  think  that  he  went  into  Scythia  ;  others,  with 
more  probability,  assign  him  to  different  points  in  Greece.  The 
modern  Greeks  regard  him  as  the  founder  of  the  Church  at  By- 
zantium (afterwards  Constantinople)  ;  but  of  this  there  is  no  cer- 
tain evidence.  The  story  is,  that,  after  long  labor  and  great  success 
in  his  chosen  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  nations,  he  was 
'crucified  at  Patrse,  a  city  of  Achaia,  by  ^Egeas,  the  proconsul.  The 
"Acts  of  his  Passion"  were  early  published  by  those  who  profess 
to  have  been  witnesses  of  the  scene  ;  but  of  their  authenticity  there 
is  good  reason  to  doubt.  He  is  said  to  have  been  crucified  on  a 
cross  in  the  form  of  an  X ;  which,  from  this  circumstance,  has  been 
called  St.  Andrew's  cross. 

There  were  two  Jameses  in  the  family  of  our  Lord,  —  the  senior 
and  the  junior,  or  the  greater  and  the  less.  The  elder  James,  who 
was  the  son  of  Zebedee  and  the  brother  of  John,  was  the  first  of 
the  apostles  who  suffered  martyrdom.  He  was  slain  at  Jerusalem, 
as  before  stated,  by  Herod  Agrippa,  —  about  the  year  44.  With 
a  few  words  respecting  him,  this  chapter  will  be  concluded. 

These  sons  of  Zebedee  were  native  Galileans,  born  either  at 
Capernaum  or  Bethsaida.  Like  Andrew'  and  Peter,  they  were 
fishermen ;  and  they  seem  to  have  inherited  from  their  father  more 
worldly  substance  than  most  of  the  apostles.  John  had  a  home,  to 
which,  after  the  crucifixion,  he  took  the  mother  of  our  Lord,  and 
where  he  nourished  her  as  long  as  she  lived.  Peter,  and  the 
brothers  James  and  John,  were  among  the  more  favored  discij)les 
of  Christ,  whom  he  called  Boanerges  ("  sons  of  thunder  "),  and 
whom  he  admitted  to  a  peculiar  intimacy  and  privileges.  These 
alone  were  allowed  to  go  with  him  when  he  raised  the  daughter 
of  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  from  a  state  of  apparent  death  to 


528  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

life  and  health,  when  he  went  into  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration, 
and  when  he  fell  into  that  dreadful  agony  in  the  Garden  of  Geth- 
semane. 

These  sons  of  Zebedee,  though  true  and  loving  disciples,  were 
not  wholly  divested  of  a  worldly  spirit :  witness  the  request  of 
their  mother  for  them,  —  made,  no  doubt,  with  their  concurrence, 
—  that  they  might  sit,  the  one  on  the  right  hand  of  their  Lord, 
and  the  other  on  the  left,  in  his  kingdom ;  witness  also  their  un- 
christian proposal  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  upon  the  inhospit- 
able Samaritans. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  many  traditions  as  to  the  missionary 
labors  of  James  the  Elder  after  the  ascension  of  Christ ;  but  we 
have  no  proof  that  any  of  them  are  true.  The  apostles  lingered 
about  Jerusalem  for  several  years  after  the  crucifixion  ;  and  the 
probability  is  that  James  was  with  them.  It  is  not  likely  that  he 
ever  travelled  as  a  missionary  out  of  Palestine.  He  was  put  to 
death  early,  as  I  said,  and  buried  at  or  near  Jerusalem.  The 
Romanists  pretend,  that,  after  several  hundred  years,  his  remains 
were  disinterred,  and  carried  into  Spain  ;  but  this  is  as  improbable 
as  most  of  their  other  legends. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LIVES    OF    THE    APOSTLES. CONTINUED. 

'TTT'E  have  already  sketched  the  lives  of  Andrew,  Peter,  and 
V  V  James  the  brother  of  John.  Of  the  original  apostles, 
there  were  nine  others,  including  Mattliias,  who  came  into  the 
place  of  Judas  Iscariot ;  but  of  the  most  of  these  we  know  very 
little  except  what  stands  connected  with  the  personal  history  of 
Christ.  It  is  commonly  said  that  they  all  died  as  martyrs  to  the 
truth  ;  but  this  is  more  than  can  be  affirmed  with  certainty. 

There  were  two  Pliilips  among  the  early  disciples  of  Christ,  — 
the  one  an  apostle,  and  the  other  a  deacon,  and  afterwards  an 
evangelist.  Philip  the  apostle  was  born  at  Bethsaida  in  Galilee,  — 
the  city  of  Apdrew  and  Peter :  he  had  the  honor  to  be  the  first 
who  was  expressly  called  to  become  a  disciple  of  Christ.  Very 
soon  he  finds  Nathanael,  and  invites  liim  to  become  a  fellow-disciple 
(John  i.  46).  From  this  time,  Philip  was  a  steady  and  consistent 
follower  of  Jesus,  though  not  much  is  said  of  him  in  the  Gospels. 
It  was  to  Philip  that  our  Lord  propounded  the  question,  when  sur- 
rounded by  famishing  multitudes,  "  Whence  shall  we  buy  bread, 
that  these  may  eat  ?  "  (John  vi.  5.)  It  was  to  him  that  the  Hel- 
lenist Jews,  or  proselytes,  who  came  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  Pass- 
over, addressed  themselves  when  desiring  to  see  Jesus  (John  xii. 
21).  It  was  with  him  that  our  Lord  had  a  discourse  when  just 
about  to  enter  on  his  scene  of  suffering  :  "  PhiUp  saith  unto  him. 
Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us.  Jesus  saith  unto 
him.  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not 
known  me,  Philip  ?  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father  " 
(John  xiv.  8). 

After  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  we  hear  nothing  of 
this  apostle  in  the  sacred  liistory.  The  probability  is,  that  he  re- 
mained several  years  at  Jerusalem  with  the  other  apostles.  And, 
when  he  departed,  we  have  no  reliable  information  as  to  the  region 

34  529 


530  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

of  country  to  which  he  withdrew.  It  is  generally  thought  that  he 
visited  the  northern  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  and  finally  died  at  Hie- 
rapolis  in  Phrygia.  Fables  we  have  in  abundance  respecting  liis 
labors,  sufferings,  and  martyrdom  ;  but  they  were  got  up  at  too 
late  a  period,  and  contain  too  many  silly  stories,  to  be  worth  re- 
peating. 

When  Nathanael  was  invited  by  Philip  to  become  a  follower  of 
Christ,  he  immediately  consented.  And,  when  Jesus  saw  him 
.  coming,  he  said,  "  Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile ! " 
Nathanael  is  also  called  Bartholomew ;  i.e.,  the  son  of  Tholomew, 
or  Tholomai :  just  as  Simon  is  called  Barjona ;  and  Joses,  Barsabas. 
In  the  Gospels,  we  find  Philip  and  Nathanael,  or  Philip  and  Bar- 
tholomew, constantly  named  together,  indicating  that  they  were 
special  friends.     • 

Nathajaael,  like  most  of  the  other  apostles,  was  a  Galilean.  His 
home,  we  are  told,  was  at  Cana  of  Galilee  (John  xxi.  2).  We 
hear  little  of  him  in  the  sacred  history,  and  have  not  the  means 
of  tracing  his  course  with  certainty  after  the  dispersion  of  the 
apostles  from  Jerusalem.  Tradition  says  that  he  travelled  as  far 
as  the  hither  India,  bordering  upon  Chaldsea  ;  and  that  he  left  there 
a  copy  of  Matthew's  Gospel,  which  was  found  long  after  by  a 
missionary.  From  India  he  returned  to  North-western  Asia,  and 
joined  his  friend  and  fellow-apostle  Philip  at  Hierapolis  in  Phrj^gia. 
After  the  death  of  Philip,  he  passed  into  Lycaonia  and  Armenia, 
where  he  laid  down  his  life. 

The  apostle  Matthew,  also  called  Levi,  was,  like  the  rest,  a 

Galilean.     His  home  was  at  or  near  Capernaum.     He  was  the  son 

of  Alpheus,  though  not  the  same  Alpheus  who  was  the  father  of 

James  and  Jude  (Mark  ii.  14).    He  was  a  publican,  or  tax-gatherer, 

in  the  employ  of  the  governor,  whose  business  it  was  to  collect 

and  pay  over  the  tribute-money.     These  publicans  were  peculiarly 

odious  to  the  Jews  :  first,  because  they  were,  in  general,  rapacious 

and  oppressive  ;  then  the  tribute  itself,  being  a  token  of  subjection, 

was  an  offence  to  the  Jew  ;  and,  thirdly,  their  office  brought  them 

so  much  in  contact  with  Gentiles,  that  the  strict  Jew  could  hardly 

own  them  as  belonging  to  his  people.     Hence,  to  the  ears  of  the 

Jew,  "  publicans  and  sinners  "  were  synonymous  terms  ;  and  they 

were  regarded  as  among  the  vilest  of  mankind.     Yet  Matthew, 

though  a  native  Jew,  was  a  publican.     His  office  was  lucrative ; 

and  he  was  rich.     At  an  early  period  in  his  public  ministry,  as 

Jesus  walked  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  he  saw  Matthew  sitting  in  his 


LIVES   OF  THE   APOSTLES.  531 

office,  and  receiving  the  tribute-money ;  and  he  said  unto  him, 
'■'Folloiv  me.""  And  Matthew  rose  up  at  once,  left  his  office,  his 
money-changing,  his  worldly  business,  —  the  grand  source  of  his 
wealth  and  honor, — and  became  a  follower  of  Christ.  We  have 
hardly  an  instance  of  more  prompt  obedience,  and  of  apparently 
greater  self-denial,  in  the  Bible.  To  do  honor  to  the  Saviour,  and 
show  that  he  was  not  dissatisfied  with  the  decision  to  which  he 
had  come,  he  invited  our  Lord  and  his  disciples  to  dine  with  him, 
in  company  with  several  of  his  own  profession.  At  this  the 
Pharisees  were  offended,  and  gave  vent  to  their  pride  and  scorn 
by  saying,  "  How  is  it  that  he  eateth  with  publicans  and  sin- 
ners ?  " 

After  his  election  to  the  apostolate,  we  hear  little  of  Matthew 
in  the  Gospels.  He  continued  to  follow  Christ  while  he  lived,  and, 
after  his  death  and  resurrection,  remained  for  a  time  with  the  other 
apostles  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem.  It  was  here,  that,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  request  of  his  brethren,  he  wrote  his  Gos^Del,  — 
the  earliest  of  the  four  that  were  written.  It  is  thought  to  have 
been  written  about  eight  years  after  the  death  of  Christ.  The 
tradition  is,  that  Matthew  wrote  his  Gospel  in  Hebrew,  and  that  it 
was  early  translated  into  Greek.  I  cannot  go  into  this  question 
here ;  nor  dp  I  think  it  one  of  great  importance.  If  our  Greek 
copies  are  a  translation,  the  translation  was  made  under  the  eye  of 
the  apostles,  and  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Hence 
it  is  as  really  the  word  of  God  as  though  it  were  an  original  pro- 
duction. Whether  written  originally  in  the  Hebrew  language,  or 
not,  it  is  certain  that  there  was  a  Hebrew  copy  of  Matthew's  Gospel 
among  the  early  Christians ;  but  this,  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Ebionites,  and  being  by  them  garbled  and  interpolated,  lost  all 
credit  in  the  Church. 

After  leaving  Judaea,  it  is  very  uncertain  into  what  part  of  the 
world  Matthew  travelled,  or  what  became  of  him.  Amidst  a  crowd 
of  legendary  tales,  the  truth  is  irrecoverably  lost. 

Among  the  apostles  of  Christ  was  Thomas,  also  called  Didymus, 
or  the  twin.  He  was  probably  a  Galilean,  and  a  fisherman,  like 
most  of  the  other  apostles ;  though  of  this  we  are  not  certified  in 
the  Scriptures.  During  the  ministry  of  Christ,  Thomas  was  rather 
a  listener  than  an  active  speaker.  We  have  but  few  notices  of 
him  in  the  Gospels.  When  our  Saviour  would  not  be  dissuaded  by 
any  considerations  of  personal  danger  from  going  into  Judsea  to 
raise  Lazarus  from  the  dead,  Thomas  said,  "  Let  us  also  go,  that  we 


532  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

may  die  with  him  ;  "  intimating  not  only  his  fears  for  the  personal 
safety  of  his  Master,  but  that  he  was  willing  to  stand  by  him  to 
the  end. 

In  his  parting  address  to  his  disciples,  our  Saviour  assured  them 
that  he  was  going  to  prepare  a  place  for  them ;  and  then  added, 
"  Whither  I  go  ye  know,  and  the  way  ye  know."  Thomas  said 
unto  him,  "  Lord,  we  know  not  whither  thou  goest,  and  how  can 
we  know  the  way  ?  "  To  this  Jesus  answered,  "  I  am  the  way 
and  the  truth  and  the  life.  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by  me." 

Upon  the  death  of  Christ,  the  disciples  seem  to  have  been  dis- 
tracted with  doubts  and  fears  as  to  his  resurrection  and  Messiahship : 
"  We  trusted  that  this  had  been  he  who  should  deliver  Israel ;  but 
he  is  dead  and  buried,  and  all  our  hopes  are  buried  with  him." 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  feeling  which  at  the  time  possessed 
their  minds  ;  and  after  our  Saviour  had  risen,  and  appeared  to  his 
female  friends,  and  they  had  told  it  to  the  disciples,  their  words 
seemed  to  them  as  idle  tales ;  and,  after  he  had  appeared  to  all  the 
disciples  except  Thomas,  still  he  was  slow  of  heart  to  believe : 
"  Except  I  shall  see  in  his  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my 
finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my  hand  into  his  side, 
I  will  not  believe."  So,  when  Jesus  appeared  to  the  assembled  dis- 
ciples on  the  second  first  day  of  the  week,  he  furnished  Thomas 
with  the  very  test  which  he  had  required.  He  caused  him  to  put 
his  finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  to  thrust  his  hand  into  his 
side.  The  incredulity  of  Thomas  was  at  once  overcome  :  he  could 
only  exclaim,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God  !  " 

After  the  dispersion  of  the  apostles  from  Jerusalem,  Thomas  is 
said  to  have  gone  into  the  East,  —  to  the  Medes, '  Persians,  Par- 
thians,  and  Hindoos.  There  is  this  evidence  that  Thomas  preached 
the  gospel  in  India,  and  established  churches,  —  that  there  is 
still  a  large  body  of  Christians  in  the  East  which  bear  his  name. 
They  were  found  by  the  Portuguese  when  they  took  possession  of 
some  parts  of  India,  and  were  visited  by  Dr.  Buchanan  early  in 
the  present  century.  Dr.  Buchanan  received  from  them  a  copy  of 
the  Syriac  Scriptures,  and  was  gratified  to  find  that  it  agreed 
almost  entirely  with  our  own.* 

Another  of  our  Lord's  apostles  was  Simon  Zelotes,  or  the  Zealot. 
He  is  also  called  the  Cananite  (not  Canaanite)  ;  a  word  of  Hebrew 
origin,  which  is  synonymous  with  the  Greek  "  Zelotes."     He  was 

*  Buchanan's  Researches,  p.  186. 


LIVES   OF  THE  APOSTLES.  533 

undoubtedly  a  Jew,  though  we  know  not  the  place  of  his  birth. 
He  may  have  been  called  Simon  the  Zealot  to  distinguish  him  from 
Simon  whose  sui-name  was  Peter ;  or  he  may  have  belonged  before 
conversion  to  the  sect  of  Zealots,  —  a  sect  which,  in  the  last  days  of 
the  Jewish  state,  became  exceedingly  turbulent  an^l  troublesome. 

Being  invested  with  the  apostolical  office,  no  further  mention  is 
made  of  Zelotes  in  the  gospel  history ;  nor  do  we  know  what  parts 
of  the  world  he  visited  after  the  dispersion  of  the  apostles.  Some 
think  that  he  Avent  into  Africa,  and  afterwards  to  Britain  and  the 
Western  Islands ;  others  tell  us  that  he  went  into  Mesopotamia. 
That  he  was  a  good  and  faithful  man,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt ; 
but  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  so  far  as  reliable  history  is  concerned, 
is  a  blank. 

The  apostle  Jude  is  also  called  Lebbeus  and  Thaddeus  (Matt. 
X.  3).  He  was  the  brother  of  James  the  Less ;  and  both  were  the 
sons  of  Alpheus,  sometimes  called  Cleopas,  and  of  Mary,  the  sister 
of  our  Lord's  mother  (John  xix.  25).  Cleopas,  according  to  Euse- 
bius,  was  a  brother  of  Joseph.  They  had  three  sons,  whose  names 
are  given  in  the  Gospels  ;  viz.,  James,  Joses,  and  Jude.  Tradition 
has  given  them  another  son,  Simeon,  who  was  the  first  pastor  or 
.bishop  of  Jerusalem.  These  sons  were  all  cousins  of  our  Lord,  — 
perhaps  double  cousins. 

In  the  family  of  Joseph  and  Mary  there  were  also,  besides  Jesus, 
four  sons  whose  names  are  given ;  viz.,  James,  Joses,  Simon,  and 
Judas  (Matt.  xiii.  56).  Whether  these  were  the  sons  of  Joseph 
and  Mary,  or  of  Joseph  by  a  previous  wife,  we  are  not  informed. 

It  has  been  conjectured  by  some,  that  while  James  and  Jude, 
the  sons  of  Alpheus,  were  apostles  of  Christ,  the  James  who  re- 
sided so  long  at  Jerusalem,  who  wrote  the  epistle,  and  of  whom 
we  hear  so  much  in  the  Acts  and  in  Paul's  Epistles,  was  hot  the 
apostle  James,  but  James  a  son  of  Joseph,  if  not  of  Mary,  and  a 
literal  brother  of  our  Lord.*  But  I  cannot  be  of  this  opinion,  and 
for  the  following  reasons  :  — 

1.  It  is  said  of  Christ's  literal  brothers,  at  a  late  period  in  his 
public  ministry,  that  they  did  not  believe  on  him  (John  vii.  5). 
They  may  have  become  believers  about  the  time  of  his  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension  (see  Acts  i.  14)  ;  but  the  fact  that  Jesus  did 
not  commit  his  mother  to  them,  but  to  John,  is  evidence  that  at 
that  time  they  and  their  mother  were  not  in  full  sympathy  on  the 
subject  of  religion.     And,  — 

*  See  Bib,  Sacra  for  October,  1864. 


534  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

2.  The  manner  in  which  the  James  who  dwelt  at  Jerusalem  is 
spoken  of  in  the  Acts  and  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul  shows  that  he 
must  have  been  an  apostle.  It  was  he  who  presided  at  the  great 
church-meeting  at  Jerusalem,  and  pronounced  the  decision  on  the 
question  of  circumcising  the  Gentiles  (Acts  xv.  19).  Then,  when 
Paul  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  see  Peter,  he  says,  "  Other  of  the 
apostles  saw  I  none,  save  James,  the  Lord's  brother"  (Gal.  i.  19). 
This  proves  that  the  James  whom  he  saw  was  an  apostle.  At  his 
next  visit  to  Jerusalem,  Paul  saw  there  "  James,  Cephas,  and  John, 
who  seemed  to  he  pillars,^^  —  a  proof,  again,  that  James  was  not  only 
an  apostle,  but  a  distinguished  apostle  ;  as  much  so  as  Peter  and 
John  (Gal.  ii.  9). 

I  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  James  who  resided  at  Jerusalem, 
and  wrote  the  epistle,  was  no  other  than  the  apostle  James.  He 
was  not  a  literal  brother  of  our  Lord,  but  a  cousin  ;  and,  on  this 
account,  is  sometimes  called  "  the  Lord's  brother."  Several  in- 
stances occur  in  the  Scriptures  of  this  use  of  the  term  among  the 
Jews.* 

But  to  return  to  Jude.  In  the  Gospels,  we  find  but  a  single  ques- 
tion proposed  by  Jude  to  his  Lord  and  Master :  "  How  is  it  that 
thou  wilt  manifest  thyself  to  us,  and  not  unto  the  world  ?  "  Jesus 
answered  him,  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words  ;  and 
my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make 
our  abode  with  him  "  (John  xiv.  22). 

After  the  ascension  of  Christ,  Jude  is  said  to  have  been  sent  to 
Agbarus,  king  of  Edessa,  where  he  wrought  miracles,  preached  the 
gospel,  and  converted  Agbarus  -and  his  people  to  the  faith.  For 
this  the  king  offered  him  a  large  reward,  which  he  refused,  saying 
that  he  had  no  occasion  to  receive  from  others  what  he  had  long 
before  relinquished  on  his  own  behalf. 

Jude  seems  to  have  had  a  wife  and  family ;  for,  near  the  close 
of  the  first  century,  two  of  his  grandsons  were  brought  before 
Domitian,  as  being  of  the  lineage  of  David ;  from  which  stock  the 
emperor  feared  that  some  one  would  arise  claiming  to  be  king  of 
the  Jews.  But  when  he  saw  that  they  were  poor,  humble,  labor- 
ing men,  he  dismissed  his  fears  on  their  account,  and  sent  them 
back  to  their  own  country. 

Jude  has  left  us  a  short  epistle  addressed  to  the  whole  body  of 
Christian  believers.  Its  authenticity  was  doubted  by  some  in  the 
ancient  Church ;  but  we  see  no  good  reason  for  rejecting  it.     Its 

*  See  Schleusner's  Lexicon,  under  odeTiipoc. 


LIVES   OF  THE   APOSTLES.  535 

principal  design  is  to  expose  certain  enemies  of  the  truth,  —  "un- 
godly men,  who  had  crept  into  the  churches  unawares,  turning  the 
grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  denying  the  only  Lord  God, 
and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Let  us  next  bring  together  what  little  can  be  known  of  Matthias, 
who  was  divinely  designated  to  be  an  apostle  in  place  of  Judas 
Iscariot.  His  appointment  was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  as- 
sembled apostles  after  their  return  from  the  ascension  of  Christ. 
We  have  a  concise  account  of  the  whole  transaction,  with  the 
reasons  and  the  manner  of  it,  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Acts. 
From  this  account  it  appears  that  Matthias,  though  not  before  an 
apostle,  was  one  of  those  who  had  companied  with  the  disciples 
all  the  time  that  the  Lord  Jesus  had  gone  in  and  out  among 
them,  beginning  from  the  baptism  of  John  until  the  day  when 
he  was  taken  up  ;  and  consequently  was  a  most  suitable  person  to 
be  ordained  with  the  other  apostles  to  be  a  wit7iess  of  his  resur- 
rection. 

Of  the  labors  of  Matthias  after  the  dispersion  of  the  apostles, 
we  have  no  certain  knowledge.  He  is  commonly  thought  to  have 
received  the  crown  of  martyrdom  about  the  year  64 ;  but  it  is  not 
certain  that  he  was  a  martyr  at  all.  As  we  hear  no  evil  of  him, 
we  may  hope  that  he  fulfilled,  as  a  hireling,  his  day,  and  has  long 
since  entered  on  the  rewards  of  the  just. 

Of  the  original  apostles  of  our  Saviour,  we  have  only  to  speak 
further  of  James  the  brother  of  Jude,  and  of  John.  Where  James 
and  Jude  were  born,  or  what  their  course  of  life  before  they  were 
called  to  the  apostolate,  we  have  no  intimation  in  the  Scriptures ; 
nor  do  the  Gospels  refer  to  any  incident  in  the  life  of  James  after 
he  became  an  apostle.  Between  our  Lord's  resurrection  and  as- 
cension, he  appeared  in  one  instance  to  James  alone,  as  he  did  in 
another  to  Simon  Peter  (1  Cor.  xv.  7). 

•  After  the  ascension  of  Christ,  James  seems  to  have  become,  for 
some  reason,  —  perhaps  on  account  of  his  affinity  to  Jesus,  —  a 
sort  of  president  in  the  college  of  the  apostles.  He  resided  at 
Jerusalem,  and  was  virtually  pastor  of  the  great  Church  there. 
Paul  met  him  there  repeatedly  on  his  visits  to  Jerusalem.  To 
him  Peter  sent  the  news  of  his  deliverance  from  prison  :  "  Go 
show  these  things  unto  James  and  to  the  brethren"  (Acts  xii.  17). 
As  I  have  before  remarked,  James  presided  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Church  at  Jerusalem  when  the  question  of  enforcing  circumcision 
upon  the  Gentile  converts  was  considered.     Peter  opened  the  dis- 


536  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

cussion  ;  Paul  and  Barnabas  debated  it ;  but  James  stood  up  to 
publish  the  result :  "  My  sentence  is,  that  we  trouble  not  them 
which,  from  among  the  Gentiles,  are  turned  to  the  Lord  "  (Acts 
XV.  19). 

So  holy  and  venerable  was  the  apostle  James,  so  "  blameless  and 
harmless,  a  son  of  God  without  rebuke,"  that  the  Jews  for  a  long 
time  could  find  nothing  against  him.  Though  hated  by  the  more 
bigoted  class,  he  was  honored  and  feared  by  the  people  generally ; 
but  at  length  his  time  of  trial  came.  The  tradition  is,  that  he  was 
violently  thrown  from  some  part  of  the  temple,  and  afterwards 
killed  with  clubs  and  stones.  His  death  was  greatly  lamented  by 
all  sober  and  just  persons  among  the  Jews.  Josephus  tells  us  that 
"  the  miseries  which  came  afterwards  upon  the  Jews  were  by  way 
of  revenge  for  James  the  Just,  who  was  the  brother  of  Jesus, 
whom  they  call  Christ ;  for  the  Jews  slew  him,  though  a  most 
righteous  person."  * 

The  Epistle  of  James  was  written  not  long  before  his  death.  It 
is  addressed  "  to  the  twelve  tribes  scattered  abroad  ;  "  i.e.,  to  Jews 
and  Israelites  wherever  dispersed.  The  most  of  it  was  intended 
for  believing  Jews  ;  but  some  parts  of  it  are  addressed  to  those 
who  did  not  believe.  "  From  whence  come  wars  and  fightings 
among  you  ?  Come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  lusts  ?  "  This 
and  the  following  verses  of  the  fourth  chapter  we  cannot  regard 
as  applicable  to  Christian  Jews,  but  are  specially  applicable  to 
those  murderous  zealots  with  which  the  holy  city  was  at  this  time 
infested. 

James  encounters  in  his  epistle  a  very  different  class  of  persons 
from  those  who  so  much  troubled  the  apostle  Paul.  Paul's  an- 
tagonists were  strenuous  for  the  works  of  the  Jewish  law,  insist- 
ing that  without  them  no  flesh  could  be  saved ;  but  James's 
opponents  relied  upon  faith  without  the  deeds  of  the  law.  The 
former  class  were  Legalists ;  the  latter,  Antinomians,  —  both 
equally  at  variance  with  the  doctrine  of  the  apostle. 

James  closes  his  epistle  with  setting  forth  the  duty  and  the 
efficacy  of  prayer :  "  The  eifectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous 
man  availeth  much."  He  was  himself  an  eminent  example  of  the 
duty  here  inculcated.  He  used  to  retire  so  often  into  the  temple 
to  pray,  that,  as  one  of  the  ancients  informs  us,  "  the  skin  of  his 
knees  became  hard  like  that  of  a  camel." 

The  apostle  John  is  supposed  to  have  lived  longer,  and  to  have 

*  Antiq.,  lib.  xx.  cap.  9. 


LIVES   OF  THE   APOSTLES.  537 

written  later,  than  any  other  of  the  apostles.  He  was  a  Galilean, 
the  son  of  Zebedee  and  Salome,  and  a  younger  brother  of  the  first 
James,  with  whom  he  was  trained  to  be  a  fisherman.  He  was 
called  to  be  a  disciple  at  the  same  time  with  James ;  and  in  the 
Gospels  they  are  usually  mentioned  together.  John  was  peculiarly 
dear  to  his  Lord  and  Master,  being  spoken  of  as  "  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved."  He  was  not  only  one  of  the  three  whom  our 
Saviour  admitted  to  the  more  private  passages  of  his  life,  but,  in 
some  instances,  a  special  kindness  was  shown  him:  He  lay  on  the 
Saviour's  breast  at  the  paschal  supper ;  and  when  Peter  wished  to 
know  which  of  the  disciples  was  to  be  a  traitor,  instead  of  asking 
the  question  himself,  he  beckoned  to  John  to  put  it  for  him.  John 
was  more  constant  to  his  Master  than  any  of  the  disciples  at  the 
time  of  his  trial  and  crucifixion ;  for,  though  he  fled  from  him  at 
the  first,  he  soon  recovered  himself,  and  returned.  He  boldly 
entered  into  the  high  priest's  palace ;  followed  his  Master  through 
the  several  parts  of  his  trial ;  and  was  the  only  apostle,  so  far  as 
we  know,  who  stood  by  him  through  the  terrible  scene  of  the 
crucifixion.  Here  it  was  that  his  suffering  Lord  committed  to  him 
his  blessed  mother :  "  Woman,  behold  thy  son  ;  disciple,  behold 
thy  mother."  And  from  that  hour  John  took  her  to  his  own  home, 
and  made  her  to  the  end  of  li^e  the  special  object  of  his  charge 
and  care. 

On  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  Peter  and  John  were  the 
first  of  the  apostles  to  run  to  the  empty  sepulchre.  He  recognized 
his  risen  Lord  even  sooner  than  Peter  at  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  After 
the  ascension  of  Christ,  we  find  Peter  and  John  going  up  to  the 
temple  together  at  the  hour  of  prayer,  where  they  preached  to 
the  people,  and  healed  the  poor  cripple.  They  were  apprehended, 
and  imprisoned  together,  and  the  next  day  were  brought  out  to 
plead  their  cause  before  the  Sanhedrim.  These  were  the  two  dis- 
ciples who  were  deputed  to  go  down  to  Samaria,  and  assist  Philip 
in  the  great  revival  which  had  sprung  up  there.  It  was  to  James, 
Peter,  and  John,  still  residing  at  Jerusalem,  and  seeming  to  be 
pillars,  that  Paul,  many  years  later,  addressed  himself ;  and 
they,  seeing  the  grace  which  God  had  imparted  unto  him,  gave 
him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  confirmed  his  mission  to  the 
Gentiles  (Gal.  ii.  9). 

John  seems  to  have  resided  chiefly  at  Jerusalem  until  after  the 
death  of  the  Lord's  mother,  —  in  all,  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years, 
—  when  he  migrated  into  Asia  Minor,  and  exercised  his  ministry 


538  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

there.  Several  churches  were  formed  by  him,  as  those  at  Smyrna, 
Pergamos,  Thyatira,  Sardis,  and  Philadelphia  ;  but  his  prmcipal 
residence  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  was  at  Ephesus.  He 
seems  not  to  have  been  molested  during  the  Neronian  persecution, 
in  which  Peter  and  Paul  were  put  to  death ;  but  in  the  subsequent 
jDersecution  under  Domitian,  which  occurred  about  the  year  93, 
he  Avas  arrested,  brought  to  Rome,  and  thence  banished  to  Patmos, 
a  desolate  little  island  -in  the  ^gean  Sea.  The  story  told  by 
Tertullian,  of  his  having  been  previously  thrown  into  a  caldron 
of  boiling  oil  and  coming  out  unharmed,  is  now  generally  dis- 
carded. 

It  was  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos,  near  the  close  of  the  first  century, 
that  John  had  those  remarkable  visions  and  revelations  recorded 
in  the  Apocalypse.  This  book,  Irenseus  informs  us,  was  written  on 
the  island. 

That  John  was  banished  to  Patmos  under  Domitian,  and  not 
some  thirty  years  earlier  under  Nero,  is  an  important  fact  in  its 
bearing  on  the  interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse :  for,  in  the  time 
of  Domitian,  Jerusalem  had  been  long  destroyed ;  and  consequently 
none  of  John's  predictions  could  have  looked  forward,  as  some 
pretend,  to  its  destruction.  They  must  portend  other  calamities 
about  to  fall  upon  the  enemies  of  the  Church. 

That  John  was  really  banished  under  Domitian  is  proved  by  the 
almost  uniform  testimony  of  the  early  Christians ;  and  we  have 
conclusive  evidence  to  the  same  point  in  the  Apocalypse  itself. 
If  this  book  was  written  during  the  Neronian  persecution,  then  it 
must  have  been  written  shortly  after  the  later  epistles  of  Paul. 
But  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  condition  of  the  seven  churches 
in  Asia,  as  indicated  in  the  second  and  third  chapters  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, was  very  different  from  what  it  was  in  the  time  of  Paul. 
They  had  undergone  a  fearful  change,  a  relapge ;  and  time  must 
be  furnished  for  such  a  declension.  The  Church  at  Ephesus,  for 
example,  could  not  have  fallen  from  what  it  was  when  Paul  took 
his  leave  of  the  Ephesian  elders  to  what  it  was  at  the  writing  of 
the  Apocalypse,  in  a  less  period  than  thirty  years. 

Domitian  was  assassinated  at  Rome  A.D.  96,  and  Nerva  suc- 
ceeded him.  He  rescinded  the  cruel  edicts  of  his  predecessor,  and 
recalled  those  from  banishment  whom  Domitian  had  driven  away. 
Taking  advantage  of  this  freedom,  John  left  the  Isle  of  Patmos, 
and  returned  to  Ephesus.  Here  he  wrote  his  Gospel,  designed  to 
refute  the  errors  of  the  times,  and  to  supply  what  the  other  evan- 


LIVES   OF  THE   APOSTLES.  539 

gelists  had  omitted.  He  also  left  three  Epistles,  which  are  generally- 
supposed  to  have  been  written  before  his  banishment. 

John  lived  to  the  time  of  Trajan,  —  near  the  close  of  the  first  cen- 
tury, —  and  was  almost  a  hundred  years  old  at  his  death.  As  to  the 
manner  of  his  death,  the  fathers  are  not  agreed.  Some  think  that 
he  died  a  martyr,  while  others  insist  that  he  did  not  die  at  all :  he 
was  either  translated,  like  Enoch  and  Elijah  ;  or  concealed  himself 
for  a  time,  to  be  again  manifested. 

Several  incidents  are  related  of  this  apostle  after  his  return  from 
banishment,  which  are  not  unlikely  to  be  true.  Thus  Eusebius 
relates,  that,  before  his  banishment,  he  had  committed  a  beloved 
young  man  to  the  bishop  of  Ephesus,  with  a  charge  to  train  him 
up  for  him.  On  his  return,  the  apostle  found  that  the  bishop  had 
neglected  his  charge,  and  that  the  young  man  had  become  a  robber 
in  the  mountains.  The  venerable  apostle  went  in  pursuit  of  him, 
found  him,  brought  him  to  repentance,  and  restored  him  to  the 
communion  of  the  Church. 

Irenseus  tells  us,  that,  as  John  was  one  day  going  into  the  bath, 
he  learned  that  the  heretic  Cerinthus  was  in  the  building.  "  Let 
us  flee  from  this  place,"  said  the  aged  apostle,  "  lest  the  bath  in 
which  there  is  such  an  enemy  of  the  truth  as  Cerinthus  should  fall 
upon  us,  and  crush  us  together." 

In  his  last  days,  when  the  venerable  man  could  no  longer  preach, 
or  even  walk  to  the  place  of  meeting,  he  used  to  be  carried  there, 
and  would  repeat  from  time  to  time,  "  Little  children,  love  one 
another :  "  and,  when  asked  why  he  always  gaVe  the  same  exhorta- 
tion, he  replied,  "  Such  is  the  command  of  Christ ;  and  this  duty, 
if  faithfully  performed,  is  enough." 

Thus  lovingly  and  peacefully  passed  away  the  last  of  the  twelve 
original  apostles,  —  a  noble,  venerable  band  of  men,  honored  by 
the  Saviour's  selection  and  personal  instructions  while  he  was  yet 
with  them ;  and  left  as  the  depositaries  of  his  truth,  and  founders 
of  the  churches  of  the  new  dispensation,  when  he  was  removed  to 
his  throne  in  heaven. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


LIFE    OF   THE    APOSTLE    PAUL. 


THERE  was  yet  another  apostle,  called  as  it  were  out  of  due 
time,  and  commissioned  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles, 
whose  important  part  in  the  missionary  work  of  the  first  century 
will  requu^e  a  somewhat  extended  consideration. 

Paul  the  apostle  was  "  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,"  and  was  born 
at  Tarsus,  the  chief  city  of  Cilicia.  Tarsus  was  at  tliis  time  dis- 
tinguished not  only  for  its  numbers  and  wealth,  but  for  its  schools 
of  learning ;  being  not  inferior  in  this  respect  to  Alexandria,  or 
even  to  Athens.  It  had  also  been  greatly  favored  by  Julius  and 
Augustus  Caesar,  who  constituted  it  a  free  city,  and  made  its  native 
inhabitants  citizens  of  Rome.  This  privilege  Paul  pleaded  more 
than  once  in  times  of  persecution,  and  thus  escaped  inflictions 
which  otherwise  he  might  have  suffered. 

In  his  youth,  Paul  was  instructed  at  Tarsus  in  Grecian  and 
classic  learning.  He  was  also  instructed,  like  every  other  Jew,  in 
a  mechanical  trade.  He  was  by  profession  a  tent-maker ;  which 
occupation  he  followed,  and  by  it  supplied,  in  some  instances,  his 
own  personal  wants  during  his  apostolical  ministry. 

Having  passed  through  the  prescribed  courses  of  learning  at 
Tarsus,  Paul  was  sent  by  his  parents  to  Jerusalem,  and  placed 
under  the  ilistruction  of  Gamaliel,  to  be  perfected  in  the  study  of 
Jewish  law.  He  early  attached  himself  to  the  interests  of  the 
Pharisees,  the  straitest  and  most  illiberal  of  the  Jewish  sects.  He 
was  regarded  by  them  as  a  youth  of  great  promise,  and  seemed 
fairly  entitled  to  the  liighest  honors  which  his  nation  had  it  in 
their  power  to  bestow. 

"We  have  heard  already  of  the  part  which  he  took  in  the  perse- 
cution and  death  of  Stephen ;  also  of  the  zeal  with  which  he  pur- 
sued the  defenceless  Christians,  seizing  men  and  women  wherever 
he  could  find  them,  and  committing  them  to  prison.     We  have 


540 


LIFE   OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL,  541 

heard,  too,  of  his  bloody  commission  to  Damascus ;  and  how  he 
was  smitten  down,  convicted,  and  converted,  while  breathing  out 
threatening  and  slaughter  against  the  saints  of  the  Lord.  Blinded 
by  the  excessive  brightness  which  shone  around  him,  his  attendants 
led  him  into  Damascus,  where,  after  three  days  of  fasting,  reflec- 
tion, and  devotion,  he  was  baptized,  and  became  a  member  of  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

If  it  be  inquired  whether  Paul  was  not  conscientious  in  persecut- 
ing tlie  Christians,  I  suppose,  that,  in  a  loose  sense  of  the  term,  he 
was.  He  was  as  conscientious  as  persecutors  generally  are ;  per- 
haps more  so.  He  "  verily  thought  that  he  ought  to  do  many 
things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  But  it  does 
not  follow  from  this  that  he  was  justified  in  persecuting  the  Church. 
He  certainly  did  not  think  so  himself  afterwards.  A  warped,  mis- 
guided, prejudiced  conscience  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  guides 
which  a  man  can  follow. 

No  sooner  had  Paul  received  baptism  than  he  began  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  synagogues  of  Damascus,  alleging  and  proving 
that  .  the  same  Jesus  whom  he  had  so  lately  persecuted  was  the 
Christ  of  God.  Amazed  and  confounded  at  the  change  which  had 
taken  place  in  him,  and  not  being  able  to  refute  his  words,  the 
Jews  at  Damascus  sought  to  destroy  him  ;  but  he,  being  aware 
of  their  design,  left  the  city,  and  retired  into  the  northern  part  of 
Arabia,  where  he  remained  almost  three  years  (Gal.  i.  17). 

How  Paul  passed  his  time  during  this  season  of  retirement,  we 
do  not  know.  Doubtless  a  considerable  portion  of  it  was  spent  in 
meditation  and  devotion ;  in  communion  with  Christ,  and  receiving 
revelations  from  him.  It  was  during  this  period  that  he  "  was 
caught  up  into  the  third  heavens,"  into  the  paradise  of  God,  and 
heard  those  unspeakable  words  which  it  is  not  lawfid  for  a  man  to 
utter  (2  Cor.  xii.  4).  It  was  during  this  period  that  he  was  super- 
naturally  instructed  in  regard  to  the  truths  and  facts  of  the  gospel, 
which  he  tells  us  expressly  that  he  did  not  receive  from  man,  or 
from  conversation  with  the  other  apostles,  but  t)y  the  revelation 
of  Jesus  Christ  (Gal.  i.  12). 

This  retirement  in  Arabia  was  of  unspeakable  importance  to  the 
apostle  Paul.  He  grew  rapidly  in  knowledge  and  in  grace.  He 
received  a  fresh  anointing,  a  renewed  consecration  and  commission 
for  the  great  work  of  his  life. 

At  the  end  of  about  three  years,  Paul  returned  from  Arabia  to 
Damascus.     He  commenced  anew  his  appropriate  work  there,  pro- 


542  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

« 

claiming  in  the  synagogues  and  in  other  public  places  that  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  is  the  Christ.  But,  instead  of  receiving  his  testimony, 
the  Jews  again  sought  his  life  ;  and,  the  more  surely  to  effect  their 
purpose,  they  complained  of  him  to  the  governor,  who  set  a  guard 
at  the  gates  of  the  city  to  prevent  all  possibihty  of  escape.  Nev- 
ertheless, he  did  escape ;  for,  watching  their  opportunity,  his  friends 
let  him  down  through  a  window  in  a  basket  by  the  wall,  and  thus 
effected  his  dehverance  (1  Cor.  xi.  32). 

From  Damascus,  Paul  went  directly  to  Jerusalem,  —  the  first  time 
that  he  had  been  there  since  liis  conversion.  But,  when  he  essayed 
to  join  himself  to  the  disciples,  many  were  afraid  of  him  ;  they 
did  not  believe  that  he  was  a  disciple :  but  Barnabas  took  him  and 
brought  him  to  the  apostles,  and  declared  unto  them  the  fact  of  his 
conversion,  and  how  he  had  preached  boldly  at  Damascus  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  After  this  he  was  received  joyfully  by 
the  whole  Church,  and  began  at  once  to  preach  Christ  in  the  syna- 
gogues, laboring  more  especially  among  the  Hellenist  Jews.  But, 
instead  of  being  convinced,  they  Avere  enraged,  and  sought  to  kill 
him.  He  had  a  revelation  also  from  his  Lord  and  Master,  warning 
him  to  depart  quickly  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  directing  him  to  go 
and  preach  to  the  Gentiles  *  (Acts  xxii.  21).  Accordingly,  being 
assisted  by  the  brethren,  Paul  departed,  first  to  Csesarea,  and  after- 
wards to  Tarsus.  He  was  at  Jerusalem  at  this  time  only  fifteen 
days,  and  saw  none  of  the  apostles  save  Peter  and  James  (Gal. 
i.  18). 

It  was  while  Paul  was  stopping  at  Tarsus,  his  native  city,  that 
Barnabas  came  for  him  (as  before  related)  to  go  and  preach  at  An- 
tioch, — where  he  remained  a  full  year.  His  residence  at  Antioch 
must  have  been  a  delightful  one  to  himself,  as  well  as  profitable  to 
the  Church.  He  was  here  associated  with  a  choice  company  of 
ministers,  whose  names  are  given  in  Acts  xiii.  1.  Through  their 
joint  instrumentahty,  the  work  of  the  Lord  prospered  greatly,  and 
a  large  and  flourishing  church  was  established. 

This  was  a  year  of  famine  in  several  parts  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  especially  in  Judsea ;  and  the  disciples  at  Antioch  re- 
solved to  send  relief  to  their  brethren  at  Jerusalem.  They  in- 
trusted their  bounty  to  the  hands  of  Barnabas  and  Paul.  This  was 
Paul's  second  visit  to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion.  Of  the  in- 
cidents of  it  we  know  notliing,  except  that  he  speedily  discharged 
the  commission  intrusted  to  liim,  and  returned  to  Antioch. 

*  Paul  may  have  received  his  commission  at  this  time  as  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 


LIFE   OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL  543 

Soon  after  this,  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  specially  called  by  the 
-Holy  Ghost  to  go  on  their  first  mission  to  the  heathen.  So  wlien 
their  brethren  at  Antioch  had  fasted  and  prayed,  and  laid  their 
hands  upon  them,  they  sent  them  away.  Taking  Mark,  a  nephew 
of  Barnabas,  with  them  as  an  assistant,  they  went  down  to  Se- 
leucia,  the  port  of  Antioch ;  whence  they  sailed  over  to  Cyprus, 
which  was  the  home  of  Barnabas.  They  first  visited  Salamis,  a 
large  city  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  island,  preaching  in  the 
synagogues  on  the  sabbath,  and  visiting  from  house  to  house. 
Thence,  crossing  to  the  western  side  of  the  island,  they  came  to 
Paphos,  which  was  the  residence  of  Sergius  Paulus,  the  proconsul 
of  the  country.  And  here  they  found  a  sorcerer  Elymas  by  name, 
who  was  with  the  proconsul,  and  exerted  an  unfavorable  influence 
over  him.  Nevertheless,  the  proconsul  sent  for  Barnabas  and  Paul, 
and  desired  to  hear  from  them  the  word  of  God  ;  but  Elymas 
withstood  them,  hoping  to  turn  away  the  proconsul  from  the  faith. 
Whereupon  Paul,  fixing  his  eyes  upon  him,  said,  "  O  full  of  all 
subtlety  and  mischief,  thou  child  of  the  Devil,  thou  enemy  of. 
all  righteousness !  wilt  thou  not  cease  to  pervert  the  right  ways  of 
the  Lord  ?  "  And  immediately  the  sorcerer  was  smitten  with  blind- 
ness, and  groped  about,  seeking  some  one  to  lead  him  by  the  hand. 
This  miracle  had  a  great  eifect  upon  the  mind  of  the  proconsul. 
He  became  a  believer  "at  once,  being  astonished  at  the  doctrine  of 
the  Lord. 

From  Paphos  our  missionaries  sailed  northerly  across  a  part  of 
the  Mediterranean,  and  came  to  Perga,  the  chief  city  of  Pam- 
"phylia.  Here  Mark  left  them  to  return  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  Titus, 
a  converted  Greek,  took  his  place.  From  Perga  they  travelled 
in  a  northerly  direction  some  seventy  or  eighty  miles,  until  they 
came  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia.  Here  they  went  into  the  synagogue 
on  the  sabbath  ;  and  Paul  preached  to  the  Jews  a  long  discourse, 
affirming  some  of  the  principal  facts  of  the  gospel  history,  provino- 
incontestably  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  solemnly  warning  his 
Jewish  brethren  of  the  danger  of  rejecting  him  :  "  Beware,  there- 
fore, lest  that  come  upon  you  which  is  spoken  in  the  prophets  ! 
Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  wonder  and  perish  ;  for  I  work  a  work 
in  your  day  which  ye  shall  in  no  wise  beheve,  although  one  declare 
it  unto  you  "  (Acts  xiii.  40). 

This  sermon  produced  a.  great  effect.  Many  Jews  and  religious 
proselytes  followed  Paul  and  Barnabas,  who  exhorted  them  to 
continue  in  the  grace  of  God.     Great  numbers  of  the  Gentiles 


544  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

also  requested  that  the  same  word  might  be  preached  unto  them  ; 
and,  the  next  sabbath,  ahnost  the  whole  city  came  together  to 
hear  the  gospel.-  But,  when  the  Jews  saw  how  much  interest  was 
excited,  they  were  filled  with  envy.  They  raised  a  persecution 
against  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  drove  them  away.  So  they  shook 
off  the  dust  of  their  feet  against  them  ;  and,  journeying  some  thirty 
miles  in  a  south-easterly  du-ection,  they  came  to  Iconium. 

Here  our  missionaries  pursued  the  same  course  as  at  Antioch. 
They  went  first  into  the  synagogue,  and  so  spoke  that  a  great  mul- 
titude of  the  Jews  and  proselytes  believed.  They  abode  here 
many  days,  speaking  boldly  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  signs 
and  miracles  were  wrought  by  their  hands.  But  at  length  the 
multitude  of  the  city  became  divided  respecting  them,  and  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  to  assault  and  to  stone  them.  Aware  of  this, 
they  took  warning,  and  fled ;  and,  going  still  farther  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  they  came  to  Derbe  and  Lystra,  cities  of  Lyca- 
onia. 

At  Lystra,  Paul  healed  a  lame  man  who  had  never  walked ; 
which  so  astonished  the  people,  that  they  declared  the  strangers 
to  be  gods  in  the  likeness  of  men,  and  were  about  to  offer  sac- 
rifice unto  them.  But  Paul  and  Barnabas  forbade  them,  saying, 
"  Why  do  ye  these  things  *?  We  are  not  gods,  but  men  of  like 
passions  with  yourselves,  and  preach  unto  you  that  ye  should  turn 
from  these  vanities  unto  the  living  God,  who  made  the  heavens 
and  the  earth." 

This  gust  of  popular  favor  at  Lystra  soon  passed  away  ;  for 
certain  hostile  Jews  from  Iconium  and  Antioch  came  down  there, 
and  so  excited  the  people  against  the  missionaries,  that  they  stoned 
Paul,  and  drew  him  out  of  the  city  as  one  dead ;  but  he  •  soon 
revived,  went  into  the  city,  and,  the  next  day,  departed  unto 
Derbe. 

Here  also  they  preached  the  gospel,  and  instructed  many  ;  and 
then,  returning  through  Lystra  and  Iconium  to  Antioch,  they 
confirmed  the  souls  of  the  disciples,  and  exhorted  them  to  con- 
tinue steadfast  in  the  faith.  And  when  they  had  ordained  them 
elders  in  every  church,  and  praj^ed  and  fasted  with  them,  they 
commended  them  to  the  Lord  in  whom  they  believed. 

From  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  the  missionaries  returned  to  Perga, 
where  they  first  landed  when  they  came  from  Cyprus  ;  and  there 
they  tarried  a  while,  and  preached  the  gospel.  Thence  they  went 
to  Attaha,  another  town  on'the  seashore  ;  from  which  place  they 


LIFE   OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL.  545 

sailed  to  Antioch  in  Syria,  —  to  the  great  Church  which  had  sent 
them  forth  on  this  mission  of  mercy.  And,  when  they  had  gathered 
the  Church  together,  they  rehearsed  all  that  God  had  done  with 
them  and  by  them,  and  how  he  had  opened  the  door  of  faith 
unto  the  Gentiles  ;  and  here  they  tarried  with  their  brethren,  and 
labored  for  a  considerable  time. 

It  was  during  this  respite  at  Antioch  that  certain  Jewish 
believers  came  down  from  Jerusalem,  and  insisted  that  the  Gentile 
converts  must  all  of  them  be  circumcised,  and  keep  the  law  of 
Moses,  or  they  could  not  be  saved.  This  demand  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas strenuously  resisted ;  but,  as  there  seemed  to  be  no  prospect 
of  settling  the  question  there,  it  was  determined  that*  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  with  Titus  and  certain  other  bretliren,  should  go  up 
to  Jerusalem,  and  lay  the  case  before  the  apostles  and  the  elders 
of  that  mother-church.  This  was  Paul's  third  journey  to  Jeru- 
salem after  he  became  a  Christian ;  in  accomplishing  which  he 
and  his  brethren  passed  down  the  Mediterranean  as  far  as  Tyre, 
thence  across  the  country  to  Samaria,  and  thence  to  the  holy 
city ;  declaring  wherever  they  went  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles, 
which  caused  great  joy  to  all  the  brethren.  Arrived  at  Jerusalem, 
they  gathered  the  apostles  and  elders  and  the  whole  Church 
together,  and  submitted  the  very  important  question  with  which 
they  were  charged.  After  much  discussion,  in  which  Peter 
and  James  largely  participated,  it  was  decided  not  to  enforce 
the  yoke  of  circumcision  and  the  Jewish  law  upon  the  Gentile 
converts  ;  and  a  letter  was  prepared  and  sent  to  Antioch,  an- 
nouncing this  decision. 

It  should  seem  that  this  ought  to  have  settled  the  question ;  and 
yet  it  did  not.  The  Judaizing  teachers  continued  to  agitate. 
They  persisted  in  their  demands,  and  were  indefatigable  in  urging 
them.  They  followed  Paul  in  his  future  labors  among  the 
Gentiles,  and  were  determined  to  give  him  no  peace. 

This  was  the  first  great  controversy  in  the  Christian  Church.  It 
related,  not  to  the  practice  of  circumcision  as  a  mere  matter  of  ex- 
pediency, but  to  the  enforcing  of  it  as  essential  to  salvation.  This 
Paul  could  not  admit ;  and  we  can  never  be  sufficiently  thankful 
to  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  for  the  stand  which  he  took  and 
maintained  on  this  occasion.  We  find  frequent  reference  to  this 
controversy  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  particularly  in  those  to  the 
Romans  and  Galatians. 

During  this  visit  to  Jerusalem,  Paul  had  more  intercourse  with 

35 


546  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  original  apostles  —  with  Peter,  James,  and  John  —  than  he 
had  had  before.  He  compared  notes  with  them,  and  found  that 
he  preached  the  same  gospel  as  they :  "  In  conference  they  added 
nothing  to  me  (Gal.  ii.  6)  ;  they  could  teU  me  nothing  of  im- 
portance which  I  had  not  already  received  by  revelation  from 
Jesus  Christ ;  and,  when  they  perceived  the  grace  that  was  given 
unto  me,  they  gave  to  me  and  to  Barnabas  the  right  hand  of  fel- 
lowship." 

Their  mission  to  Jerusalem  being  accomplished,  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas returned  to  Antioch,  taking  Judas  and  Silas  with  them. 
They  took  with  them  the  decision  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem, 
which  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  Gentile  brethren. 

Not  long  after  this,  Peter  came  to  Antioch ;  and,  falling  in  with 
some  of  the  zealous  Judaizers,  he  was  led  to  swerve  from  an  upright 
and  consistent  course,  and  gave  countenance  to  their  schismatical 
proceedings.  He  separated  himself  from  the  Gentile  converts,  and 
refused  to  eat  with  them ;  and  so  great  was  his  influence,  that 
even  Barnabas  was  led  into  the  same  error.  Again,  then,  we  are 
indebted  to  the  firmness  of  Paul  for  withstanding  the  incipient 
threatening  evil.  He  calmly  but  firmly  rebuked  Peter  and  the 
other  dissemblers,  and  maintained  the  position  which  had  been 
taken  at  Jerusalem. 

Shortly  after  this,  Paul  and  Barnabas  resolved  to  visit  the 
churches  which  they  had  planted  among  the  Gentiles,  and  look 
after  their  state.  Barnabas  wished  to  take  Mark  with  them  again ; 
but  Paul  would  not  consent  to  this,  since  Mark  deserted  them  on 
their  former  mission,  and  went  not  with  them  to  the  work.* 
On  this  ground  the  two  friends  now  separated :  Barnabas  took 
Mark,  and  sailed  over  to  Cyprus,  his  native  island ;  but  Paul 
took  Silas,  a  brother  who  had  recently  come  with  him  from  Jeru- 
salem, and  entered  on  liis  second  and  far  more  important  mission 
to  the  heathen. 

They  first  went  through  Syria  and  Cilicia,  confirming  the 
churches,  and  delivering  unto  them  copies  of  the  late  decision 
at  Jerusalem.  At  Lystra,  Paul  found  Timothy,  a  young  brother 
in  Christ,  whose  mother  was  a  Jewish  convert,  but  his  father  was 
a  Greek.  Him  Paul  invited  to  accompany  him  on  his  mission  ;  and, 
that  he  might  encounter  less  prejudice  among  the  Jews,  he  first 
circumcised  him.     From  Lystra  they  passed  through  Phrygia  into 

*  This  was  John  Mark,  a  nephew  of  Barnabas,  and  not  Mark,  the  companion  of  Peter,  who 
wrote  the  Gospel. 


LIFE   OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL.  547 

Galatia,  where  Paul  met  with  great  acceptance,  and  established 
many  churches,  to  which  he  afterwards  addressed  an  epistle. 
From  Galatia,  Paul  intended  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  several 
provinces  of  Asia  Minor ;  but  he  was  directed  by  the  Spirit,  and 
by  other  manifest  indications  of  the  divine  will,  to  cross  the 
^Egean  into  Macedonia.  So,  sailing  from  Troas,  he  came  first  to 
the  Island  of  Samothracia,  and  thence  to  Neapolis,  and  thence 
to  Philippi,  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  Macedonia,  and  a  Roman 
colony.  Here  he  baptized  Lydia  and  the  jailer,  with  their  house- 
holds, and  established  a  flourishing  church,  which  was  afterwards 
honored  with  an  epistle.  But,  being  persecuted  without  cause, 
he  departed  from  Philippi ;  and,  passing  through  Amphipolis  and 
Apollonia,  he  came  to  Thessalonica,  another  large  city  of  Mace- 
donia. Here  Paul  went  into  the  synagogue,  and  for  three  successive 
sabbaths  reasoned  with  the  Jews  out  of  their  own  Scriptures, 
opening  and  alleging  that  Christ  must  needs  suffer,  and  rise  from 
the  dead,  and  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  Christ :  and  many 
believed,  both  Jews  and  proselytes ;  and  the  materials  of  a  church 
were  soon  gathered.  But  the  unbelieving  Jews  stirred  up  the 
people,  set  the  city  in  an  uproar,  and  constrained  Paul  and  his 
company  to  depart. 

They  next  went  to  Berea,  a  neighboring  city,  and  commenced 
preaching  the  gospel  there  :  and  the  Berpan  Jews  were  more  liberal 
than -those  of  Thessalonica;  for  they  received  the  word  with  all 
readiness  of  mind,  and  searched  the  Scriptures  daily  whether  these 
things  were  so.  The  consequence  was,  that  many  were  converted, 
both  Jews  and  Greeks.  But,  when  the  Thessalonian  Jews  heard 
that  the  Bereans  had  embraced  the  truth,  they  came  down  there 
and  created  a  tumult,  and  made  it  necessary  for  Paul  to  depart : 
so,  leaving  Silas  and  Timothy  at  Berea,  he  went  on  to  Athens,  the 
great  seat  and  centre  of  Grecian  art  and  wisdom. 

While  waiting  here  for  his  companions,  Paul  took  a  survey  of 
Athens,  preached  in  the  synagogue,  entered  into  conversation  with 
the  philosophers,  and,  as  he  was  found  to  hold  some  novel  doc- 
trines, was  brought  by  them  to  the  Areopagus,  an  Athenian  court 
designed  for  looking  into  such  matters.  And  here  he  delivered  his 
celebrated  speech  on  Mars'  Hill,  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
popular  oratory  in  all  antiquity.  His  object  was  to  set  before  them 
that  "  unknown  God  "  for  whom  both  they  and  their  fathers  had 
been  so  long  groping  in  vain.  His  success  in  Athens,  however,  was 
small.     These  proud  philosophers  were  not  in  a  mood  to  receive 


548  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

instruction  from  a  travelling  Jew:  a  few  only  adhered  to  liim, 
among  whom  were  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  and  a  noble  lady 
named  Damaris. 

Upon  his  departure  fi-om  Athens,  Paul  went  to  Corinth,  the 
metropolis  of  Greece  Proper,  and  the  residence  of  the  proconsul 
of  Achaia.  Here  he  found  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  lately  come  from 
Italy,  because  that  Claudius  Csesar  had  banished  all  the  Jews 
from  Rome.  With  them  Paul  resided,  and  wrought  with  them 
in  the  business  of  tent-making.  He  assembled  with  the  Jews 
every  sabbath  in  the  synagogue,  and  testified  to  them  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ ;  and,  though  some  few  of  them  received  his  testi- 
mony, the  multitude  rejected  it,  opposing  and  blaspheming  the 
doctrine  of  the  Lord :  wherefore  Paul  shook  his  raiment,  forsook 
the  synagogue,  and  commenced  preaching  to  the  Gentiles.  At  the 
same  time,  he  was  encouraged  by  a  vision  of  his  risen  Lord,  who 
said  to  him,  "  Be  not  afraid ;  hold  not  thy  peace ;  for  I  am  with 
thee,  and  no  man  shall  hurt  thee  ;  for  I  have  much  people  in  this 
city."  So  Paul  continued  at  Corinth  a  year  and  six  months,  teach- 
ing and  publishing  the  word  of  the  Lord.  In  this  time  a  large 
church  was  established,  which  continued  to  flourish  for  a  long 
period.  The  Jews,  as  their  custom  was,  endeavored  to  excite 
against  him  Gallib  the  proconsul ;  but  Gallio  would  not  listen 
to  them,  and  the  work  of  the  Lord  continued  to  prosper. 

While  residing  at  Corinth,  Paul  is  supposed  to  have  written  his 
two  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians,  —  about  A.D.  52.  If  so,  these 
are  the  oldest  of  his  epistles. 

After  leaving  Corinth,  Paul  sailed  over  the  jEgean  to  return  to 
Syria,  taking  his  friends  Aquila  and  Priscilla  with  him.  On  their 
way  they  stopped  at  Ephesus,  where  he  went  into  the  synagogue 
and  reasoned  with  the  Jews ;  and,  when  they  requested  him  to  tarry 
with  them,  he  refused,  being  determined,  if  possible,  to  keep  the 
approaching  Passover  at  Jerusalem.  This  was  his  fourth  visit  to 
the  holy  city  after  his  conversion.  And  here  we  leave  him  and  his 
history  for  the  present,  to  be  concluded  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

LIFE    OF   THE    APOSTLE    PAUL. CONCLUDED. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  we  followed  the  apostle  Paul  through  his 
second  long  and  perilous  missionary  tour,  in  which  he  not  only- 
visited  the  churches  before  planted  by  him,  but  passed  over  into 
Macedonia  and  Greece,  preaching  the  gospel  at  Philippi,  at  Thessa- 
lonica,  at  Berea,  at  Athens,  and  at  Corinth.  On  his  return  he 
touched  at  Ephesus,  and  then  landed  at  Csesarea  in  Palestine; 
whence  he  hastened  forward  to  Jerusalem  to  be  present  at  the 
Passover. 

He  seems  to  have  spent  but  little  time  at  Jerusalem  ;  for  we  soon 
find  him  at  Antioch  in  Syria,  from  which  place  his  missionary  tours 
in  both  instances  had  commenced.  Here  he  tarried  some  consider- 
able time,  and  then  revisited  the  churches  he  had  before  planted  in 
Phrygia  and  Galatia.  While  Paul  was  thus  engaged,  an  Alexan- 
drian Jew  named  ApoUos  made  his  appearance  at  Ephesus.  He 
was  an  eloquent  man,  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  ;  but  he  only 
knew  the  doctrine  and  the  baptism  of  John.  Him  Priscilla  and 
Aquila  took,  and  instructed  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord.  After 
this  he  went  over  to  Corinth,  where  his  labors  were  greatly  blessed ; 
for  he  mightily  convinced  the  Jews  at  Corinth,  showing  from  their 
own  Scriptures  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ.  About  this  time,  Peter 
also  preached  at  Corinth;  for,  when  the  members  of  this  Church 
became  divided  respecting  their  teachers,  some  of  them  claimed  to 
be  of  Paul,  and  some  of  ApoUos,  and  some  of  Cephas,  and  some  of 
Christ  (1  Cor.  i.  12). 

Meanwhile,  Paul,  having  accomplished  his  mission  in  Phrygia 
and  Galatia,  fulfilled  his  promise  in  returning  to  Ephesus ;  and 
here  he  found  certain  disciples  —  probably  those  to  -whom  ApoUos 
had  first  preached  —  who  knew  only  the  baptism  of  John.  They 
had  not  heard  of  the  actual  coming  of  Christ,  or  the  descent  of 
the  Holy  Ghost :  so  Paul  took  them  under  his  special  charge,  care- 

549 


550  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

fully  instructed  them,  administered  to  them  Christian  baptism,  laid 
his  hands  upon  them,  and  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his 
miraculous  influences.    They  began  at  once  to  speak  with  tongues. 

In  his  public  labors  at  Ephesus,  Paul  pursued  his  usual  course. 
He  went  into  the  synagogue  every  sabbath  for  three  months, 
endeavoring  to  convince  and  persuade  the  Jews ;  but,  the  most 
of  them  becoming  hardened  and  obstinate,  he  departed  from  them, 
and  went  to  the  Gentiles.  He  taught  for  two  full  years  in  the 
schoolroom  of  one  Tyrannus,  so  that  all  those  of  Lesser  Asia 
heard  the  word  of  the  Lord :  and  not  only  did  he  teach,  but  he 
wrought  the  most  astounding  miracles  ;  for  if  only  a  handkerchief 
from  his  body  were  carried  to  a  sick  person,  or  to  one  possessed 
with  a  devil,  immediately  he  was  healed.  It  was  here  that  the 
sons  of  Sceva  the  Jew  undertook  to  counterfeit  the  miracles  of 
Paul,  and  to  cast  out  devils  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  whom  Paul 
preached.  But  the  attempt  (a  profane  one)  was  most  disastrous 
to  themselves ;  for  the  man  in  whom  the  evil  spirit  was  leaped  on 
them,  and  prevailed  against  them,  and  they  fled  out  of  the  house 
naked  and  wounded. 

There  was  now  a  great  revival  of  religion  at  Ephesus.  Many 
believed  on  the'Lord  Jesus,  and  made  an  open  confession  of  their 
sins ;  and  many  of  those  who  had  used  magical  arts  brought  their 
books  together  and  burned  them :  so  mightily  grew  the  word  of 
God  and  prevailed.  But  the  Devil  could  not  be  easy  to  see  his 
kingdom  thus  rudely  assailed :  so  he  stirred  up  the  silversmiths 
which  made  shrines  for  Diana,  insisting  that  the  new  religion  was 
likely  to  ruin  their  business ;  and  tliese  men  got  up  a  mob  and  an 
uproar,  from  which  Paul  and  his  companions  thought  it  prudent  to 
retire.  It  was  during  PauFs  abode  at  Ephesus  that  he  wrote  liis 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

From  Ephesus,  Paul  and  his  companions  crossed  over  the  sea  to 
Macedonia,  leaving  Timothy  behind  to  attend  to  some  important 
matters,  which,  in  the  hurry  of  his  departure,  he  had  not  time  to 
finish  (1  Tim.  i.  3).  From  Macedonia,  Paul  wrote  his  First  Epistle 
to  Timothy. 

In  Macedonia,  Paul  not  only  visited  the  cities  where  he  had 
before  preached,  but  went  beyond  them,  even  unto  the  borders  of 
lUyricum  and  Thrace  (Rom.  xv.  19).  Here  also  he  was  comforted 
by  the  coming  of  Titus,  who  brought  him  a  favorable  account  of 
the  reception  of  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians :  whereupon 
he  wrote  them  a  Second  Epistle. 


LIFE    OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL.  551 

From  Macedonia,  Paul  went  into  Greece  Proper,  where  he  abode 
three  months.  In  this  time  he  visited  Corintli,  where  he  wrote  his 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  sent  it  to  them  by  Phcebe,  a  servant 
(deaconess)  of  the  Church  at  Cenchrea.  Cenchrea  was  the  port 
of  Corinth.  It  was  during  this  visit  to  Macedon  and  Greece  that 
Paul  was  urging  forward  his  collections  for  the  relief  of  the  j)oor 
saints  at  Jerusalem  (2  Cor.  ix.). 

It  had  been  Paul's  intention  to  pass  directly  over  from  Greece 
into  Syria ;  but,  when  he  learned  that  the  Jews  were  lying  in  wait 
for  him,  —  perhaps  to  rob  him  of  the  money  he  had  collected, 
—  he  resolved  to  turn  back  through  Macedonia.  In  all  these 
journeyings,  Paul  was  attended  by  several  young  men,  who 
waited  upon  him,  ministered  to  him,  executed  his  orders,  and 
aided  him  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  They  were  in  many 
instances  his  pupils  and  evangelists,  whom  he  was  training  for 
usefulness  in  the  Church  when  his  own  labors  should  be  ended. 
Among  those  who  were  with  him  at  this  time  were  Sopater,  Aris- 
tarchus,  Secundus,  Gains,  Timotheus,  Trophimus,  Tychicus,  and 
Luke  the  beloved  physician  (Acts  xx.  4). 

From  Philippi  in  Macedonia  they  sailed  to  Troas  in  Asia,  making 
the  voyage  in  five  days.  At  Troas  they  tarried  seven  days.  It 
was  here  that  Paul  preached  until  midnight,  when  a  young  man  in 
his  sleep  fell  from  the  third  loft,  and  was  taken  up  for  dead.  He 
was  not  dead,  however,  but  was  presently  restored  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Paul. 

The  following  day,  Paul  walked  to  Assos,  a  town  on  the  sea- 
shore, whither  he  had  sent  his  company  by  ship.  Thence  they  set 
sail  to  Mitylene,  and  from  thence  to  Samos  ;  and,  having  staid  some 
little  time  at  Trogyllium,  the  next  day  they  passed  by  Ephesus, 
and  came  to  Miletus.  From  Miletus,  Paul  sent  messengers  to  Eph- 
esus, and  called  for  the  elders  of  the  Church  ;  and,  when  they 
had  come  to  him,  he  delivered  to  them  that  touching  farewell  ad- 
dress and  charge  which  we  find  recorded  in  the  twentieth  chapter 
of  the  Acts.  His  parting  with  them  was  of  the  most  affecting 
character.  They  prayed  and  wept  together,  .under  the  impression 
that  on  earth,  they  should  meet  no  more. 

Leaving  Miletus,  Paul  and  his  company  first  came  to  Coos,  then 
to  Rhodes,  then  to  Patara,  and  then  to  Tyre,  where,  finding  disci- 
ples, they  tarried  with  them  seven  days.  From  Tyre  they  came 
to  Ptolemais,  and  the  next  day  to  Ceesarea,  where  they  lodged  in 
the  house  of  Philip  the   evangelist,  originally  one  of  the  seven 


? 


552  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

deacons  at  Jerusalem.  Philip  had  four  daughters  endowed  with 
the  gift  of  prophecy,  who  warned  Paul  —  as  he  had  been  before 
warned  at  Tyre  —  of  the  danger  of  going  up  to  Jerusalem.  In 
view  of  these  prophetic  warnings,  his  friends  entreated  him  to  stop, 
or  to  turn  aside  to  some  other  place.  But  to  his  own  mind  the 
point  of  duty  was  clear,  and  his  resolution  was  fixed.  He  pro- 
ceeded directly  to  Jerusalem,  and  was  kindly  received  by  brethren 
there.  Indeed,  he  ought  to  have  been  kindly  received ;  for  this 
was  his  second  visit  to  the  holy  city,  bringing  presents  from  the 
Gentile  churches  for  the  relief  of  the  poor.  The  day  after  his  arrival, 
Paul  went  to  the  house  of  James,  where  he  found  the  elders  of 
the  church  assembled.  He  gave  them  an  account  of  his  mission- 
ary labors  and  successes,  in  which  they  were  greatly  interested. 
But  the  questions  at  once  arose,  "  How  is  Paul  to  be  disposed  of 
here  at  Jerusalem  ?  How  are  we  to  satisfy  the  thousands  of  Jew- 
ish believers,  who  are  all  zealous  of  the  law,  that  he  is  not,  as  he 
is  charged,  a  disorderly  walker,  and  a  despiser  of  the  institutions 
of  Moses  ?  "  To  meet  the  difficulty,  the  following  expedient  was 
proposed :  "  We  have  four  men  which  have  a  vow  upon  them : 
purify  thyself  with  them,  and  be  at  charges,  and  shave  thy  head, 
that  all  may  know  that  the  things  reported  of  thee  are  false,  but 
that  thou  walkest  orderly,  and  keepest  the  law."  To  this  propo- 
sition Paul  assented.  He  purified  himself  with  the  men  under  a 
vow,  and  entered  into  the  temple  with  them  to  accomplish  the 
seven  days  of  purification,  that  an  offering  might  be  made  for  each 
of  them.  And  here,  as  it  seems  to  me,  Paul  mistook,  for  once,  the 
line  of  his  duty.  Instead  of  keeping  about  his  business,  and  putting 
his  trust  in  God,  he  descended,  at  the  suggestion  of  others,  to  a 
specious  artifice,  a  trick,  with  a  view  to  satisfy  the  Jews  that  he 
was  a  more  strict  observer  of  the  law  than  he  really  was.  And 
soon  'the  event  proved  that  this  very  artifice,  resorted  to  to  save 
him  from  trouble,  was  the  means  of  plunging  him  into  it.  For, 
when  the  days  of  his  purification  were  almost  ended,  certain  Jews 
from  Asia  Minor,  seeing  him  in  the  temple,  stirred  up  the  people, 
and  laid  hands  on  him,  crying  out,  "  Men  of  Israel,  help  ;  for  this 
is  the  man  who  preaches  everywhere  against  this  holy  place  and 
the  law."  And  the  whole  city  was  moved :  the  people  ran  together : 
they  di-agged  Paul  out  of  the  temple,  fell  to  beating  him,  and 
would  soon  have  killed  him,  had  he  not  been  rescued  by  the  chief 
captain  of  the  temple  (a  Roman  military  officer)  and  his  soldiers. 
The  chief  captain,  therefore,  took  Paul,  bound  him,  and  was  in  the 


LIFE    OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL.  553 

act  of  carrying  him  into  the  Castle  Antonia,  which  stood  near  the 
temple ;  but,  when  he  came  upon  the  stairs,  Paul  asked  and  ob- 
tained permission  to  address  the  people.  And  here  he  delivered 
to  the  excited  multitude,  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  one  of  his  most 
eloquent  and  powerful  speeches,  recorded  in  the  twenty-second 
chapter  of  the  Acts.  He  spake  of  his  birth,  of  his  education  at 
the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  of  his  zeal  in  persecuting  the  Church,  of  his 
sudden  and  surprising  conversion,  and  of  the  commission  he  had 
received  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
Gentiles.  They  heard  him  patiently  till  he  came  to  this  point,  — 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles, —  when  they  broke  out 
upon  him  with  great  violence,  crying,  "Away  with  this  fellow  from 
the  earth  !  for  it  is  not  fit  that  he  should  live." 

The  chief  captain  took  Paul  into  the  castle,  and  was  about  to 
examine  him  by  scourging ;  but  Paul  pleaded  his  Roman  citizen- 
ship, and  so  escaped  the  infliction.  The  next  day,  the  chief  cap- 
tain brought  Paul  before  the.  Sanhedrim,  that  he  might  know  the 
nature  of  the  charges  against  him ;  but  the  Sanhedrim  broke  up  in 
confusion,  without  coming  to  any  decision.  The  night  following, 
Paul  was  favored  with  a  vision  of  his  ascended  Lord,  who  stood 
by  him,  and  said,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  Paul ;  for  as  thou  hast  testi- 
fied of  me  at  Jerusalem,  so  must  thou  bear  witness  at  Rome." 

When  the  captain  of  the  temple  learned  the  next  morning  that 
the  Jews  were  lying  in  wait  for  Paul,  and  that  more  than  forty  of 
them  had  bound  themselves  with  an  oath  not  to  eat  or  drink  till 
they  had  killed  him,  he  resolved  at  once  that  he  would  send  him 
away  under  a  strong  military  guard  to  Felix,  the  Roman  gov- 
ernor, who  dwelt  at  Caesarea.  And  all  this  was  successfully  accom- 
plished. Paul  was  safely  lodged  in  Herod's  judgment-hall  at 
Csesarea,  waiting  for  his  accusers  to  come  and  implead  him. 

Here  Paul,  after  a  little  time,  confronted  his  accusers,  and  easily 
refuted  their  false  and  malicious  charges.  Here  he  preached  so 
pointedly  to  Felix  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and  a  judgment 
to  come,  that  the  governor  trembled.  Still  Paul  was  not  released. 
He  was  retained  a  prisoner,  in  the  expectation  that  he  would  ere 
long  consent  to  purchase  his  liberty  with  a  bribe. 

At  the  end  of  two  years,  Felix  was  displaced  by  Nero,  and  For- 
tius Festus  was  made  governor  in  his  room.  To  him  tlie  Jewish 
rulers  made  an  earnest  appeal,  entreating  that  Paul  might  be  con- 
demned and  punished,  or  at  least  that  he  might  be  sent  back  to 
Jerusalem  to  be  tried  according  to  the  Jewish  law.     When  the 


554  ,  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

governor  laid  this  proposition  before  Paul,  lie  firmly  replied,  "  I 
stand  at  Csesar's  judgment-seat,  where  I  ought  to  be  judged.  I 
have  done  nothing  against  the  Jews  worthy  of  death  or  of  bonds ; 
and  I  will  not  be  delivered  into  their  hands.  /  appeal  unto  Gcesar.'''' 
Then  Festus  answered,  "  Hast  thou  appealed  unto  Ceesar  ?  unto 
Csesar  shalt  thou  go." 

Shortly  after  this,  King  Agrippa,  son  of  Herod  Agrippa,  and 
great-grandson  of  Herod  the  Great,  came  down  to  Csesarea  to  salute 
Festus.  To  liis  notice  Festus  brought  the  case  of  Paul ;  when 
the  king  expressed  an  earnest  desire  to  hear  him.  So  Paul  was 
brought  before  the  king,  the  governor,  and  all  the  nobility  of  the 
province,  and  there  made  a  speech,  —  an  apology  for  himself.  This 
speech  is  given  entire  in  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  and 
}ias  been  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  popular 
eloquence.  The  result  was,  that  King  Agrippa  was  almost  per- 
suaded to  be  a  Christian ;  and  all  were  agreed  that  Paul  might 
have  been  set  at  liberty  if  he  had  not  appealed  unto  Csesar. 

We  come  now  to  Paul's  voyage  into  Italy,  m  which  he  was 
accompanied  by  Luke,  by  Aristarchus,  and  by  other  Christian 
friends.  The  prisoners,  among  whom  was  Paul,  were  intrusted  to 
the  charge  of  a  centurion,  whose  name  was  Julius.  They  em- 
barked early  in  September,  and,  sailing  northerly,  touched  at 
Sidon,  where  Paul  was  permitted  to  go  ashore  and  visit  his 
friends.  Thence  they  passed  by  the  eastern  end  of  Cyprus,  not 
far  from  Antioch  in  Syria  ;  then,  turning  their  course  westward, 
they  sailed  along  the  borders  of  Cilicia  and  Pamphylia  to  Myra,  a 
city  of  Lycia.  Here  they  were  put  aboard  of  another  vessel ;  and, 
coasting  along  the  shores  of  Asia,  they  came  as  far  as  Cnidus,  op- 
posite the  Island  of  Rhodes.  A  contrary  wind  now  arose,  which 
drove  them  in  a  south-westerly  direction  upon  the  Isle  of  Crete. 
They  touched  at  Fairhaven,  on  the  south-eastern  shore  of  Crete ; 
and  Paul  advised  th^m  to  winter  there  :  but,  as  the  harbor  was  not 
commodious,  it  was  resolved  to  sail  a  hundred  miles  farther,  —  to 
Phenice,  on  the  south-western  shore  of  the  island.  But  no  sooner 
had  they  embarked  than  they  encountered  a  tempestuous  wind, 
which  rendered  the  ship  wholly  unmanageable  ;  and  so  they  were 
tossed  about,  without  sun  or  stars,  and  not  knowing  at  all  whither 
they  were  drifting,  for  a  long  time.  After  about  fourteen  days, 
they  were  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Melita,  now  Malta ;  having  been 
di"iven  in  a  westerly  direction  across  the  whole  sea  of  Adria. 

At  Melita  the  ship's  company  were  detained  about  three  months  ; 


LIFE   OF  THE  APOSTLE   PAUL.  555 

in  which  time  Paul  healed  many  that  were  sick,  and  did  all  in  his 
power  to  inculcate  and  commend  the  gospel.  They  at  length  em- 
barked" in  a  ship  of  Alexandria,  and  touched  first  at  Syracuse,  on 
the  Island  of  Sicily ;  then  at  Rhegium,  the  southern  extremity  of 
the  Italian  peninsula  ;  and  then  at  Puteoli,  where  they  left  the 
ship,  and  tarried  with  Christian  brethren  seven  days.  Thence 
they  pursued  their  journey  by  land,  and  were  met  and  cordially 
.greeted  by  brethren  from  Rome,  —  first  at  Appii  Forum,  some  fifty 
miles  from  the  city ;  and  afterwards  at  the  Three  Taverns,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty  miles.  Greatly  encouraged  by  these  tokens  of 
affection  and  regard,  Paul  and  his  company  were  conducted  in  a 
kind  of  triumph  into  the  city.  The  prisoners  were  delivered  over 
by  the  centurion  to  the  captain  of  the  guard ;  but,  instead  of.  being 
lodged  with  the  rest  in  the  common  prison,  Paul  was  permitted  to 
live  in  his  own  hired  house.  He  was,  to  be  sure,  encumbered  with 
a  chain ;  but  he  had  a  degree  of  liberty,  and  received  all  who  came 
to  him. 

The  first  thing  that  Paul  did  after  coming  to  Rome  was  to  call 
the  chief  of  the  Jews  together,  acquaint  them  with  the  cause  of  his 
being  brought  there  a  prisoner,  and  assure  them  that  he  had  no 
charge  to  prefer  against  the  Jews.  As  they  expressed  a  wish  to 
hear  him  concerning  the  faith  of  Christ,  he  appointed  them  a  day, 
when  they  came  in  great  numbers  to  his  lodgings  ;  and  he  reasoned 
with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures  from  morning  till  night.  And 
some  believed  the  things  that  were  spoken,  while  others  rejected 
them. 

Paul  continued  a  prisoner  at  Rome  two  full  years,  laboring  as 
best  he  could  with  the  encumbrance  of  a  chain.  He  ceased  not  to 
teach  and  preach  the  things  concerning  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
no  man  'forbidding  him.  Without  doubt,  many  were  converted 
through  his  instrumentality ;  among  whom  were  some  of  Csesar's 
household. 

There  was  a  slave  at  Rome,  Onesimus  by  name,  who  had  run 
away  from  his  master,  Philemon  of  Colosse.  He  was  converted 
through  Paul's  influence,  and  sent  back  to  his  master  with  a  letter, 
not  to  consign  him  to  hopeless  bondage,  but  rather  to  effect  his 
legal  release ;  which  object  was  at  once  accomplished.  Onesi- 
mus was  set  at  liberty,  and  sent  back  to  Rome,  to  be  an  assistant 
of  the  apostle  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  Onesimus  was  afterwards 
•employed  with  Tychicus  to  carry  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

The  Christians  at  Philippi,  hearing  of  Paul's  imprisonment  at 


656  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Rome,  and  fearing  that  he  might  -be  in  circumstances  of  want,  got 
up  a  contribution  for  him,  and  sent  it  by  Epaphroditus,  one  of  their 
ministers.  Epaphroditus  fell  sick  at  Rome  ;  but  after  his  recovery 
he  returned  to  his  charge,  carrying  with  him  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians.  The  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  was  also  written  at  this 
time,  and  sent  to  them  by  the  hand  of  Tychicus. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  I  cannot  doubt,  is  a  genuine  writing 
of  the  apostle  Paul.  The  style  of  it  differs  somewhat  from  that  of 
his  other  epistles,  as  does  also  the  subject ;  and  yet  it  bears  unmis- 
takable marks  of  being  the  product  of  his  great,  overflowing  mind 
and  his  full  heart.  The  sentiments  are  coincident  with  those  of 
his  other  epistles,  and  the  whole  is  just  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  him  in  an  address  to  his  Hebrew  brethren.  It  could 
have  been  written  by  no  man  in  that  age  of  whom  we  have  any 
knowledge,  except  the  apostle  Paul.  It  is  dated  from  Italy,  speaks 
of  Timothy  as  having  been  recently  set  at  liberty,  and  was  proba- 
bly written  near  the  close  of  Paul's  confinement. 

By  what  means  the  apostle  obtained  his  liberty,  we  are  not  in- 
formed :  it  may  have  been  tlirough  the  intercession  of  some  in 
Cesar's  household  who  had  been  converted  by  his  means. 

In  regard  to  the  places  which  Paul  visited  after  his  enlargement, 
there  is  much  uncertainty.  My  OAvn  opinion  is,  that  he  first  trav- 
elled eastward,  visiting  many  of  the  churches  in  Macedonia,  Greece, 
Asia  Minor,  and  Syria.  He  may  have  carried  out  his  expressed 
design  of  revisiting  Palestine  (Heb.  xiii.  23).  It  was  during  tliis 
tour  that  he  left  his  cloak  and  his  parchments  at  Troas  (2  Tim.  iv. 
13).  This  was  also  the  time  of  his  mission  to  Crete,  where  he  left 
Titus  to  regulate  and  organize  the  churches,  and  when  he  left 
Trophimus  at  Miletum  sick  (Tit.  i.  5  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  20). 

Returning  from  the  East,  Paul  may  have  accomplished  his  long- 
cherished  purpose  of  visiting  the  churches  in  Spain  and  Gaul.  We 
have  no  notice  of  this  in  the  Scriptures  ;  but  it  accords  well  with 
the  enterprising  spirit  of  the  apostle,  and  also  with  the  testimony 
of  the  Roman  Clement,  a  companion  of  Paul,  who  perfectly  knew 
his  personal  history,  and  who  tells  us  that  he  did  publish  the  gos- 
pel "  to  the  uttermost  boundaries  of  the  west." 

From  this  tour  (if  he  actually  made  it)  Paul  returned  to  Rome 
about  the  year  64.  The  Neronian  persecution  broke  out  soon  after, 
and  he  was  imprisoned.  He  was  not  now,  as  before,  a  prisoner  at 
large,  living  in  his  own  hired  house,  and  receiving  all  that  came  to 
him;  but  he  was  in  close  confine;ment,  —  so  close,  that  good  One- 


LIFE   OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL.  557 

sipliorus  was  under  necessity  of  searching  very  diligently  for  him  in 
order  to  find  him  (2  Tim.  i.  17). 

During  Paul's  first  confinement  at  Rome,  his  brethren  were 
encouraged  by  his  bonds,  and  were  bold  to  speak  the  word  more 
abundantly  without  fear  (Phil.  i.  14).  But,  during  his  last  im- 
prisonment, circumstances  must  have  greatly  changed.  It  was  a 
time  of  terrible  persecution,  and  his  more  timid  brethren  were  con- 
cealed :  "At  my  first  answer,  no  man  stood  with  me ;  but  all  men 
forsook  me  "  (2  Tim.  iv.  16). 

It  was  after  his  first  imprisonment,  and  previous  to  the  second, 
that  Paid  wrote  his  Epistle  to  Titus  ;  but  the  Second  Epistle  to 
Timothy  was  written  durhig  his  last  close  confinement  at  Rome. 
The  closing  chapter  of  tliis  epistle  may  be  regarded,  therefore,  as 
his  last  ivorcls,  —  the  last,  certainly,  of  wliich  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge. And  with  what  more  appropriate  words  could  he  have 
closed  his  ministry  on  earth  ?  —  "I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and 
the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought  a  good  fight ; 
I  have  finished  my  course  ;  I  have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day." 

The  tradition  is,  that  Peter  was  now  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  and 
that  the  two  apostles  suffered  martyrdom  together.  Peter  was  cru- 
cified :  but  Paul,  on  account  of  his  being  a  Roman  citizen,  was  not 
exposed  upon  the  cross  ;  he  was  beheaded.  He  was  buried  in  the 
Via  Ostiensis,  about  two  miles  from  the  city  ;  and  over  his  grave  a 
splendid  church  was  erected  by  Constantine  about  the  year  318. 

The  ancients  represent  Paul  as  a  man  of  small  stature,  and 
somewhat  stooping.  His  complexion  was  fair,  his  eyes  bright  and 
intelligent,  his  nose  long  and  aquiline,  his  brows  thick  and  shaggy, 
and  his  hair  and  beard,  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  sprinkled 
with  gray.  His  age  cannot  be  certainly  determined.  He  must 
have  been  more  than  sixty  at  his  death  ;  having  been  born  only  a 
few  years  later  than  Christ. 

I  have  no  occasion  at  this  time  to  go  into  a  lengthened  consid- 
eration of  the  character  of  Paul.  That  he  had  a  vigorous  intellect, 
well  sharpened  by  early  training  and  culture,  no  one  can  doubt. 
His  emotional  nature  was  impulsive,  strong,  and  deeply  sanctified. 
He  had  a  great  and  a  good  heart.  Though  for  the  gospel's  sake 
he  would  not  suffer  his  apostolical  claims  to  be  called  in  question, 
yet  he  was  a  truly  humble  man.  He  spoke  the  feelings  of  his  heart 
when  he  said,  "  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles,  and  am  not  meet 


658  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

to  be  called  an  apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  Cliurch  of  God." 
"  Unto  me,  who  am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  is  this  grace 
given,  that  I  should  preach  among  the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ." 

Paul  was  an  example  of  temjoerance  and  sohriety.  He  kept 
under  his  body,  and  brought  it  into  subjection,  lest,  when  he  had 
preached  to  others,  he  himself  should  be  a  castaway.  His  kindness 
and  charity  were  admirable,  even  towards  those  who  were  his 
personal  enemies  :  "I  speak  the  truth  in  Christ,  I  lie  not,  my  con- 
science also  bearing  me  witness,  that  I  have  great  heaviness  and 
continual  sorrow  in  my  heart ;  for  I  would  that  myself  were  ac- 
cursed from  Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the 
flesh." 

The  zeal  and  enterprise  of  the  apostle,  his  activity  in  publishing 
the  gospel  and  gathering  sinners  into  the  fold  of  Christ,  were  un- 
paralleled. By  night  and  by  day,  on  the  land  and  on  the  deep,  he 
was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  reproving,  rebuking,  ex- 
horting every  man,  that  he  might  present  them  faultless  before 
the  judgment-seat.  For  more  than  thirty  years  after  his  conver- 
sion, he  was  seldom  long  in  one  place.  From  Jerusalem  round 
about  unto  Illyricum,  and  then  to  Rome,  and  "  to  the  utmost  boun- 
daries of  the  west,"  he  fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ ; 
"  running,"  says  Jerome,  "  like  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  —  sooner 
wanting  ground  to  tread  upon  than  a  desire  to  propagate  the 
faith  of  Christ."  While  the  other  apostles  were  laborious  men, 
Paul  says  truly,  though  not  boastfully,  "  I  labored  more  abun- 
dantly than  they  all." 

And  what  shall  be  said  of  his  patience  and  fortitude  in  meeting 
and  overcoming  difficulties  and  trials  ?  His  perils  and  sufferings 
were  perpetual.  A  thousand  times  his  life  was  at  stake.  Every- 
where he  manifested  that  he  counted  not  his  life  dear  unto  him- 
self, that  so  he  might  accomplish  the  ministr}^  he  had  received,  and 
finish  his  course  with  joy.  Therefore,  when  under  sentence  of 
death,  he  could  triumphantly  say,  as  before  quoted,  "  I  am  now 
ready  to  be  offered.  I  have  finished  my  course.  Henceforth  there 
is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness." 

Though  Paul  has  long  been  dead,  his  influence  can  never  die. 
It  still  lives  in  his  example,  his  writings,  and  his  works,  and  will 
continue  to  live  on  earth  to  the  end  of  time,  and  in  heavenly 
places  forever.  Of  all  the  mere  men  that  ever  dwelt  upon  the 
earth,  to  no  two  is  the  world  so  much  indebted  as  to  Moses  and 


LIFE    OF  THE   APOSTLE   PAUL.  559 

Paul.  Nor  can  we  ever  sufficiently  admire  the  providence  and 
grace  of  God  m  making  a  thorough-bred  and  bigoted  Jew  the 
prmcipal  means  of  deliverance  from  Jewish  rites,  and  in  makin- 
the  earliest  and  most  violent  persecutor  of  Christianity  such  an 
emment  means  of  spreading  the  Christian  rehgion  throughout  the 
earth.  ° 


CHAPTER    X. 

COMPANIONS    AND    IMMEDIATE    SUCCESSORS    OF    THE    APOSTLES. 

THE  companions  of  the  apostles  were  tliat  corps  of  evangelists 
who  generally  attended  them,  and  labored  under  their  direc- 
tion. Pre-eminent  among  these  were  Mark,  Luke,  Barnabas, 
Timothy,  and  Titus.  The  immediate  successors  of  the  apostles 
were  those  venerable  men  —  the  most  of  them  bishops,  or  pastors 
of  churches  —  who  filled  up  the  first  century,  and  part  of  the 
second.     They  are  designated  Apostolical  Fathers. '  -        ■ 

MARK. 

Among  the  evangelists  of  the  apostolic  age  were  two  men  by 
the  name  of  Mark.  The  first  was  a  relative  and  assistant  of  the 
apostle  Peter ;  the  second  was  John  Mark,  a  sister's  son  of  Barna- 
bas. Eusebius  tells  us  that  the  first  Mark  was  early  sent  by  Peter 
into  Egypt,  and  there  planted  the  great  Church  of  Alexandria. 
He  was  instrumental  in  leading  many  in  that  city  not  only  to 
embrace  the  Christian  faith,  but  to  honor  it  by  a  holy,  consistent 
life. 

When  Peter  came  or  was  carried  to  Rome  near  the  close  of  life, 
Mark  is  supposed  to  have  been  with  him,  and  there,  at  the  request 
of  the  Roman  Church,  and  under  the  direction  and  inspection  of 
Peter,  to  have  written  his  Gospel.  It  is  virtually  Peter's  Gospel, 
—  the  account  of  our  Lord's  life,  labors,  sufferings,  and  death, 
which  Peter  was  accustomed  to  relate  in  his  discourses,  —  although 
it  bears  the  name  of  Mark. 

After  the  martyrdom  of  Peter,  which  occurred  in  the  year  64, 
Mark  is  supposed  to  have  returned  to  Alexandria,  where  he  was 
greatly  instrumental  in  guiding  ■  and  building  up  the  Church 
which  he  had  before  planted.  And  here  he  at  length  obtained 
the  crown  of  martyrdom.  The  idolaters  of  ,  the  city  broke  in 
upon  him  while  engaged  in  the    solemnities  of   divine  worship, 

560 


COMPANIONS   AND   SUCCESSORS   OF  THE   APOSTLES.         561 

bound  his  feet  with  cords,  and  dragged  him  through  the  streets 
until  his  flesh  was  literally  torn  from  his  body  and  he  expired. 
This  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  about  the  year  70. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  which,  as  I  said,  is 
Peter's  Gospel,  is  more  severe  upon  the  foibles  and  faults  of  Peter 
than  either  of  the  other  Gospels ;  thus  showing,  that,  however  the 
other  writers  may  have  been  disposed  to  spare  the  reputation  of 
Peter,  he  was  not  at  all  disposed  to  spare  himself. 

Of  John  Mark  we  are  told  expressly  that  he  was  "  sister's  son 
to  Barnabas"  (Col.  iv.  10).  His  home  was  at  Jerusalem;  and  his 
mother's  name  was  Mary.  It  was  at  her  house  that  the  disciples 
were  assembled  when  Peter,  having  been  rescued  from  prison  by 
an  angel,  came  and  knocked  for  admittance  at  the  door  (Acts  xii. 
12).  When  Paul  and  Barnabas  set  forth  from  Antioch  on  their 
first  mission  to  the  heathen,  they  took  Mark  with  them  as  an  assist- 
ant ;  but,  when  they  reached  Perga  in  Pamphylia,  he  became  dis- 
couraged, and  turned  back  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  xiii.  13). 

When  they  were  about  to  enter  upon  their  second  mission,  Bar- 
nabas was  minded  to  try  Mark  again  :  "  But  Paul  thought  it  not  best 
to  take  him  with  them,  who  departed  from  them  in  Pamphylia, 
and  went  not  with  them  to  the  work"  (Acts  xv.  38).  This  dif- 
ference of  opinion  respecting  an  assistant  was  the  means  of  sejDa- 
rating  the  two  missionaries;  Paul  (attended  by  Silas)  going  one 
way,  and  Barnabas  and  Mark  another.  Later  in  life,  Mark  seems 
to  have  recovered  the  good  opinion  of  Paul ;  for  he  mentions  him 
to  the  Colossians  as  a  "  fellow-worker  unto  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
who  has  been  a  comfort  unto  me :  "  and,  in  his  last  letter  to  Timo- 
thy, Paul  says,  "  Take  Mark,  and  bring  him  with  thee ;  for  he  is 
profitable  to  me  for  the  ministry  "  (Col.  iv.  11 ;  2  Tim.  iv.  11). 
We  hear  nothing  further  of  John  Mark  in  the  New  Testament,  but 
may  hope,  from  the  favorable  mention  of  him  by  the  apostle  Paul, 
that  he  proved  himself  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ,  and  finished 
his  earthly  course  with  joy. 

LUKE. 

Luke,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  Gospel  which  bears  his 
name,  and  for  that  invaluable  fragment  of  early  Christian  history 
entitled  "  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
proselyte  of  Antioch,  where  he  may  have  been  converted  under 
the  searching  ministry  of  Barnabas  and  Paul.  That  he  was  an 
adept  in  Grecian  learning,  as  well  as  a  "  beloved  physician,"  his 

36 


562  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

works  sufficiently  declare.  He  became  a  compaition  and  follower 
of  Paul  during  his  second  mission  to  the  heathen.  Thus,  when 
Paul  had  the  vision  calling  him  into  Macedonia,  the  writer  of  the 
Acts  says,  "  Immediately  we  endeavored  to  go,"  —  importing  that 
at  that  time  he  was  of  Paul's  company ;  and  from  this  period 
he  seems  to  have  constantly  attended  Paul,  or  to  have  waited  upon 
him,  almost  to  the  close  of  his  earthly  labors.  Paul  gratefully  owns 
him  as  his  fellow-laborer,  —  as  the  brother  whose  praise  is  in  all  the 
churches.  He  mentions  him  in  his  Epistles,  and  uniformly  speaks 
of  him  with  affection  and  confidence. 

At  what  time  Luke  wrote  his  Gospel,  it  is  impossible  to  decide. 
He  had  had  abundant  opportunities  for  information  from  those 
who  "  from  the  beginning  were  ejx- witnesses  and  ministers  of  the 
word,"  and  "  had  a  perfect  understanding  of  all  things  from 
the  very  first ; "  add  to  this,  he  wrote  under  the  inspection  of 
the  apostle  Paul  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Both 
his  Gospel  and  the  Acts  Luke  addresses  to  "  the  most  excellent 
Theophilus,"  who  most  probably  was  some  distinguished  Christian 
brother  and  patron  at  Antioch. 

The  history  in  the  Acts  is  continued  down  to  the  close  of 
Paul's  first  imprisonment  at  Rome.  Why  the  writer  did  not 
pursue  the  narrative  further,  I  am  unable  to  say.  I  should  con- 
clude that  he  died  about  that  time,  but  that  we  find  him  still  asso- 
ciated with  Paul  when  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy  was  written ; 
which  was  during  Paul's  second  imprisonment,  and  only  a  little 
while  before  his  death.  Whether  Luke  survived  Paul,  and,  if  so, 
where  he  labored  afterwards,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  We 
know  that  he  was  a  learned  and  faithful  man,  and  a  devoted  Chris- 
tian, whose  writings  will  be  read  and  pondered,  and  whose  memory 
will  be  honored,  to  the  end  of  time. 

BARNABAS. 

Though  Barnabas  has  left  us  no  writings  which  are  of  divine 
authority,  he  was  an  honored  minister  and  missionary  of  the  apos- 
tolic age.  He  was  a  Levite,  born  and  brought  up  in  Cyprus,  a 
large  island  in  the  north-easterly  part  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 
We  first  hear  of  him  at  Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  a 
little  later.  He  was  then  a  decided,  self-sacrificing  believer,  who 
sold  his  property  for  the  common  weal,  brought  out  the  proceeds, 
and  laid  them  at  the  apostles'  feet. 


COMPANIONS   AND   SUCCESSORS   OF  THE   APOSTLES.         563     * 

Barnabas  seems  to  have  had  an  early  acquaintance  and  intimacy 
with  Paul.  They  may  have  been  students  together  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel  before  either  of  them  was  converted.  Upon  Paul's  first 
visit  to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion,  when  the  disciples  were 
afraid  of  him,  Barnabas  took  him  and  brought  him  to  the  apostles, 
and  satisfied  them  as  to  the  reality  of  his  change. 

When  news  of  the  great  revival  at  Antioch  reached  Jerusalem, 
the  apostles  sent  forth  Barnabas,  that  he  should  go  and  labor  there  ; 
but,  finding  the  work  beyond  his  strength,  he  went  to  Tarsus  to 
secure  the  assistance  of  Paul.  When  they  had  labored  together 
a  whole  year  at  Antioch,  they  were  summoned  to  go  forth  to- 
gether on  the  first  formal  mission  to  the  heathen.  This  being 
accomplished,  they  returned  to  Antioch,  and  reported  to  their 
brethren  all  that  God  had  done  with  them  and  by  them. 

During  their  stay  at  Antioch,  the  question  came  up  respecting 
the  obligation  of  the  Gentile  converts  to  be  circumcised  and  to 
keep  the  Mosaic  law.  Being  unal^le  to  settle  this  question  among 
themselves,  Paul  and  Barnabas  went  ujd  with  it  to  the  apostles  and 
elders  and  the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  The  decision  of  the  apostles 
was  against  the  circumcision  of  the  Gentile  converts. 

On  their  return  from  Jerusalem,  Paul  and  Barnabas  soon  pro- 
jected another  mission  to  the  heathen ;  but,  as  they  could  not 
agree  in  regard  to  the  person  to  be  taken  with  them  as  an  assist- 
ant, they  separated  one  from  the  other :  and  we  hear  little  of  Bar- 
nabas in  sacred  story  afterwards.  We  know  that  he  was  a  good 
man,  "  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  that  he  wore  out 
his  life  in  the  service  of  the  gospel ;  but  where  he  labored,  and 
when  and  how  he  died,  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  There  is  extant  an 
epistle  bearing  his  name  ;  but,  though  a  very  ancient  writing,  I 
could  never  persuade  myself  that  Barnabas  wrote  it.  It  is  ad- 
dressed chiefly  to  Jews,  with  the  design  of  drawing  them  oif  from 
the  letter  of  the  law  to  a  more  spiritual  understanding  of  it.  It  is 
full  of  allegorical  interpretations,  and  is  unworthy  of  the  name  of 
Barnabas. 

TIMOTHY. 

\ 

We  first  hear  of  Timothy  at  Derbe,  or  Lystra,  in  the  progress  of 
Paul's  second  missionary  tour  in  Asia.  He  was  probably  converted 
at  the  time  of  Paul's  first  visit.  His  father  was  a  Gentile  ;  but  his 
grandmother  Lois  and  his  mother  Eunice  were  of  Jewish  descent, 
and  had  been  converted  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.      They  had 


564  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

taken  much  pains  in  the  rehgious  education  of  Timothy,  who 
"  from  a  cliild  had  known  the  Holy  Scriptures."  It  was  this  early 
religious  instruction  which  restrained  him  from  the  vices  and  vani- 
ties of  youth,  made  him  a  fit  subject  of  renewing  grace,  and  pre- 
pared him  for  future  and  distinguished  usefulness. 

When  Paul  came  to  Lystra  the  second  time,  he  was  struck  with 
the  attainments  and  gifts  of  young  Timothy ;  and,  hearing  him  well 
reported  of  by  all  the  brethren,  he  resolved  to  take  liim  with  him 
as  a  helper  in  the  'ministerial  work.  And,  the  better  to  prepare 
him  for  such  an  undertaking,  he  circumcised  liim ;  not  that  he  laid 
any  stress  upon  this  Jewish  rite,  but  that  Timothy  might  labor 
with  less  prejudice  among  the  Jews.  He  was  subsequently  or- 
dained to  the  work  of' the  ministry  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands, 
not  only  of  Paul,  but  also  of  the  presbytery  (1  Tim.  iv.  14  ;  2  Tim. 
i.  6).  From  this  time  we  find  him  almost  continually  with  Paul, 
or  laboring  under  his  direction.  The  apostle  calls  him  his  own 
son,  his  brother,  his  yoke-fellow ;  and  declares  that  there  is  no  one 
so  much  united  with  him  in  mind  and  heart  as  Timothy. 

Timothy  accompanied  the  apostle  into  Macedonia,  —  to  Philippi, 
to  Thessalonica,  and  to  Berea ;  and,  when  Paul  departed  from 
Berea,  he  left  Silas  and  Timothy  there  to  strengthen  and  establish 
the  new  converts.  At  Athens,  Paul  sent  for  them  to  come  to 
him  ;  and  when  they  had  come,  and  had  given  him  an  account 
of  the  distressed  condition  of  the  churches  in  Macedonia,  Paul 
sent  Timothy  back  to  them ;  whence  he  afterwards  returned,  and 
came  to  Paul  at  Corinth  (1  Thess.  iii.  2).  Here  he  remained  with 
Paul  for  more  than  a  year ;  and  the  apostle  mentions  him  and 
Silas  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  two  epistles  which  he  wrote  from 
Corinth  to  the  Thessalonians. 

When  Paul  left  Corinth,  he  came  back  into  Asia  ;  and,  stopping 
a  little  at  Ephesus,  he  hurried  on  to  Jerusalem,  that  he  might  be 
present  at  the  Passover.  From  Jerusalem  he  returned  to  Antioch ; 
and,  having  visited  the  churches  which  he  had  before  planted  in 
Phrygia  and  Galatia,  he  came  to  Ephesus,  where  he  remained 
more  than  two  years.  It  is  likely,  that  in  most  of  these  journeys, 
if  not  in  all,  the  apostle  was  attended  by  his  young  friend  Timothy. 
It  is  certain  that  Timothy  was  with  him  at  Ephesus  ;  for,  during 
the  apostle's  long  residence  there,  he  despatched  Timothy,  on  some 
occasion,  to  Macedonia  and  to  Corinth ;  whence,  having  fulfilled 
his  mission,  he  returned  to  Paul  (Acts  xix.  22). 

From  Ephesus  Paul  was  at  length  driven  by  a  mob  got  up  by 


COMPANIONS   AND   SUCCESSORS   OF  THE  APOSTLES.         665 

the  silversmiths  ;  and,  leaving  Timothy  behind  him,  he  passed  over 
into  Macedonia.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  wrote  his  First 
Epistle  to  Timothy  (see  1  Tim.  i.  3).  Timothy  soon  followed 
his  great  leader  into  Macedonia ;  for  in  the  inscription  of  the 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  written  at  this  time,  we  find  his 
name  associated  with  that  of  Paul.  In  company  with  Timothy, 
Paul  now  visited  Corinth,  taking  up  contributions  for  the  poor 
saints  at  Jerusalem.  From  Corinth  he  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  containing  the  salutation  of  Timothy  (Rom.  xvi.  21). 
Paul  was  now  projecting  a  journey  to  Jerusalem,  taking  with  him 
the  money  which  he  had  collected.  He  went  back  through 
Macedonia,  sailed  over  to  Troas,  and  touched  at  Miletus,  where 
he  sent  for  the  elders  of  the  Ephesian  Church,  and  delivered  unto 
them  his  parting  words.  Thence  he  went  forward  by  easy  stages 
to  Jerusalem  ;  whence  he  was  sent  a  prisoner,  first  to  Csesarea,  and 
afterwards  to  Rome. 

Whether  Timothy  accompanied  Paul  to  Jerusalem,  and  staid 
by  him  during  his  two-years'  confinement  at  Csesarea,  and  then 
went  with  him  in  his  voyage  to  Rome,  we  are  not  certainly  in- 
formed. The  probability  is  that  he  did,  as  we  know  that  he  was 
with  the  apostle  aft  Rome,  His  name  is  associated  with  that  of 
Paul  in  most  of  the  epistles  written  from  Rome.  Indeed,  he  was 
himself  a  prisoner  at  Rome  during  a  portion  of  the  two  years  that 
Paul  was  there  ;  for,  in  the  conclusion  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  the  writer  says,  "  Know  ye  that  our  brother  Timothy  is 
set  at  liberty  ;  with  whom,  if  he  come  shortly,  I  will  see  you." 

As  to  the  movements  of  Paul  and  Timothy  after  their  Kberation 
at  Rome,  we  are  not  so  accurately  informed.  The  probability  is 
that  they  journeyed  eastward  through  Macedonia,  Greece,  Asia 
Minor,  and  perhaps  Palestine,  visiting  and  strengthening  the 
churches  which  they  had  planted.  Then  they  may  have  visited 
Crete  ;  for  I  cannot  find  that  Paul  was  at  Crete  at  any  earlier 
period.*  Thence  they  may  have  passed  over  into  Gaul  and  Spain, 
and  come  back  to  Rome  about  the  year  64  or  65.  The  Neronian 
persecution  was  now  raging  ;  and  Paul  was  soon  made  a  close  pris- 
oner. It  was  during  this  imprisonment  that  he  wrote  his  Second 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  —  the  last  that  he  ever  wrote.  Timothy  was 
now  in  Asia  Minor,  perhaps  at  Troas  (see  iv.  13).  He  was  urged 
to  visit  the  apostle  quickly,  —  at  least,  before  winter,  —  and  to  bring 
with  him  his  master's  cloak,  his  books,  and  his  parchments.     If 

*  Except  that  he  touched  there  on  his  voyage  to  Rome. 


566  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Timothy  complied  with  this  injunction  (as  he  certainly  would  if 
it  were  practicable),  he  may  have  witnessed  the  martyrdom  of 
Paul. 

Much  is  said,  in  certain  quarters,  of  Timothy  as  bishop  of 
Ephesus  :  but  the  supposition  has  no  foundation  in  Scripture ; 
indeed,  it  is  contradicted  by  the  entire  history  of  Timothy  as 
given  in  the  Bible.  Timothy  was  not  a  bishop  anywhere.  He 
never  had,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  pastoral  supervision  of  any  par- 
ticular church  or  flock.  He  is  expressly  called  an  evangelist ;  and 
an  evangelist  in  the  primitive  Church  was  an  itinerant,  a  mis- 
sionary, who  labored  usually  in  connection  with  some  one  of  the 
apostles,  and  under  his  direction. 

Of  the  life  of  Timothy  after  the  death  of  Paul,  we  have  no 
reliable  information.  He  was  a  faithful  man,  a  devoted  servant 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  no  doubt  finished  his  course  with 
joy ;  but  whether  he  died  a  natural  death,  or  fell  by  martyrdom 
as  many  insist,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

TITUS.     " 

Titus  was  another  of  Paul's  evangelists.  He  was  a  Gentile,  and 
converted  through  the  instrumentality  of  Paul,  who  calls  him  his 
son  (Tit.  i.  4).  Paul  took  him  Avith  him  when  he  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  on  the  question  of  circumcising  the  Gentile  converts. 
Some  would  then  have  constrained  him  to  circumcise  Titus ;  but 
neither  he  nor  Titus  would  consent. 

Titus  was  afterwards  sent  by  the  apostle  to  Corinth  on  account 
of  some  divisions  and  abuses  in  that  Church  (2  Cor.  xii.  18).  He 
was  well  received  by  the  Corinthians,  and  much  satisfied  by  their 
submission  to  the  reproofs  and  instructions  of  Paul.  He  went 
back  to  the  apostle  in  Macedonia,  and  gave  him  a  gratifying  account 
of  the  state  of  things  among  the  Corinthians  (2  Cor.  vii.  6,  7).  A 
short  time  afterwards,  he  was  desired  by  Paul  to  return  to  Corinth, 
help  forward  their  charitable  collections,  and  prepare  matters  for 
his  own  arrival  there.  This  journey  Titus  readily  undertook,  carry- 
ing with  him  Paul's  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  (2  Cor.  viii. 
16,  17). 

How  Titus  was  occupied  for  several  of  the  next  years,  we  have 
no  account :  but  after  Paul's  release  from  his  first  imprisonment 
at  Rome,  when  he  undertook  his  mission  to  Crete,  we  find  Titus 
with  him  ;  and,  when  Paul  was  called  away  from  Crete,  he  left 


COMPANIONS   AND   SUCCESSORS   OF  THE   APOSTLES.         567 

Titus  there  to  "  set  in  order  the  things  that  were  wanting,  and 
ordain  elders  in  every  city  "  (Tit.  i.  5).  Titus  has  been  called 
the  first  bishop  of  Crete  ;  but  the  truth  is,  he  was  not  a  bishop 
anywhere  :  like  Philip  and  Timothy,  and  a  great  many  others, 
he  was  an  evangelist.  His  residence  in  Crete  when  left  there  by 
Paul  was  very  short ;  for,  only  a  little  while  after,  Paul  writes  to 
Timothy,  "  Titus  is  gone  to  Dalmatia,"  —  a  great  way  from  Crete. 
As  to  the  remainder  of  Titus's  life,  and  the  manner  of  his  death, 
nothing  is  known. 

The  Apostolical  Fathers,  so  called,  are  Clement  of  Rome,  Igna- 
tius, Polycarp,  Hermas,  and  perhaps  Papias. 

CLEMENT    OF    ROME. 

Of  the  early  life  of  the  Roman  Clement  we  know  nothing. 
His  name  proves  him  to  have  been  a  native  of  Italy,  if  not  of 
Rome.  That  he  was  an  early  convert  to  Christianity,  and  member 
of  the  Church  at  Rome,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  He  is  generally 
thought  to  be  the  Clement  spoken  of  by  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to 
the  Philippians,  as  one  of  his  "  fellow-laborers  whose  names  are 
in  the  book  of  life  "  (Phil.  iv.  3). 

•  Roman  Catholics  of  modern  times  have  much  difficulty  in  deter- 
mining who  (next  to  Peter)  was  the  first  bishop  of  Rome.  Some 
think  it  was  Linus,  others  Cletus  or  Anacletus,  and  others  Clement. 
The  truth  is  that  Peter  never  was  bishop  of  Rome  in  any  sense ; 
and  as  to  the  rest,  the  probability  is  that  they  were  all  bishops  or 
presbyters  together.  The  words  "  presbyter  "  and  "  bishop  "  at 
that  period  denoted  the  same  persons,  and  were  often  used  inter- 
changeably. Of  these  presbyter-bishops,  the  Church  of  Rome,  like 
most  of  the  other  large  churches,  had  several  at  the  same  time 
(see  Acts  xiii.  1;  xx.  17).  Among  these,  undoubtedly,  were  Linus 
and  Cletus,  and  the„Clement  of  whom  we  now  speak. 

Clement  is  chiefly  known  to  us  by  an  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
in  fifty-nine  chapters,  written  before  the  close  of  the  first  century. 
This  epistle  strongly  resembles  the  apostolical  writings,  and,  next 
to  them,  is  perhaps  the  best  authenticated  fragment  of  high 
Christian  antiquity.  It  is  often  quoted  by  the  early  fathers,  and 
was  sometimes  read  in  the  churches.  For  a  long  period,  it  was 
supposed  to  have  been  lost ;  but  it  was  found  complete,  and  sent 
into  England  as  part  of  the  Alexandrine  codex  of  the  Bible,  by 
Cyrillus  Lucaris,  a  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  near  the  beginning 


568  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  written,  not  from  one  bishop 
to  another,  but  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  the  Church  which  is  at  Corinth.  It  was  occasioned  by 
party  divisions  and  quarrels  in  the  Corinthian  Church,  in  the 
progress  of  which  some  restless  spirits  had  undertaken  to  depose 
their  presbyters  or  ministers.  It  consists  of  earnest  exhortations 
to  compose  these  differences,  to  restore  their  injured  pastors,  and 
to  stand  fast  in  the  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel  as  delivered  to 
them  by  the  holy  apostles.  Of  the  particular  doctrines  of  this 
epistle,  as  well  as  of  the  writings  of  the  'other  apostolical  fathers, 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  in  another  place. 

Clement  of  Rome  was  so  early  a  Christian  writer,  and  at  the 
same  time  so  celebrated,  that  various  works  in  later  times  were 
falsely  ascribed  to  him  ;  as  a  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  the 
Apostolical  Canons  and  Constitutions,  the  Recognitions  of  Clement, 
and  the  Clementina; 

IGNATIUS    OF    ANTIOCH. 

Ignatius,  surnamed  Theophorus  on  account  of  his  eminent  piety, 
was  pastor-bishop  of  the  great  Church  at  Antioch  at  the  close  of 
the  first  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  second.  Of  his  early 
history  we  know  nothing ;  neither  do  we  know  precisely  at  what 
time  he  was  called  to  preside  over  the  Church  at  Antioch.  The 
great  event  of  his  life  was  his  martyrdom  under  Trajan,  which 
took  place  about  the  year  106.  As  he  was  then  nearly  eighty 
years  old,  he  must  have  been  for  a  long  time  contemporary  with 
the  apostles.  The  story  is,  that,  as  Trajan  passed  through  Antioch 
in  prosecuting  a  war  with  the  Parthians,  Ignatius  was  brought  be- 
fore him  for  examination ;  and,  when  he  boldly  confessed  Christ, 
the  emperor  commanded  that  he  should  be  taken  to  Rome,  and 
there  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts  for  the  entertainment  of  the  peo- 
ple. On  his  way  to  Rome,  Ignatius  wrote  several  epistles  to  the 
churches,  which  are  still  extant. 

As  to  the  genuineness  of  these  epistles,  or  some  of  them,  there 
has  been  much  dispute.  Time  was  when  there  were  thought  to 
be  fourteen  or  fifteen  of  them  :  then  they  were  cut  down  to 
seven  ;  and  so  they  are  commonly  reckoned.  But  recent  investiga- 
tions have  reduced  them  to  three;  and  these  are  considerably 
abridged.  The  probability,  however,  is,  that  there  were  originally 
seven  (and  so  they  are  reckoned  by  Eusebius),  addressed  to  the 
Ephesians,  the  Magnesians,  the  Trallians,  the  Romans,  the  Phila- 


COMPANIONS   AND   SUCCESSORS   OF  THE   APOSTLES.         569 

delphians,  the  Smyrneans,  and  to  Polycarp.  These  were  translated 
into  English,  and  published  by  Archbishop  Wake.  There  is  much 
reason  to  believe  that  these  seven  have  been  interpolated  and 
tampered  with,  particularly  in  regard  to  episcopal  authority  ;  since 
they  use  a  language,  and  urge  claims  in  reference  to  this  matter, 
not  at  all  in  accordance  with  contemporary  writers. 

Ignatius  died  triumphantly  at  Rome,  according  to  his  sentence. 
His  bones,  Avhich  the  wild  beasts  left,  were  gathered  up  by  his 
friends,  and  carried  back  to  Antioch,  where  they  were  long  regarded 
as  a  most  precious  relic.  An  account  of  his  martyrdom,  purport- 
ing to  have  been  drawn  up  by  his  friends  at  the  time,  is  translated 
and  published  by  Archbishop  Wake  in  connection  with  his  epistles. 

POLYCARP. 

This  apostolical  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Smyrna  lived  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  first  century,  and  far  into  the  second.  He  was 
a  disciple  of  the  apostle  John,  a  personal  friend  of  Ignatius,  and 
may  have  been  the  angel  of  the  Church  in  Smyrna,  addressed  by 
our  Saviour  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Revelation.  His  disci- 
ple, Irenseus  of  Lyons,  has  recorded  his  reminiscences  of  this  apos- 
tolical man.  He  tells  us  of  his  personal  appearance,  his  mode  of 
life,  his  discourses  to  the  people,  and  his  communications  respecting 
the  teachings  and  miracles  of  the  Lord  as  he  had  heard  them  from 
the  mouth  of  John  and  other  eye-witnesses. 

Polycarp,  like  his  friend  Ignatius,  was  called  to  seal  his  tes- 
timony with  his  blood.  In  the  persecution  under  Marcus  Aurelius, 
about  the  year  167,  he  was  brought  for  examination  before  the 
proconsul  of  Asia,  who  urged  him  to  swear,  and  reproach  Christ. 
Polycarp  replied,  "  Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  Christ,  and 
he  has  never  done  me  the  least  wrong  :  how,  then,  can  I  blaspheme 
my  King  and  my  Saviour  ?  "  The  proconsul  said,  "  I  have  wild 
beasts  ready :  to  them  will  I  throw  thee  except  thou  repent." 
"  Call  for  them,  then,"  said  Polycarp  ;  "  for  we  Christians  are  fixed 
in  our  minds  never  to  change  from  good  to  evil."  The  proconsul 
then  said,  "  Since  thou  despisest  the  wild  beasts,  I  will  cause  thee 
to  be  devoured  by  fire  unless  thou  repent."  Polycarp  answered, 
"  Thou  threatenest  me  with  fire  which  burns  for  an  hour,  and  so 
is  extinguished,  but  knowest  not  the  fire  of  the  future  judgment, 
and  of  that  eternal  punishment  which  is  reserved  for  the  ungodly." 
The  examination  here  ended,  and  Polycarp  was  led  a'way  to  the 


570  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

flames  ;  his  enemies  shouting  as  he  passed  along,  "  This  is  the 
teacher  of  Asia,  the  father  of  the  Christians,  and  the  overthrower 
of  our  gods  !  " 

I  shall  say  nothing  of  the  miracles  which  are  said  to  have  taken 
place  at  the  burning  of  Polycarp.  His  ashes  were  carefully  col- 
lected, and  long  preserved  as  a  treasure  more  precious  than  gold. 

Polycarp  wrote  an  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  in  fourteen  chap- 
ters ;  which  is  all  that  remains  to  us  of  tliis  holy  man.  A  particu- 
lar account  of  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp  was  published  by  the 
Church  at  Smyrna,  addressed  to  the  Church  at  Philadelphia  and 
"  to  all  the  other  assemblies  of  the  holy  Catholic  Church  in  every 
place."  This  interesting  narrative,  together  with  the  Epistle  of 
Polycarp,  has  been  translated  and  published  by  Archbishop  Wake.* 

HERMAS. 

Hermas  was  not  a  bishop  or  pastor,  but  a  private  member  of  the 
Church  at  Rome.  He  was  a  contemporary  of  Clement,  and  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  same  Hermas  whom  Paul  greets  by  name  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  (xvi.  14).  "  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  "  pur- 
ports to  be  a  kind  of  apocalyptic  revelation,  and  consists  of  three 
parts ;  viz.,  the  Visions,  the  Commandments,  and  the  Similitudes. 
It  is  called  the  shepherd  of  Hermas  because  the  angel  who  re- 
vealed the  greater  part  of  it  appeared  to  Hermas  as  a  shepherd. 
The  estimate  formed  of  it  by  the  primitive  church  fathers  was 
very  different.  Origen  thought  it  divinely  inspired ;  while  others 
rank  it  with  the  apocryphal  books,  and  recommend  that  it  should 
be  read  only  in  private.  It  is  rather  a  practical  than  a  theological 
treatise,  inculcating  a  rigid  morality  and  a  strict  religious  life. 

There  were  others  besides  those  which  have  been  mentioned, 
who  Avere  contemporary  with  the  apostles,  and  immediately  suc- 
ceeded them  in  the  care  of  the  churches ;  as  Linus  at  Rome,  and 
Simeon  at  Jerusalem,  and  Papias  of  Hierapolis,  and  the  author  of 
the  Epistle  to  Diognetus.  Papias  is  represented  as  a  pious  but 
weak  and  credulous  man,  who  was  much  engaged  in  collecting  tra- 
ditions respecting  Christ  and  the  apostles.  He  published  "  Expla- 
nations of  our  Lord's  Discourses,"  in  five  books ;  of  which  only 
some  fragments  remain. 

The  Epistle  to  Diognetus  is  an  elegant  production,  vindicating 

*  Other  translations  of  the  Apostolical  Fathers  have  followed  that  by  Archbishop  Wake. 


COMPANIONS   AND   SUCCESSORS   OF   THE   APOSTLES.         571 

Christianity  against  the  aspersions  of  some  distinguished  heathen 
who  had  slandered  it.  The  date  of  the  epistle  is  not  certainly 
known,  though  it  is  generally  ascribed  to  the  age  of  Trajan  or 
Adrian,  — near  the  commencement  of  the  second  century.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  author's  description  of  Christians  as  they  appeared 
in  his  own  time  :  "  The  Christians,"  says  he,  "  are  not  distinguished 
from  other  men  by  country,  by  language,  or  civil  institutions  ;  for 
they  neither  dwell  in  cities  by  themselves,  nor  speak  a  peculiar 
tongue,  nor  lead  a  singular  mode  of  life.  They  dwell  in  the  Gre- 
cian cities  or  the  Barbarian,  as  the  case  may  be.  They  follow  the 
usage  of  the  country  in  dress,  food,  and  the  other  affairs  of  life. 
Yet  they  present  a  wonderful  and  confessedly  paradoxical  course 
of  conduct.  They  dwell  in  their  own  native  land,  but  as  stran- 
gers. They  take  part  in  all  things  as  citizens,  and  yet  suffer  all 
things  as  foreigners.  They  live  upon  the  earth  ;  but  their  home  is 
in  heaven.  They  love  all,  and  are  persecuted  by  all.  They  are 
unknown,  and  yet  are  condemned.  They  are  killed,  and  they  make 
alive.  They  are  poor,  and  make  many  rich.  They  lack  all  things, 
and  yet  abound  in  all.  They  are  reproached,  and  glory  in  their 
reproaches.  They  are  calumniated,  and  yet  justified.  They  are 
cursed,  and  they  bless.  They  receive  scorn,  and  they  give  honor. 
They  d©  good,  and  are  punished  as  malefactors.  By  both  Jews  and 
Greeks  they  are  hated  and  persecuted;  and  yet  the  cause  of 
their  enmity  their  enemies  cannot  tell.  In  short,  what  the  soul  is 
in  the  body  the  Christians  are  in  the  world.  The  soul  dwells  in 
the  body,  but  is  not  of  the  body ;  and  so  Christians  dwell  in  the 
world,  but  are  not  of  the  world.  Being  itself  immortal,  the  soul 
dwells  in  a  mortal  body ;  and  so  the  Christian  dwells  in  corruption, 
but  looks  for  incorruption  in  heaven.  This  lot  hath  God  assigned 
to  Christians  in  the  world ;  and  it  cannot  be  taken  from  them." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

CHURCH    ORGANIZATION    AND    GOVERNMENT   IN    THE    FIRST    PERIOD. 

IT  lias  been  made  a  question,  whether  there  is  any  precise  model 
of  church  organization  and  government  laid  down  in  the  New 
Testament  to  which  Christians  universally  are  under  obligations 
to  conform.  By  some  it  has  been  contended  that  this  is  the  ease ; 
that  nothing  is  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Church ;  that  we  are 
bound  to  copy  in  every  particular  after  the  divine  pattern  which 
has  been  given  us.  By  others  it  is  asserted  that  we  have  no  divine 
pattern  which  is  at  all  obligatory ;  that  Christians  are  left  to  their 
own  judgment  in  this  matter ;  that  it  is  not  only  their  right,  but 
their  duty,  to  modify  the  government  of  the  Church  according  to 
existing  circumstances. 

The  truth  probably  lies  between  these  two  extremes.  There 
are  some  general  outlines  of  church  organization  and  government 
marked  out  for  us  in  the  ScrijDtures ;  and  these,  so  far  as  they  can 
be  discovered,  should  be  regarded.  But,  aside  from  these,  God  has 
wisely  left  many  things  to  be  judged  of  by  the  light  of  reason, 
and  to  be  modified  according  to  circumstances  in  providence. 

It  was  remarked  in  a  former  chapter,  that  the  Church  of  God 
has  been  the  same  under  all  the  dispensations.  At  first,  its  gov- 
ernment was  patriarchal ;  then  theocratic  and  national ;  and  then 
congregational,  using  the  word  "  congregational "  in  the  general 
sense.  At  first,  its  visible  rites  were  the  weekly  sabbath,  bloody 
sacrifices,  and  (after  a  time)  circumcision ;  then  a  variety  of  new 
ordinances  were  added,  mostly  of  a  typical  or  symbolical  character ; 
and,  when  these  were  abolished,  the  Christian  rites  of  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper  took  their  place.  Yet,  amid  all  these  changes 
of  rites  and  dispensations,  the  Church  of  God  has  been  the  same, 
consisting  of  a  peculiar  people,  and  brought  into  a  near  and 
covenant  relation  to  its  Lawgiver  and  Head. 

I  have  said  that  the  government  of  the  Church,  as  it  passed  from 

572 


CHURCH   ORGANIZATION   AND   GOVERNMENT.  573 

the  Jewish  to  the  Christian  disiDensation,  became  congregational. 
The  followers  of  Christ  were  embodied,  not  in  one  corporate,  uni- 
versal Church,  but  in  particular  churches.  The  materials  for  such 
churches  Avere  prepared  by  Christ  himself  during  his  personal 
ministry ;  and,  soon  after  his  ascension,  such  a  Church  was  fully 
organized  at  Jerusalem.  It  was  a  principal  labor  of  the  apostles 
and  evangelists  to  form  such  churches  in  the  cities  and  villages 
where  they  preached,  and  where  a  sufficient  number  of  disciples 
could  be  collected.  Nearly  thirty  particular  churches  are  expressly 
spoken  of  in  the  New  Testament,  besides  a  much  greater  number 
which  are  referred  to  in  more  general  terms. 

These  churches  were  accustomed  to  assemble  for  religious  wor- 
ship on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  frequently  on  other  days. 
Where  the  congregation  consisted  chiefly  of  Jews,  the  seventh  day 
was  observed.  Towards  the  close  of  the  century,  the  first  day  of 
the  week  came  to  be  called  "  the  Lord's  day,"  and  was  regarded  as 
the  proper  Christian  sabbath. 

During  the  whole  of  this  century,  the  Christians  met  for  wor- 
ship wherever  they  could  find  a  place,  —  in  public  buildings,  in 
private  houses,  and  often  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth.  Their 
meetings  were  conducted  much  like  our  social  prayer-meetings.  The 
Scriptures  were  read,  prayers  were  offered,  the  praises  of  God  were 
sung,  and  exhortations  warm  and  affectionate  were  delivered.  At 
the  close  of  service  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  perhaps  oftener,  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  administered,  followed  frequently  by  what  was 
called  an  ayanri^  or  feast  of  love. 

The  churches  in  the  days  of  the  apostles  were  all  of  them  volun- 
tary associations.  The  apostles  had  no  compulsory  power  to  bring 
persons  into  the  churches,  nor  did  they  desire  any.  All  who  joined 
themselves  to  any  of  these  bodies  did  it  freely  and  of  their  own 
accord. 

Those  who  became  members  of  the  churches  at  this  period  were 
required  to  profess  their  faith  in  Christ,  and  to  give  credible  evi- 
dence of  piety.  It  was  those  who  "  gladly  received  the  word  " 
who  were  admitted  to  the  Church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  It 
was  not  till  the  Samaritans*"  believed  Philip,  preaching  the  things 
concerning  the  kingdom  of  God,"  that  they  were  received  by  him 
to  baptism  and  the  Church.  The  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  the  family  of 
Cornelius,  and  satisfied  Peter  as  to  their  piety,  before  he  would 
admit  them  to  the  Church,  and  administer  to  them  the  ordinances 
of  the  gospel.     Ananias  objected  to  baptizing  Paul,  until  a  voice 


674  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

from  heaven  assured  him  of  the  piety  of  this  recent  persecutor : 
"  He  is  a  chosen  vessel  unto  me,  to  bear  my  name  before  the  Gen- 
tiles and  kings  and  the  children  of  Israel"  (Acts  ix.  15). 

We  here  see  what  were  the  terms  of  admission  to  the  primitive 
churches.  In  all  cases,  there  must  be  a  credible  profession  of  piety. 
The  rite  of  initiation  was  baptism  "in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  This  was  administered,  ordi- 
narily, very  soon  after  a  profession  of  faith.  A  long  probation  at 
that  period  was  not  thought  to  be  necessary.  Of  the  other  stand- 
ing ordinance  in  the  early  Church,  —  the  Holy  Supper,  —  I  have 
already  spoken.  In  the  close  of  the  century,  these  ordinances 
were  observed  in  their  prmiitive  simplicity  as  the  apostles  left 
them. 

The  churches  of  the  first  century,  being  voluntary  associations, 
united  by  a  common  faith  and  a  holy  covenant,  possessed  all  the 
essential  rights  of  such  associations.  One  of  these  rights,  and  one* 
which  they  exercised  in  presence  of  the  apostles,  was  that  of  choos- 
ing their  oivn  officers.  Thus,  when  an  individual  was  to  be  appointed 
to  fill  the  place  of  Judas  Iscariot,  the  disciples  chose  two  from 
among  themselves,  one  of  whom  was  designated  by  lot  to  be 
numbered  with  the  apostles  (Acts  i.  23)  ;  and,  when  deacons  were 
to  be  appointed  in  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  these  were  first  chosen 
by  the  Church,  and  afterward  ordained  by  the  apostles  (Acts  vi.  5). 
The  churches  of  Macedonia  chose  delegates  to  travel  with  Paul  and 
his  company,  and  carry  their  contributions  to  Jerusalem. 

This  right  of  choosing  its  own  officers  continued  to  be  exercised 
in  the  Church  long  after  the  close  of  the  first  century.  Origen, 
near  the  end  of  his  great  work  against  Celsus,  represents  elders 
as  "  chosen  to  their  office  by  the  churches  which  they  rule."  Cyp- 
rian insists  largely  on  the  right  of  churches  to  choose  their  own 
officers ;  affirming  that  this  was  the  practice,  not  only  of  the 
African  churches,  but  of  those  in  most  of  the  other  provinces  of 
the  Roman  Empire.*  Socrates,  speaking  of  the  election  of  Chrys- 
ostom,  says,  "  He  was  chosen  by  the  common  vote  of  all,  both 
clergy  and  people."  f  Theodoret  describes  the  election  of  Eusta- 
thius  in  the  same  manner ;  "  He  was  compelled  to  take  the  bishop- 
ric by  the  common  vote  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  and  of  all  the 
people."  :|:  The  churches  retained  the  right  of  electing  their  own 
officers  when  most  of  their  other  immunities  had  been  taken  away. 

*  Epistle  68.  t  Ecc.  Hist.,  lib.  vi.  cap.  2.  \  Ibid.,  lib.  i.  cap.  7. 


CHURCH   ORGANIZATION   AND   GOVERNMENT.  575 

The  people  of  Rome  continued  to  »choose  their  bishop  until  past 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century. 

The  churches  of  the  first  century  also  had  the  right  of  admitting 
and  excluding  members.  Our  Saviour  directs,  Avhen  an  offending 
member  is  not  reclaimed  by  private  remonstrance,  that  his  case  be 
brought  before  the  Church ;  and,  if  he  hear  not  the  Church,  that 
he  be  excommunicated  (Matt,  xviii.  17).  "When,"  says  Neander, 
"a  vicious  person  was  to  be  excluded  from  the  Church  at  Cor- 
inth, the  apostle  regarded  it  as  something  which  must  proceed 
from  the  whole  Church;  and  when  this. same  person,  being  hum- 
bled, was  to  be  forgiven  and  restored,  his  restoration  must  be 
effected  by  the  same  body"  (1  Cor.  v.  7;  ii.  2). 

Another  right  of  the  early  churches  was  that  of  holding  and 
controlling  their  own  property.  Paul,  speaking  of  widows,  says, 
"  If  any  who  believe  have  widows,  let  them  relieve  them,  and  let 
not  the  Church  he  charged^''''  —  a  form  of  expression  which  implies 
that  the  Church  at  that  period  had  funds  which  it  disposed  of  at 
discretion  (1  Tim.  vi.  16).  The  Church  at  Jerusalem  was  early  in 
possession  of  property  to  a  very  considerable  amount :  for  a  time, 
it  seems  to  have  held  the  property  of  nearly  all  its  members  ;  for 
"  as  many  as  were  possessors  of  lands  or  houses  sold  them,  and 
brought  the  prices  of  the  things  that  were  sold,  and  laid  them 
down  at  the  apostles'  feet"  (Acts  iv.  34).  It  was  to  take  charge 
of  the  property  of  the  Church,  and  see  to  its  equitable  distribution, 
that  the  order  of  deacons  was  first  instituted  (Acts  vi.  3). 

In  short,  every  church  in  the  first  century  seems  to  have  had 
the  right  to  dispose  of  its  own  proper  concerns,  subject  only  to 
such  restrictions  and  regulations  as  had  been  imposed  by  Christ 
himself.  It  had  the  right  to  do  all  that  needed  to  be  done  in  order 
to  preserve  its  own  existence,  and  secure  to  itself  the  privileges 
and  blessings  of  the  gospel. 

It  follows  fronr  the  statements  here  made,  that,  wRile  the 
churches  planted  by  the  apostles  maintained  a  fraternal  inter- 
course one  with  another  in  all  holy  fellowship  and  communion, 
they  were  independent  one  of  another  in  respect  to  jurisdiction  and 
authority.  The  apostles  indeed,  as  the  divinely  commissioned 
and  inspired  founders  of  churches,  had  a  degree  of  authority  over 
them  which  was  peculiar  to  themselves  ;  but  among  the  churches 
we  find  no  one  of  them,  and  no  confederated  body  of  them,  pre- 
suming to  exercise  authority  over  the  rest.  Not  even  the  mother- 
church  at  Jerusalem,  considered  as  separate  from  the  apostles,  ever 


576  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

undertook  to  dictate  to  the  otjier  churches,  or  to  extend  its  juris- 
diction over  them. 

The  independence  of  the  primitive  cliurches,  in  the  sense  and  to 
the  extent  here  exphxined,  is  not  only  sanctioned  by  the  Scriptures, 
but  is  most  exphcitly  asserted  by  learned  and  impartial  historians 
of  different  denominations.  Thus  Waddington,  an  Episcopalian  of 
the  Church  of  England,  speaking  of  the  Church  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, says,  "  Every  church  was  essentially  independent  of  every 
other.  The  churches  thus  constituted  and  regulated  formed  a  sort 
of  federative  body  of  independent  religious  communities,  dispersed 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  Roman  Empire,  in  continual  com- 
munication and  in  constant  harmony  with  each  other."* 

Mosheim,  a  Lutheran,  who  could  have  had  no  predilection  for 
the  doctrine  of  church  independency,  thus  describes  the  state  of 
things  in  the  first  century :  "  All  the  churches  in  those  primitive 
times  were  independent  bodies,  or  none  of  them  subject  to  the  juris- 
diction of  any  other ;  for  though  the  churches  which  were  formed 
by  the  apostles  frequently  had  the  honor  shown  them  to  be  con- 
sulted in  dijfficult  cases,  yet  they  had  no  judicial  authority^  no  con- 
trol, no  poiver  of  giving  laws.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  clear  as  the 
noonday  that  all  Christian  churches  had  equal  rights,  and  were  in 
all  respects  on  a  footing  of  equality." 

The  same  author,  speaking  of  the  second  century,  says,  "  During 
a  great  part  of  this  century,  all  the  churches  continued  to  be,  as  at 
first,  i^idependent  of  each  other,  or  were  connected  by  no  consocia- 
tions or  confederations.  Each  church  was  a  kind  of  little  inde- 
pendent republic,  governed  by  its  own  laws,  which  were  enacted, 
or  at  least  sanctioned,  by  the  people."  f 

Archbishop  Whately,  speaking  on  the  same  subject,  says,  "  Each 
church,  though  connected  with  the  rest  by  ties  of  faith,  hope,  and 
charity,  seems  to  have  been  perfectly  independent  so  far  as  regards 
any  power  or  control.  The  plan  of  the  apostles -^eems  to  have  been 
to  establish  a  great  number  of  distinct,  independent  communities,^ 
each  governed  by  its  own  bishop,  conferring  occasionally  'with  the 
brethren  of  other  churches,  but  owing  no  submission  to  the  rulers 
of  any  other  church,  or  to  any  central  common  authority,  except 
the  apostles."  X 

The  testimony  of  Neander,  Gieseler,  and  other  approved  histo- 
rians, as  to  the  constitution  of  the  primitive  churches,  is  altogether 

*  Ecc.  Hist.,  p.  43.  t  Ecc.  Hist.  (Murdock's  edition),  vol.  i.  pp.  86,  142. 

t  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  Christ. 


CHURCH   ORGANIZATION   AND   GOVERNMENT.  577 

coincident  with  that  given  above.  A  single  fact  shows  that  the 
churches  of  the  first  century  must  have  been  independent  bodies. 
There  were  no  synods,  consociations,  or  confederations  of  any  kind 
in  existence  to  make  laws  for  the  churches,  or  to  whose  behests 
they  were  required  to  submit.  Such  confederated  bodies  were  not 
known  in  Christendom  until  past  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 

But  while  the  primitive  churches  were,  in  the  sense  explained, 
independent  of  each  other,  they  were  bound  together  by  the 
strongest  ties,  and  maintained  (as  hinted  above)  a  constant  inter- 
course in  all  suitable  acts  of  fellowship  and  communion.  They 
were  to  each  other  objects  of  deep  interest,  and  of  mutual  concern 
and  prayer.  As  their  teachers  journeyed  from  place  to  place,  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  that  they  had  an  interchange  of  pastoral  labors. 
The  members  too,  when  absent  from  their  own  churches,  were 
freely  admitted  to  communion  in  the  assemblies  of  their  brethren. 
The  primitive  churches  sent  Christian  salutations,  and  letters  of 
instruction  and  warning,  one  to  another :  they  also  sent  messengers 
one  to  another,  and  administered  mutual  relief  in  distress.  They 
cheerfully  bore  one  another's  burthens,  and,  in  case  of  doubt  and 
difficulty,  looked  to  each  other  for  advice. 

This  delightful  fellowship  of  churches,  which  was  established 
under  the  apostles,  was  continued  under  their  immediate  suc- 
cessors. The  Epistle  of  Clement  of  Rome  to  the  Corinthian  Church 
commences  as  follows :  "  The  Church  of  God  which  is  at  Rome  to 
the  Church  of  God  which  is  at  Corinth,  elect,  sanctified  by  the  will 
of  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  Several  like  instances 
occur  in  the  age  immediately  succeeding  that  of  the  apostles,  in 
which  one  church,  or  the  pastor  of  some  one  church,  addresses 
letters  of  exhortation  to  other  churches. 

The  ofl&cers  in  the  primitive  churches  were  of  two  kinds,  —  the|' 
ordinary  and  extraordinary.     The  extraordinary  officers  were  the] 
apostles  and  their  missionary  assistants,  called  evangelists.      Thei 
ordinary  standing  church-officers  —  those  designed  to  be  perpet-  ]^^r\^AAA<i  i 
uated  —  were  pastors^   also    called   bishops    and   presbyters,  and ;  t^vCi  t >ti«./t 
deacons.     It  seems  to  have  been  no  part  of  the  official  work  of  a '  {  w  I  •*!  ? 
/  deacon  to  preach  the  gospel,  but  rather  to  have  charge  of  the '   «        t-ht  /» 
temporal  concerns  of  the  Church:  "  Look  ye  out  among  you  seven;  p*' 

men  of  honest  report,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  wisdom,   "^ •  '  ■    c>V.i 
whom  we  may  appoint  over  this  business"  (the  serving  of  tables)  ;  ;;Tt> 

"  but  we  will  give  ourselves  continually  to  prayer  and  to  the  min- 
istry of  the  word  "  (Acts  vi.  3). 

37 


578  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  higher  order  of  standing  church-officers  are  called  in  Scrip- 
ture by  different  names  ;  as  pastors,  teachers,  bishops,  presbyters,  or 
elders,  &c.  That  the  terms  "  bishop  "  and  "  presbyter  "  refer  to  the 
same  class  of  church-officers,  and  indeed  to  the  same  persons,  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  they  are  often  used  in  Scripture  inter- 
changeably. Thus  Titus  was  left  in  Crete  that  he  might  "  ordain 
elders  in  every  city."  But,  in  a  following  verse,  these  elders  are 
denominated  bishops  (Tit.  i.  5-7).  In  his  farewell  address  to  the 
Ephesian  elders,  Paul  calls  these  elders  overseers,  or  (as  in  the 
original)  bishops  (Acts  xx.  17,  28).  Peter  exhorts  elders  to  take 
the  oversight  of  the  flock,  or  (as  it  is  in  the  Greek)  to  do  the  work 
of  bishops,  not  by  constraint,  but  willingly  (1  Pet.  v.  2). 

The  identity  of  bishop  and  presbyter  is  taught,  not  only  in 
Scripture,  but  in  the  writings  of  the  early  fathers.  Hermas,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  Church  at  Rome,  and  lived  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, uses  the  terms  "bishop"  and  "presbyter"  promiscuously,  and 
speaks  of  presbyters  as  presiding  over  the  Church  at  Rome.*  Clem- 
ent of  Rome  says  that  presbyters  had  been  placed  over  the  Church  at 
Corinth,  and  complains  that  these  presbyters  had  been  ejected  from 
the  episcopate.^  Irenseus  uses  the  terms  "  bishop  "  and  "  presbyter  " 
interchangeably :  "  We  ought  to  obey  those  presbyters  who,  have 
succession  from  the  apostles,  who,  with  the  succession  of  the  epis- 
copate, received  the  certain  gift  of  truth."  "  Such  presbyters  the 
Church  nourishes  ;  concerning  whom  the  prophet  says,  '  I  will  give 
you  princes  in  peace,  and  bishops  in  righteousness.'  "  % 

Several  epistles  have  been  published  under  the  name  of  Ignatius, 
an  early  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Antioch,  in  which  the  bishop  is 
distinguished  from  the  presbyter,  and  great  authority  is  ascribed  to 
him.  There  is  so  much  evidence,  however,  that  some  of  these 
epistles  are  spurious,  and  that  those  which  are  not  have  been  tam- 
pered with  in  reference  to  this  very  subject,  that  no  certain  con- 
clusions can  be  drawn  from  them. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries, 
and  onwards,  important  changes  took  place  in  the  government  of  the 
churches.  The  power  of  the  clergy  was  increased,  and  the  liberties 
of  the  churches  were  diminished,  and  ultimately  destroyed.  In 
the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  bishops  generally  claimed  to  be  a 
distinct  and  superior  order  of  ministers.  The  manner  in  which 
this  distinction  came  into  the  Church  is  pretty  fully  explained  by 
Jerome  in  his  commentary  on  Tit.  i.  2 :  '•'•A  presbyter,'^  says  he, 

*  Vision  ii.  sect.  4.  t  Sect.  42-57.  %  Advers.  H^res.,  lib.  iv.  cap.  43,  44. 


CHURCH   ORGANIZATION  AND   GOVERNMENT.  579 

"  is  the  same  as  a  bishop  ;  and  before  there  were,  by  the  instigation  of 
the  Devil,  parties  in  religion,  the  churches  were  governed  by  the  joint 
counsels  of  presbyters.  But  afterwards  it  was  decreed  throughout 
the  whole  world  that  one  chosen  from  among  the  presbyters  should 
be  put  over  the  rest,  and  that  the  whole  care  of  the  Church 
should  be  committed  to  him."  Jerome  proceeds  to  support  his 
opinion  as  to  the  original  equality  of  presbyters  and  bishops  hy 
commenting  on  Phil.  i.  1,  and  on  the  interview  of  Paul  with  the 
Ephesian  elders ;  and  then  he  adds,  "  Our  design  in  these  remarks 
is  to  show,  that,  among  the  ancients,  presbyter  and  bishop  were  the 
very  same  ;  but  by  degrees,  that  the  plants  of  dissension  might  be 
plucked  up,  the  whole  concern  was  devolved  on  an  individual.  As 
the  presbyters,  therefore,  know  that  they  are  subjected,  by  the 
custom  of  the  Churchy  to  him  who  is  set  over  them ;  so  let  the 
bishops  know  that  they  are  greater  than  presbyters,  more  by  custom 
than  by  any  real  appointment  of  Christ ^ 

It  is  remarkable  how  long  the  opinion  of  the  original  identity  of ' 
bishops  and  presbyters  was  retained  in  the  Church.  This  was  the 
generally -received  doctrine  of  the  Romish  Church,  insisted  on  both 
by  canonists  and  schoolmen,  until  past  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  when  the  opposite  opinion  was  affirmed  by  the 
Council  of  Trent.  This  was  also  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers  of  the 
English  Episcopal  Church  down  to  the  time  of  Archbishop  Laud, 
in  the  first  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

In  the  larger  churches  of  the  first  century,  we  find  several 
bishops  or  presbyters  holding  office  together  in  the  same  church. 
Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Philippians  is  addressed"  to  all  the  saints  in 
Christ  Jesus  Avhich  are  at  Philippi,  with  the  bishops  and  deacons  ;^^ 
implying  that  there  were  in  that  church  several  bishops  as  well  as 
deacons.  So  also  we  read  of  the  elders  of  the  churches  at  Ephesus 
and  at  Jerusalem ;  importing  that  there  was  a  corps  of  elders  in 
each  of  these  great  churches  (Acts  xv.  4,  6  ;  xx.  17). 

Some  have  inferred  from  this  fact  that  there  were  two  classes 
of  elders  in  the  primitive  churches,  —  the  teaching  and  the  ruling 
elders  ;  and  this  conclusion  has  been  strengthened  by  a  passage 
in  Paul's  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  (v.  17) :  "  Let  the  elders 
that  rule  well  be  counted  worthy  of  double  honor,  especially  they 
that  labor  in  word  and  doctrine  ; "  importing  that  there  were  some 
who  did  not  labor  in  word  and  doctrine.  But  I  doubt  whether 
this  passage  implies  any  official  distinction  among  the  elders.  In  a 
company  of  elders  such  as  existed  in  all  the  large  churches,  some 


580  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

would  be  more  learned  and  gifted,  more  competent  to  teach,  and 
more  acceptable  preachers,  than  the  rest.  On  these,  of  course,  the 
greater  part  of  the  labor  of  preaching  would  devolve.  They  would 
preach  more  frequently  than  their  less-qualified  brethren ;  they 
would  labor  more  in  word  and  doctrine :  and  while  Paul  would 
have  the  elders  that  ruled  well  counted  worthy  of  high  honor,  even 
though  they  were  not  so  effective  preachers,  he  would  have  special 
respect  accorded  to  those  who  devoted  themselves  more  enthely  to 
the  preaching  of  the  Word. 

We  are  confirmed  in  the  interpretation  here  given  to  the  apostle's 
language  from  the  fact  that  no  such  officers  as  lay  elders  are  found 
in  the  Church  for  several  centuries  succeeding  the  apostolic  age. 

On  a  revicAV  of  what  has  been  written  respecting  the  organization 
and  government  of  the  churches  in  the  first  century,  it  appears 
that  these  churches  were  essentially  congregational.  Each  one  was 
a  body  by  itself,  independent  of  every  other  in  regard  to  authority 
and  control ;  having  the  right  to  elect  its  own  officers,  to  admit  and 
exclude  members,  and  to  manage,  in  general,  its  own  appropriate 
concerns.  Such  were  the  chiu-ches  of  the  first  century ;  and,  being 
such,  they  were  essentially  congregational,  using  the  term  "  congre- 
gational "  in  the  larger  sense.  The  one  essential  characteristic  of 
Congregationalism  is  the  independence  of  the  individual  church, 
to  the  exclusion,  not  of  church-fellowship,  but  of  outward  dictation 
and  control.  Where  this  principle  is  retained,  there  is  Congrega- 
tionalism in  the  larger  sense :  if  this  be  swallowed  up  and  lost, 
as  it  is  in  most  of  the  nominal  churches  of  Christendom,  Con- 
gregationalism is  lost  with  it. 

It  further  appears  from  what  has  been  said  that  the  congrega- 
tional churches  of  the  present  day  are  not,  as  is  sometimes  alleged, 
innovations,  novelties,  in  church-order,  but  rather  a  reviving  of  the 
original  order,  —  that  established  by  the  apostles  and  their  imme- 
diate successors.  This  original  order  had  been  lost  for  more  than 
a  thousand  years.  The  independence  of  the  individual  Church 
had  long  been  swallowed  up  in  the  ail-ingulfing  power  of  a  domi- 
nant hierarchy.  But,  subsequent  to  the  reformation  from  Popery, 
the  fathers  of  the  present  independent  churches  sought  out  this 
original,  apostolical  principle,  and  found  it.  They  succeeded,  after 
a  long  struggle,  in  restoring  it,  and  have  transmitted  it  to  us  their 
successors ;  and  we  shall  be  recreant  to  their  memory  and  to  our 
own  rights  if  we  do  not  cherish  it,  preserve  it,  and  transmit  it 
unimpaired  to  the  generations  which  shall  come  after  us. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

PERSECUTIONS   AND    PROGRESS    OF   THE    CHURCH    IN    THIS    PERIOD. 

THE  first  persecutors  of  the  Christians  were  the  Jews.  Having 
crucified  the  Lord  of  glory,  tliey  naturally  set  themselves  in 
hostile  array  against  his  interests  and  kingdom.  They  had  heard 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  but  persisted  in  the  mad  pretence 
that  the  disciples  had  stolen  the  body  from  the  sepulchre  while 
the  soldiers  slept.  They  had  witnessed  the  strange  appearances  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  but  accounted  for  them  by  saying,  "  These 
men  are  full  of  new  wine." 

But,  notwithstanding  all  their  lies  and  reproaches,  the  cause  of 
Christ  continued  to  prosper.  The  original  five  hundred  soon  came 
to  be  more  than  three  thousand ;  and  in  a  little  time  the  three 
thousand  had  swelled  to  five  thousand ;  and  their  numbers  were 
increasing  daily.  The  Jewish  rulers,  therefore,  thought  that  it 
was  time  for  them  to  bestir  themselves  if  they  meant  to  arrest  the 
growing  evil. 

In  a  previous  chapter,  I  have  spoken  of  the  arrest,  in  two  sepa- 
rate instances,  of  Peter  and  John  by  the  Jews,  and  of  their  deliv- 
erance ;  of  the  persecution  following  the  death  of  Stephen,  in 
which  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  so  much  engaged,  and  by  which  the  dis- 
ciples were  scattered  abroad ;  also  of  the  designs  of  Herod  Agrippa 
against  the  Church,  when  he  slew  James  the  brother  of  John  with 
the  sword,  and  intended  to  take  Peter  also,  but  was  disappointed. 

With  the  death  of  Herod,  the  persecution  ceased ;  and  from  this 
time,  although  the  Jews  retained  all  their  spite  and  hate,  they 
lacked  the  power  to  inflict  essential  injury  upon  the  people  of  God. 
They  continued  to  annoy  the  Christians,  so  far  as  they  were  able, 
more  especially  in  and  around  Jerusalem.  In  about  the  year  62, 
they  effected  the  murder  of  James  the  Less ;  for  which  wickedness 
and  cruelty,  Josephus  believes  that  they  were  visited  with  the  de- 
struction of  their  city  and  temple.     Early  in  the  next  century, 

681 


582  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

they  took  the  life  of  good  old  Simeon,  the  son  of  Cleopas,  who 
succeeded  James  in  the  care  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  But  the 
next  general  and  fiery  persecution  came,  not  from  the  Jews,  but 
from  the  heathen.  It  sprang  up,  not  at  Jerusalem,  but  at  Rome. 
This  was  the  terrible  persecution  under  Nero. 

Nero,  the  successor  of  Claudius,  became  emperor  of  Rome  A.D. 
54.  During  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  while  he  was  under  the 
influence  of  able  counsellors,  his  government  was  respected  ;  but  he 
soon  showed  himself  to  be  one  of  the  most  cruel  and  brutal  charac- 
ters in  all  antiquity.  He  murdered  his  mother,  his  brother,  his 
wife,  his  two  preceptors,  Burrhus  and  Seneca,  and  at  last  murdered 
himself.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  he  set  fire  to  Rome,  just 
for  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it  burn  (as  it  did  for  six  successive 
days)  ;  and  then,  to  avoid  the  indignation  of  the  citizens,  he  charged 
the  burning  upon  the  Christians.  The  Christians  were  at  this  time 
numerous  at  Rome ;  and  the  fury  of  the  enraged  emperor  fell  upon 
them  without  measure  or  mercy.  The  most  horrible  methods  of 
punishment  were  resorted  to.  Some  were  thrown  to  wild  beasts  ; 
but  more  were  sewed  up  in  tarred  clothes,  and  set  on  fire  in  the  night, 
that  they  might  illuminate  the  burned  city.  This  persecution  lasted 
four  years,  and  was  not  confined  to  the  city  of  Rome,  but  extended 
into  other  parts  of  the  empire.  A  vast  number  of  Christians  were 
put  to  death,  among  whom  were  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul.  Upon 
the  death  of  Nero,  which  occurred  in  the  year  68,  the  persecution 
ceased. 

During  the  short  succeeding  reigns  of  Galba,  Otho,  Vitellius, 
Vespasian,  and  Titus,  the  Church  enjoyed  some  repose  ;  but  under 
Domitian,  a  suspicious  and  blasphemous  tyrant  who  reigned  from 
the  year  81  to  96,  the  fires  of  persecution  were  kindled  anew.  He 
had  heard  that  some  one  of  the  descendants  of  David  was  destined 
to  come  to  universal  empire  ;  and  this  led  him  to  hate  and  persecute 
both  the  Jews  and  Christians.  He  sent  and  brought  two  young 
men  of  the  lineage  of  David  —  grandsons  of  Judas  the  "  cousin  of 
our  Lord  "  —  from  Palestine  to  Rome ;  but  seeing  their  poverty 
and  humility,  and  hearing  their  explanation  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  as  being  not  temporal,  but  spiritual,  not  earthly,  but  heaven- 
ly, he  dismissed  them,  and  with  them  dismissed  his  fears  of  their 
disturbing  the  stability  of  his  throne.  It  was  during  this  persecu- 
tion that  Flavins  Clemens,  a  cousin  of  the  emperor,  was  put  to 
death,  and  his  wife  Domatilla  was  driven  into  exile.  It  was  under 
Domitian  that  the  apostle  John  was  banished  to  the  Isle  of  Pat- 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF   THE   CHURCH.  583 

mos,*  and  that  Andrew  and  Mark  and  Onesimus,  and  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite,  are  supposed  to  have  been  slain.  Domitian  Avas  suc- 
ceeded by  Nerva,  under  whom  those  who  had  been  banished  were 
recalled,  and  the  persecution  ceased.  It  may  be  inquired,  as  it 
often  has  been,  why  the  Romans,  who  were  proverbially  tolerant 
to  the  religions  of  their  conquered  provinces,  were  so  averse  to 
the  Christian  religion,  and  so  ready  to  persecute  and  distress  its 
followers. 

One  reason  for  the  fact  here  noticed  was,  that,  while  the  different 
heathen  religions  embraced  each  other,  the  Christian  religion  was 
exclusive.  The  heathen  of  one  country  could  say  to  those  of  an- 
other, "  Your  gods  may  be  good  for  you,  as  ours  are  for  us :  you 
enjoy  your  religion,  and  we  will  enjoy  ours."  But  the  Christians 
could  not  say  as  much  as  this.  They  professed  to  worship  the  only 
true  God,  and  to  have  the  only  true  religion.  The  religions  of  the 
heathen  (and  that  of  imperial  Rome  among  the  rest)  they  held  to 
be  false  and  worthless,  —  an  abomination  and  a  lie.  Now,  this,  to 
the  proud  Romans,  was  an  outrageous  presumption,  an  insufferable 
offence.  They  were  as  ready  to  have  fellowship  with  Christians 
as  with  other  religionists,  if  Christians  would  have  fellowship  with 
them.  They  would  even  have  placed  the  image  of  Jesus  in  the 
Pantheon,  and  offered  incense  before  it,  if  the  Christians  would 
do  as  much  for  their  images  :  but  the  Christians  could  enter  into 
no  such  compromise  with  idolatry ;  and  hence  their  religion  was  a 
detestable  superstition,  and  must  be  suppressed. 

But  further  than  this :  the  religion  of  Rome  was  the  religion 
of  the  State,  and  its  idolatries  entered  into  and  formed  an  integral 
part  of  the  State  policy  and  government.  The  emperor  was,  ex 
officio,  the  Pofitifex  Maximus ;  the  gods  were  national ;  while  the 
eagle  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  moved  as  a  good  genius  in  front  of 
the  all-conquering  legions.  Not  an  oath  could  be  taken,  nor  any 
important  office  be  held,  without  an  appeal  to  the  Romish  divinities 
and  a  professed  belief  in  them.  But  such  complicity  with  idolatry 
the  Christians  could  not  consistently  practise  :  hence  they  were 
constrained  to  stand  aloof  in  great  measure  from  public  affairs,  and 
thus  incur  the  reproach  of  hostihty  to  the  government. 

There  were  yet  other  causes  of  hostility  to  the  Christians.  As 
they  had  no  images,  no  visible  gods,  they  were  thought  by  many 


*  Some  persons  think  that  John  was  banished  under  Nero;  but  I  cannot  be  of  this  opinion. 
Irenseus,  a  disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  was  a  disciple  of  John,  testifies  that  he  was  banished  by 
Domitian. 


584  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

to  have  no  god  at  all,  and  lay  under  the  charge  of  atheism ;  and 
as  they  were  obliged  to  hold  their  meetings  privately,  and  often  in 
the  night-season,  they  were  charged  with  practising  in  them  the 
grossest  abominations.  The  Pagan  priests,  too,  as  their  altars  came 
to  be  comparatively  deserted,  wrought  earnestly  upon  the  fears  of 
the  people,  imputing  all  public  calamities  to  the  anger  of  the  gods. 
Hence,  at  every  inundation  or  drought  or  famine  or  pestilence, 
the  populace  were  excited  to  proclaim,  "  Away  with  the  atheists  ! 
Christianos  ad  leones  !  "  ("  Hurl  the  Christians  to  the  lions  !  ") 

Then,  in  addition  to  the  priests,  there  were  hordes  of  jugglers, 
artificers,  merchants,  and.  others,  who  derived  their  support  from 
the  idolatrous  worship.  These  all,  like  Demetrius  at  Ephesus,  had 
a  personal  interest  in  sustaining  the  established  rehgion,  and  in 
crushing  those  who  set  themselves  against  it. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  persecutions  of  the  first  century,  the 
religion  of  Christ  made  constant  and  rapid  progress.  It  spread 
often,  not  merely  in  spite  of  persecution,  but  by  means  of  it.  Thus 
in  the  persecution  about  Stephen,  when  the  Christians  were  scat- 
tered away  from  Jerusalem,  they  went  forth  everywhere  preaching 
the  Word  ;  and  churches  sprang  up  all  over  the  land.  So  Paul  tells 
us  that  his  imprisonment  at  Rome  was  overruled  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  gospel.  For  "  my  bonds,"  says  he,  "  are  manifest  in  all 
the  palace  and  in  all  other  places  ;  and  many  of  the  brethren,  wax- 
ing confident  by  my  bonds,  are  much  more  bold  to  speak  the  Word 
without  fear  "  (Phil.  i.  12-14). 

Of  the  extent  to  which  Christianity  was  propagated  in  the  first 
century,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  with  literal  exactness.  That  it 
early  spread  throughout  Palestine,  Judsea,  Samaria,  and  Galilee, 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  River  Jordan,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  We 
next  trace  it  into  Syria,  —  to  Sidon,  Damascus,  Antioch,  and  the 
other  great  cities.  Thence  it  extended  into  Asia  Minor,  and  thence 
through  the  principal  cities  of  Macedon  and  Greece.  Almost  im- 
mediately, we  hear  of  churches  springing  up  at  Rome  and  in  other 
parts  of  Italy ;  whence  the  sound  of  the  gospel  passed  over  the 
Alps  into  Gaul,  and  (as  Clement  of  Rome  informs  us)  to  "  the 
farthest  regions  of  the  west." 

We  know  that  there  were  churches  in  Egypt,  in  Ethiopia,  and 
other  parts  of  Africa,  in  the  apostolic  age.  Nor  were  the  regions 
lying  north  and  east  of  Palestine  unvisited  by  the  light  of  gospel 
truth.  Peter  wrote  his  First  Epistle  at  Babylon,  during  his  visit  to 
the  Jews  residing  there ;  and  he  addresses  it  to  converted  Jews 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF  THE   CHURCH.  585 

"  scattered  through  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  By- 
thinia  "  (chap.  i.  1 ;  v.  13). 

Of  the  missionary  labors  of  Paul  we  have  heard  in  former  chap- 
ters. Several  years  before  his  martyrdom,  he  tells  the  Romans,  that 
"  from  Jerusalem  "  as  a  centre,  "  and  round  about  unto  Illyricum  " 
(beyond  Macedon  and  Thrace),  "  he  had  fully  preached  the  gospel 
of  Christ."  He  preached  it  in  a  much  wider  circle  afterwards. 
In  the  same  epistle,  speaking  to  the  Romans  of  the  wide  diffusion 
of  the  gospel,  he  says,  "  Its  sound  went  forth  into  all  the  earth, 
and  its  words  to  the  end  of  the  world  "  (Rom.  x.  18  ;  xv.  19). 

With  regard  to  the  other  apostles,  we  are  told  that  Andrew 
labored  on  the  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  near  the  site  of  the  modern 
Constantinople ;  that  Philip  went  to  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia  ;  that 
Thomas  travelled  eastward  into  Parthia,  Media,  Persia,  and  India; 
and  that  Jude,  the  brother  of  James,  preached  in  Edessa,  in  the 
north  of  Syria. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  countries  here  mentioned 
were  thoroughly  Christianized  through  the  labors  of  the  apostles 
and  their  immediate  successors.  But  the  gospel  was  preached  in 
them ;  the  kingdom  of  God  came  near  to  them  ;  a  seed  was 
Sown  which  ere  long  sprang  up,  and  in  most  places  yielded  precious 
fruit. 

In  the  following  century,  Tertullian  says,  "  We  are  a  people  of 
yesterday  ;  and  yet  we  have  filled  every  place  belonging  to  you,  — 
your  cities,  islands,  castles,  towns,  assemblies,  joiiv  very  camp, 
your  tribes,  your  companies,  the  palace,  the  forum,  and  the  senate. 
We  leave  you  nothing  but  your  temples.  You  can  count  your 
armies ;  but  our  numbers  in  some  single  provinces  are  greater 
than  they."  Justin  Martyr  uses  a  similar  language  :  "  There  is  no 
people,  Greek  or  Barbarian,  or  of  any  other  race,  by  whatsoever 
appellation  or  manners  they  may  be  distinguished,  however  igno- 
rant of  arts  or  agriculture,  whether  they  dwell  in  tents  or  wander 
about  in  covered  wagons,  among  whom  prayers  and  thanksgivings 
are  not  offered  in  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus  to  the  Father 
and  Creator  of  all  things." 

Passages  such  as  these  —  making  all  due  allowance  for  rhetori- 
cal exaggeration  —  indicate  a  prodigious  spread  of  Christianity  at 
or  near  the  close  of  the  first  century ;  and  the  questions  arise.  How 
are  we  to  account  for  this  extended  and  rapid  diffusion  ?  To  what 
cause  or  causes  is  it  to  be  attributed  ? 

Not  certainly  to  the  learning  and  eloquence  of  its  first  preachers 


586  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  « promoters ;  for  they  were  plain,  unlettered  men,  whose 
only  aim  was  to  live  the  religion  they  professed,  and  to  deliver 
their  important  message  m  a  simple,  truthful  way.  Nor  can  we 
account  for  the  success  of  the  gospel  on  the  ground  of  its  offering 
any  favor  or  indulgence  to  the  corrupt  inclinations  and  practices 
of  men  ;  for  the  whole  tendency  of  it  was  the  other  way.  Its 
demand  for  repentance  and  newness  of  life,  for  a  renunciation  of 
self  and  the  world,  was  perpetual  and  inexorable.  Nor  can  we 
account  for  the  success  of  the  first  preachers  of  the  gospel  on  ac- 
count of  the  support  of  the  civil  powers  ;  for  these,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  all  arrayed  against  them  :  instead  of  meeting  with 
support  and  encouragement  from  the  world,  they  were  obliged  to 
encounter  a  world  in  arms. 

There  was,  indeed,  a  preparation  for  the  gospel  in  the  existing 
state  of  the  world  and  of  its  prevalent  religions.  Judaism  had 
fallen,  with  its  doomed  capital  and  temple,  and  wandered  restless 
and  accursed ;  while  Heathenism,  though  outwardly  in  power,  was 
inwardly  rotten  and  in  process  of  decay.  Public  morality  was  under- 
mined, the  moral  bands  of  society  were  sundered,  and  the  minds  of 
men  were  prepared  to  look  with  expectation  and  hope  upon  the 
light  of  the  new  religion  which  was  beginning  to  rise  upon  them. 

Then  this  religion  was  of  a  nature  to  commend  itself  to  every 
man's  conscience^  however  pointedly  it  may  have  condemned  his 
course  of  life.  In  the  manifest  truth  of  its  leading  doctrines ;  in 
the  purity  and  elevation  of  its  moral  precepts ;  in  its  regenerat- 
ing and  sanctifying  effects  upon  the  heart  and  conduct;  in  the 
brotherly  love,  the  beneficence,  the  holy  lives  and  triumphant 
deaths,  of  its  confessors ;  in  its  adaptedness  to  all  classes,  condi- 
tions, and  relations  among  men,  —  it  carried  its  own  evidence  with 
it,  and  this  evidence  in  many  cases  was  irresistible. 

Still  there  is  no  accounting  for  the  rapid  success  of  the  gospel  in 
the  first  century  but  by  referring  to  its  divine  origin  and  to  the 
accompanying  power  of  God.  Its  divine  origin  the  first  preachers 
of  the  gospel  constantly  affirmed :  "  Which  things  we  speak,  not  in 
words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
teacheth"  (1  Cor.  ii.  13).  In  proof  of  their  claims,  they  appealed 
to  a  long  line  of  manifestly  accomplished  prophecy,  and  to  the 
signs  and  wonders  which  were  performed  by  their  hands.  Most 
of  the  leading  facts  of  the  gospel  were  predicted  long  ages  before 
they  took  place ;  and  the  miracles  which  accompanied  the  early 
propagation  of  it  were  a  standing  proof  of  its  divine  original. 


PERSECUTIONS   AND    PROGRESS   OF  THE   CHURCH.  587 

But  there  was  another  way  in  which  the  power  of  God  operated 
to  promote  the  early  success  of  the  gospel,  and  without  which  all 
other  appliances  had  been  vain.  The  Spirit  of  God  was  continually 
shed  forth,  enlightening  dark  minds,  conquering  stubborn  preju- 
dices, breaking  hard  hearts,  bowing  reluctant  wills,  and  bringing 
rebellious  Jews  and  Gentiles  to  the  obedience  of  faith.  On  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  three  thousand  who  came  together  to  scoff 
remained  to  pray.  Within  a  few  days  after,  two  thousand  more 
had  been  affected  in  the  same  way ;  and,  wherever  the  gospel  was 
preached,  similar  scenes  were  witnessed  through  the  entire  first 
century.  Against  a  power  which  wrought  so  secretly,  and  at  the 
same  time  so  effectually,  there  was  no  contending.  What  could 
high  priests,  and  Jewish  elders,  and  heathen  governors  and  magis- 
trates, do  ?  The  Jewish  rulers  send  officers  to  the  temple  to  lay 
hands  on  Jesus,  and  bring  him  before  them  ;  but  the  officers  return 
without  him,  saying,  "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man."  These 
same  rulers  send  a  fiery  zealot  to  Damascus  to  seize  all  the  Chris- 
tians whom  he  can  find  there,  and  bring  them  bound  to  Jerusalem : 
but  their  ambassador  is  converted  before  he  reaches  Damascus ; 
and  no  sooner  does  he  arrive  there  than  he  begins  to  publish  in  the 
synagogues  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  Christ. 

Assuming  that  the  gospel  is  of  God,  and  was  enforced  in  the 
early  dispensation  of  it  by  the  .Spirit  of  God,  and  its  diffusion,  in 
face  of  all  difficulties,  is  easily  accounted  for ;  but,  rejecting  this 
assumption,  the  undeniable  facts  of  the  case  are  all  a  mystery. 
They  can  never  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of  mere  natural 
causes.  The  rapid  diffusion  of  the  gospel  in  the  first  century  is, 
therefore,  a  valid  argument  for  its  divine  original. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

DOCTRINES,     CONTROVERSIES,    AND     RELIGIOUS     SPIRIT,    OF    THE    FIRST 

PERIOD. 

IN  discussing  the  subjects  here  announced,  it  would  be  super- 
fluous to  go  into  a  consideration  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Testament.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  they  are  substantially  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  the  doctrines  of  evangelical  religion ; 
embracing  the  Trinity,  the  divinity  and  atonement  of  Christ, 
the  natural  and  entire  depravity  of  unrenewed  men,  the  neces- 
sity of  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  justification  by  faith, 
the  perseverance  of  saints,  a  general  resurrection  and  final  judg- 
ment, the  endless  happiness  of  the  righteous,  and  punishment  of 
the  wicked,  beyond  the  grave.  These  doctrines,  and  those  essen- 
tially connected  with  them,  are,  not  systematically,  but  clearly, 
written  out  in  the  New  Testament,  and  command  the  assent  of 
evangelical  Christians  generally  throughout  the  world. 

The  same  doctrines  were  taught,  and  in  much  the  same  way,  by 
the  fathers  of  the  first  century.  They  prepared  no  connected 
system  of  doctrines,  but  announced  the  truth  in  all  plainness  and 
simplicity,  as  occasions  called  for  it,  after  the  manner  of  the  sacred 
writers. 

These  fathers  taught  abundantly,  and  in  all  possible  forms  of 
speech,  tlie  divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Clement  of  Rome 
saith,  "  The  sceptre  of  the  majesty  of  G-od,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christy 
came,  not  in  the  show  of  pride  and  arrogance  (though  he  could 
have  dojie  so),  but  with  humility  "  (Epis.  to  Cor.,  sect.  16).  Poly- 
carp  says,  speaking  of  Christ,  "  To  whom  all  things  are  subjected, 
both  that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  earth ;  whom  every  living 
creature  shall  worship "  (Epis.  to  Phil.,  sect.  2).  Ignatius  says, 
*'  There  is  one  Physician,  both  fleshly  and  spiritual ;  made,  and  not 
made ;  G-od  incarnate,  both  passible  and  impassible,  —  even  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  "  (Epis.  to  Eph.,  sect.  7).   And  again :  "  Permit  me 

588 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,   AND   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.       589 

to  imitate  the  passion  of  my  God  "  (Epis.  to  Rom.,  sect.  6).  And 
yet  again :  ^'  I  wish  you  all  happiness  in  our  God,  Jesus  Christ " 
(Epis.  to  Polycarp,  sect.  8). 

Inscriptions  on  tombstones  in  the  Catacombs  at  Rome,  reaching 
back  to  the  first  century,  conclusively  show  the  faith  of  those  early 
Christians  in  the  proper  divinity  of  Christ:  "God,  Son  of  God, 
save."  "  Cyriaca,  thou  sleepest  in  the  peace  of  Jesus  Christ, 
God."  "  Eremaisca,  my  darling,  live  thou  in  God,  Lord,  Christ." 
"  To  the  well-beloved  sister  Bona,  peace.  God,  Christ,  Almighty, 
shall  refresh  thy  soul." 

Believing  in  the  proper  divinity  of  Christ,  these  early  farthers, 
of  course,  held  the  Trinity.  Thus  Ignatius  says,  "  Be  subject  one 
to  another,  as  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Father,  and  the  apostles  both  to 
Christ  and  the  Father  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost "  (Epis.  to  Magne- 
sians,  sect.  13).  Again  he  says,  speaking  of  Christ,  "  With  whom  all 
glory  and  power  be  to  the  Father,  with  the  blessed  Spirit,  forever 
and  ever"  (Martyrdom  of  Ignatius,  sect.  14).  Polycarp  says  in 
his  last  prayer  at  the  stake,  "  I  glorify  thee  by  the  eternal  and 
heavenly  high  priest  Jesus  Christ,  with  whom,  to  thee  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  glory  both  now  and  through  all  succeeding  ages  " 
(Martj^'dom  of  Polycarp,  sect.  14).  In  the  close  of  the  same 
epistle,  the  Smyrnean  Church  says,  "  We  wish  you,  brethren, 
all  happiness,  by  living  according  to  the  rule  of  the  gospel  by 
Jesus  Christ ;  with  whom,  glory  be  to  God  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Spirit"  (sect.  22). 

Of  the  many  passages  in  these  fathers  teaching  the  vicm^ious 
nature  of  Christ'' s  sufferings  and  deaths  I  need  give  but  a  few  speci- 
mens. The  following  sentences  occur  in  Clement's  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  :  "  Let  us  look  steadfastly  to  the  blood  of  Christ,  and 
see  how  precious  his  blood  is,  ivhich  tvas  shed  for  our  salvation  " 
(sect.  7).  "  By  the  blood  of  our  Lord,  there  is  redemption  to  all 
those  that  believe  "  (sect.  12).  "  Let  us  reverence  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  whose  blood  was  given  for  us ^^  (sect.  21).  "Our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  gave  his  otvn  blood  for  us  by  the  will  of  God,  his 
flesh  for  our  flesh,  his  soul  for  our  souls  "  (sect.  49). 

Polycarp  says  of  Christ,  that  he  "  suffered  himself  to  be  brought 
even  unto  death  for  our  sins  "  (Epis.  to  Phil.,  sect.  1)  ;  and  that  "  he 
suffered  for  the  salvation  of  all  such  as  sliall  be  saved  "  (Martyr- 
dom, &c.,  sect.  17).  Ignatius  says  that  Christ  "  gave  himself  to 
God  an  offering  and  sacrifice  for  us"  (Epis.  to  Eph.,  sect.  1),  In 
the  epistle  ascribed  to  Barnabas,  it  is  said  that  "  Christ  was  one 


690  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

day  to  offer  up  his  body  for  our  sins  ;  "  and  tliat  "  he  gave  up  his 
body  to  destruction,  that,  through  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  we 
might  be  sanctified  by  the  sprinkUng  of  his  blood"  (sects.  5,  7). 

On  the  subject  of  justification,  Clement  writes  as  follows  :  "  We 
are  not  justified  by  ourselves,  neither  by  our  own  wisdom  or 
knowledge  or  piety,  or  the  works  which  we  have  done,  but  by 
that  faith  by  which  God  Almighty  has  justified  all  men  from  the 
beginning"  (Epis.  to  Corinth,  sect.  32).  Ignatius,  speaking  of 
Christ's  "  cross  and  death  and  resurrection,  and  the  faith  which 
is  by  him,"  adds,  "  By  which  faith  I  hope,  through  your  prayers,  to 
be  justified  "  (Epis.  to  Philadelpliians,  sect.  8). 

In  these  writings  of  the  fathers,  the  resurrection  of  the  body  is 
earnestly  affirmed  and  argued  against  the  Gnosticising  tendencies 
of  the  age  ;  and  so  also  are  the  doctrines  of  a  final  and  general 
judgment  and  of  eternal  punishment.  Ignatius,  speaking  of  those 
who  "  by  wicked  doctrine  corrupt  the  faith,"  adds,  "  He  that  is 
thus  defiled  shall  depart  into  unquenchable  fire;  and  so  also  shall 
they  that  hearken  to  him"  (Epis.  to  Eph.,  sect.  16).  The  Smyr- 
neans,  speaking  of  the  martyrs  in  their  account  of  Polycarp,  saj^, 
"  Being  supported  by  the  grace  of  God,  they  despised  all  the 
torments  of  the  world;  by  the  sufferings  of  an  hour, 'redeeming 
themselves  from  everlasting  punishment.  For  this  cause,  the  fire 
of  their  barbarous  and  cruel  executioners  seemed  cold  to  them ; 
whilst  they  hoped  thereby  to  escape  that  fire  tvhich  is  eternal,  and 
shall  never  be  extinguished  "  (sect.  2). 

While  the  religious  teachers  of  the  first  century  were  thus 
united  in  setting  forth  the  doctrines  of  the  evangehcal  faith,  there 
were  some,  as  there  always  have  been,  who  impugned  and  rejected 
them. 

The  first  controversy  of  any  moment  in  the  Christian  Church 
arose  from  the  attempt  of  certain  teachers  to  impose  circumcision 
and  the  Jewish  law  upon  the  Gentile  converts.  When  Paul  and 
Barnabas  had  returned  from  their  first  missionary  excursion  among 
the  Gentiles,  and  reported  their  proceedings  to  the  Church  at 
Antioch,  "  there  rose  up  certain  of  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees  which 
believed  and  said  that  it  was  needfid  to  circumcise  the  new 
converts  from  among  the  Gentiles,  and  to  command  them  to  keep 
the  law  of  Moses."  And  these  things  were  urged,  not  as  a  matter 
of  mere  order  and  ceremony,  but  as  essential  to  salvation  :  "  Except 
ye  be  circumcised  after  the  manner  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be  saved  " 
(Acts  XV.  1).     Here,  then,  we  havu  the  precise  point  in  dispute. 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,   AND   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.       591 

Paul  and  his  companions  affirmed  that  the  blood  of  Christ  was  the 
sole  and  sufficient  ground  of  salvation ;  and  that  all  who  truly 
believed  in  him  would  be  saved,  whether  circumcised  or  not : 
while  their  opponents  insisted  that  faith  in  Christ  was  not  alone 
sufficient,  but  that  all.  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jcavs,  must  be  circum- 
cised, and  keep  the  law  of  Moses,  or  they  could  not  be  saved. 
As  the  brethren  at  Antioch  could  not  well  settle  this  question 
among  themselves,  they  agreed  to  refer  it  to  the  apostles  and 
elders,  and  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  where  it  was  determined, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  in  favor  of  Paul. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  decision,  the  question  was  far  from 
being  at  rest.  It  continued  to  be  agitated  ;  and  Paul  continued  to 
be  troubled  by  these  Judaizing  teachers  to  the  end  of  his  life. 
The  point  in  debate  between  them  was  one,  as  we  have  seen,  of 
great  importance  in  itself.  It  respected  the  foundation  of  our  hope 
and  the  way  of  salvation.  It  respected  the  manner  in  which  the 
believer  is  to  be  justified  before  his  God.  Paul  insisted  that  he  is 
to  be  justified  by  faith  in  the  Redeemer ;  but  his  opponents  urged 
that  this  would  not  avail  without  circumcision,  and  obedience  to 
the  ceremonial  law. 

And  as  this  controversy  was  important  in  itself,  so  was  it  in  its 
consequences.  The  adversaries  of  Paul,  in  order  to  bring  reproach 
upon  his  doctrines,  disputed  his  claim  to  be  ranked  among  the 
apostles  of  Jesus.  This  imposed  on  him  the  disagreeable  necessity 
of  vindicating  his  own  apostleship  :  "  In  nothing  am  I  behind  the 
very  chiefest  of  the  apostles,  though  I  be  nothing."  "  Truly  the 
signs  of  an  apostle  were  wrought  among  you  in  all  patience,  in 
signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds." 

In  disproving  the  claims  of  Paul  to  be  an  apostle,  it  was  urged 
that  his  knowledge  of  the  gospel  must  have  been  received  from 
others,  and  not  directly  from  the  great  Head  of  the  Church.  This 
led  him  to  say  in  reply,  "  The  gospel  which  was  preached  of  me 
was  not  after  man  ;  for  I  neither  received  it  of  man,  neither  was 
I  taught  it  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ."  These  Judaiz- 
ing teachers,  and  their  followers  afterwards,  rejected  the  Epistles 
of  Paul,  and  refused  to  receive  them  as  divine  revelation. 

In  consequence  of  their  views  of  justification  by  the  law,  and 
not  by  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  many  of  them  were  early  led  to 
deny  the  doctrines  of  Christ's  proper  divinity,  and  of  atonement 
by  his  death.  They  regarded  him  as  a  teacher,  rather  than  a 
Saviour,  —  a  divinely-inspired  man  like  Moses  ;  and  they  trusted 


592  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

for  salvation  to  useless  rites  and  ceremonies,  rather  than  to  his 
blood.  Early  in  the  next  century,  they  separated  themselves  from 
the  Church,  and  were  disowned  as  heretics.  They  became  distinct 
sects,  and  are  known  in  history  under  the  names  of  Nazarenes  and 
Ebionites. 

Another  class  of  errors  which  infested  the  churches  of  the  first 
century  arose  from  the  attempts  made  to  incorporate  with  the 
holy  doctrines  of  the  gospel  the  dogmas  of  the  Oriental  or  Gnostic 
philosophy.  This  philosophy  was  of  very  ancient  origin.  It  ap- 
peared first  in  the  East,  but  gradually  extended  itself  into  Egypt 
and  Greece.  It  was  against  this  corrupt  but  enticing  system  that 
the  apostle  warned  his  Colossian  brethren  in  the  following  words : 
"  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain 
deceit  after  the  traditions  of  men,  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world, 
and  not  after  Christ."  Against  the  same  proud  system  he  also 
cautioned  his  beloved  Timothy :  "  O  Timothy !  keep  that  which 
is  committed  to  thy  trust,  avoiding  profane  and  vain  babblings,  and 
oppositions  of  yvcoarg,  scierice,  falsely  so  called,  which  some,  profess- 
ing, have  erred  concerning  the  faith." 

It  was  a  first  principle  with  all  the  Gnostics  that  matter  is  essen- 
tially corruptiiig,  —  the  source  of  all  evil  and  of  all  vice.  Con- 
sequently, they  inferred  that  the  Supreme  Divinity,  whom  they 
considered  as  absolutely  perfect,  could  not  have  been  the  author 
of  mattel'  or  of  any  thing  material.  Hence,  to  account  for  the 
existence  of  this  material  world,  and  of  the  material  bodies  of 
men  and  animals,  they  had  recourse  to  the  following  hypothesis  : 
"  The  Supreme  God,  having  dwelt  from  everlasting  in  a  profound 
solitude  and  a  blessed  tranquillity,  produced  at  length  from  him- 
self two  minds  of  different  sexes,  which  resembled  their  Supreme 
Parent  in  the  most  perfect  manner.  From  the  union  of  these  two, 
others  arose,  Avho  were  followed  by  succeeding  generations ;  so  that, 
in  process  of  time,  a  numerous  celestial  family  was  formed  in  the 
regions  of  light."  These  inferior  divinities  were  called  ^ons  by 
the  Eastern  sages,  and  Demons  by  the  Greeks.  One  of  them, 
possessing  less  purity,  though  not  less  power,  than  some  of  his  kin- 
dred, degraded  himself  so  far  as  to  become  the  Creator,  or  rather 
the  Former,  of  this  material  world.  He  formed  the  vile  bodies  of 
men,  and  made  them  the  prisons  and  the  corrupters  of  human 
souls.  From  these  corrupting  prisons,  the  Supreme  Divinity  is 
using  all  methods  to  deliver  the  wretched  souls  of  men,  in  which 
work  of  benevolence  he  will  finally  have  complete  success  ;  after 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,    AND   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.       593 

which  he  will  dissolve  the  frame  of  the  material  universe,  and 
bury  it  in  a  general  ruin. 

Such,  in  general,  was  the  theory  of  the  ancient  Gnostics ;  al- 
though, in  carrying  out  their  theory  into  particulars,  they  divided 
into  numerous  sects.  This  philosophy  had  corrupted  the  religion 
of  the  Jews,  more  especially  in  Egypt,  previous  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Christian  era  ;  and  no  sooner  did  the  religion  of  Christ 
come  in  contact  with  it  than  its  pernicious  influence  began  to  be 
visible.  We  find  repeated  allusions  to  it,  and  contradictions  of  it, 
in  the  writings  of  the  apostles.  A  few  instances  of  these  allusions 
and  contradictions  will  be  noticed. 

The  inferior  divinities  of  the  Gnostics  were  with  them  objects  of 
worship.  These  were  thought  b}?"  the  Christian  Gnostics  to  be  the 
same,  in  general,  as  the  angels  ;  and  hence  the  propriety  of  wor- 
shipping angels  began  to  be  advocated.  This  led  the  apostle  to 
say,  "  Let  no  man  beguile  you  of  your  reward  in  a  voluntary  hu- 
mility and  ivorslivpinng  of  angels,  intruding  into  those  things  which 
he  hath  not  seen,  being  vainly  puffed  up  by  his  fleshly  mind  "  (Col. 
ii.  18). 

The  Gnostic  philosophers  had  much  dispute  respecting  the  num- 
ber and  rank  of  their  inferior  divinities,  and  in  tracing  their  differ- 
ent genealogies  up  to  the  Supreme  God.  In  these  disputes,  such 
professing  Christians  as  had  been  corrupted  by  them  more  or  less 
participated.  It  was  on  this  account,  probably,  that  Paul  cau- 
tioned Timothy  not  "  to  give  heed  to  fables  and  endless  genealo- 
gies, which  minister  questions  rather  than  godly  edifying"  (1  Tim. 
i.  4).* 

The  Gnostic  believers  regarded  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  one  of 
their  ^ons,  or  inferior  divinities,  sent  into  the  world  to  aid  in  de- 
livering the  imprisoned  souls  of  men  from  the  corrupting  influence 
of  matter.  Hence  they  were  unanimous  in  rejecting  the  proper 
divinity  of  our  Saviour.  They  also  rejected  his  humanity :  they 
could  not  think  that  he  had  a  real  body  of  flesh,  or  that  he  really 
suffered  and  died.  All  this  took  place  in  appearance  only.  In 
both  these  particulars,  their  errors  were  contradicted  by  the  apos- 
tle John.  He  wrote  his  Gospel  near  the  close  of  the  first  century, 
with  a  view  to  establish,  in  opposition  to  all  who  questioned  it,  the 
proper  divinity  of  the  Saviour.  In  the  very  first  verse,  he  asserts 
that  "  the  Word  ivas  God : "  and  he  goes  on  to  say  that  "  all  things 
were  made  by  him,  and  without  him  was  not  any  thing  made  that 

*  See  Rosenmiiller  in  he. 
38 


594  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

was  made ; "  thus  contradicting  another  Gnostic  opinion,  that  the 
material  world  was  not  made  by  God.  In  many  passages,  both  of 
his  Gospel  and  his  Epistles,  the  apostle  John  asserts  that  Jesus 
Christ  liad  a  material  body,  or,  in  other  words,  that  he  had  come 
in  the  flesh:  "The  Word  was  made  fleshy  and  dwelt  among  us" 
(John  i.  14).  "  Every  spirit  that  confesseth  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God  ;  and  every  spirit  that  confesseth  not 
that  Jesus  Christ  has  come  in  the  flesh  is  not  of  God.  Many 
deceivers  are  entered  into  the  world,  who  confess  not  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh.  This  is  a  deceiver  and  an  antichrist" 
(1  John  iv.  2  ;  2  John  7).  John  further  contradicts  the  spectre 
theory  of  Christ's  life  on  earth  by  sayjing  that  he  had  not  only 
seen,  but  handled,  the  Word  of  life  (1  John  i.  1).  A  spectre  can 
be  seen,  but  not  handled. 

The  spectre  theory  was  also  contradicted  by  the  fathers  of  the 
first  century.  Thus  Ignatius  insists  that  Christ  "  was  truly  born 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  did  eat  and  drink ;  was  truly  persecuted 
under  Pontius  Pilate  ;  was  truly  crucified  and  dead  ;  and  was  truly 
raised  from  the  dead  by  the  power  of  God."  He  denounces  those 
as  atheists  "  who  pretend  that  Christ  only  seemed  to  suffer  and 
die"  (Epis.  to  Trallians,  sect.  9,  10). 

Since  the  Gnostics  regarded  the  material  body  as  the  clog  and 
prison  of  the  soul,  they  were  led  to  deny  with  one  voice  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body.  There  will  be  no  resurrection  but  a  spirit- 
ual one  ;  and  that,  in  respect  to  all  true  Christians,  is  past  already. 
Such  were  Hymeneus  and  Philetus,  of  wliom  Paul  speaks  (2  Tim. 
ii.  17)  ;  such,  also,  were  those  among  the  Corinthians  who  asserted 
that  "  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead,"  and  in  reply  to  whom 
the  apostle  wrote  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  his  First  Epistle. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  that,  before  the  close  of  the  first  century, 
many  of  the  Gnosticising  Christians  were  separated  from  the  true 
Church,  and  held  meetings  for  worship  by  themselves.  Among 
these  was  Cerinthus,  a  Jewish  convert,  who  had  become  fatally 
corrupted  with  this  imposing  philosophy.  It  is  in  reference  to 
these,  probably,  that  the  apostle  John  says,  "  They  went  out  from 
us  because  they  were  not  of  us  ;  for,  if  they  had  been  of  us,  no 
doubt  they  would  have  continued  with  us  :  but  they  went  out 
that  they  might  be  made  manifest  that  they  were  not  all  of  us  " 
(1  John  ii.  19). 

There  were  some  in  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  age  of  the 
apostles,  who  took  occasion,  from  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,   AND   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.        595 

fiiitli  aloiic,  to  represent  a  holy  life  as  unnecessary :  "  It  matters 
little  what  our  life  is,  if  we  only  have  faith  ;  since  it  is  by  faith 
that  we  are  to  be  justified  without  the  (UhhIs  of  (he  law."  This 
error  was  very  properly  noticed  and  refuU'd  by  the  apostle  James: 
"  What  doth  it  profit,  my  brelhren,  though  a  man  say  he  hath 
faith,  and  have  not  works?  Can  faith  save  liini  ?  If  a  brother 
or  sister  be  naked,  and  destitute  of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you 
say  unto  them,  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed  and  fiHcd,  notwith- 
standing ye  give  not  those  things  tliat  are  needful  for  the  body, 
what  doth  it  profit  ?  Even  so  faith,  if  it  hav(!  not  works,  is  dead, 
being  alone  "  (Jas.  ii.  14).  We  know  very  little  about  this  old 
Antinomian  controversy  exeept  what  we  gather  from  these  appeals 
of  the  apostle  James.  We  know,  however,  that  such  a  perversion 
of  gospel  truth  is  a  very  natural  one  ;  it  has  been  often  made  ;  and 
it  is  not  strange  that  it  made  its  appearance  even  in  the  apostolic 
age.  It  could  not  have  been  so  avcU  met  and  refuted  in  any  subse- 
quent age. 

It  was  an  error  of  the  first  century,  into  Avhich  many  seem  to  have 
fallen,  that  the  day  of  judgment  and  the  end  of  the  world  were 
near  at  hand.  This  idea  was  for  a  season  so  prevalent  among  the 
Thessalonians,  that  they  were  induced  to  negh'ct  tlu'ir  necessary 
avocations,  and  thus  brought  discredit  on  tlu'ir  profession.  Wluu'c- 
fore  the  apostle  wrote  unto  them  :  "We  })eseech  you,  brcilhren,  by 
the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  o\ir  gathering  togollu'r 
unto  him,  that  ye  be  not  soon  shaken  in  mind,  or  be  troul)led, 
neither  by  spirit,  nor  by  word,  nor  by  letter  as  from  us,  as  that  the 
day  of  Christ  is  at  hand.  Let  no  man  deceive  you  by  any  means  ; 
for  that  day  shall  not  come  exeept  there  come  a  falling-away  lirst, 
and  that  Man  of  Sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of  perdition.  .  .  .  Re- 
member ye  not,  that,  while  I  was  yet  with  you,  I  told  you  of  these 
things?"  (2Thess.  ii.  1-5.) 

It  may  be  supposed  that  some  to  whom  tlus  apostle  Peter  wrote 
had  been  expecting  the  coming  of  the  day  of  (iod,  and  had  begun 
to  lose  their  confidence  in  his  promises  because  it  was  delayed ; 
for  he  thought  it  necessary  to  say  unto  them,  "  The  Lord  is  not 
slack  concerning  his  promise  as  some  men  count  slackness,  but  is 
long-suffering  to  us-ward,  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  but 
that  all  should  come  to  repentance.  For  one  day  is  with  the  J^ord 
as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day.  But  the 
day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  niglit,  in  the  which  the 
heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall 


596  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

melt  with  fervent  heat ;  the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are 
therein,  shall  be  burned  up  "  (2  Pet.  iii.  1-10). 

Among  the  fathers  of  the  first  century,  the  chief  advocate  of  the 
speedy  coming  of  Christ  was  Papias,  a  weak  and  credulous  man, 
who  spent  the  most  of  his  time  in  collecting  and  repeating  marvels 
which  he  pretended  to, have  learned  from  the  apostles  or  their  im- 
mediate successors.  His  views  respecting  the  state  of  the  world 
during  the  personal  reign  of  Christ  upon  it  were  many  of  them 
gross  and  ridiculous.  These  opinions  prevailed  more  in  the  second 
century  than  in  the  first ;  nor  were  they  entirely  abandoned  until 
the  revolution  under  Constantine,  —  in  the  fourth  century. 

Our  view  of  the  first  age  will  be  concluded  with  some  remarks 
respecting  the  state  of  religion  among  the  early  Christians.  These 
Christians  were  not  great  or  learned  men  in  the  sense  in  which 
these  terms  are  used  in  modern  times,  though  some  of  them  were 
as  learned  and  as  great  as  any  of  those  among  whom  they  lived. 
They  were  not  biblical  critics,  or  scientific  theologians,  or  deeply 
versed  in  civil  or  ecclesiastical  history.  This  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected of  them  ;  but,  for  a  strong  and  vigorous  exercise  of  some 
of  the  cardinal  Christian  virtues,  they  have  never  been  excelled. 

In  the  first  place,  they  were  men  of  strong  faith^  —  that  faith 
which  brings  invisible  things  near,  and  makes  them  seem  to  us  as 
though  they  were  realities.  Living  so  near  to  the  fountain-head 
of  Christian  truth,  and  having  it  confirmed  to  them  continually 
by  signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds,  this  was  to  be  ex- 
pected of  them ;  and  most  strikingly  was  it  exemplified  in  them. 
Though  living  bodily  in  this  world,  they  lived  spiritually  in  an- 
other. They  walked  by  faith  more  than  by  sight.  They  com- 
muned continually  with  invisible  realities,  and  had  their  conversa- 
tion in  heaven. 

It  was  their  faith  which  nerved  them  to  meet  persecution,  and 
gave  them  the  victory  over  the  world  and  death.  They  could  say 
to  those  who  pursued  them  with  bonds,  and  inflicted  upon  them 
the  spoiling  of  their  goods,  "  Take  these  things  if  you  will ;  take 
away  my  liberty  or  my  life  :  but,  blessed  be  God !  I  have  a  por- 
tion which  you  cannot  take.  I  have  an  inheritance  above,  and  a 
life,  which  are  beyond  your  power."  The  readiness  and  fearless- 
ness of  these  Christians  in  meeting  death  were  a  mystery  to  their 
enemies,  but  are  easily  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of  their 
faith. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  early  Christians  was  their  mutual 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,   AND   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT.       597 

love.  They  had  a  common  faith^  were  eml)arkecl  together  in  a 
common  cause,  and  bound  together  by  a  common  stiffering  ;  they 
suffered,  they  bled,  they  died  together :  no  wonder,  then,  that  their 
hearts  were  knit  together  in  love.  They  constituted  together  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  of  which,  if  one  member  suffered,  all  the 
members  suffered  with  it.  The  mutual  affection  subsistinsr  amona* 
the  Christians  of  the  first  age  was  remarkable.  To  the  heathen 
around  them  it  was  scarcely  less  wonderful  than  the  miracles  which 
were  wrought  by  their  hands.  They  had  never  seen  any  thing  like 
it.  They  knew  not  how  to  account  for  it.  They  could  only  look 
on,  and  exclaim  in  wonder,  "  See  how  these  Christians  love  one 
another ! " 

Still  another  trait  in  which  the  early  Christians  were  an  example 
was  .their  liberality.  Not  "  any  of  them  said  that  aught  of  the  things 
which  he  possessed  was  his  own."  They  "  sold  their  possessions  and 
their  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men  as  they  had  need,"  and, 
for  a  time,  "had  all  things  common."  Never  before  was  there  an 
example  of  such  overflowing  liberality.  Nor  was  it  confined  to 
the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  but  extended  also  to  Christians  of  the 
■Gentiles.  No  sooner  was  it  known  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia  that 
the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem  were  in  distress  than  contributions 
flowed  in  from  the  Gentile  churches  for  their  xelief. 

In  a  word,  seeing  that  the  early  Christians  in  general  were  but 
babes  in  Christ,  —  suddenly  changed  from  bigoted  Judaism  or  be- 
sotted Heathenism  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  — it  cannot  perhaps  be 
said  that  they  were  pre-eminent  in  all  Christian  attainments  ;  but 
in  the  respects  which  have  been  mentioned,  and  probably  in  others, 
they  were^pre-eminent.  They  were  examples  to  every  succeeding 
age.  Happy  the  Christian  who  looks  up  to  them,  and  follows  them 
wherein  they  followed  Christ ! 


PEEIOD    11. 

THE     SECOND     CENTURY. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

PERSECUTIONS    AND    PROGRESS    OF   THE    CHURCH. 

THE  emperors  of  Rome  during  the  second  century  were  the 
following :  Trajan,  Adrian,  Antoninus  Pius,  Marcus  Aurelius, 
Commodus,  and  Septimius  Severus.  Trajan  reigned  from  the  year 
98  to  117,  and  has  the  reputation  of  being  a  mild  and  equitable 
ruler.  Still  the  Church  suffered  very  considerably  during  his  ad- 
ministration ;  not  so  much  from  any  persecuting  edicts  which  were 
passed,  as  from  the  rage  of  the  pagan  priests  and  populace.  It 
was  under  him  that  good  old  Simeon  of  Jerusalem,  and  Ignatius 
of  Antioch,  suffered,  of  whose  martyrdom  I  have  5.1ready  spoken. 
At  festivals,  and  on  other  public  occasions  in  the  provinces,  the 
populace,  set  on  by  the  priests,  would  raise  an  outcry  against  the 
more  prominent  Christians ;  bringing  them  before  the  magistrates, 
and  demanding  that  they  should  be  put  to  death.  The  younger 
PHny  was  at  tliis  time  governor  of  Bj^thinia ;  and  so  great  was 
the  number  of  Christians  brought  before  him  in  this  way,  that  he 
knew  not  what  to  do  with  them,  and  wrote  to  Trajan  for  advice. 
He  had  put  many  to  death  on  a  profession  of  their  faith :  but  the 
more  the  accusers  were  encouraged,  the  more  they  multiplied  ;  and 
the  number  of  victims  brought  up  for  trial  quite  appalled  him.  To 
his  request  for  instructions,  the  emperor  answered,  "  The  Chris- 
tians must  not  be  sought  after ;  nor  must  anonymous  accusations 
be  received.  If  any  confess  themselves  to  be  Christians,  and  per- 
sist in  it,  let  them  be  capitally  punished ;  but  if  any  renounce 

598 


PERSECUTIONS   AND    PROGRESS   OF  THE   CHURCH.  599 

Christianity,  and  evince  their  sincerity  by  offering  supplication  to 
our  gods,  let  them  be  pardoned." 

This  edict  may  seem  sufficiently  severe  ;  and  so  it  was,  and  many 
were  put  to  death  under  it :  yet  it  operated,  on  the  whole,  as  a 
restraint  upon  the  enemies  of  the  Christians.  The  Christians  were 
not  to  be  sought  after,  or  anonymously  accused ;  and  few  persons 
were  willing  to  assume  the  dangerous  office  of  accusers. 

Trajan  died  while  on  his  military  expedition  against  the  Parthi- 
ans  ;  but  his  edicts  remained,  and  the  Christians  suffered  from  them 
for  several  years  under  his  successor  Adrian.  The  priests  stirred 
up  the  people,  at  the  public  shows  and  games,  to  demand  with 
united  voice  the  destruction  of  the  Christians ;  and  these  public 
clamors  could  not  be  safely  disregarded.  Whereupon  Serenus 
Granianus,  proconsul  of  Asia,  wrote  to  the  emperor,  that  it  seemed 
to  him  inhuman  and  unjust  to  immolate  men  and  women  convicted 
of  no  crime,  jiist  to  gratify  a  furious  mob.  To  this  the  emperor 
returned  answer,  that  the  Christians  should  not  be  disturbed  with- 
out cause,  nor  shall  sycophants  be  encouraged  in  their  odious  prac- 
tices :  "  If  any  people  of  the  province  will  appear  openly,  and  make 
charges  against  the  Christians,  so  as  to  give  them  an  opportunity 
of  answering  for  themselves,  let  them  proceed  in  that  manner,  and 
not  by  rude  demands  and  popular  clamors.  You  can  then  decide 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  offence ;  but,  if  the  charge  be  a 
mere  calumny,  do  you  punish  it  as  it  deserves." 

This  rescript  was  clearly  an  advance  upon  that  of  Trajan  ;  and 
it  operated  still  more  to  shield  and  protect  the  Christians.  We 
hear  of  little  palpable  persecution  from  this  time  to  the  end  of 
Adrian's  reign. 

But,  while  the  Christians  in  great  measure  escaped,  the  Jews  were 
more  severely  dealt  with  ;  for  now  appeared  the  detestable  Barcho- 
chebas,  pretending  to  be  the  Messiah,  —  the  Star  spoken  of  by 
Balaam.  This  wretched  people,  who  had  rejected  the  true  Messiah, 
received  the  impostor  with  open  arms.  He  vented  his  rage  upon  the 
Christians  who  refused  to  deny  Christ  and  adhere  to  his  cause,  and 
went  into  open  rebellion  against  the  Roman  government.  The 
result  was  the  destruction  of  the  traitors,  and  the  entire  exclusion 
of  the  Jews  from  the  city  and  territory  of  Jerusalem.  Having 
destroyed  the  remains  of  the  old  city,  Adrian  built  a  new  one,  and 
called  it  ^lia,  and  forbade  that  any  Jew  should  come  within  its 
walls.  To  escape  this  edict,  the  believing  Jews,  or  the  greater  part 
of  them,  laid  aside  the  Jewish  rites ;  chose  one  Mark,  a  foreigner, 


600  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

for  their  bishop  ;  and  declared  that  they  were  no  longer  Jews,  but 
Christians.  A  portion  of  the  Church,  however,  refused  to  do  this, 
separated  from  their  brethren,  and  are  henceforward  known  in 
history  as  Ebionites. 

The  events  here  recorded  constitute  an  important  epoch  in 
church  history.  Up  to  this  time,  the  believing  Jews  in  and  around 
Jerusalem  had  been  earnest  sticklers  for  circumcision  and  the 
Jewish  law :  some  were  for  enforcing  them  even  on  the  Gentile 
converts ;  but  now,  by  the  churches  in  general,  they  were  quietly 
laid  aside,  and  the  distinction  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile 
believer"  was  very  much  obliterated. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Adrian  that  we  first  hear  of  Apologies 
for  the  Christians.  While  the  emperor  was  at  Athens,  in  the  sixth 
year  of  his  reign,  two  papers  of  this  kind  were  addressed  to  him, 
—  the  one  by  Quadratus,  bishop  of  Athens  ;  and  the  other  by  Aris- 
tides.     Neither  of  these  Apologies  is  extant. 

Antoninus  Pius  succeeded  Adrian,  A.D.  138,  and  reigned  until 
the  year  161.  He  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  Roman  emperors, 
and  was  comparatively  guiltless  of  Christian  blood.  The  usual 
charges  Vere  urged  against  the  Christians ;  viz.,  those  of  incest, 
and  the  devouring  of  infants.  But  time  at  length  refuted  these 
slanders  ;  and  men  no  longer  pretended  to  believe  what  was  improb- 
able in  its  very  nature,  and  was  supported  by  no  evidence.  The 
Christians  were  charged,  as  they  had  been  before,  with  atheism. 
To  refute  this,  Justin  Martyr  presented  his  first  Apology  to  the 
emperor ;  nor  was  it  perused  by  him  and  his  court  in  vain. 

Some  years  after  this,  Asia  Minor  was  visited  with  earthquakes, 
which  the  priests  ascribed  to  the  anger  of  the  gods  because  their 
altars  were  forsaken.  In  their  panic  and  fury,  the  people  were 
ready  to  fall  upon  the  Christians  and  destroy  them.  When 
informed  of  this,  the  emperor  addressed  an  edict  to  the  common 
council  of  Asia,  denouncing  punishment  upon  the  accusers  of  the 
Christians :  *  "  I  am  quite  of  the  opinion,"  says  he,  "  that  the  gods 
will  take  care  of  the  contemners  of  their  worship ;  for  it  much 
more  concerns  them  to  punish  such  persons,  if  they  are  able,  than 
it  does  you.  Why  do  you  harass  and  vex  the  Christians,  and 
accuse  them  of  atheism  and  other  crimes  which  you  cannot  prove  ? 
To  them  it  appears  an  advantage  to  die  for  their  religion ;  and  they 
gain  their  point  against  you  while  they  throw  away  their  lives. 

*  This  edict  has  been  regarded  as  spurious ;  but  it  is  given  at  length  by  Eusebius  (lib.  iv. 
cap.  13),  and  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  its  genuineness. 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF  THE  CHURCH.  601 

As  to  the  recent  earthquakes,  compare  your  own  despondency 
under  them  with  their  serene  trust  and  confidence  in  God.  Con- 
cerning these  men,  some  of  the  provincial  governors  wrote  to  our 
divine  father  Adrian  ;  to  whom  he  returned  answer,  that  they 
should  not  be  molested  unless  they  attempted  something  against 
the  Roman  government.  Many  also  have  signified  the  same  to  me, 
to  whom  I  have  returned  answer  agreeably  to  the  maxims  of  my 
father  ;  and  now,  if  any  will  still  accuse  them  merely  as  Christians, 
let  the  accused  be  acquitted,  and  the  accuser  punished." 

Eusebius  informs  us  that  this  was  no  empty  edict,  but  was  put 
•in  execution  ;  nor  was  it  sent  to  Asia  alone,  but  to  all  the  cities  of 
the  Greeks. 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus  succeeded  his  father  in  the  year  161. 
He  was  a  Stoic  philosopher,  a  rigid  morahst,  and  has  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  a  great  and  good  man.  Pope  calls  him  "  the  good 
Aurelius,"  and  compares  him  with  Socrates ;  and  yet  he  was, 
through  the  greater  part  of  his  reign  of  nineteen  years,  a  bloody 
persecutor  of  the  Christians.  His  treatment  of  them  proceeded, 
we  hope,  not  so  much  from  direct  hatred  and  malice  as  from  philo- 
sophic pride  and  a  cruel  contempt.  "  That  the  followers  of  the 
crucified  Nazarene  should  affect  not  only  to  be  wiser  than  the  wise 
men  of  Greece,  and  to  j)Ossess  a  purer  religion  than  that  of  great 
Rome,  but  to  have  the  only  true  spiritual  wisdom,  the  07ily  true 
religion,  the  only  means  of  reaching  happiness  and  heaven,  —  this 
is  an  intolerable  affectation,  a  presumption  not  to  be  endured. 
Crush  the  madness  out  of  them,  or  let  the  miscreants  be  crushed 
out  of  the  world."  So  reasoned  the  renowned  philosophic  emperor, 
Marcus  Aurelius ;  and,  under  the  influence  of  such  reasonings  and 
such  feelings,  he  set  himself  to  destroy  some  of  the  best  men 
and  women  which  the  world  contained. 

Among  the  more  distinguished  martyrs  who  suffered  in  this 
reign  were  Polycarp,  a  disciple  of  the  apostle  John  and  bishop  of 
Smyrna,  and  Justin,  the  most  learned  Christian  of  the  age.  Of  the 
death  of  the  former  I  have  already  spoken :  of  that  of  the  latter  I 
shall  speak  in  another  place. 

In  the  year  177,  the  churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne,  in  the  south 
of  France,  were  called  to  pass  through  one  of  the  most  dreadful 
persecutions  that  was  ever  visited  upon  a  Christian  people.  These 
churches  were  planted  by  missionaries  from  Asia  Minor,  among 
whom  was  Pothinus,  long  bishop  of  Lyons.  He  was  called  to 
suffer  when  more  than  ninety  years  of  age. 


602  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  survivors  of  this  terrible  persecution  published  a  full  account 
of  it  in  a  letter  to  their  brethren  in  Phrygia  and  Asia  Minor.  The 
greater  part  of  this  letter  is  preserved  by  Eusebius  ;  but  the  details 
of  it  are  too  heart-sickening  to  be  copied  here.  The  old  stories 
were  revived  against  the  Christians,  —  of  living  in  incest,  and 
devouring  infant  children.  The  servants  of  the  Christians  were 
put  to  the  torture,  and  made  to  confess  that  these  things  were  true  ; 
and  then  they  were  punished  as  though  they  were  true.  Some  of 
the  principal  of  the  martyrs  were  Sanctus,  a  deacon  ;  and  Maturus, 
a  recent  convert,  but  an  unfaltering  witness  for  the  Saviour ;  and 
Attains,  a  missionary  from  Pergamos  ;  and  Alexander,  a  physician" 
from  Phrygia ;  and  Ponticus,  young  in  years,  but  a  veteran  in 
endurance  ;  and  Blandina,  a  tender  female  and  a  slave.  She  was 
tortured  repeatedly,  and  for  a  great  length  of  time,  till  her  torment- 
ors were  fatigued,  worn  out,  and  confessed  themselves  conquered ; 
while  her  confession  continually  was,  "  I  am  a  Christian,  and  no 
evil  thing  is  practised  among  us."  At  last  she  was  enclosed  in  a 
net,  and  thrown  to  a  wild  bull ;  and,  having  been  tossed  some  time 
by  the  furious  animal,  at  length  she  breathed  out  her  soul.  The 
corpses  of  the  martyrs,  which  filled  the  streets,  were  shamefully 
mutilated  ;  then  burned,  and  the  ashes  cast  into  the  Rhone,  lest  any 
relic  of  them  should  remain  to  desecrate  the  soil.  At  length,  the 
people  grew  weary  of  the  slaughter ;  and  a  considerable  number  of 
Christians  survived.  Among  these  was  Irenceus,  who  succeeded 
the  venerable  Pothinus  as  bishop  of  Lyons,  and  of  whom  we  shall 
hear  more  hereafter. 

Repeated  Apologies  were  addressed  to  the  emperor  during  these 
persecutions ;  of  which  those  by  Justin  Martyr,  Athenagoras,  and 
Tatian,  are  still  extant.  Perhaps  they  were  never  read  by  him  ;  or, 
if  read,  they  had  no  effect  to  soften  his  heart. 

Marcus  Aurelius  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Commodus,  who, 
though  a  detestable  character  in  other  respects,  was  not  guilty, 
to  any  great  extent,  of  persecuting  the  Christians.  During  the 
twelve  years  of  his  reign,  the  Church  had  rest.  But  when  Sep- 
timius  Severus  came  to  the  throne,  near  the  close  of  the  century, 
much  Christian  blood  was  shed  in  Africa,  in  Egypt,  and  the  other 
provinces.  The  edicts  of  the  former  emperors  were  still  in  force ; 
and  hence  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  governors  to  persecute  the 
Christians  with  impunity  whenever  they  pleased.  It  was  these 
calamities,  near  the  close  of  the  century,  which  induced  Tertullian 
to  write  his  Apology  for  the  Christians. 


PERSECUTIONS   AND    PROGRESS  OF  THE   CHURCH.  603 

The  Christians  at  this  time  were  assailed,  not  merely  with  fire 
and  sword,  but  by  ridicule  and  satire.  As  Lucian  the  satirist 
laughed  at  every  thing,  more  especially  the  Grecian  philosophers 
and  gods,  the  Christians  could  not  be  expected  to  escape.  In  the 
"  Perigrinus  "  he  ridicules  their  misplaced  philanthropj^,  and  thus 
bears  an  unwilling  testimony  to  their  works  of  benevolence.  A 
more  serious  attack  upon  the  Christians  was  made  by  Celsus,  who 
wrote  the  first  book  against  them  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 
Unlike  most  modern  infidels,  he  assumes  the  authenticity  of  our 
sacred  books,  and  argues  from  them  against  those  who  believe 
them :  "  Your  own  apostles  and  evangelists  did  write  these  books : 
we  hold  you  to  them,  and  shall  refute  you  out  of  them."  He 
admits  that  Jesus  wrought  many  miracles,  but  not  more  than  some 
others,  who'never  thought  on  that  account  of  being  deified.  The 
miracles  were  performed  hy  magic.  The  great  burthen  of  Celsus' 
ridicule  is  the  crucified  Grod  ;  which  shows  how  firmly  the  Christians 
of  that  day  held  to  the  proper  divinity  of  the  Saviour.  The  work  of 
Celsus,  which  he  entitled  "  The  True  Word,"  is  not  extant,  except 
so  much  of  it  as  is  preserved  in  Origen's  Reply  to  it ;  but  from  the 
method  of  Origen's  Reply,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  it  is  presumed 
that  we  have  the  greater  portion  of  it.  It  is  justly  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  conclusive  proofs  of  the  authenticity  of  our  sacred 
books,  and  of  some  of  the  doctrines  inculcated  in  them. 

After  what  has  been  said  of  the  persecution  of  the  second 
century,  it  may  be  supposed  that  it  was  little  better  than  one 
continued  scene  of  murder  and  blood  ;  but  such  was  not  the  fact. 
The  persecuting  emperors  occupied  the  throne  for  less  than  half 
of  the  century ;  and  at  no  time  while  they  reigned  were  the 
persecutions  universal.  While  in  one  portion  of  the  empire  the 
Church  was  afflicted,  in  others  it  would  be  enjoying  comparative ' 
repose.  And,  even  in  places  where  the  persecutions  raged,  the 
saying  of  Tertiillian  (uttered  at  this  very  time,  and  oft  repeated 
since)  proved  true  :  "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
Church."  Their  sufferings  excited  pity,  and  drew  attention  to 
the  new  religion  ;  their  constancy  recommended  it ;  and,  for  every 
one  that  fell  a  martyr,  many  others  were  raised  up  to  stand  in  his 
place. 

The  consequence  was,  that,  throughout  the  entire  century, 
Christianity  made  great  and  rapid  progress^.  It  spread  into  fields 
before  unoccupied,  and  more  deeply  penetrated  countries  where 
it  had  already  found  its  way.      From  the  remotest  east  to  the 


604  "  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

remotest  west,  and  froin  the  northern  extremities  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  beyond  them,  far  down  into  Africa  and  Ethiopia,  we 
shall  scarcely  find  a  country  in  which  the  religion  of  Christ  was  not 
professed.  Persia,  Hither  India,  Mesopotamia,  Armenia,  Arabia, 
Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Italy,  Germany,  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain,  Egypt, 
and  Northern  Africa,  —  some  of  these  countries  were  spread  over 
with  churches,  and  full  of  Christians  ;  while  in  others,  missionaries, 
private  individuals,  merchants,  travellers,  and  in  some  instances 
captives,  and  even  captive  females,  were  busily  at  work,  telling 
the  story  of  a  Saviour's  death,  and  endeavoring  to  lead  poor 
blinded,  groping,  ruined  sinners  in  the  way  of  life.  It  was  impos- 
sible but  that  Christianity,  —  a  religion  so  convincing  in  its  proofs, 
so  pure  and  reasonable  in  itself,  and  so  admirably  adapted  to 
human  wants,  —  when  recommended  and  enforced  with  so  much 
earnestness  and  perseverance,  —  it  was  impossible  that  it  should 
not  spread  and  prevail. 

When  we  search  for  causes  for  the  rapid  diffusion  of  the  gospel 
in  the  second  century,  much  is  to  be  attributed,  undoubtedly,  to 
the  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  its  early  representatives.  Their 
patience  under  sufferings,  their  kindness  to  the  distressed  and  even 
to  their  enemies,  their  fervent  pleadings  and  untiring  exertions, 
their  holy  lives,  and  their  martyr  deaths,  —  it  was  impossible  that 
these  things  should  not  have  influence,  and  promote  the  cause 
which  they  supremely  lovfed. 

But  there  were  other  causes  for  the  rapid  spread  of  the  gospel 
in  the  times  of  which  we  speak.  All  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament had  now  been  written  and  collected ;  and  the  canon  of 
Scripture  was  virtually  closed.  To  be  sure,  there  were  doubts  and 
discussions  in  regard  to  the  claims  of  some  of  the  books  until  a 
.  later  period  ;  but  the  canon  was  substantially  settled  as  early  as 
the  middle  of  the  second  century. 

Then  these  books  were  translated^  and  extensively  circulated. 
Several  Latin  translations  were  early  made,  of  which  the  best  was 
the  Italic  version.  This  Latin  version  was  followed  by  a  Syriac, 
an  Egyptian,  an  ^Ethiopic,  and  some  others.  These  were  essential 
helps  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel ;  for,  as  the  gift  of  tongues 
had  now  measurably  ceased,  it  was  impossible  to  disseminate  re- 
ligious truth  but  by  the  ordinary  methods  of  translation. 

Also  the  several  Apologies  which  were  written  and  circulated 
were  of  eminent  service  to  the  cause  of  religion.  The  effect  of 
them  was  to  disprove  calumny,  to  remove  prejudice,  to  make  the 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS    OF  THE   CHURCH.  605 

new  religion  known,  and  to  open  the  minds  and  hearts  of  intel- 
ligent people  to  receive  it.  Up  to  this  time,  and  even  later,  heathen 
authors  were  accustomed  to  speak  of  Christians  in  terms  of  con- 
tempt, indignation,  and  reproach.  They  were  called  atheists,  be- 
cause they  derided  the  heathen  gods ;  magicians,  because  they 
wrought  miracles ;  self-murderers,  because  they  submitted  to 
martyrdom  for  the  truth  ;  and  haters  of  the  light,  because,  to  avoid 
the  fury  of  their  adversaries,  they  were  constrained  to  hold  their 
assemblies  in  the  night.  They  were  charged  too,  as  I  have  before 
hinted,  with  practising  in  their  night-meetings  the  most  abomina- 
ble crimes.  It  was  as  much  as  one's  life  was  worth  at  that  time 
to  stand  forth  publicly,  and  rebut  charges  such  as  these  ;  and  yet 
it  was  an  indispensably  necessary  work,  and  nobly  was  it  performed. 
The  Apologies  of  Justin,  of  Tertullian,  of  Athenagoras,  and  of 
Tatian,  which  are  still  extant,  are  worthy  to  be  read  on  every 
account.  Besides  conveying  much  important  information,  they 
stand  as  monuments  of  the  zeal  of  their  venerable  alithors  in  de- 
fence of  a  cause  for  which  they  were  willing  to  sacrifice  their  lives. 

Nor  were  the  works  which  were  written  in  opposition  to  the 
heretics  without  an  influence  in  promoting  the  cause  of  truth. 
The  opinions  of  these  heretics,  more  especially  the  Gnostics,  were 
wild  and  extravagant ;  and  their  conduct  was  more  disgraceful 
than  their  opinions.  They  either  practised  the  most  rigid  as- 
ceticism, with  a  view  to  destroy  the  body  and  its  influence  ;  or  they 
gave  a  loose  to  every  indulgence,  under  the  impression  that  the 
body  alone  was  affected  by  such  practices,  while  the  soul  remained 
pure.  Still  these  heretics  called  themselves  Christians,  and  Chris- 
tians of  the  highest  order.  They  were  regarded  as  Christians  by 
the  heathen ;  and  the  whole  Christian  community  suffered  on  ac- 
count of  their  extravagances.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that 
they  should  be  entirely  separated  from  the  Church  of  Christ,  and 
that  their  opinions  and  practices  should  be  exposed  and  refuted. 
And  those  Christians  who  set  themselves  in  earnest  to  do  this  ac- 
complished an  important  work,  —  one  intimately  connected  with 
the  progress  and  triumph  of  the  gospel. 

In  accounting  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  in  this  century,  less 
influence  should  be  ascribed  to  miraculous  gifts  than  in  the  preced- 
ing century  ;  and  for  the  sufficient  reason,  that  miracles  were  less 
frequent,  and,  before  the  century  closed,  seem  to  have  entirely 
ceased.  My  reasons  for  supposing  that  miraculous  gifts  ceased 
before  the  close  of  the  second  century  are  the  following :  — 


606  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

1.  The  great  object  of  miracles  had  now  been  fully  answered. 
This  was  to  attest  the  revelations  that  God  was  making  to  the 
world ;  to  prove  that  these  revelations  were  from  him^  and  that . 
those  who  promulgated  them  were  inspired  by  him  for  this  purpose. 
But  the  volume  of  revelation  was  now  complete.  All  had  been 
given  that  was  ever  expected  to  be  given.  Of  course,  miracles 
were  no  longer  necessary ;  and  the  probability  is  that  they  were 
no  longer  performed. 

2.  The  apostles  alone  possessed  the  power  of  conferring  mirac- 
ulous gifts.  Other  Christians  wrought  miracles  in  the  apostolic 
age  ;  but  the  prerogative,  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  of  bestowing 
the  gift,  seems  to  have  been  intrusted  to  the  apostles  only.  And 
this  was  what  Simon  the  sorcerer  wished  to  purchase,  not  the  mere 
power  of  performing  mkacles,  but  of  conferring  the  gift :  "  Give 
me  this  power,  that  on  whomsoever  I  lay  my  hands  he  may 
receive  the  Holy  Ghost"  (Acts  viii.  19).  In  the  second  century, 
the  apostles  were  all  dead.  The  last  of  them  died  near  the  close 
of  the  first  century.  Some  of  those  to  whom  they  had  imparted 
the  gift  of  miracles  may  have  lived  to  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  but  not  much  longer.  Hence  the  conclusion  again  is, 
that  miracles  ceased  at  about  this  time.     And  then,  — 

3.  If  we  examine  the  miracles  alleged  to  have  been  performed 
at  a  later  period,  we  shall  find  them  all  of  a  suspicious  character. 
There  have  been  pretences  to  miracles  through  the  whole  history 
of  the  Church.  The  Church  of  Rome  pretends  to  them  now.  But, 
when  we  look  at  the  miracles  said  to  have  been  performed  at  a 
later  period  than  that  above  specified,  we  find  them  either  no 
miracles  at  all,  or  they  are  so  silly,  uncalled  for,  and  incredible,  as 
to  pass  all  belief.* 

The  most  remarkable  alleged  miracle  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
second  century  is  that  of  "  the  thundering  legion."  Marcus  Aure- 
lius  was  waging  war  with  the  Marcomanni,  a  tribe  of  Germans, 
about  the  year  174.  It  was  a  time  of  remarkable  drought ;  and 
his  whole  army  were  on  the  point  of  perishing  with  thirst.  The 
heathen  soldiers  cried  to  their  gods  for  deliverance,  and  the  Chris- 
tians prayed  to  the  God  of  heaven.  Unexpectedly,  they  were 
visited  by  a  violent  thunder-gust,  accompanied  by  an  abundance 
of  rain ;  and  the  thirst  of  the  arm}''  was  relieved.    All  were  agreed 

*  Augustine  and  Chrysostom  both  deny  that  any  miracles  like  those  of  Scripture  were 
wrought  in  their  day.  Augustine  classes  the  miracles  of  his  age  under  two  heads:  1.  Forgeries 
of  lying  men ;  2.  Prodigies  of  deceitful  devils.  —  De  Unitate  Eccles.,  cap.  16. 


PERSECUTIONS   AND    PROGRESS    OF  THE  CHURCH.  607 

to  call  it  a  miracle  ;  the  heathen  ascribing  it  to  their  gods,  and  the 
Christians  to  theirs.  But  obviously  it  was  no  miracle  at  all.  The 
most  that  can  be  said  of  it  is,  that  it  was  a  remarkable  interj)osi- 
tion  of  Providence  in  answer  to  prayer,  but  no  more  a  miracle 
than  a  thousand  like  events  which  have  occurred  at  later  periods. 

There  may  have  been  miracles  in  the  first  half  of  the  second 
century ;  and,  if  so,  they  had  an  influence,  undoubtedly,  in  promot- 
ing the  gospel :  and  yet  their  influence  must  been  of  small  account 
compared  with  what  it  had  been  in  the  apostolic  age. 

But,  whatever  other  causes  may  have  contributed  to  the  rapid 
spread  of  the  gospel  ■  in  the  second  century,  the  chief  of  all,  and 
that  without  which  all  others  had  been  nugatory  and  vain,  was  the 
accompanying  Spirit  and  power  of  God.  If  miraculous  influences 
had  comparatively  ceased,  converting  and  sanctifying  influences 
(which  are  of  far  greater  consequence)  had  not  ceased.  God  vouch- 
safed to  his  people  in  those  fiery  times  the  sustaining  and  com- 
forting influences  of  his  blessed  Spirit.  He  sustained  their  faith, 
their  fortitude,  their  pious  endeavors,  their  holy  zeal,  and  made 
them  conquerors,  and  more  than  conquerors,  through  Him  who 
loved  them,  and  had  died  for  them;  and  when  they  went  forth 
among  Jews  and  heathen,  carrying  with  them  the  word  of  life, 
the  Spirit  of  God  went  with  them,  wrought  with  them,  impressed 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  those  whom  they  addressed,  and  brought 
multitudes  everywhere  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Without 
such  an  accompanying  influence,  all  their  labors  had  been  fruitless ; 
but  with  it  they  were  clad  with  a  moral  omnipotence.  Nothing 
could  effectually  resist  them,  or  stand  before  them ;  opposition 
either  vanished,  or  was  vanquished ;  while  the  word  of  God  had 
free  course,  and  was  glorified. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,    RELIGIOUS    RITES    AND    TEACHERS,    IN    THIS 

PERIOD. 

THE  second  century  was  signalized  by  some  important  changes 
in  church  order  and  government.  In  the  first  place,  the 
distinction  between  bishop  and  presbyter,  which  was  unknown  in  - 
the  first  century,  began  to  be  marked  before  the  close  of  the 
second.  It  was  introduced  in  this  wise  :  In  most  of  the  churches, 
there  had  been  from  the  first  several  presbyters,  or  ministers. 
Thus  we  read  of  the  elders  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  and  the 
elders  of  the  Church  at  Ephesus  (Acts  xv.  4;  xx.  17).  When 
these  elders  came  together,  as  they  often  would,  for  consultation 
and  prayer,  one  of  their  number  —  on  account  of  his  age,  learning, 
or  other  qualifications  —  would  naturally  be  called  to  preside  over 
the  meeting.  He  would  be  the  standing  moderator,  or  presiding 
elder ;  and  is  called  TtQosarcog,  or  president,  by  Justin  Martyr  and 
TertuUian.  After  a  time,  the  presiding  elder,  or  president,  began 
to  be  called  bishop,  in  distinction  from  the  others,  who  retained  the 
name  of  presbyters.  In  this  way,  the  distinction  was  first  intro- 
duced. Still  the  bishop  of  the  second  century  was  not  considered 
as  belonging  to  a  distinct  and  superior  order.  He  was  one  among 
his  brethren,  —  ?i  primus  inter  pares,  —  although  their  acknowledged 
leader  and  head. 

Nor  had  the  bishop  of  the  second  century,  or  the  first  half  of  it, 
any  diocese.  He  was  simply  the  pastor  of  a  single  church.  The 
manner  in  which  dioceses  were  created  was  as  follows  :  The  several 
ministers  in  the  large  city  churches  would  naturally  extend  their 
labors  to  the  vicinity.  They  would  hold  meetings,  and  collect 
converts,  in  the  suburbs  and  surrounding  villages.  But  instead  of 
forming  these  converts,  as  they  should  have  done,  iiito  separate, 
independent  churches,  they  constituted  them  branch  churches,  hold- 
ing a  vital  connection  with  the  mother-church.     In  this  way,  the 

608 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  609 

president,  the  bishop  of  the  city  church,  soon  came  to  be  the  head 
of  several  surrounding  churches.    In  other  words,  he  had  a  diocese. 

Ere  long,  the  rank  of  this  functionary  began  to  be  estimated  by 
the  number  of  his  branch  churches,  or,  in  other  words,  by  the  extent 
of  his  diocese.  Nor  was  it  long  before  inferior  bishops,  chorepiscopi, 
were  set  over  some  of  these  rural  churches,  subject,  of  course,  to 
the  bishop  of  the  central  church,  who  now  had  the  rank,  and 
ere  long  took  the  name,  of  archbishop.  These  changes,  to  be  sure, 
were  not  all  accomplished  in  the  second  century ;  but  they  began 
to  be  inaugurated,  and  the  way  was  opened  for  their  full  develop- 
ment. 

Another  important  change  in  church  government  occurred  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  second  century.  The  churches  surrendered 
their  primitive  independence,  and  became  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  large,  confederated  ecclesiastical  bodies.  This  change  resulted 
from  the  institution  of  such  bodies  called  synods,  or  councils. 
We  hear  of  no  confederations  of  this  sort  until  past  the  middle  of 
the  second  century.  The  churches,  without  doubt,  felt  the  need 
of  a  greater  degree  of  union,  —  a  union  not  merely  of  love  and 
fellowship,  but  of  organization.  They  were  exposed  to  common 
calamities  and  dangers.  Enemies  on  every  hand  were  thirsting 
for  their  blood,  and  they  felt  as  though  their  only  safety  was  in 
organic  union.  And  there  had  been  no  hazard  in  such  a  union  — 
on  the  contrary,  it  might  have  resulted  in  important  benefits  — 
had  it  been  formed  and  conducted  in  a  proper  manner.  Had  the 
churches  —  being  associated  together  at  stated  times'  for  mutual 
acquaintance,  consultation,  and  prayer  —  avoided  the  exercise  of 
jurisdiction  and  authority,  their  meetings  had  been  not  onl}^  pleas- 
ant, but  edifying  and  profitable.  But  the  synods  pursued  a  different 
course.  They  soon  began  to  make  laws  for  the  churches,  and  to 
decide  causes  and  questions  of  controversy ;  and  the  churches 
submitted  to  their  jurisdiction.  In  this  way,  the  independence  of 
the  individual  churches  was  surrendered  and  lost ;  nor  was  it  recov- 
ered for  more  than  a  thousand  years.  We  find  no  distinct  traces 
of  it  till  the  rise  of  the  Independents  and  Baptists  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries. 

The  institution  of  synods,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
conducted,  operated  disastrously  upon  the  churches  in  another 
way.  In  these  assemblies,  the  bishops  of  the  larger  churches 
would  naturally  exert  a  controlling  influence.  This  added  mate- 
rially to  their  authority  and  power ;  and  the  possession  of  power, 

39 


610  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

as  a  general  thing,  instead  of  making  them  more  spiritnal  and  holy, 
made  them  more  grasping  and  oppressive.  In  this  way,  the  steps 
were  early  laid  for  that  gigantic  usurpation,  which,  in  a  few  centu- 
ries, swallowed  up  all  the  liberties  of  the  churches,  and  culminated 
in  the  terrific  power  of  Papal  Rome. 

A  change  also  came  over  the  ritual  forms  of  Christianity  in  the 
course  of  the  second  century.  These,  at  the  first,  were  very  simple  : 
the  only  standing  outward  ordinances  were  those  of  Baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.  But  the  early  fathers  were  not  long  satisfied 
with  these :  they  wished  for  something  more  striking  to  the  eye, 
more  imposing,  more  formal.  Hence  the  rites  of  the  Church  were 
gradually  multiplied  in  the  second  and  third  centuries. 

These  new  rites  were  some  of  them  symbolical^  —  designed  to 
impress  religious  truth  by  outward  sjrmbols  ;  but  the  most  of  them 
were  borrowed  from  the  Jewish  and  heathen  temples,  in  the  hope 
of  making  the  new  religion  more  acceptable  to  Jews  and  Pagans. 
They  wished  also  to  wipe  off  the  reproach  of  atheism,  which  had 
been  cast  upon  them  on  account  of  the  extreme  simplicity  of  their 
worship.  Because  they  had  no  visible  gods  and  altars,  theii*  ene- 
mies insisted  that  they  had  no  god  at  all. 

But,  Avhatever  may  have  been  the  motives  of  those  who  origi- 
nated these  changes,  it  is  certain  that  their  introduction  was  of 
disastrous  influence.  The  pure  and  spiritual  religion  of  the  gos- 
pel was  gradually  changed  into  a  system  of  formalism  ;  and  salva- 
tion by  the  sacraments  took  the  place  of  salvation  by  the  blood  of 
Christ.         • 

The  Christians,  at  this  period,  had  no  temples.  They  met  in  pri- 
vate houses,  in  sepulchres,  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth, — wher- 
ever they  could  find  a  place.  Justin  Martyr,  an  eye-witness,  thus 
describes  one  of  their  ordinary  meetings  :  "  On  the  day  which  is 
called  Sunday,"  —  the  first  day  of  the  week,  —  "all  Christians, 
whether  dwelling  in  towns  or  villages,  hold  meetings ;  when  the 
memoirs  of  the  apostles,  and  the  writings  of  the  prophets,  are 
read.  When  the  reading  is  finished,  the  president,  in  a  speech, 
exhorts  to  an  imitation  of  the  excellent  examples  which  have  been 
presented.  Then  we  all  rise,  and  pour  forth  united  prayers.  After 
prayer,  bread  is  brought  forward,  with  wine  and  water ;  when  the 
president  offers  up  prayers  and  thanksgivings,  to  which  the  people 
respond.  Then  there  is  a  distribution  of  the  things  blessed  to  each 
one  present,  and  they  are  sent  to  those  absent  by  the  deacons. 
Then   those  who   are  willing  give  what  they  choose,  to  be  de- 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  611 

posited  with  the  president,  for  the  relief  of  orphans  and  widows, 
and  all  who  have  need  of  help."  This  last  service  was  an  exact 
fulfilment  of  the  injunction  of  Paul :  "  On  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  let  each  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store  as  God  hath  pros- 
pered him,  that  there  be  no  gatherings  when  I  come  "  (1  Cor. 
xvi.  2). 

The  Lord's  Supper  continued  to  be  administered  in  this  century, 
as  in  the  one  before  it,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week ;  but  there  had 
been  a  change  in  regard  to  baptism.  This  was  administered  ordi- 
narily but  twice  in  the  year ;  viz.,  at  the  two  great  festivals  of 
Easter  or  the  Passover,  and  the  Pentecost.  Before  baptism,  the 
candidate  must  repeat  the  creed  of  the  Church,  confess  his  sins, 
and  renounce  the  Devil  and  all  his  works.  After  baptism,  he 
was  signed  with  the  cross,  anointed  with  holy  oil,  commended  to 
^God  by  the  imposition  of  hands  and  prayer,  clothed  with  a  white 
robe  in  token  of  his  purity,  and  directed  to  taste  some  milk  and 
honey  to  denote  that  he  was  but  a  babe  in  Christ.* 

The  principal  teachers  and  writers  of  the  second  century  whose 
works  have  reached  us  were  Justin  Martj^r,  Irenteus,  Pantsenus, 
and  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Tertullian,  Dionysius  (bishop  of  Cor- 
inth), Melito  of  Sardis,  and  Theophilus  of  Antioch.  Of  each  of 
these  I  shall  give  some  account  in  the  order  in  which  they  have 
been  mentioned. 

Flavins  Justinus,  surnamed  the  Martyr,  was  born  near  the  close 
of  the  first  century,  at  the  ancient  Sichem,  near  Samaria.  His 
parents  were  probably  pagans,  and  he  was  educated  in  Greek  lit- 
erature. He  had  an  earnest  desire  for  truth,  and  more  especially 
for  religious  truth.  He  wished  to  come,  if  possible,  to  the  true 
knowledge  of  God.  With  this  object  in  view,  he  travelled  in 
Egypt  and  Greece,  and  applied  himself  to  the  different  schools 
of  jjhilosophy.  At  first,  the  Stoics  appeared  to  him  as  the  great 
teachers  of  wisdom,  and  masters  of  happiness.  He  gave  himself 
up  to  one  of  this  sect,  but  soon  found  that  he  could  learn  nothing 
from  him  as  to  the  nature  of  God.  His  teacher  told  him  that  this 
species  of  knowledge  was  not  at  all  necessary.  He  next  applied 
to  an  Aristotelian  ;  but  his  master's  desire  to  get  a  high  price  for 
his  instructions  satisfied  Justin  that  the  truth  could  not  be  with 

*  In  the  English  liturgy,  the  name  of  the  Pentecost  is  changed  to  Whitsuntide,  because  the 
newly-baptized  persons  at  that  time  appeared  in  lohite.  The  name  of  the  Passover  is  also 
changed  to  Easter,  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  Eastre,  —  tlie  name  of  a  heathen  festival,  correspond- 
ing very  nearly  to  the  Pascha  of  the  Jews  and  ancient  Christians. 


612  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

him.  He  next  consulted  a  Pythagorean  ;  but  the  teacher  rejected 
him  because  he  had  not  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  geometry, 
astronomy,  and  music.  In  much  solicitude,  he  went  to  a  Platonic 
philosopher,  who  recommended  seclusion  and  meditation.  As  he 
was  walking  alone  at  one  time  near  the  sea,  he  met  an  aged  per- 
son of  most  venerable  appearance,  whom  he  surveyed  with  the 
closest  attention.  "  Do  you  know  me  ?  "  said  the  stranger.  Jus- 
tin acknowledged  that  he  did  not.  "Why,  then,  do  you  look  at 
me  with  so  much  scrutiny?" — "Because  I  wondered,"  says  Justin, 
"  to  find  any  person  here."  The  stranger  offered  some  excuse  for 
his  being  there,  and  then  retorted  the  question,  "  But  why  are  you 
here  ?  "  Justin  told  him  of  his  earnest  desire  to  come  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  of  his  love,  for  this  purpose,  of  retirement  and 
meditation.  The  stranger  referred  him  to  the  writings  of  the  He- 
brew prophets,  as  being  much  more  ancient  and  valuable  than  those 
of  the  philosophers  ;  and  also  called  his  attention  to  the  Christian 
Scriptures  ;  adding,  "Above  all  things,  pray  that  the  gates  of  light 
may  be  opened  to  you  ;  for  these  things  are  not  to  be  discerned 
except  as  God  and  his  Christ  shall  give  thee  understanding."  — 
"  The  stranger  having  spoken  these  things,"  says  Justin,  "  and 
much  more,  left  me,  and  I  saw  him  not  again ;  but  a  fire  was 
kindled  in  my  soul  which  could  not  be  quenched.  I  began  to 
study  the  Hebrew  prophets,  and  soon  came  to  have  a  strong  affec- 
tion for  them  and  for  the  followers  of  Christ ;  and,  weighing  within 
myself  the  things  to  wliich  my  attention  had  been  called,  I  found 
this  to  be  the  true  philosophy." 

The  conversion  of  Justin  was  not  a  mere  intellectual  process, 
but  a  spiritual  change,  going  to  the  depths  of  his  moral  and  spirit- 
ual nature,  and  resulting  in  an  entire  newness  of  conversation  and 
life.  He  made  an  open  profession  of  Christianity ;  and  though 
he  continued  to  wear  the  philosophic  garb,  the  pallium,  and  bore 
the  name  of  philosopher  as  well  as  that  of  Christian,  yet  his  love 
for  the  gospel  was  never  called  in.  question.  He  honored  it  in  his 
life,  and  sealed  his  testimony  to  it  with  his  blood. 

Coming  to  Rome  about  the  year  140,  he  wrote  a  confutation  of 
the  heretics,  more  especially  of  Marcion,  who  was  a  Gnostic.  He 
also  published  his  first  Apology  for  the  Christians,  addressed  to 
Antoninus  Pius  ;  which  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  had  a 
favorable  influence  upon  the  mind  of  the  emperor  in  regard  to  his 
treatment  of  the  Christians. 

Not  long  after  his  first  Apology,  Justin  left  Rome,  and  went  to 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  613 

Ephesus,  where  he  had  his  dialogue  with  Trypho  the  Jew.  The 
substance  of  this  he  committed  to  writing,  and  it  is  still  extant. 
In  it  he  endeavors  to  meet  and  refute  the  objections  of  an  intel- 
ligent Jew  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

On  his  return  to  Rome,  Justin  had  frequent  contests  with 
Crescens  the  philosopher,  —  a  man  equally  remarkable  for  his  hatred 
of  the  Christians  (of  whom  he  knew  little  or  nothing),  and  for 
the  most  abominable  vices.  Marcus  Aurelius  was  now  on  the 
throne  ;  and  the  Christians  were  relentlessly  persecuted.  Justin 
seized  the  opportunity  to  write  his  second  Apology,  and  present 
it  to  Aurelius,  hoping  thereby  to  soften  his  mind  towards  the 
Christians ;  but  in  vain.  He  continued  to  hate  and  persecute 
them  to  the  end  of  his  reign. 

The  doom  of  Justin  was  now  not  long  delayed.  It  was  brought 
about  through  the  instrumentality  of  his  old  antagonist  and  enemy, 
Crescens,  as  he  predicted  it  would  be.  He  was  accused  of  the 
great  crime  of  being  a  Christian,  — nothing  more,  —  and,  with  six  of 
his  companions,  was  cast  into  prison.  They  were  brought  together 
before  the  prefect,  who  endeavored  to  persuade  Justin  to  obey  the 
emperor's  edicts,  and  worship  the  gods.  Justin  defended  the 
reasonableness  of  his  religion.  When  the  prefect  inquired  in  what 
kind  of  learning  he  had  been  educated,  he  told  him  that  he  had 
tried  all  methods  of  learning ;  but,  finding  satisfaction  in  none  of 
them,  he  had  embraced  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  "  Wretch  !  "  cried 
the  magistrate,  "  art  thou  then  captivated  by  that  religion  ?  " 
—  "I  am,"  says  Justin.  "  I  follow  the  Christians ;  and  their 
doctrine  is  right."  —  "  But,  if  I  scourge  thee  from  head  to  foot,  do 
you  think  that  you  shall  go  to  heaven,  and  receive  a  reward  ?  "  — 
"  I  have  a  certainty  of  it,"  replied  Justin,  "  which  excludes  all 
doubt." 

The  prefect  insisted  that  they  should  all  go  together,  and  sacrifice 
to  the  gods.  "  No  man  who  knows  the  truth,"  says  Justin,  "  can 
be  guilty  of  such  impiety."  —  "  But,  unless  you  comply,  you  shall 
be  tortured  without  mercy."  —  "  We  can  endure  all  tortures  joy- 
fully for  the  sake  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  said  Justin ;  and  so 
said  they  all.  The  prefect  then  pronounced  their  sentence  :  "  Let 
those  who  refuse  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  and  obey  the  imperial 
edicts,  be  first  scourged,  and  then  beheaded,  according  to  the 
laws."  The  martyrs  rejoiced,  and  blessed  God;  and,  being  re- 
manded to  their  prison,  they  were  scourged  with  rods,  and  after- 
wards beheaded.  Their  dead  bodies  were  removed  by  Christian 
friends,  and  interred  with  great  care. 


614  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Thus  slept  in  Jesus  the  Christian  philosopher  Justin,  about  the 
year  163,  and  in  the  third  or  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Aurelius. 
Like  many  of  the  ancient  fathers,  he  appears  to  us  under  great 
disadvantages.  Works  really  his  have  been  lost,  while  others  have 
been  ascribed  to  him  which  are  unworthy  of  his  name.  He  is  the 
first  of  the  Church  fathers  who  brought  classical  scholarship  and 
the  Platonic  philosophy  into  contact  with  the  Christian  theology. 
He  attributed  all  that  was  good  in  Plato  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
Logos,  or  to  his  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  Moses. 

Of  the  doctrines  of  Justin  I  shall  speak  in  another  place.  We 
cannot  say  that  his  philosophy  did  not  injure  him  as  a  Christian 
teacher  ;  neither  can  we  say  that  it  essentially  corrupted  him.  He 
stands  before  us  as  a  truly  pious  man,  —  an  eminent  servant  of  God, 
and  martyr  of  Jesus,  —  notwithstanding  that  he  swerved  in  some 
things  from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ. 

Justin  was  not  a  bishop  or  a  presbyter,  nor  did  he  aspire  to  any 
office  in  the  Church.  He  was  an  itinerant  teacher  and  evangelist, 
who  had  no  fixed  abode,  but  who  endeavored  to  do  good  in  every 
place  to  which  in  Divine  Providence  he  was  called.  "  Every  one," 
he  said,  "  who  can  preach  the  truth,  and  does  not  preach  it,  incurs 
for  his  neglect  the  judgment  of  God." 

I  have  dwelt  so  long  on  the  life  and  character  of  Justin,  that  it 
will  be  necessary  to  touch  more  briefly  upon  the  other  church- 
teachers  who  have  been  named. 

Irenseus  was  one  of  those  missionaries  who  went  from  Asia 
Minor  into  Gaul  in  the  early  part  of  the  second  century,  and 
established  churches  at  Lyons  and  Vienne.  He  was  a  disciple  of 
Polycarp,  and,  through  him,  was  brought  into  near  connection  with 
the  apostle  John.  After  the  death  of  Pothinus,  he  took  the  place 
of  this  aged  martyr  as  bishop  of  Lyons,  and  labored  there  with 
zeal  and  success  for  the  upbuilding  of  that  persecuted  church, 
for  the  defence  of  the  truth,  and  for  the  spread  of  true  rehgion 
through  Western  Europe.  He  is  supposed  to  have  died  as  a 
martyr,  in  the  persecution  under  Septimius  Severus,  about  the  year 
202. 

The  most  important  work  of  Irenseus  is  his  refutation  of  the 
Gnostic  heresies,  in  five  books.  The  Greek  original  of  this  work 
is  chiefly  lost ;  but  we  have  it  in  a  very  literal  Latin  translation. 
It  contains  much  information  respecting  the  Gnostics,  and  sets  forth 
in  opposition  to  them  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Church.  Of  the 
other  works  of  Irenseus  we  have  only  fragments ;  but  these  show 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  615 

him  to  have  been  a  man  not  only  valiant  for  essential  truth,  but 
of  great  mildness  of  disposition,  and  of  true  Christian  liberality 
in  reo'ard  to  unimportant  matters.  He  rebuked  Victor,  the  in- 
tolerant bishop  of  Rome,  for  his  harsh  treatment  of  the  Eati,tern 
churches,  who  differed  from  him  as  to  the  time  of  observing  Easter. 
"The  apostles  have  ordained,"  he  said,  "that  we  make  conscience 
with  no  one  of  food  and  drink,  or  of  particular  feasts,  new  moons, 
and  sabbaths.  Whence,  then,  these  controversies  ?  Whence 
schisms  ?  We  keep  feasts,  but  with  the  leaven  of  wickedness  and 
deceit  rending  asunder  the  Church  of  God.  We  observe  the 
outward  to  the  neglect  of  the  higher  faith  and  love."  Irenseus 
followed  Papias  in  his  millenarian  views,  expecting  the  speedy 
coming  of  Christ  to  set  up  his  kingdom  on  the  earth ;  but  in  this 
he  did  not  differ  from  many,  perhaps  most,  of  his  contemporaries. 
•  Pantfenus,  and  Clement  of  Alexandria,  were  connected  succes- 
sively with  the  catechetical  school  in  that  city.  This  school  was 
originally  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  catechumens  for 
baptism  and  the  Church.  Ere  long,  however,  it  assumed  a  more 
learned  character,  became  a  kind  of  theological  seminary,  and 
exercised  a  powerful  influence  on  the  education  of  those  who  were 
to  be  teachers  in  the  Church.  It  had  at  first  but  a  single  teacher, 
afterwards  more  ;  but  they  had  no  fixed  salary  or  special  build- 
ings. They  gave  instruction  at  their  homes,  after  the  manner  of 
the  ancient  philosophers. 

The  first  superintendent  of  this  school  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge  was  Pantsenus,  a  converted  Stoic  philosopher.  He 
was  followed  by  Clement,  who  continued  his  instructions  until 
about  the  year  202 ;  when  the  persecution  under  Severus  com- 
pelled him  to  flee.  Clement  was  by  birth  a  Greek,  was  brought  up 
in  heathenism,  and  well  versed  in  all  branches  of  Grecian  learning 
and  philosophy.  Finding  nothing  in  these  studies  to  satisfy  his 
longings  after  truth,  he  at  length  turned  his  attention  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  became  a  Christian.  He  travelled  much  in  pursuit  of 
light  and  instruction,  but  was  specially  attracted  to  Pantsenus, 
who,  he  says,  "like  the  Sicilian  bee,  plucked  flowers  from  the 
apostolic  and  prophetic  meadow,  and  filled  the  souls  of  his  dis- 
ciples Avith  pure,  genuine  knowledge." 

Pantaenus  and  Clement,  and  their  successors  in  the  Alexandrian 
school,  were  strongly  tinctured  with  the  philosophy  of  the  times, 
and  intermixed  their  philosophy  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
They  were  instrumental,  in  this  way,  of  obscuring  and  corrugating 


616  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

these  heavenly  doctrines  to  such  a  degree,  that  it  has  been  made 
a  very  serious  question  whether  the  school  itself  was  not  more  a 
detriment  than  a  benefit  to  the  cause  of  truth. 

The  principal  works  of  Clement  wMch  have  come  down  to  us 
are  his  "  Pedagogus,"  designed  for  the  instruction  of  new  converts  ; 
liis  "  Exhortatio  ad  Gri3ecos,"  intended  for  the  conviction  and  con- 
version of  idolaters  ;  and  his  "  Stromata,"  or  "  Miscellanies,"  in  eight 
books.  This  last  work  answers  to  its  name.  It  is  a  heterogeneous 
mixture  of  the  curiosities  of  history,  the  beauties  of  poetry,  and 
the  reveries  of  philosopliy,  with  Cliristian  truths  and  heretical 
errors.  He  compares  it  to  a  thick-grown  shady  mountain  or 
garden,  "  where  fruitful  and  barren  trees  of  all  kinds  —  the 
cypress,  the  laurel,  the  ivy,  the  apple,  the  oKve,  and  the  fig  —  stand 
confusedly  together." 

TertuUian  may  be  regarded  as  the  father  of  Latin  theology,  and' 
one  of  the  greatest  men  of  Christian  antiquity.  He  was  born  at 
Carthage,  of  heathen  parents,  about  the  year  160  ;  received  a  lib- 
eral education,  and  became  a  jurisconsult  and  advocate  both  at 
Carthage  and  at  Rome.  The  firs.t  half  of  his  life  he  spent  in 
heathen  blindness  and  licentiousness.  Near  the  close  of  the  second 
century,  he  embraced  Christianity ;  coming  to  it  evidently  from 
the  deepest  conviction,  and  with  all  the  fiery  energy  of  his  soul. 
He  entered  the  Christian  ministry,  but  like  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
and  Origen,  never  rose  above  the  rank  of  presbyter. 

Some  years  later,  he  attached  himself  to  the  rigid,  ascetic,  but, 
in  point  of  doctrine,  orthodox  sect  of  the  Montanists.  To  these 
he  was  attracted  by  their  peculiar  qualities,  —  their  rigid  discipline, 
their  martyr-enthusiasm,  and  their  thorough  contempt  of  the  world. 
He  was  disgusted  also  by  the  growing  laxness,  in  point  both  of 
doctrine  and  disciphne,  of  the  Romish  Church.  He  labored  chiefly 
at  Carthage  as  preacher  and  author,  and  died  of  a  decrepit  old  age 
in  the  first  part  of  the  third  century. 

The  works  of  TertuUian  were  numerous,  but  in  general  short, 
touching  on  almost  every  department  of  religious  life.  The  most 
important  of  those  that  remain  to  us  is  his  "  Apology  for  the  Chris- 
tians," composed,  probably,  in  the  reign  of  Septimius  Severus,  about 
the  year  200.  He  wrote  against  the  Marcionites  and  Valentinians 
and  other  Gnostic  sects ;  also  against  Hermogenes  and  Praxeas. 
After  he  became  attached  to  the  Montanists,  he,  wrote  numerous 
tracts  advocating  their  peculiarities,  —  against  the  restoration  of 
the  lapsed,  against  second  marriages,  on  the  dress  of  females,  on 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  617 

fasting,  &c.  In  regard  to  all  such  matters,  he  was  a  rigid,  radical 
man,  but  a  valiant  defender  of  the  faith,  and  a  devout  Christian. 

Dionysius,  bishop  of  Corinth,  lived  in  the  times  of  Marcus  Aure- 
lius  and  his  son  Commodus.  He  wrote  epistles  to  various  churches, 
evincing  his  care  and  vigilance  in  support  of  Christian  doctrine  and 
practice.  He  was  liberal  in  his  discipline,  and  withstood  some  of 
those  rigid  practices  which  were  so  much  favored  by  Tertullian. 

Melito,  bishop  of  Sardis,  was  a  devoted  Christian,  Avhose  labors, 
we  doubt  not,  were  blessed  to  that  drooping  Church.  He  lived 
under  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  was  one  of  those,  who,  by  labored 
Apologies,  endeavored  in  vain  to  soften  his  heart  and  put  a  stop  to 
his  merciless  persecutions.  Among  his  lost  works  was  one  on  the 
submission  of  the  senses  to  faith ;  another  on  the  body,  soul,  and 
spirit ;  and  another  on  God  incarnate.  He  was  one  of  those  (of 
whom  there  were  several  in  the  primitive  Church)  "who  made 
themselves  eunuchs  for  the  Idngdom  of  heaven's  sake "  (Matt, 
xix.  12). 

Theophilus  of  Antioch  was  a  learned  and  pious  man,  who  wrote 
several  books,  nearly  all  of  which  are  lost.  The  only  one  which 
has  reached  us  is  addressed  to  Autolycus,  a  pagan  friend,  in  vindi- 
cation of  Christianity.  He  is  fond  of  allegorical  and  fanciful  in- 
terpretations ;  and  on  them  rests  the  stress  of  his  arguments.  For 
example,  the  springing  of  vegetables  from  seeds  and  roots  teaches 
the  resurrection  of  the  body  ;  the  dry  land  surrounded  by  seas  de- 
notes the  Church  surrounded  by  enemies  ;  the  sun  represents  God, 
and  the  changing  moon  represents  man ;  the  three  days  preceding 
the  creation  of  the  sun  and  moon  are  types,  tQiadog  ro  Oeu,  of  the 
trinity  of  God.  This  is  said  to  be  the  first  instance  in  which  the 
term  "  trinity  "  occurs  in  the  writings  of  the  fathers.  The  doctrine 
is  scriptural,  and  was  held  from  the  beginning ;  but  the  term,  so 
far  as  we  know,  was  invented  by  Theophilus. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,    AND    CONTROVERSIES    DURING    THIS   PERIOD. 

STATE    OF    RELIGION. 

THE  doctrines  of  religion  were  taught  in  the  second  century 
with  a  good  degree  of  simplicity  and  purity ;  and  yet  there  had 
been  some  change,  both  as  to  matter  and  manner,  from  the  teach- 
ings of  the  apostles  and  their  immediate  successors.  This  arose, 
in  part,  from  the  mingling  of  a  corrupt  philosophy  with  the  pure 
principles  of  Christianity,  and  in  part  from  the  frequent  discus- 
sions which  were  held  with  those  who  perverted  and  rejected  the 
truth.  Justin  Martyr  was  a  philosopher  before  he  was  a  Christian, 
and  never  ceased  to  be  a  philosopher  afterwards.  It  was  natural 
that  he  should  continue  the  style  of  the  philosophers,  and  intro- 
duce something  of  theii"  spirit  and  speculations  into  the  minds  of 
his  followers.  The  teachers  in  the  Alexandrian  school  were  also 
philosophers,  and  began  early  to  corrupt  the  theology  of  the  times. 
The  influence  of  this  school,  however,  was  much  more  extensive 
and  disastrous  in  the  third  century  than  in  the  second.  But,  even 
now,  the  doctrines  of  an  intermediate  place,  and  of  purgatorial  fire 
for  all  departed  souls  except  those  of  the  martyrs,  began  in  some 
places  to  be  shadowed  forth.  A  foundation  was  also  laid  for  the 
later  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration.  The  word  "regenerate" 
was  commonly  used  by  Justin  Martyr  and  others  as  synonymous 
with  baptism ;  putting  the  sign  in  place  of  the  thing  signified.  Thus 
Justin,  speaking  of  some  who  had  been  recently  baptized,  says, 
"  They  are  regenerated  in  the  same  way  in  which  we  are  regener- 
ated ;  for  they  are  washed  with  water  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  Irenseus  says, 
"  When  Christ  gave  his  apostles  the  command  of  regenerating  unto 
God,  he  said,  Go  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them,"  &c. 

G]*eat  stress  began  to  be  laid  in  this  century  on  bodily  austeri- 
ties and  mortifications  ;  and  a  strong  tendency  was  manifested  to- 

618 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  619 

wards  a  monastic  life.  Several  things  contributed  to  this  result  : 
one  was  the  prevalence  of  the  Gnostic  philosophy,  which  degraded 
the  body,  and  directly  inculcated  the  crucifixion  of  the  flesh. 
Then  there  had  been  recluses  for  long  ages  among  the  heathen 
in  the  East.  There  were  also  recluses  —  for  example,  the  Essenes 
and  Therapeuts  —  among  the  Jews.  Probably  the  Christians 
thought  it  a  shame  to  be  outdone  in  this  direction  by  Pagans  and 
Jews.  Some  were  driven  into  the  deserts  by  their  constant 
exposure  to  persecution  and  death ;  while  others  interpreted  too 
literally  some  expressions  in  the  inspired  writings.  They  seemed 
to  hear  their  Saviour  calling  out  to  them,  "  Come  out  from  among 
them,  and  be  ye  separate,  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and 
I  will  receive  you ;  "  and  they  knew  not  how  to  obey  such  a  call 
but  by  a  literal  and  entire  separation  from  the  world.  The  mo- 
nastic spirit  first  showed  itself  in  Syria  and  Egypt ;  from  which 
places  it  gradually  spread  into  other  parts  of  the  Christian  world. 

The  Scriptures  were  held  in  high  estimation  in  this  century,  and 
were  devoutly  studied,  so  far  as  they  had  opportunity,  by  all  Chris- 
tians. Some  tried  their  hand  at  interpreting  the  sacred  writings ; 
but  their  interpretations  (so  far  as  we  have  the  means  of  judging) 
were  of  little  value,  owing  to  their  perpetual  search  after  hidden, 
allegorical  meanings. 

This  allegorical  method  of  interpretation,  which  became  so  preva- 
lent in  the  ancient  Church,  the  Christians  borrowed  from  the 
heathen  and  the  Jews.  The  heathen  philosophers  —  as  Plato,  for 
example  —  were  ashamed  of  their  sacred  mythologies,  and  were 
in  the  habit  of  allegorizing  them  in  order  to  draw  instruction  from 
them,  and  bring  them  into  harmony  with  their  philosophical  views. 
And,  when  the  Jews  in  Egypt  began  to  be  philosophers,  they  pur- 
sued the  same  course  with  their  sacred  books,  and  for  the  same 
reason.  Their  philosophy  and  their  sacred  books  could  in  no  other 
way  be  harmonized.  Numerous  examples  of  this  method  of  in- 
terpretation among  the  Jews  are  furnished  by  Philo  and  the 
Talmuds. 

For  the  same  reason,  those  of  the  Christian  fathers  who 
aspired  to  be  philosophers  were  led  to  adopt  the  allegorical  method 
of  interpretation.  This  method  was  popular  with  all  the  philoso- 
phers ;  and,  besides,  it  made  of  the  Scriptures  a  nose  of  wax,  which 
could  point  one  way  as  well  as  another.  It  enabled  its  votaries  to 
harmonize  the  sacred  writings  with  any  philosophy  which  they  might 
be  led  to  adopt.      This  allegorical  method  of  interpretation  had  a 


620  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

long  and  disastrous  prevalence  in  the  Church.  It  began  to  appear 
in  the  second  century,  but  prevailed  much  more  extensively  in  the 
following  ages,  and  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  extirpated  even  in  our 
own  times. 

The  heresies  of  the  second  century  may,  be  divided  into  four 
classes,  —  the  Ebionistic,  the  G-nostic,  the  Antitrinitarian,  and  the 
folloioers  of  Montanus  ;  each  and  all  of  them  resulting  in  more  or 
less  of  controversy. 

The  Ebionites  of  the  second  century  are  the  genuine  descend- 
ants of  the  Judaizing  teachers  of  the  first  century  who  gave  so 
much  trouble  to  the  apostle  Paul.  We  have  referred  to  the  origin 
of  the  sect  already.  Upon  the  revolt  under  Barchochebas,  when 
the  Jews  were  driven  away  from  Jerusalem,  and  forbidden  to  return 
there,  the  great  body  of  the  old  Jerusalem  Church,  in  order  that 
they  might  evade  the  decree,  declared  that  they  were  no  longer 
Jews,  but  Christians.  They  laid  aside  circumcision  and  the  Jewish 
law,  conforming  in  this  respect  to  the  practice  of  the  other  churches. 
But  a  portion  of  the  Church  refused  'to  take  this  ground.  They 
continued  to  practise  the  Jewish  rites,  seceded  from  their  brethren, 
and  became  a  sect,  under  the  appellation  of  Ebionites. 

The  sect  was  soon  divided  into  two  classes,  on  the  score  of  liber- 
ality. The  more  liberal  portion  of  them,  though  they  continued 
to  observe  the  Jewish  law,  indulged  in  no  harsh  antipathies  against 
their  brethren  who  had  renounced  it.  They  believed  in  the  Mes- 
siahship  and  divinity  of  Jesus,  acknowledged  the  apostleship  and 
the  Epistles  of  Paul,  and  were  scarcely  regarded  by  the  other 
churches  as  heretics.  They  took  the  name  of  Nazarenes^  —  the 
name  originally  given  to  all  the  followers  of  Christ.  They  soon 
disappear  from  the  page  of  history. 

But  the  more  rigid  separatists  pursued  a  different  course.  They 
were  pretty  numerous  for  a  time,  and  spread  themselves,  not  only 
in  Palestine  and  Syria,  but  in  Asia  Minor,  the  Grecian  islands,  and 
even  in  Italy.  They  were  called  Ebionites,  from  the  Hebrew  "^iin!*, 
signifying  poor.  They  were,  in  fact,  a.  poor,  despised  people.  Their 
peculiarities  may  be  set  forth  in  the  four  following  propositions  : 

1.  Though  they  regarded  Jesus  as  the  promised  Messiah,  they 
held  him  to  be  a  mere  man,  like  Moses  or  David,  and  that  he 
sprang  by  natural  generation  from  Joseph  and  Mary.  They  were 
the  first  and  only  proper  Humanitarians  in  the  ancient  Church. 

2.  Like  their  prototypes  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  the  Ebionites 
said  of  all  men,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  "  Except  ye  be  circumcised, 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,  AND   CONTROVERSIES.  621 

and  keep  the  law  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  he  savedT  3.  They  rejected 
all  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  and  denounced  him  as  an  apostate  and 
heretic.  4.  They  believed  that  Christ  was  soon  to  appear  the 
second  time,  and  set  up  his  kingdom  on  the  earth,  the  seat  and 
centre  of  which  was  to  be  at  Jerusalem.  In  regard  to  this  latter 
point,  they  did  not  differ  from  many  other  Christians.  The  sect 
continued  until  the  fourth  century,  when  it  became  extinct. 

Of  the  Gnostic  philosophy,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  it  began 
to  corrupt  the  Church,  even  in  the  age  of  the  apostles,  I  gave  some 
account  in  a  previous  chapter.  It  originated  in  the  East,  but  had 
spread  itself  into  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Greece  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Christian  era.  The  grand  problem  with  the  Gnostics, 
to  the  solution  of  which  all  their  inquiries  tended,  was  that  respect- 
ing the  origin  of  evil.  They  traced  it  to  the  influence  of  matter^ 
and  referred  the  origin  of  this  material  world,  and  of  the  material 
bodies  of  men,  not  to  the  supreme  God,  but  to  some  inferior  divin- 
ity. The  body  they  all  regarded  as  the  prison  and  corrupter  of 
the  soul ;  and  the  redemption  of  the  soul  consisted,  not  in  its 
deliverance  from  sin  and  death,  but  in  its  present  deliverance  from 
the  influence  of  matter,  and  ultimately  from  matter  itself. 

To  aid  in  this  work  of  deliverance,  the  Christian  Gnostics  —  and 
it  is  with  these  that  we  have  now  to  do  —  believed  that  Christ 
had  kindly  interposed.  Christ  they  regarded  as  neither  God  nor 
man,  but  a  mighty  ^Eon  from  the  region  of  light,  —  an  emanation, 
directly  or  indirectly,  from  the  One  Supreme.  As  to  the  person  and 
nature  of  Christ,  the  Gnostics  of  Asia  differed  from  those  of  Egypt. 
The  former  class  regarded  him  as  a  mere  spectre,  without  a  body ; 
while  the  latter  believed  that  Jesus  had  a  body,  into  which  the 
^on  entered  at  the  time  of  his  baptism,  and  out  of  wliich  it  fled 
at  his  crucifixion.  They  were  divided,  also,  as  to  the  morality 
which  they  inculcated.  The  greater  part  of  them  enjoined  bodily 
mortifications  and  austerities,  and  favored  an  ascetic,  monastic  life. 
But  some  went  quite  to  the  other  extreme  :  in  a  proud  conceit  of 
the  exaltation  of  the  spirit  above  matter,  or  thinking,  perhaps, 
that  sensuality  can  best  be  overcome  by  indulging  it,  they  bade 
defiance  to  every  moral  law,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  the  most 
shameful  licentiousness.  They  were  all  agreed  in  contemning 
Moses  and  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection. 

Though  this  doctrine  prevailed  in  the  first  century,  and  corrupted 
numerous  individuals  and  some  whole  churches,  it   is   doubtful 


622  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

whether  any  distmct  sects  were  at  that  time  organized.  But,  in 
the  second  century,  heresiarchs  made  their  appearance  in  different 
parts  of  the  world,  and  sects  were  multiphed.  Indeed,  ahnost  all 
the  heresies  of  the  age  of  which  we  are  informed  by  Irenseus  and 
others  were  of  the  Gnostic  stamp. 

The  different  sects  of  the  Gnostics  were  agreed  as  to  the  general 
jyrinciples  of  their  philosophy ;  hut  they  differed  variously  as  to 
particulars  :  for  example,  as  to  the  number  and  rank  and  genealo- 
gies of  their  ^Eons ;  as  to  the  INlaker  of  the  material  universe,  and 
the  manner  of  its  formation  ;  as  to  the  origin  of  liuman  souls, 
and  their  incarceration  in  material  bodies ;  and  as  to  the  method 
of  their  final  deliverance  and  purification.  These,  it  will  be  seen, 
are  subjects  on  which  their  fancies  might  be  expected  to  riot;  and 
each  one  had  a  delusion  of  his  own. 

Among  the  oldest  of  the  Asiatic  Gnostics  was  Saturninus  of 
Antioch,  who  flourished  in  the  time  of  Adrian.  He  taught  and 
practised  great  austerities,  and,  by  the  show  of  virtue,  drew  many 
after  liim. 

Following  him  w^re  Cerdo,  a  Syrian,  and  Marcion,  the  son  of  a 
bishop  of  Pontus.  These  men  established  their  sect  at  Rome,  and, 
from  that  place  as  a  centre,  spread  their  peculiarities  in  all  direc- 
tions. The  moral  discipline  which  Marcion  prescribed  was  very 
rigorous.  He  condemned  marriage,  wine,  flesh,  and  every  thing 
else  which  had  a  tendency  to  exliilarate  the  body  or  delight  the 
senses. 

Among  the  Asian  Gnostics  may  also  be  classed  Bardesanes  and 
Tatian.  Tatian  was  an  Assyrian,  a  learned  man,  and  a  disciple  of 
Justin  Martyr.  His  moral  principles  were  rigid  in  the  extreme, 
and  were  founded  on  the  Gnostic  basis  ;  viz.,  the  necessity  of  mace- 
rating and  mortifying  the  body,  that  the  soul  might  be  delivered 
from  its  corrupting  influence.  His  followers  renounced  all  the 
comforts  of  life,  fasted  rigorously,  lived  in  celibacy,  and  held  wine 
in  such  abhorrence,  that  they  would  not  use  it  even  in  the  sacra- 
mental supper. 

Among  the  Egyptian  Gnostics,  the  first  place  is  commonly  as- 
signed to  Basilides  of  Alexandria.  He  recommended  purity  of 
heart  and  life  ;  and  yet  there  were  some  things  in  his  moral  pre- 
cepts which  were  offensive  to  other  Christians.  He  taught  that  it 
is  lawful  to  conceal  our  religion  ;  to  deny  Christ,  if  we  may  thereby 
save  our  lives ;  and  that  it  is  no  sin  to  participate  in  the  pagan 
feasts  which  were  connected  with  their  sacrifices.     He  also  refused 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  623 

to  honor  the  martyrs,  maintaining  that  they  had  forfeited  their 
hves  by  their  peculiar  sinfuhiess. 

But  much  worse  than  he  was  Carpocrates,  who  was  also  a  native 
of  Alexandria.  As  to  general  principles,  he  agreed  with  the  other 
Gnostics ;  but  the  morality  which  he  inculcated  was  corrupt.  He 
held  that  concupiscence  was  implanted  in  the  soul  by  God,  and 
was  therefore  innocent ;  that  actions  are  good  or  evil  only  as  they 
are  made  so  by  the  opinions  and  laws  of  men ;  and  that  among 
men  there  should  be  a  community  of  goods,  and  even  of  women. 
Obviously,  principles  such  as  these  swept  away  the  foundations  of 
all  virtue,  and  gave  license  to  every  species  of  iniquity.  The  Nico- 
laitans,  spoken  of  in  Rev.  ii.  15,  may  have  been  Gnostics  of  this 
class. 

The  most  celebrated  of  all  the  Eyptian  Gnostics  was  Valentinus, 
the  founder  of  the  numerous  sect  of  the  Valentinians.  This  sect 
originated  at  Rome,  but  had  its  principal  seat  on  the  Island  of  Cy- 
prus. From  this  point  it  spread  itself  with  great  rapidity  over  a 
considerable  part  of  the  Christian  world.  It  is  of  the  Valentin- 
ians especially  that  Irenseus  treats  in  his  work  against  Heresies 
(lib.  i.  chap.  1-7).     Tertullian  also  wrote  a  book  against  them. 

In  speaking  of  the  Egyptian  Gnostics,  we  must  not  omit  the 
Ophites^  or  Serpentinians,  a  senseless  sect,  which  is  thought  to  have 
originated  among  the  Jews  before  the  coming  of  Christ.  In  the 
second  century,  a  part  of  them  professed  to  be  Christians.  Tliey 
believed  that  the  serpent  which  tempted  our  first  parents  was  either 
Chrigt  himself,  or  an  impersonation  of  Sophia^  —  heavenly  Wisdom. 
Hence  the  peculiar  honor,  and  even  worship,  which  they  paid  to 
their  sacred  serpents.  In  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  priest 
let  out  one  of  these  serpents  upon  the  dish  to  crawl  around  and  over 
the  bread.  When  the  bread  had  been  distributed,  each  one  Idssed 
the  serpent ;  after  which  it  was  confined  in  a  box.  Such  are  the 
absurdities  into  which  men  readily  fall  when  they  forsake  the 
word  of  God,  and  give  heed  to  fables. 

There  were  other  obscure  sects  of  Gnostics,  —  as  the  Adamites 
and  Cainites  and  Abelites  and  Sethites,  —  of  which  the  ancients  give 
us  little  more  than  the  names.  With  all  their  absurdities,  these 
Gnostics  were  an  arrogant,  overbearing  class  of  men.  They  made 
pretensions  to  a  superior  illumination.  They  were  in  possession  of 
the  true  .-^'vayaig,  —  of  all  knowledge  and  wisdom,  —  and  looked  down 
upon  other  Christians,  like  the  transcendentals  of  our  own  times, 
as  no  better  than  grovelUng  empiricg.     They  flourished  chiefly  in 


624  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

the  second  century ;  though  their  principles  continued  to  show 
themselves,  in  one  form  or  another,  for  several  hundred  years. 

The  Antitrinit avian  controversies,  which  commenced  in  the  sec- 
ond century  and  continued  through  the  third,  grew  out  of  a  vain 
desire  on  the  part  of  some  Christian  philosophers  to  explain  the 
mystery  of  the  Trinity,  or  to  show  precisely  how  the  Three  are  one, 
and  the  One  three.  This  was  attempted  by  Praxeas,  a  distinguished 
man,  and  a  confessor  at  Rome.  Discarding  all  real  distinction 
between  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  he  taught  that  the  Father — 
the  whole  Deity  —  joined  himself  to  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  and 
suffered  with  him  on  the  cross.  Hence  Praxeas  and  his  followers 
are  appropriately  called  by  TertuUian,  who  wrote  a  book  against 
them,  Patripassians. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  explained  somewhat  differently 
at  Rome  by  Theodotus  the  tanner,  and  by  Artemon  the  father  of 
the  Artemonites.  They  held,  that,  when  the  man  Christ  Jesus  was 
born,  a  certain  divine  energy,  or  some  portion  of  the  divine  yiature^ 
and  not  the  entire  person  of  the  Father,  entered  into  him,  and 
qualified  him  for  his  redeeming  work.  Other  persons  advanced 
similar  opinions,  as  we  shall  see,  in  the  next  century. 

About  the  middle  of  the  century,  an  obscure  man  of  Phrygia, 
named  Montanus,  began  to  have  visions  and  ecstasies,  and  to  utter 
prophecies.  He  gave  out  that  himself  was  the  Paraclete,  —  the 
promised  Comforter,  —  who  had  been  sent  to  reform  the  Church, 
and  carry  it  forward  to  perfection.  Two  fanatical  women,  Maximilla 
and  Priscilla,  joined  themselves  to  him  as  prophetesses  ;  and  thus 
a  party  was  formed,  of  high  spiritual  pretensions,  who  looked  down 
upon  other  Christians  as  walkmg  in  the  flesh.  They  did  not  essay 
to  change  the  received  doctrines  of  the  Church,  but  rather  to 
confirm  them.  Their  province  was  to  reform  its  manners ;  to  en- 
force a  new  and  higher  and  more  spiritual  course  of  life.  Accord- 
ingly, they  prescribed  new  and  rigorous  fasts ;  forbade  second 
marriages  ;  attributed  an  extraordinary  value  to  cehbacy  and  mar- 
tyrdom ;  manifested  a  profound  contempt  for  every  thing  earthly ; 
and  taught  that  intemperance,  incontinence,  and  other  like  offences 
(although  they  might  not  exclude  utterly  from  the  grace  of  God), 
ought  to  shut  one  out  forever  from  the  Church  of  Christ.  They 
were  also  confirmed  Chiliasts;  proclaiming  that  the  end  of  the  world, 
and  the  millennial  reign  of  Christ,  were  near  at  hand.  Their  pecu- 
liarities were  of  such  a  nature,  and  were  so  pertinaciously  persisted 
in,  that  they  were  excluded  from  the  Church,  and  obliged  to  as- 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,  AND   CONTROVERSIES.  625 

sume  the  position  of  sectaries.  But  Montanus  speedily  built  up  a 
church  of  his  own,  and  spread  his  peculiarities  into  other  parts  of 
the  world.  His  most  distinguished  follower,  as  remarked  already, 
was  Tertullian,  —  a  man  very  like  to  Montanus  in  spirit  and  char- 
acter, who  did  much  by  his  publications  to  promote  the  cause  which 
he  had  espoused. 

I  close  with  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  religious  spirit  and 
character  of  the  age.  There  was  a  greater  stress  laid,  as  we  have 
seen,  on  outward  rites  and  forms,  than  in  the  first  century.  A 
greater  importance  also  was  attached  to  self-mortification  and 
a  "  neglecting  of  the  body."  It  must  be  said,  too,  that  the  philo- 
sophic spirit  which  had  begun  to  insinuate  itself  into  the  schools 
and  churches  of  the  Christians  was  exerting  an  unfavorable 
influence  upon  the  tone  of  their  piety.  Still,  notwithstanding 
these  abatements,  the  ardor  and  vigor  of  Christian  piety  in  the 
second  century  were  well  sustained.  The  frequent  persecutions 
of  the  Christians,  and  the  hard  treatment  to  which  they  were  con- 
tinually exposed,  had  the  effect  to  humble  them,  to  strengthen 
their  faith,  and  keep  them  near  to  the  throne  of  grace.  Their 
untiring  missionary  efforts  were  a.lso  a  great  blessing  to  them.  It 
happened  unto  them,  as  it  has  done  to  Christians  in  every  age,  that, 
while  they  were  endeavoring  to  water  others,  they  were  themselves 
watered  with  the  dews  of  heavenly  grace. 

The  spirit  exhibited  by  the  martyrs  was,  in  general,  of  the  most 
heroic  character.  In  some  instances,  there  was  a  zeal  for  martyr- 
dom, and  an  apparent  glorying  in  it,  which  hardly  comports  with 
the  true  Christian,  spirit. 

The  kindness  which  the  Christians  manifested,  not  only  to  one 
another,  but  even  to  their  enemies,  is  also  remarkable.  Witness 
the  following  extracts  from  Tertullian's  Apology,  written  during  the 
persecution  under  Septimius  Severus,  near  the  close  of  the  second 
century:  "We  pray,"  says  he,  "for  the  safety  of  the  emperors  to 
the  true  and  living  God,  whom  emperors  themselves  should  desire 
to  be  propitious  to  them  above  all  others  that  are  called  gods. 
Looking  up  to  heaven  with  outstretched  hands  and  uncovered 
heads,  we  pray  constantly  for  the  emperors,  that  they  may  have 
long  life,  a  secure  dominion,  a  safe  house,  strong  armies,  a  faithful 
senate,  a  well-behaved  people,  and  a  quiet  state  of  the  world.  We 
solicit  these  things  from  the  God  of  heaven,  because  he  alone  can 
bestow  them  ;  and  we  expect  them  of  him,  being  his  servants,  who 
worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.     And  while  our  hands  are  thus 

40 


626  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

stretched  out,  if  it  must  be  so,  let  crosses  suspend  us,  let  fires  con- 
sume us,  let  swords  pierce  our  hearts,  let  wild  beasts  destroy  us  :  a 
praying  Christian  is  in  a  frame  for  any  form  of  death."  Here, 
surely,  is  something  of  the  spirit  of  Him  who  prayed  for  his 
murderers  while  hanging  on  the  cross. 

The  writer  proceeds  to  describe  further  the  principles  and 
character  of  his  brethren  in  Christ :  "  We  are  dead  to  all  ideas 
of  worldly  honor  and  dignity.  Nothing  is  farther  from  us  than  a 
disposition  to  meddle  with  political  concerns.  We  are  a  spiritual 
body,  united  in  one  bond  of  religion,  of  discipline,  and  of  hope. 
We  meet  in  our  assemblies  for  prayer  and  praise.  We  have  con- 
tinual recourse  to  the  divine  oracles  for  instruction  and  warning. 
We  nourish  our  faith  by  the  word  of  God.  We  establish  our 
hope,  we  fix  our  confidence,  we  strengthen  our  discipline,  by 
repeatedly  inculcating  its  precepts  and  exhortations. 

"  Those  who  preside  among  us  are  elderly  persons,  distinguished 
not  for  opulence,  but  for  worth  of  character.  Every  one  pays  into 
the  pubhc  chest  once  a  month,  or  oftener,  as  he  pleases  ;  for  there  is 
no  compulsion.  Thence  we  relieve  the  needy,  bury  the  dead,  and 
support  orphans,  decrepit  persons,  those  who  have  suffered  ship- 
wreck, and  those  who,  for  the  word  of  God,  are  condemned  to 
the  mines  or  to  imprisonment.  This  very  charity  has  caused  us 
to  be  noticed  by  some,  who  say,  '  See  how  these  Christians  love  one 
another ! '  " 

But  I  will  not  quote  further.  These  extracts  will  give  us  some 
idea  of  the  purity,  the  integrity,  the  heavenly-mindedness,  and 
passiveness  under  injuries,  for  which  Christians  were  distinguished 
at  the  close  of  the  second  century. 


PEEIOD    in. 

FROM  THE   COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  THIRD   CENTURY  TO 
THE   REVOLUTION   UNDER   CONSTANTINE. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PERSECUTIONS    AND    PROGRESS    OF    CHRISTIANITY    DURING    THIS 

PERIOD. 

AT  the  commencement  of  the  tliird  century,  Septimius  Severus 
governed  the  Roman  Empire.  During  the  first  years  of  his 
reign,  he  seemed  not  unfavorably  disposed  towards  the  Cliristians, 
though  tliey  often  suffered  severely  in  some  of  tlie  provinces ;  but, 
being  disgusted  with  the  excesses  of  the  Montanists,  he  at  length 
passed  a  law  prohibiting  all  persons  from  abandoning  the  religion 
of  their  fathers.  This  did  not  directly  condemn  those  who  were 
already  Christians ;  yet  the  governors  of  the  provinces,  instigated 
by  the  populace  and  by  the  pagan  priests,  took  occasion  from  it  to 
molest  and  destroy  many  of  God's  people.  Among  those  who 
suffered  were  Leonidas,  tire  father  of  Origen,  and  some  distinguished 
Roman  ladies.  Potamiana,  a  virgin  of  rare  beauty  and  accomplish- 
ments, after  suffering  various  tortures,  was  slowly  burned,  with 
her  mother,  in  boiling  pitch.  One  of  her  executioners  was  so 
affected  with  her  sufferings  and  patience,  that  he  shortly  after  em- 
braced Christianity,  and  was  himself  beheaded. 

Perpetua,  a  young  woman  of  noble  birth,  resisting  not  only  the 
entreaties  of  an  aged  heathen  father,  but  the  silent  appeals  of  a 
helpless  babe,  sacrificed  the  tender  feelings  both  of  a  daughter  and 
mother  rather  than  deny  her  Lord.  Having  been  apprehended, 
and  kept  under  guard  for  several  days,  her  babe  was  at  length 
taken  from  her ;  and  she  and  her  companions  were  thrust  into  a 

627 


628  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

dark  and  dismal  prison.  Speaking  of  her  feelings  at  this  time,  she 
says,  "  O  fearful  day !  I  was  terrified  at  the  darkness ;  I  was  torn 
with  anxiety  about  my  infant :  but,  by  the  help  of  the  deacons  of 
the  Church,  my  child  was  brought  to  me,  and  we  were  removed  to 
a  more  open  part  of  the  prison.  Having  nursed  the  dear  babe, 
who  was  dying  of  thirst,  I  was  obliged  to  part  with  him  again." 

Her  wretched  father  came  to  her  in  the  prison,  and  threw  him- 
self at  her  feet,  weeping  as  though  his  heart  would  break.  "  Think 
of  me,"  said  he,  "  and  think  of  your  mother,  and  think  of  your  little 
son,  who  cannot  live  without  you."  She  answered  his  entreaties  by 
saying,  that,  while  nothing  on  earth  would  delight  her  more  than 
to  please  and  obey  him,  she  could  not  displease  God,  and  deny  her 
Saviour.  When  her  trial  came,  her  father  forced  himself  through 
the  crowd,  with  her  child  in  his  arms,  that  he  might  make  his  last 
appeal  to  her  to  change  her  mind.  The  heathen  judge  was  moved 
to  tears  at  the  sight,  and  said,  "  Oh,  spare  the  old  age  of  your  father 
and  the  helplessness  of  your  infant!  Perpetua,  are  you  a  Chris- 
tian?" She  replied,  "I  certainly  am.  I  have  lived  a  Christian, 
and  a  Christian  I  am  resolved  to  die." 

The  prisoners  were  now  sent  away  to  their  cells  to  await  the 
execution  of  their  sentence ;  which  was,  to  be  thrown  to  the  wild 
beasts.  Here  Perpetua  was  to  be  again  tried  by  a  visit  from  her 
father.  He  tore  his  hair ;  he  fell  frantic  on  the  floor ;  he  used 
every  entreaty  with  her:  but  in  vain."  Her  heart  was  in  heaven. 
She  trusted  in  Christ,  and  he  sustained  her  to  the  last. 

Felicitas,  one  of  her  companions,  had  also  a  little  babe.  After 
a  fervent  prayer  on  its  behalf,  she  gave  it  over  to  her  sister,  and 
so  relieved  herself  of  all  earthly  cares. 

When  led  to  execution,  these  heroic  females  sang  a  hymn,  and 
then  called  on  the  magistrates  and  people  to  remember  that  they 
must  give  an  account  of  that  day's  work.  They  charged  them 
also  to  bear  witness  that  they  died  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  "  whom, 
not  having  seen,  they  loved." 

It  was  the  lot  of  these  two  Christian  females  to  be  thrown  to  a 
wild  cow.  The  infuriated  animal  ran  upon  Perpetua,  and  dashed 
her  wounded  upon  the  ground.  She  then  flew  at  Felicitas,  tossed 
her  in  the*  air,  and  tore  her  in  the  most  frightful  manner.  Perpetua 
sprang  upon  her  feet,  ran  to  her  poor  sister  in  suffering,  adjusted 
her  clothes,  and  smoothed  her  disordered  hair. 

The  spectators,  not  hking  this  kind  of  sport,  demanded  that  the 
victims  should  be  despatched  with  the  sword ;  when,  giving  each 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  629 

other  the  kiss  of  peace,  they  presented  themselves  before  their 
executioner.  Felicitas  was  killed  b}^  a  single  blow  ;  but  the  faint- 
ing, trembling  gladiator  was  not  so  successful  with  Perpetua.  He 
struck  at  her  and  wounded  her  repeatedly,  but  to  no  purpose.  At 
length  she  seized  the  weapon,  pointed  it  to  the  most  vital  part,  and 
called  upon  him  to  finish  his  work.  Without  a  groan,  she  sank  down 
upon  the  sands  of  the  amphitheatre, -and  fell  asleep  in  Christ. 

I  have  given  the  particulars  of  this  martyr-scene,  because, 
in  the  first  place,  it  is  well  authenticated,  and  because  by  this 
means  we  get  a  more  vivid  idea  of  what  the  Christians  were  called 
to  suffer  in  these  fiery  times.  It  is  easy  to  tell  of  cases  of  martyr- 
dom, and  to  say  that  they  were  multiphed  by  scores  and  hundreds, 
and  yet  get  no  strong  impression  of  the  cases  ;  but  when  we  hear 
the  story  of  Perpetua,  and  .remember  that  this  was  but  one  of  a 
thousand  like  scenes  which  were  acted  over  during  the  first  three 
hundred  years  after  Christ,  we  begin  to  realize  what  it  cost  to 
break  down  the  old  heathen  altars,  and  establish  Christianity  in  the 
earth. 

Caracalla  passed  no  laws  against  the  Christians,  though  the 
persecutions  in  some  places  were  continued. 

The  reckless  and  vicious  Heliogabalus  tolerated  all  religions,  in 
hope  of  at  last  merging  them  in  his  favorite  Syrian  worship  of 
the  sun.  He  was  himself  a  priest  of  the  sun,  and  thence  took  his 
name. 

Alexander  Severus,  who  reigned  from  the  year  222  to  235,  was 
inclined  to  favor  the  Christians.  He  placed  the  busts  of  Abraham 
and  of  Christ  in  his  private  chapel,  with  those  of  Orpheus  and 
some  of  the  Roman  emperors ;  and  caused  the  golden  rule,  to  do  to 
others  as  we  would  that  they  shoidd  do  to  us,  to  be  engraven  on 
public  monuments  and  on  the  walls  of  his  palace.  His  mother, 
Julia  Mammi3ea,  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  a  Christian. 

Maximin  the  Thracian,  who  killed  Alexander  and  reigned  in  his 
stead,  fearing  that  the  Christians  might  be  disposed  to  avenge  the 
death  of  their  patron,  ordered  some  of  their  bishops  who  had 
been  particularly  friendly  to  the  late  emperor  to  be  seized,  and  put 
to  death.  This  encouraged  the  populace  and  the  pagan  priests 
to  rekindle  the  fires  of  persecution ;  and  many  Christians  were 
destroyed.  His  reign,  however,  was  short,  and  was  followed  by  a 
long  season  of  trancLuillity  to  the  Church  under  Gordian,  and  the 
two  Philips,  father  and  son. 

In  the  year  249,  Decius  Trajan  came  to  the  throne.     He  was  an 


630  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

earnest  and  energetic  man,  in  whom  the  old  Roman  spirit  revived ; 
and  he  resolved  to  extirpate  the  Christian  sect,  and  restore  the  old 
pagan  religion  in  all  its  glory.  Accordingly,  he  published  terrible 
edicts,  requiring  the  governors  in  all  the  provinces  either  to  bring 
back  the  people  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  or  to  exterminate 
them  utterly.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  persecution,  which,  in 
extent,  persistency,  and  cruelty,  exceeded  all  that  had  been  before 
it.  During  the  next  two  years,  vast  numbers  of  Christians  in  all 
the  Roman  provinces  were  cut  off.  Large  numbers  also,  terrified, 
not  so  much  by  the  fear  of  death  as  of  the  long-continued  tortures 
which  were  inflicted  with  a  view  to  shake  the  constancy  of  the 
Christians,  were  driven  to  apostasy.  They  either  sacrificed  to  the 
idols,  or  (what  was  as  bad)  they  bribed  the  judges  to .  certify  that 
they  had  sacrificed  when  they  had  not.  In  this  time  of  severe 
trial,  the  confessors  at  Rome  wrote  thus  to  their  suffering  brethren 
in  Africa :  "  What  more  glorious  and  blessed  lot  can  fall  to  man, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  than  to  confess  him  amidst  tortures  and  in  the 
face  o^  death ;  to  confess  Christ  with  lacerated  bod}^  but  with  the 
spirit  free ;  and  to  become  fellow-sufferers  with  him,  and  in  his 
name  ?  Though  we  have  not  yet  been  called  to  shed  our  blood, 
we  are  ready  to  do  so.  Pray  for  us,  dear  Cyprian,  that  the  Lord, 
the  great  Captain,  would  daily  strengthen  each  one  of  us  more  and 
more,  and  at  last  lead  us  to  the  field  as  faithful  soldiers  armed  with 
those  divine  weapons  which  can  never  be  conquered." 

The  authorities  were  specially  severe  against  the  bishops  and 
ofiicers  of  the  churches.  Fabian,  bishop  of  Rome,  perished  near 
the  commencement  of  the  persecution.  Many  withdrew  to  places  of 
concealment,  —  some,  perhaps,  from  cowardice,  but  more  from  Chris- 
tian prudence,  —  hoping  to  allay  by  their  absence  the  fury  of  the 
persecutors,  and  to  preserve  their  lives  for  the  good  of  the  Church 
in  better  times.  Among  these  was  Cyprian,  the  excellent  bishop 
of  Carthage.  Many  censured  him  for  his  flight ;  but  he  fully  vin- 
dicated himself  by  his  pastoral  industry  during  his  absence,  and  by 
his  subsequent  martyrdom.  He  says  concerning  the  matter, 
"  Our  Lord  commanded  us,  when  persecuted  in  one  city,  to  flee  to 
another;  and  this  command  he  illustrated  in  his  own  practice. 
Since  the  martyr's  crown  comes  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  cannot 
be  gained  before  the  appointed  hour,  he  who  retires,  and  remains 
true  to  Christ,  does  not  deny  the  faith,  but  only  bides  his  time." 

Decius  reigned  only  two  years ;  but  his  successors,  Gallus  and 
Volusian,  continued  the  persecution  two  years  longer,  —  unto  the 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY,  631 

year  253.  The  multitudes  who  fell  away  in  this  persecution  caused 
great_ dissensions  afterwards  in  different  parts  of  the  Church :  for 
the  lapsed  wished  to  be  restored  to  Christian  fellowship  without 
that  severe  penitence  which  the  laws  of  the  Church  prescribed ; 
and  some  of  the  bishops  favored  their  wishes,  while  others  opposed 
them.  The  dispvites  on  the  subject  resulted  in  the  Novatian  schism, 
or  heresy,  of  which  we  shall  hear  more  hereafter. 

Valerian  succeeded  Volusian,  and  the  Church  had  several  years 
of  comparative  rest;  but,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  Valerian 
commenced  making  havoc  of  the  Christians.  The  most  distin- 
guished martyrs  at  this  time  were  Sixtus  II.,  bishojD  of  Rome,  and 
Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage.  When  Cyprian  received  his  sen- 
tence, he  said,  "  Deo  Crratias  !  "  ("  The  Lord  be  praised  !  ")  When 
he  came  upon  the  scaffold,  he  prayed  once  more,  undressed  himself, 
covered  his  face  with  his  hands,  and  asj^ed  one  of  liis  presbyters 
to  pay  the  executioner  twenty-five  pieces  of  gold.  With  trem- 
bling hands,  the  executioner  performed  his  office ;  and  Cyprian 
won  the  incorruptible  crown.  His  faithful  friends  caught  up  his 
blood  on  their  handkerchiefs,  and  buried  their  sainted  pastor  with 
great  solemnity. 

From  this  time,  A.D.  2G0,  there  was  no  general  persecution  to 
the  end  of  the  century.  About  the  year  274,  Aurelian  issued  an 
edict  of  persecution  ;  but  he  was  himself  assassinated  before  the 
edict  could  go  into  effect.  The  result  of  these  forty  years  of  con- 
tinued tranquillity  was  to  extend  the  borders  of  the  Church,  to 
increase  its  numbers,  and  to  confer  other  marks  of  outward  pros- 
perity; while  at  the  same  time  there  was  a  decrease  of  internal 
purity  and  spirituality.  The  time  had  come  when  the  Church 
evidently  needed  a  fiery  trial ;  and,  in  covenant  faithfulness,  God 
was  preparing  such  a  trial  for  it. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  century,  the  vast  empire  of 
Rome  was  governed  by  four  rulers  ;  viz.,  Diocletian  and  Herculeus 
Maximianus  with  the  title  of  Augustus,  and  Galerius  Maximianus 
and  Constantius  Chlorus  with  the  title  of  Csesars.  The  state  of 
the  Church  was  peaceful  and  happy.  Christians  were  regarded 
with  favor,  and  admitted  to  the  most  important  civil  offices ; 
spacious  buildings  were  erected  for  public  worship,  to  which  the 
people  resorted  without  fear  ;  and  they  had  little  more  to  hope 
for,  unless  it  were  that  one  or  more  of  the  emperors  should 
embrace  their  religion.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  pagan 
priests  and  populace  began  to  be  alarmed  lest  the  power  which 


632  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

"they  had  so  long  wielded  should  pass  out  of  their  hands.  They 
first  began  to  work  upon  the  fears  and  prejudices  of  Diocletian, 
who  was  an  old  man,  and  whom  they  knew  to  be  both  timid  and 
credulous,  and  induce  him  to  persecute  the  Christians.  But,  fail- 
ing here,  they  next  tried  tlieir  arts  upon  Galerius,  who  was  son-in- 
law  to  Diocletian  ;  and  with  him  they  were  more  successful.  He, 
being  a  cruel  and  fanatical  _  pagan,  persuaded  Diocletian  to  publish 
an.  edict  requiring  that  the  temples  of  the  Christians  should  be 
demolished,  their  sacred  books  burned,  and  they  deprived  of  all 
civil  rights  and  honors.  Tliis  decree  did  not  aim  directly  at  the 
lives  of  the  Christians  ;  and  yet  many  were  put  to  death  because 
they  refused  to  give  up  their  sacred  books.  Other  many,  who 
surrendered  their  books,  were  stigmatized  by  their  brethren  as 
traditors ;  i.e.,  traitors. 

Not  long  after  the  publication  of  this  first  edict,  there  were  two 
conflagrations  in  the  palace  at  Nicomedia ;  which  being,  charged 
upon  the  Christians,  many  of  them  were  by  an  imperial  edict  put 
to  the  torture  with  a  view  to  extort  confessions.  Nearly  at  the 
same  time,  there  were  insurrections  in  Armenia  and  Syria,  which 
provoked  the  emperor  to  pass  a  third  edict,  committing  all  Christian 
bishops  and  ministers  to  .prison,  that,  by  tortures  and  punishments, 
they  might  be  compelled  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  gods.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  order,  many  ministers  were  put  to  death ;  wliile 
others. were  exiled,  or  banished  to  the  mines.  But  the  malice  of 
Galerius  was  not  yet  satisfied.  In  the  following  year,  he  induced 
Diocletian  to  pass  his  fourth  and  final  edict,  compelling  all  Chris- 
tians to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  under  penalty  of  death. 

The  malice  of  the  persecutors  could  go  no  further >;  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  Church,  more  especially  in  the  eastern  provinces, 
seemed  to  be  hopeless.  And  what  rendered  it  the  more  so  was, 
that  Galerius,  just  at  this  time,  succeeded  in  deposing  Diocletian 
and  Herculeus  Maximianus,  and  thus  became  sole  emperor  of  the 
East.  Constantius  Chlorus,  the  father  of  Constantine-  the  Great, 
had  refused  from  the  first  to  participate,  in  these  bloody  proceed- 
ings ;  and  the  Christians  in  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Britain,  over  which 
he  ruled,  were  in  comparative  security. 

This  persecution  was  the  last  desperate  struggle  of  Roman 
heathenism  for  its  life.  When  it  was  fairlj^  ended,  the  persecutions 
of  pagan  Rome  ceased.  Diocletian  was  deposed  in  the  year  305, 
and,  eight  years  afterwards,  put  an  end  to  his  life.  Constantius 
Chlorus  died  A.D.  306 ;    when  the  army  by  acclamation  made 


>" 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  633 

Constantine  his  successor.  Galerius,  who  was  the  real  author  of 
the  persecution,  being  visited  by  a  terrible  disease,  put  an  end  to 
the  slaughter  by  a  decree  of  toleration  in  the  year  311.  In  this 
document  he  declared,  that,  his  purpose  of  reclaiming  the  Christians 
from  their  innovations  having  failed,  he  would  now  grant  them 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  provided  they  did  not  disturb 
the  peace  of  the  state  ;  adding  the  singular  request,  that  they 
would  pray  to  their  God  for  the  welfare  of  the  emperors,  of  the 
state,  and  of  themselves,  that  the  country  might  prosper,  and  that 
they  might  lead  quiet  and  peaceable  lives.* 

I  have  said  already  said  that  Constantine  succeeded  his  father 
in  the  West  in  the  year  306 ;  but  his  path  to  universal  empire  was 
not  a  smooth  one.  Maxentius,  who  governed  Africa  and  Italy, 
made  war  upon  him,  but  was  vanquished  and  destroyed.  Maximin, 
who  reigned  in  the  East,  and  who  was  projecting  new  calamities 
for  the  Church,  was  also  vanquished,  swallowed  poison,  and  came 
to  a  miserable  end.  Licinius,  the  only  remaining  colleague  of 
Constantine,  was  conquered  and  destroyed  at  a  later  period,  leaving 
him  sole  ruler  and  governor  of  the  vast  Roman  Empire. 

The  religious  character  of  Constantine,  like  his  power,  was  of 
gradual  growth.  He  did  not  profess  to  be  a  Christian,  nor  do  we 
know  that  he  seriously  contemplated  becoming  one  (although  he 
had  never  been  a  persecutor),  until  his  war  with  Maxentius,  — 
about  the  year  312.  He  then  saw  a  remarkable  vision,  which  had 
a  great  effect  upon  him,  and  did  much  towards  shaping  the  future 
of  his  life.  The  story,  as  he  related  it  to  Eusebius,  is  as  follows ; 
He  had  been  engaged  in  prayer  that  the  true  God  (whoever  he 
might  be)  would  manifest  himself  to  him  ;  when,  says  he,  "  a 
little  past  the  middle  of  the  day,  as  the  sun  was  verging  towards 
the  west,  I  saw  in  the  heavens  the  appearance  of  a  cross,  on  which 
was  inscribed,  '  By  this  conquer.''  "  The  night  following,  the 
Saviour  appeared  to  Constantine  in  his  sleep,  directed  him  to  make 
an  exact  representation  of  what  he  had  seen  in  the  heavens,  adopt 
it  as  his  standard,  and  henceforth  carry  it  in  front  of  his  armies. f 

There  are  many  difficulties  attending  this  story.  In  the  first 
place,  it  is  not  likely  that  it  is  a  pure  fiction  got  up  by  Constan- 
tine for  political  effect ;  neither  is  it  likely  that  such  a  prodigy 

*  For  a  particular  account  of  this  terrible  Diocletian  persecution,  see  Milner's  Ecc.  History, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  1-  30. 

t  This  story  is  related  by  the  author  of  the  work,  De  Moribus  Persecutorum,  in  the 
year  314 ;  and  by  the  heathen  panegj'rists  of  Constantine,  especially  by  Nazarius,  in  321. 


634  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

actually  appeared  in  the  heavens  to  be  seen  by  the  whole  army, 
as  nothing  seems  to  have  been  known  of  it  until  Constantine  re- 
lated the.  story  to  Eusebius  several  years  afterwards.  The  proba- 
bility is  that  it  was  a  vision,  appearing  to  the  emperor  in  a  state 
of  partial  sleep,  —  a  state  not  at  all  uncommon,  and  which  can 
hardly  be  distinguished  by  the  subject  of  it  from  one  of  entire 
wakefulness.  The  vision,  if  it  was  one,  was  not  without  its  in- 
fluence ;  since,  from  that  time,  Constantine  carried  the  standard 
of  the  cross  before  liis  armies,  and  seems  to  have  been  intellect- 
ually convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  After  the  death  of 
Licinius,  he  openly  declared  himself  a  Christian ;  although,  for 
prudential  reasons,  he  was  not  baptized,  and  admitted  to  the 
Church,  until  a  short  time  before  his  death. 

Constantine's  personal  appearance  was  winning  and  imposing. 
He  was  tall,  portly,  and  handsome,  and  was  favored  with  a  vigor- 
ous and  healthy  constitution.  He  was  showy  in  his  dress  and 
personal  demeanor ;  always  wearing  an  Oriental  diadem,  a  helmet 
studded  with  jewels,  and  a  mantle  of  silk  embroidered  with  gold. 
His  mind  was  not  highly  cultivated,  but  naturally  clear,  strong, 
shrewd,  and  seldom  thrown  off  its  guard. 

Constantine,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  a  man  of  blood.  His 
murder  of  his  conquered  colleague  Licinius,  after  having  j^romised 
him  safety,  cannot  be  justified ;  much  less  his  slaying  of  his 
eldest  son  Crispus,  and  his  -wife  Fausta,  under  the  influence  of 
suspicions  which  were  probably  unfounded. 

In  the  'latter  part  of  his  life,  he  diligently  attended  divine 
worship,  and  would  stand  during  the  longest  sermons.  He  com- 
posed and  delivered  several  discourses,  one  of  which  is  preserved 
by  Eusebius. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  frequent  and  terrible  persecutions  which 
came  upon  the  Church  in  the  period  before  us.  The  Church  had 
also  trials  of  another  sort.  Towards  the  end  of  the  third  century. 
Porphyry,  a  Neo-Platonist  philosopher,  wrote  an  extended  work 
against  the  Christians,  in  fifteen  books.  He  charged  the  Bible  with 
numerous  contradictions.  He  insisted  that  the  prophecies  of 
Daniel  must  have  been  written  subsequent  to  the  events  of  which 
he  speaks.  He  makes  much  of  the  collision  between  Paul  and 
Peter  at  Antioch  (Gal.  ii.  11),  and  charges  eve.n  Jesus  with  equivo- 
cation and  inconsistency.  Still  Porphyry  could  not  wholly  reject 
Christianity.  Like  Rationalists  of  modern  times,  he  made  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  pure  doctrines  of  Jesus  and  the  adulterated 
account  of  them  given  by  the  apostles. 


PERSECUTIONS   AND   PROGRESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  635 

The  last  literary  antagonist  of  Christianity,  in  the  period  of 
which  we  speak,  was  Hierocles,  who  wrote  in  the  first  part  of  the 
foiu'th  century.  He  was  a  bitter  persecutor  of  the  Christians,  and 
an  instrument  of  Diocletian  in  putting  many  of  them  to  death. 
Still  he  pretended  to  be  much  interested  for  them,, and  addressed 
his  work  directly  to  them,  in  hope  of  persuading  them  to  renounce 
Christianity,  and  thus  save  their  lives.  He  repeated  the  objections 
of  Celsus  and  Porphyry,  and  drew  a  comparison  between  Jesus 
and  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  which  was  altogether  favorable  to  the 
latter.  The  Christians,  he  says,  consider  Jesus  a  god,  on  account 
of  some  miracles  ascribed  to  him  by  the  apostles  ;  whereas  the 
heathen  regard  the  greater  wonder-worker  Apollonius  as  simply 
a  favorite  of  the  gods. 

We  know  little,  however,  of  the  works  either  of  Porphyry  or 
Hierocles,  since  their  books  were  destroyed  by  the  Christian 
emperors  ;  and  nought  remains  to  us  but  a  few  fragments  preserved 
by  Eusebius  and  others,  who  undertook  to  refute  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  persecutions  of  the  period  under  review, 
the  Church  had  long  intervals  of  rest  and  peace  ;  and  Christianity 
made  very  considerable  progress.  Its  progress,  however,  was  in- 
dicated, not  so  much  by  a  diffusion  into  new  and  untried  regions, 
as  by  more  thoroughly  penetrating  the  countries  already  visited. 
Origen  is  said,  indeed,  to  have  instructed  some  of  the  wandering 
Arabs  in  the  truths  of  Christianity.  The  Goths  also  received  a 
knowledge  of  Christ  from  some  priests  whom  they  had  carried  away 
captive.  To  this  age  may  be  referred  the  origin  of  some  of  the 
German  churches  ;  and  many  new  churches  were  established  in 
what  is  now  France.  But  this  was  not,  like  the  first  two  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era,  an  age  of  diffusion  so  much  as  of  consolida- 
tion. The  number  of  Christians  and  of  churches  was  greatly  in- 
creased; and  Christianity,  though  often  persecuted,  was  pretty 
firmly  established.  Its  professors  were  freel}^  admitted  into  the 
army,  the  court,  and  other  places  of  honor  and  trust.  They  began 
to  have  temples,  in  which  they  openly  assembled  for  worship. 

Great  attention  was  given  in  this  period  to  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
The  canon  of  Scripture  was  virtually  settled ;  the  sacred  books 
were  translated  into  various  languages,  and  copies  were  mul- 
tiplied and  circulated.  In  labors  of  this  kind,  the  learned  and 
indefatigable  Origen  distinguished  himself  above  all  others.  His 
"  Hexapla  "  was  the  first  Polyglot  Bible  ;  but  it  covered  only  the 


636  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Old  Testament,  and  was  designed  not  so  much  to  restore  the 
original  text  even  of  that  as  to  improve  and  defend  the  Septuagiht. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  this  work  was  ever  transcribed.  It  was  in 
existence  in  the  library  at  Csesarea  in  the  time  of  Jerome,  and 
was  probably  destroyed  by  the  Saracens  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  century.     Only  some  fragments  of  it  still  remain. 


j& 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,      RELIGIOUS     RITES     AND     TEACHERS,     DURING 

THIS    PERIOD. 

IN  a  previous  chapter,  I  spoke  of  some  important  changes  in 
Church  organization  and  government  which  occurred  in  the 
last  half  of  the  second  century,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  brought  about.  By  the  introduction  of  synods,  the  original 
independency  of  the  individual  churches  Avas  sacrificed  and  lost. 
The  distinction  between  bishop  and  presbyter,  which  was  unknown 
in  the  first  century,  began  to  be  marked  ;  and,  from  being  the 
pastor  of  a  single  church,  the  bishop,  in  some  places,  had  sur- 
rounded himself  with  a  circle  of  dependent  churches,  constituting 
what  is  now  called  a  diocese. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  at  the  commencement  of  the  third 
century.  The  Episcopal  form  of  government,  having  supplanted 
the  simple  Congregationalism  of  the  first  age,  very  generally  j)re- 
vailed.  A  bishop  presided  over  each  church,  and,  in  some  instances, 
over  several  dependent  churches  ;  having  a  board  of  presbyters  for 
his  council,  and  taking  the  voice  of  the  people  on  questions  of 
general  interest  and  importance.  The  bishops  of  Rome,  Antioch, 
and  Alexandria,  were  regarded  as  more  important  than  any  other, 
and  were  more  frequently  consulted,  on  account  of  the  extent  of 
their  charges,  and  because  thqir  churches  had  been  founded  by  the 
apostles. 

These  changes  had  been  brought  about  under  the  impression 
that  the  safety  of  the  Church  required  them,  and  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  would  thereby  be  rendered  more  efficient  and 
useful.  But  the  natural  effects  of  them,  more  especially  upon  the 
higher  clergy,  began  soon  to  be  manifested.  A  spirit  of  ambition 
was  awakened,  and  a  fondness  for  pomp  and  display.  Some  of 
the  bishops  affected  the  state  of  princes  ;  for  they  sat  upon  thrones, 
surrounded  by  their  ministers,  and  dazzled  the  eyes  and  minds  of 

637 


638  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  populace  by  tlieir  splendid  attire.  Some  were  chargeable,  not 
only  with  arrogance,  but  also  with  dissipation,  voluptuousness,  con- 
tention, and  other  vices.  By  examples  such  as  these,  an  aspiring, 
ambitious  spirit  was  awakened  among  the  lower  church-officers. 
The  presbyters  imitated  the  bishops  in  neglecting  the  duties  of 
their  office,  and  living  in  indolence  and  pleasure  ;  and  this  em- 
boldened the  deacons  to  make  encroachments  upon  the  office  and 
prerogatives  of  the  presbyters.  To  relieve  the  deacons  in  part  of 
their  appropriate  duties,  a  variety  of  inferior  church-officers  were 
created  ;  as  the  sub-deacons,  the  acolyths  or  servants,  the  ostiarii 
or  door-keepers,  the  lectors  or  readers,  the  copiatce  or  undertakers, 
and  the  exorcists,  whose  duty  it  was  to  dispossess  and  drive  away 
the  evil  spirits. 

The  exorcists  owed  their  origin  to  a  doctrine  which  had  been  re- 
ceived from  the  Neo-Platonists,  —  that  evil  spirits  are  attracted  to 
human  bodies ;  and  that  men  are  impelled  to  sin,  not  so  much  by 
their  natural  depravity  and  the  influence  of  bad  examples,  as  by 
the  suggestions  of  indwelling  evil  spirits  :  hence  the  necessity  of  - 
their  being  expelled  previous  to  baptism. 

Marriage  was  yet  allowed  to  all  the  clergy,  although  the  current 
of  opinion  was  setting  against  it.  Celibacy  was  accounted  a  holy 
state,  since  those  who  practised  it  were  far  less  exposed  than  oth- 
ers to  the  assaults  of  evil  spirits.  And  yet  the  results  of  this  course 
of  life,  even  at  this  early  period,  were  just  what  they  have  been 
at  all  periods  since,  —  a  shameful  licentiousness  among  its  votaries. 
Those  who  were  too  holy  to  be  lawfully  married  were  not  too  holy 
to  receive  into  their  houses,  and  even  to  their  beds,  a  class  of  sis- 
ters, who,  like  themselves,  were  under  vows  of  perpetual  chastity. 

The  tendency  to  an  increase  of  ceremonies,  which  began  to  show 
itself  in  the  second  century,  continued  in  full  force  during  the 
period  before  us.  In  proportion  as  the  spirituality  of  religion  di- 
minished, the  tendency  to  ritualism  constantly  increased.  The 
temples  which  were  now  permitted  to  be  erected  were  frequently 
adorned  with  pictures,  and  perhaps  with  statues  or  images.  Nor 
was  the  use  of  incense  in  public  worship,  which  the  early  Chris- 
tians so  much  abhorred,  prohibited  or  discountenanced.  It  began 
to  be  used  at  funerals  to  counteract  offensive  smells ;  it  was 
burned  in  the  temples  to  purify  the  atmosphere ;  and  ere  long  de- 
generated into  a  superstitious  rite.  The  discourses  in  the  temples 
were  becoming  more  formal  and  scholastic  than  before,  being  mod- 
elled after  the  rules  of  Grecian  eloquence.     The  Lord's  Supper 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  639 

was  administered  in  private,  and  with  more  pomp  and  ceremony 
than  in  the  previous  age ;  and  was  regarded  by  most  persons  as 
essential  to  salvation.  Under  this  impression,  the  practice  com- 
menced, in  the  third  century,  of  administering  it  to  little  children. 

Baptism  was  ordinarily  administered  only  t.wice  in  the  year, — 
at  the  festivals  of  Easter  and  Whitsuntide,  and  to  candidates  who 
had  been  through  a  long  process  of  preparation.  Of  course,  none 
were  allowed  to  be  present  but  those  who  had  been  baptized.  The 
ceremonies  used  on  the  occasion  were  the  following :  First,  a  sol- 
emn consecration  of  the  water.  This  is  mentioned  by  Tertullian 
and  Cyprian ;  and,  in  the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  the  prayer  of 
consecration  is  given.  Then  the  person  to  be  baptized  must  be 
exorcised.  He  must  make  a  public  renunciation  of  the  Devil  and 
all  his  works  ;  after  which  the  exorcist  breathed  on  him  three  times, 
and,  by  a  solemn  and  menacing  formula,  adjured  the. evil  spirits,  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  come 
out  of  him.  In  the  case  of  infants,  the  renunciation  was  made  by 
the  sponsors. 

After  exorcism,  the  subject  was  anointed  with  holy  oil,  the  sign 
of  the  cross  was  made  upon  him,  and  a  veil  was  put  upon  his  face 
to  denote  the  darkness  of  his  state  previous  to  baptism.  Then  he 
was  led  naked  to  the  font,  and  immersed  three  times,  unless  neces- 
sity required  some  other  mode  ;  in  which  case  pouring  or  sprinkling 
was  used.  When  females  were  baptized,  the  preparatory  rites 
were  performed,  and  the  subject  was  led  into  the  water,  by  dea- 
conesses. 

The  baptism  having  been  administered,  it  was  followed  by  addi- 
tional rites.  The  veil  was  removed  from  the  subject's  face  in  token 
of  his  having  now  passed  from  darkness  into  light.  He  was  again 
anointed  with  holy  oil.  The  priest  put  his  fingers  into  his  ears, 
and  touched  his  eyes  with  spittle  and  clay,  and  breathed  on  him, 
that  he  might  receive  the  Holy  Ghost.  Then  some  milk  and  honey 
was  given  him  in  token  of  his  being  a  babe  in  Christ ;  and  some 
salt  was  laid  upon  his  tongue,  indicating  that  henceforward  his 
"  conversation  must  be  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt."  Then  a 
white  robe  was  put  upon  him  to  denote  his  purity,  which  he  must 
wear  seven  days ;  a  lighted  taper  was  put  into  his  hand ;  he  was 
saluted  with  the  kiss  of  charity,  and  told  to  depart  m  peace. 

Such  are  the  ceremonies,  which,  as  early  as  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries,  had  come  to  be  connected  with  the  simple  rite  of  baptism. 
The  most  of  them  were  borrowed  from  the  heathen  or  Jewish  tern- 


640  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

pies,  and  were  adopted  with  a  view  to  make  the  Christian  religion 
more  acceptable  to  Pagans  and  Jews.  They  were  intended  also 
to  be  symbolical,  —  to  set  forth  by  expressive  outward  signs  im- 
portant scriptural  truths.  But,  whatever  the  intention  of  their  in- 
ventors may  have  been,  their  results  in  a  religious  view  were  ulti- 
mately disastrous.  They  introduced  a  system  of  dead  formalism,  — 
the  substitution  of  outward  rites  for  the  graces  of  the  spirit, — 
which  brooded  over  all  Christendom  for  a  thousand  years,  and 
still  rests  upon  the  great  majority  of  those  who  bear  the  Christian 
name. 

The  stated  hours  of  prayer  among  Christians  in  the  age  we  are 
considering  were  the  same  that  had  been  observed  among  the 
Jews ;  viz.,  the  third,  the  sixth,  and  the  ninth ;  or,  according  to 
our  reckoning,  nine  o'clock,  twelve,  and  three  in  the  afternoon. 
On  the  Lord'^j  day,  and  on  other  joyful  occasions,  it  was  the  custom 
of  Christians  to  pray  in  a  standing  posture  ;  but,  in  seasons  of  fast- 
ing and  humiliation,  they  prayed  on  their  knees,  and  sometimes 
prostrated  themselves  on  the  earth.  Forms  of  prayer  which  be- 
longed not  to  the  first  century  had  come  into  use  in  the  third  and 
fourth.  They  seem  to  have  been  introduced  chiefly  for  two  rea- 
sons :  first,  the  ignorance  of  many  of  the  clergy ;  and,  secondly, 
because  of  the  prevailing  disputes  and  errors,  that  so  nothing  might 
be  uttered  in  the  prayer  which  was  contrary  to  sound  doctrine. 

Much  importance  was  attached,  at  the  time  we  are  reviewing,  to 
fasting  and  the  sign  of  the  cross.  These  were  regarded  as  the 
surest  preservatives  against  the  influence  of  evil  spirits.  The 
Latins  observed  every  seventh  day  of  the  week  as  a  season  of 
fasting. 

The  great  man  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  most  learned 
man  in  all  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  was  Origen,  surnamed  Adaman- 
tius.  He  was  born  at  Alexandria,  of  Christian  parents,  A.D.  185, 
and  was  baptized  in  infancy.  Under  the  direction  of  his  father 
Leonidas,  and  of  the  famous  Clement  of  Alexandria,  he  received  a 
learned  and  Christian  education.  While  yet  a  boy,  he  had  com- 
mitted to  memory  whole  sections  of  the  Bible,  and  often  perplexed 
his  father  with  questions  on  the  deeper  sense  of  Scripture.  In 
the  persecution  under  Septimius  Severus,  about  the  year  202,  Leon- 
idas was  apprehended,  and  shut  up  in  prison.  Fearing  that  his 
father's  constancy  might  waver,  out  of  a  regard  for  his  dependent 
family,  Origen  wrote  to  him  in  the  prison,,  urging  him  to  be  stead- 
fast, and  leave  his  wife  and  children  to  God.     Leonidas  was  j)ut 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  641 

to  death,  and  Origen  was  intent  upon  dying  with  him,  but  was 
prevented  by  his  mother,  who  secreted  his  clothing  that  it  could 
not  be  found.  The  property  of  Leonidas  was  confiscated,  and  the 
mother  was  left  a  widow  with  seven  children.  Origen  was  assisted 
for  a  while  by  a  friend  of  the  family,  but  afterwards  supported  him- 
self by  giving  instruction  in  the  Greek  language  and  hterature, 
and  by  copying  manuscripts. 

When  only  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  catechetical  school  at  Alexandria.  To  qualify  himself  for  this 
office,  he  gave  himself  to  the  study  of  Grecian  philosophy,  espe- 
-cially  Neo-Platonism,  which  was  now  beginning  to  attract  notice. 
He  was  much  attached  to  this  philosophy,  and  mixed  up  its  teach- 
ings with  theology,  to  the  prejudice  of  his  own  orthodoxy  and  that 
of  his  school.  He  was  eminently  successful  as  a  teacher,  and 
brought  some  distinguished  heathens  and  heretics  into  the  Catho- 
lic Church.  Among  his  converts  was  Ambrosius,  a  wealthy  Gnos- 
tic, who  became  thenceforth  his  most  liberal  patron.  He  furnished 
Origen  with  a  costly  library,  with  stenographers  to  take  down  his 
discourses,  and  with  copyists  to  correct  and  engross  them.  His 
fame  spread  far  and  wide  over  Egypt,  Italy,  and  Greece.  Julia 
Mammi3ea,  the  mother  of  Alexander  Severus,  sent  for  him  to  An- 
.tioch,  A.D»  218,  that  she  might  learn  from  him  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  He  was  visited  also  by  an  Arabian  prince  for  the 
same  purpose. 

His  mode  of  life  during  this  whole  period,  and  indeed  through 
his  whole  life,  was  strictly  ascetic.  He  refused  the  gifts  of  his 
pupils,  and  retained  nothing  for  his  sujDport  which  was  not  abso- 
lutely necessary.  He  had  but  one  coat,  no  shoes,  rarely  ate  flesh, 
drank  no  wine,  devoted  the  greater  part  of  the  night  to  prayer  and 
study,  and  slept  (when  he  did  sleep)  upon  the  naked  floor.  That 
he  might  be  free  from  temptation  and  suspicion  in  his  intercourse 
with  females,  he  literally  made  himself  a  eunuch  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven's  sake  (Matt.  xix.  12).  Of  this  inconsiderate  act  he 
afterwards  repented,  as  he  thereby  disqualified  himself,  according 
to  the  church  canons,  for  the  clerical  office.  He  was,  however, 
constituted  a  presbyter  late  in  life  by  the  bishops  of  Caesarea  and 
Jerusalem. 

By  his  consenting  to  be  ordained  by  foreign  bishops,  Origen  in- 
curred the  hostility  of  Demetrius,  bishop  of  Alexandria.  Deme- 
trius charged  him,  before  a  council,  not  only  with  being  ordained 
contrary  to  the  canons,  but  with  corrupting  the  doctrines  of  the 

41 


642  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Church.     The  charges  were  decLared  to  be  sustained ;  and  Origen 
was  excommunicated  in  the  year  232.     The  sentence  was  disre-  . 
garded,  however,  by  the  Eastern  bishops ;  and   Origen  was  con- 
tinued in  fellowship  as  before. 

Origen  bore  his  harsh  treatment  at  the  hands  of  Demetrius  in  a 
truly  Christian  manner.  Speaking  of  his  enemies,  he  said,  "  We 
must  pity  them,  and  not  hate  them  ;  we  must  pray  for  them,  and 
not  curse  them ;  since  we  were  made  for  blessing,  and  not  for  curs- 
ing." He  took  up  his  residence  at  Csesarea  in  Palestine  ;  prose- 
cuted his  studies  there ;  opened  a  new  theological  school,  whicL- 
soon  outshone  that  at  Alexandria  ;  and  labored  in  every  way  possi- 
ble for  the  spread  of  Christ's  kingdom.  He  Avas  continually  con- 
sulted on  controverted  topics,  and  had  numerous  correspondents  ; 
among  whom  was  no  less  a  personage  than  the  wife  of  the  emperor, 
Philip  the  Arabian.  At  an  Arabian  council,  he  convinced  Beryl- 
lus,  bishop  of  Bostra,  of  his  errors  concerning  the  person  of  Christ, 
and  brought  him  back  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Church. 

Upon  the  death  of  Demetrius,  Origen  was  invited  to  return  to 
Alexandria ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  took  up  his  residence 
there.  In  the  Decian  persecution,  about  the  year  250,  he  was 
apprehended,  cast  into  prison,  cruelly  tortured,  and  condemned  to 
the  stake  ;  and  although,  by  the  death  of  the  emperor,  he-  regained 
his  liberty,  he  never  recovered  from  the  injuries  which  he  at  that 
time  received.  Worn  out  with  continuous  study  and  ascetic  priva- 
tions, and  broken  down  by  violent  persecution,  he  died  at  Tyre, 
about  the  year  234,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine.  Though  we  may  la- 
ment his  philosophical  speculations,  by  which  his  theology  was  not 
a  little  corrupted,  and  his  influence  in  his  own  time  and  in  after- 
ao-es  was  curtailed,  still  he  was  a  laborious,  self-sacrificing,  and 
devoted  Christian,  whose  memory  should  be  cherished,  and  whose 
name  should  be  held  in  honor  wherever  it  is  known.  He  did  more 
than  all  his  enemies  combined  to  advance  the  cause  of  sacred  learn- 
ing, to  refute  and  convert  heathens  and  heretics,  and  to  make  the 
Church  respected  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

The  peculiarities  of  Origen's  theology  all  sprang  from  his  phi- 
losophy, and  may  be  classed  under  the  following  particulars  :  — 

1.  He  believed  in  the  pre-existence  and  fall  of  human  souls ;  and 
that  they  are  incarcerated  in  bodies  here  as  a  discipline,  a  punish- 
ment, for  sins  previously  committed. 

2.  He  was  the  first  to  express  a  belief  in  the  eternsil  generation 
of  the  Logos,  or  his  eternal  emanation  from  the  substance  of  the 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  643 

Father  ;  and  from  him  the  emanation  doctrine  descended,  and  was 
received  by  the  whole  Church  for  a  tliousand  years. 

3.  Origen  beheved  that  the  human  soul  of  our  Lord  pre-existed, 
and  became  united  to  the  Logos,  before  his  incarnation,  and  birth 
of  the  Virgin, 

4.  He  believed  that  the  benefits  of  Christ's  redemption  Avould 
somehow  be  extended  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  stars,  and  to  all 
created  beings. 

5.  Origen  is  commonly  represented  as  believing  in  the  certain 
restoration  of  all  creatures,  even  the  devils  and  the  damned,  to 
eternal  happiness  and  glory ;  but  this  is  not  a  correct  statement  of 
his  views.  He  held,  with  the  Platonists,  not  to  a  universal  restora- 
tion, but  to  a  universal  revolution^  or  liability  to  change.  To  him 
there  was  no  final,  confirmed  state,  either  of  holiness  or  sin.  The 
inhabitants  of  heaven  had  fallen  once,  and  they  might  fall  again. 
Some  of  the  lost  had  come  up  from  their  fallen  state,  and  others 
might  do  the  same  ;  and  then  they  might  fall  again,  and  be  again 
among  the  lost.  There  is  no  confirmed  state,  either  of  holiness  or 
sin,  but  a  constant  liability  to  change  ;  and  continual  changes  are 
occurring  from  one  state  and  condition  to  the  other. 

Such  were  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  Origen,  which  were  so 
fruitful  of  controversy  in  the  subsequent  ages  ;  but,  though  he 
held  these  opinions  in  speculation,  they  rarely,  if  ever,  appeared  in 
his  public  discourses.  He  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
like  other  men,  only  with  an  increased  earnestness  and  power. 

Of  Origen's  "  Hexapla,"  and  of  his  labors  upon  the  sacred  text, 
I  spoke  in  the  last  chapter.  He  gave  much  attention  also  to  the 
interpretatio7i  of  the  Scriptures.  His  commentaries  covered  nearly 
all  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments ;  but  are  of  little 
value,  owing  to  his  persistent,  allegorical  method  of  interpretation. 
The  Scriptures,  he  says,  resemble  man.  As  man  consists  of  three 
parts,  —  a  material  body,  a  sensitive  soul,  and  a  rational  mind ;  so 
the  Scriptures  are  to  be  taken  in  three  senses,  —  the  literal,  the 
moral,  and  the  spiritual.  The  spiritual  sense  also  divides  itself  into 
the  allegorical  and  anagogical ;  making  five  senses  in  all.  Origen 
did  not  invent  this  absurd  method  of  interpretation  ;  but  he  did 
much  to  give  it  currency,  and  spread  it  over  the  Christian  world 
for  long  ages. 

Origen  was  a  very  prolific  author.    Epiphanius  reckons  the  num-' 
ber  of  his  works  at  six  thousand  ;  which  may  be  true  if  we  in- 
clude all  his  short  tracts,  homilies,  and  letters,  and  count  them  as 


644  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

• 
separate  works.     Many  of  them  were  got  up,  not  only  without  his 

co-operation,  but  against  his  will,  by  the  writing  down  of  his  oral 
lectures  by  others.  The  most  of  Origen's  works  which  remain  are 
known  to  us  only  through  Latin  translations.  His  most  valuable 
work  extant  is  his  reply  to  Celsus,  in  eight  books,  written  in  the 
last  years  of  his  life.  We  have  this  in  the  original  Greek ;  and 
the  reply  is  so  conducted,  that  it  is  supposed  to  contain,  in  ex- 
tracts, nearly  the  whole  work  of  Celsus. 

The  other  distinguished  Greek  writers  in  the  period  before  us 
were  the  following  :  — 

1.  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  —  He  was  converted  to  the  faith 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Origen  ;  was  made  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria in  the  year  248,  and  died  in  265.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
the  controversies  of  the  times ;  but  nothing  remains  of  his  works 
but  some  fragments  preserved  by  Eusebius  and  Athanasius. 

2.  Crregory,  surnamed  Thaumaturgus.,  or  the  Wonder  -  Worker.  — 
He,  too,  was  a  convert  and  a  pupil  of  Origen.  He  was  bishop  of 
Neo-Csesarea,  in  Pontus,  from  the  year  244  to  270.  His  ministry 
was  a  very  successful  one  ;  but  the  miracles  ascribed  to  him  seem 
to  have  been  fabulous.  We  hear  nothing  of  them  until  a  full  cen- 
tury after  his  death.  He  wrote  a  glowing  eulogy  on  his  beloved 
teacher  Origen,  which  is  still  extant. 

3.  Julius  Africanus.  —  He  was  an  older  friend  of  Origen,  who 
labored  chiefly  in  Palestine,  and  died  in  232.  He  was  the  first 
Christian  chronologist,  commencing  at  the  creation,  and  coming 
down  to  the  year  of  our  Lord  221.  Of  his  work,  Eusebius  made 
good  use  in  the  preparation  of  his  Chronicon. 

4.  Hippolytus.  —  Of  this  father  very  little  was  loiown  in  modern 
times,  until,  in  1851,  a  genuine  work  of  his  (the  "  Philosophou- 
mena  ")  was  discovered  and  published  by  Baron  Bunsen.  He  lived 
in  the  first  part  of  the  third  century,  and -was  bishop  of  Ostia,  the 
port  of  Rome.  His  newly-discovered  work  is  a  refutation  of  the 
heresies  of  his  time,  more  especially  those  of  the  Gnostic  stamp, 
and  resembles  that  of  Irenseus  on  the  same  subject.  Of  his  other 
works  we  have  only  fragments  remaining. 

5.  Methodius.,  bishop  of  Tyre,  who  died  a  martyr  in  the  year  311. 
He  was  not  a  friend,  but  an  opponent,  of  Origen,  whose  speculations 
he  endeavored  to  refute.     He  wrote  many  popular  works  ;  among 

•  which  is  one  against  the  Gnostics,  ascribing  the  origin  of  evil,  not 
to  matter,  but  to  an  abuse  of  the  human  Avill. 

The  principal  Latin  writers  of  the  age  were  Tertullian,  Cyprian, 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  645 

and  Miniitius  Felix.  Of  Tertullian,  who  belongs  more  properly 
to  the  second  century  than  to  the  thbd,  I  gave  some  account  in 
a  previous  chapter.  Cyprian,  who  was  both  a  bishop  and  a  martyr, 
sprang  from  a  wealthy  heathen  family  in  Carthage,  about  the  year 
200.  He  was  thoroughly  educated,  became  a  teacher  of  rhetoric, 
and  lived  in  worldly  splendor  and  in  the  vices  of  heathenism  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  his  life.  Of  his  conversion,  which  took  place 
about  the  year  2-15,  he  gives  the  following  account  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend :  "  While  I  languished  in  darkness  and  deep  night,  tossing 
upon  the  sea  of  a  troubled  world,  I  floated  about  in  wandering 
ways,  ignorant  of  my  destination,  and  far  from  truth  and  light.  I 
thought  it  a  hard  thing  that  a  man  must  be  born  anew  in  order  to 
be  saved  ;  that,  while  preserving  the  identity  of  the  body,  he  must 
be  transformed  in  mind  and  heart.  I  said,  How  is  such  a  change 
possible  ?  How  can  one  divest  himself,  at  once,  of  all  that  was 
either  innate,  or  was  acquired  and  grown  upon  him  ?  How  can  he 
who  has  been  prodigal  learn  frugality  ?  and  he  who  has  gloried  in 
costly  apparel  come  down  to  a  simple  attire  ?  and  he  who  has  been 
in  honor  and  station  consent  to  become  private  and  obscure  ?  .  .  . 
But  when,  by  the  aid  of  regenerating  water,  the  stain  of  my  former 
life  was  washed  away,  a  serene  and  holy  light  was  poured  from 
above  into  my  purified  breast.  So  soon  as  I  drank  the  spirit  from 
above,  and  was  transformed  by  a  second  birth  into  a  new  man, 
then  the  wavering  mind  became  wonderfully  firm ;  what  had  been 
closed  was  opened  ;  the  darkness  became  light ;  strength  was  im- 
parted for  that  which  before  had  seemed  difficult;  what  I  had 
thought  impossible  became  practicable  ;  and  I  could  clearly  distin- 
guish between  that  which  was  born  of  the  flesh,  and  that  which 
was  of  God  and  which  the  Holy  Spirit  animated." 

From  this  time,  Cyprian  became  indeed  a  new  man.  He  re- 
nounced the  world,  entered  the  class  of  catechumens,  sold  his 
estates  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  took  a  vow  of  chastity,  and  was 
baptized.  He  went  into  retirement  for  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  was  a  diligent  reader  of  Tertullian.  But  such  a  man  could 
not  be  concealed.  Only  two  years  after  his  baptism,  he  was  made 
bishop  of  Carthage,  and  thus  became  the  head  of  the  North  Af- 
rican Church.  For  the  space  of  ten  years,  ending  with  his  martyr- 
dom in  258,  he  sustained  the  xiuties  of  his  office  with  exemplary 
wisdom,  fidelity,  and  energy.  Cyprian  was  in  principle  a  high- 
churchman,  and  did  much  to  advance  Episcopal  dignity  and  au- 
thority.    His  works  are  chiefly  practical.     They  are  for  the  most 


646  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

part  epistles,  written  while  he  was  in  exile,  in  which  he  discusses 
various  questions  of  Christian  discipline  and  duty.  He  suffered  in 
the  Valerian  persecution,  and,  as  his  end  approached,  gave  utter- 
ance to  the  following  noble  sentiments :  "  Only  above  are  true 
peace,  sure  repose,  and  a  constant,  firm,  and  eternal  security ; 
there  is  our  dwelling,  there  our  home.  Who  would  not  fain  hasten 
to  reach  it  ?  There  a  great  multitude  of  beloved  ones  await  us,  — 
fathers,  brothers,  children,  friends.  There  is  the  glorious  choir  of 
apostles,  there  the  number  of  exulting  prophets,  there  the  count- 
less midtitude  of  martyrs  and  holy  virgins,  crowned  with  victory, 
and  enjoying  their  eternal  reward.  Thither  let  us  hasten  with 
strong  desire.  Let  us  wish  to  be  soon  with  them ;  soon  with 
Chi'ist.  After  the  earthly  comes  the  heavenly ;  after  the  perisha- 
ble things  of  time  follows  a  blessed  immortality." 

Minutius  Felix  was  a  prominent  jurist,  of  North  African  descent, 
and  a  contemporary  of  Tertullian,  though  several  years  younger. 
He  embraced  Christianity  in  adult  life,  and  wrote  an  eloquent  de- 
fence of  the  Christian  faith  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue.  The  argu- 
ments on  both  sides  are  clearly  stated.  In  the  end,  the  advocate 
of  Christianity  carries  his  point,  and  convinces  his  friend.  The 
dialogue  is  extant  in  a  good  English  translation. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,    CONTROVERSIES,    AND    STATE    OF    RELIGION. 

THEOLOGY  was  not  taught  as  purely  in  this  period  as  in  the 
preceding.  There  was  more  of  the  parade  of  learning,  and 
more  of  the  minglings  of  a  false  and  corrupting  philosophy. 

The  philosophy  with  which  the  Church  was  called  chiefly  to 
contend  in  the  second  century,  we  have  seen,  was  the  Gnostic : 
but  being  encountered  by  the  Christians,  and  also  by  the  promo- 
ters of  another  philosophy,  —  the  Neo-Platonic,  —  it  began  to  lose 
its  credit ;  and  we  hear  little  of  the  old,  troublesome  Gnostic  sects 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  second  century. 

The  founder  of  the  Neo-Platonic  theory,  with  which  the  Church 
came  in  contact  in  the  third  century  and  onwards,  was  Ammonius 
Saccus.  This  man  was  born  and  educated  a  Christian,  and  perhaps 
made  pretensions  to  Christianity  all  his  life.  His  plan  was  to  bring 
all  philosophies  and  religions  into  harmony  ;  to  propound  a  theory 
by  which  the  men  of  all  religions —  the  Christian  not  excepted  — 
could  unite  together,  and  have  fellowship.  The  principal  means 
of  effecting  this  object  was  the  allegorical  method  of  interpreta- 
-tion.  By  allegorizing  the  teachings  of  the  old  philosophers  and 
their  mythologies,  and  also  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  all  might  be  brought  to  speak  substantially  the  same 
language ;  and  Christians,  Jews,  and  Pagans  might  walk  together 
in  the  same  company. 

Origen  was  taken  with  this  philosophy,  accepted  the  compromise 
which  it  proposed,  introduced  it  into  his  school,  and  thought  he 
derived  much  assistance  from  it  in  explaining  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  The  great  facts  of  the  gospel  Origen  never  suffered 
himself,  or  any  one  else,  to  call  in  question ;  but  in  explaining 
these  facts,  in  assigning  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  them,  and 
harmonizing  them  with  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  he  sought  the 
aid  of  the  Neo-Platonic  philosophy.     It  was  in  this  way  that  his 

647 


648  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

theology  was  modified  and  corrupted ;  and,  througli  the  influence 
of  his  school  and  his  pupils,  the  corruption  was  widely  diffused. 

As  we  have  had  occasion  before  to  speak  of  the  catechetical 
school  at  Alexandria  over  which  Origen  presided,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  give  a  brief  account  of  it  here.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
founded  by  the  evangelist  Mark,  and  was  originally  designed  for 
catechumens,  —  to  prepare  them,  by  appropriate  instruction,  for 
baptism.  But,  in  that  city  of  scholars  and  philosophers,  it  ere  long 
began  to  assume  a  learned  character,  and  became  a  sort  of  theo- 
logical seminary,  where  many  of  the  clergy,  both  bishops  and  pres- 
byters, were  educated.  It  had  at  first  only  a  single  teacher,  though 
afterwards  there  were  two  or  three  ;  but  they  had  no  salaries,  nor 
were  any  buildings  appropriated  to  their  use.  The  teachers  gave 
instruction  on  their  own  premises,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient 
philosophers.  The  first  superintendent  of  the  school  was  Pantse- 
nus  ;  the  second  was  Clement ;  and  the  third,  Origen ;  under  whom 
it  reached  the  height  of  its  prosperity.  Subsequently  it  was  under 
the  care  of  Origen's  pupils,  —  as  Heraclas,  Dionysius,  and  the  blind 
Didymus,  —  until,  at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  it  was  subverted 
amidst  the  commotions  of  the  Alexandrian  Church.  From  the  first, 
it  partook  of  a  philosophical  character,  which  it  never  lost.  Of 
course,  it  favored  the  speculations  of  Origen,  and  was  a  means  of 
diffusing:  them  throughout  the  Eastern  Church. 

I  have  said  already,  that,  while  Origen  admitted  the  leading 
facts  of  the  gospel,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  explaining  them  by 
means  of  his  philosophy.  This  introduced  a  species  of  rationalism, 
and  laid  a  foundation  for  the  scholastic  method  of  teaching,  which 
in  the  ages  following  was  so  much  in  vogue.  At  the  same  time, 
there  was  that  in  the  philosophy  of  Origen  which  favored  seclusion, 
—  an  ascetic,  monastic  course  of  life,  —  and  which  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  a  mystic  theology ;  for,  in  common  with  the  Platonics^ 
he  held  that  there  is  something  of  the  divine  nature  diffused 
through  all  human  souls,  which  can  be  awakened,  not  by  discussion 
and  disputation,  but  by  solitude,  silence,  internal  reflection,  the 
avoidance  of  all  active  scenes,  and  the  mortification  and  subjugation 
of  the  body. 

We  have  here  the  beginning  of  the  two  kinds  of  theology,  —  the 
scholastic  and  mystic,  —  which  ran  down  through  all  the  middle  ages, 
and  continue  even  to  the  present  time :  the  former  insisting  that 
truth  is  to  be  elicited  only  by  study,  discussion,  and  the  exercise  of 
reason ;  while  the  latter  abjures  all  such  methods,  and  relies  alone 


THE    STATE   OF  RELIGION.  649 

upon  meditation  and  seclusion.  The  rise  of*  the  mystic  theology 
at  this  time  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  monastic  spirit,  which  was 
already  beginning  to  prevail  in  the  Church. 

The  period  before  us  was  distinguished  by  its  spurious  writings, 
many  of  which  were  palmed  off  under  the  names  of  apostles  and 
of  apostolical  men.  The  more  remarkable  of  this  class  of  writings 
were  "  The  Apostolical  Constitutions  "  so  called,  "  The  Recognitions 
of  Clement,"  and  "The  Clementina."  'The  Clement  here  spoken 
of  was  the  Roman  Clement,  a  companion  of  the  apostle  Paul 
(Phil.  iv.  3).  The  mystics,  too,  must  have  high  authority;  and  so 
they  caused  a  book  to  be  published  under  the  name  of  Dionysius 
the  Areopagite,  who  was  converted  at  Athens  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Paul.  This  book  was  translated,  and  widely  circu- 
lated in  the  subsequent  ages,  and  tended  mightily  to  promote  the 
spread  of  monkery. 

The  principal  heresy  of  the  period  before  us  was  the  Manichean. 
.  Manes,  its  author,  was  a  Persian,  educated  among  the  Magoi,  and 
instructed  in  all  the  sciences  that  were  taught  by  those  men. 
Manes  (who  was  fanatical,  if  not  delirious)  undertook  to  combine 
the  principles  of  the  Magoi  with  those  of  Christianity,  or  rather  to 
explain  the  latter  by  the  former.  He  insisted  that  Christ  did  not 
profess  to  explain  the  way  of  salvation  fully  and  perfectly ;  that 
he  left  much  to  be  done  by  the  Paraclete  ;  and  that  he  himself  was 
the  promised  Comforter :  accordingly,  he  propounded  new  doctrines, 
set  up  a  new  gospel,  and,  by  his  imposing  exterior  and  rigid  asceti- 
cism, induced  many  to  become  his  followers.  But,  being  convicted 
by  the  Magoi  of  corrupting  their  religion,  he  was  put  to  a  cruel 
death_by  Varanes  I.,  king  of  the  Persians,  about  the  year  277.  It  is 
reported  that  he  was  flayed  alive,  and  that  his  stuffed  skin  was 
hung  up,  in  terrorem^  at  the  gates  of  the  city. 

The  religious  system  of  Manes  is  a  compound  of  Magianism  and 
Gnosticism  with  Christianity.  Manes  differed  from  the  Gnostics  of 
the  second  century  in  phraseology,  and  in  some  points  of  specula- 
tion, as  they  differed  variously  among  themselves  ;  but  I  have 
always  regarded  him  as  belonging  essentially  to  the  Gnostic  family. 
He  agreed  with  them  in  tracing  all  the  evils  of  life  to  the  influence 
of  matter ;  in  regarding  the  soul  in  its  present  state  as  imprisoned 
in  matter ;  and  in  teaching  that  Christ  —  who  had  no  material 
body,  but  only  seemed  to  have  one  —  was  sent  into  the  world  to 
aid  in  the  deliverance  of  these  imprisoned  souls.  Those  who 
follow  the  teachings  of  Christ,  and  more  especially  of  the  Para- 


650  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

clete  whom  Christ  has  sent  into  the  world  (i.e.,  of  Manes  himself), 
will  be  delivered  from  the  contamination  of  base  matter,  and  ascend 
ultimately  to  heaven ;  while  those  who  neglect  the  appointed  means 
of  purification  will  pass  at  death  into  other  bodies  —  perhaps  the 
bodies  of  animals  —  until  they  become  purified  and  cleansed. 

When  the  greater  part  of  the  souls  of  men  shall  ha,j/e  been 
liberated,  and  restored  to  the  world  of  light,  then,  at  the  command 
of  God,  infernal  fire  will  burst  forth  from  the  caverns  of  the  earth, 
and  burn  up  and  destroy  the  whole  fabric* of  Nature.  The  Prince 
of  Darkness,  with  all  his  adherents,  and  with  such  of  the  souls 
of  men  as  have  proved  themselves  incurable,  will  then  be  driven 
away  to  their  own  wretched  place,  where  they  will  remain  for- 
ever. 

Like  the  Gnostics,  Manes  rejected  nearly  all  our  sacred  books. 
With  the  Old  Testament  he  was  especially  displeased.  He  pro- 
nounced it  to  be  the  work,  not  of  God,  but  of  the  Prince  of  Dark- 
ness, whom  the  Jews  worsliipped  in  place  of  God.  The  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  he  wholly  rejected.  The  Gospels  and  the  Epistles  of 
Paul  contained  some  truth,  but  had  been  so  adulterated,  and  stuffed 
with  Jewish  fables,  as  to  be  unworthy  of  credit.  In  place  of  our 
Scriptures,  he  published  a  gospel  of  liis  own,  which  he  affirmed 
had  been  dictated  to  him  by  God  himself. 

The  rules  of  life  which  Manes  prescribed  to  his  followers  were 
peculiarly  severe.  The  body  must  be  macerated  and  mortified  in 
every  possible  way,  and  all  the  instincts  and  propensities  of  nature 
must  be  subdued,  that  thus  the  soul  may  be  redeemed  from  mate- 
rial corruptions,  and  prepared  for  the  world  of  light.  Pie  did  not 
expect  all  his  followers,  however,  to  observe  these  rigorous  proscrip- 
tions, but  only  those  who  aspired  to  a  perfect  state.  For  the  rest 
a  more  liberal  rule  was  instituted.  They  might  possess  property, 
eat  flesh,  and  live  in  the  marriage  state ;  though  their  liberty  in 
these  respects  was  subject  to  limitations. 

There  were  those  among  the  Manichees,  as  among  the  Gnostics, 
who  so  interpreted  their  religion  as  to  give  it  a  licentious  charac- 
ter. They  made  so  wide  a  distinction  between  their  physical  and 
their  spiritual  nature  as  to  suppose  that  the  former  might  have 
every  indulgence,  and  yet  the  latter  be  not  contaminated.  So 
reasoned  Augustine,  a,nd  so  he  lived,  as  he  llimself  confesses,  dur- 
ing the  nine  years  that  he  was  a  Manichee. 

Unlike  the  Gnostics  of  the  second  century,  the  Manicheans  were 
organized  into  a  sort  of  hierarchy.     At  the  head  of  the  community 


THE    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  651 

were  Manes  and  his  successors,  occupying  the  place  of  pontiff ;  sub- 
ject to  the  pontiff  were  the  twelve  apostles ;  and  under  these  the 
seventy  bishops.  Still  lower  in  the  grade  of  office  were  the  pres- 
byters, deacons,  and  evangelists.  In  the  congregations  were  two 
distinct  classes,  —  the  mere  hearers,  and  the  elect  or  perfect.  The 
perfect  were  in  the  last  stage  of  the  process  of  liberation  from  the 
world  of  matter  into  the  kingdom  of  light.  They  observed  Sun- 
day, in  honor  of  the  sun.  Tliey  rejected  baptism  and  the  Church 
festivals,  but  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper  without  the  use  of 
wine. 

After  the  death  of  Manes,  liis  principles  spread  much  more 
widely  than  before.  We  find  them,  not  only  in  Persia,  but  in  Asia 
Minor,  in  North  Africa,  in  Sicily,  and  Italy.  They  were  embraced, 
not  only  by  the  ignorant  and  fanatical,  but  by  some  learned  and 
distinguished  men.  But  the  sect  was  persecuted,  first  by  Diocle- 
tian, and  afterwards  by  the  Christian  emperors,  until,  in  the  sixth 
century,  it  disappeared. 

In  the  period  we  are  reviewing,  the  discussions  which  had  been 
commenced  in  the  second  century  respecting  the  Trinity  were  con- 
tinued and  extended.  The  proljlem  was,  to  reconcile  the  persons 
of  the  Trinity  with  the  unity  of  God  ;  and,  to  solve  the  difficulty, 
various  expedients  were  resorted  to.  Noetus  held,  as  Praxeas  had 
done  before  him,  that  the  Eternal  Father  himself  became  personally 
united  to  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  and  suffered  in  him.  The  same 
doctrine  was  taught,  according  to  Hippolytus,  by  Calixtus  L,  bishop 
of  Rome.  He  declared  the  Son  to  be  a  mere  manifestation  of  the 
Father  in  human  form  ;  the  Father  animating  the  Son  as  the  spirit 
animates  the  body,  and  suffering  with  him  on  the  cross.  "  The 
Father,"  says  he,  "  took  flesh,  and  made  it  God :  uniting  it  with 
himself,  he  made  it  one.  Father  and  Son  were,  therefore,  the  name 
of  the  one  God ;  and  this  one  person  cannot  be  two.  Thus  the 
Father  suffered  with  the  Son."  Those  who  use  such  language 
cannot  be  offended  when  they  are  called  Patripassians ;  nor  can 
Romanists  fail  to  see  that  at  least  one  of  their  own  pontiffs  is 
chargeable  with  essential  heresy. 

Beryllus  of  Bostra  is  said  to  have  denied  the  personal  existence 
of  the  Son  previous  to  his  birth,  but  held  that  the  Father  dwelt 
in  him  during  his  earthly  life.  Beryllus  was  so  solidly  confuted 
by  Origen  at  a  council  assembled  in  Bostra,  A.D.  244,  that  he 
publicly  renounced  his  error,  and  returned  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Church. 


652  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Paul  of  Samosate,  bishop  of  Antioch,  was  an  ostentatious  man, 
opulent  and  arrogant,  who  greatly  disquieted  the  Eastern  Church 
by  his  novel  explanations  of  the  Trinity  and  the  person  of  Christ. 
He  supposed  the  Son  and  Spirit  to  exist  in  God,  as  the  reason  and 
the  operative  jjotver  do  in  man  ;  that  Christ  was  born  a  mere  man, 
but  that  the  reason,  the  Logos  of  the  Father,  entered  into  him,  en- 
abling him  to  teach,  and  work  miracles  ;  and  that,  on  account  of 
this  indwelling  of  the  Divine  Word  in  Christ,  we  may  properly  say 
that  Christ  is  God.  He  managed  for  a  long  time  to  conceal  his 
sentiments  ;  but  at  length  they  were  drawn  from  him,  when  he 
was  convicted  of  error,  and  divested  of  his  office  as  bishop. 

A  heresiarch  of  the  same  class,  who  appeared  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  third  century,  was  Sabellius.  His  system  is  known  to  us 
only  by  a  few  fragments,  and  these  not  altogether  consistent  with 
each  other.  Hence  there  has  been  much  dispute,  both  in  ancient 
and  modern  times,  as  to  his  real  sentiments.  According  to  some, 
Sabellius  taught  that  a  divine  energy  from  the  Father  united  itself 
with  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  on  account  of  which  he  was  able  to 
perform  miracles,  and  might,  in  a  modified  sense,  be  called  divine. 
In  the  opinion  of  others,  the  Trinity  of  Sabellius  was  but  a  three- 
fold revelation  or  manifestation  of  God.  The  Father  is  manifested 
in  giving  the  law ;  the  Son,  in  the  incarnation  ;  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
in  inspiration  :  and  as  these  peculiar  manifestations  will  at  length 
cease,  so  the  process  of  Trinitarian  development  will  at  length 
close,  and  "  God  will  be  all  in  all." 

It  is  obvious  that  each  and  all  of  these  theories  in  regard  to  the 
Trinity  and  the  person  of  Christ  are  but  different  forms  of  Unita- 
rianism.  The  Trinitarian  holds  to  three  persons,  or  personal  dis- 
tinctions, in  the  Godhead  ;  the  Unitarian,  to  but  one  person.  Ac- 
cording to  this  definition,  Sabellius  was  as  really  a  Unitarian  as 
Arius.  To  be  sure,  their  Unitarianism  assumed  different  forms. 
Sabellius  made  no  real^  essetitial  distinction  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son  :  Arius  made  too  wide  a  distinction.  And  the  proba- 
bility is  that  the  opposition  of  the  Church  to  the  spread  of  Sabel- 
lianism  prepared  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  Arianism.  In 
straightening  himself  up  against  the  former  error,  Arius  went  over 
to  the  other  extreme,  and  was  led  to  deny  the  proper  divinity  of 
the  Son. 

The  only  remaining  heresy  to  be  noticed  in  the  period  before  us 
is  that  of  the  Novatians.  They  did  not  corrupt  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  but,  by  the  severity  of  their  discipline,  produced  a 


THE    STATE   OF   RELIGION.  653 

lamentable  scliism  in  the  Church.  Novatian,  a  presbyter  of  the 
Church  at  Ronie,  insisted  that  those  who  had  fallen  into  gross  sins, 
and  more  especially  those  who  had  renounced  the  faith  during 
the  Decian  persecution,  ought  never  again  to  be  received  to  the 
Church.  Cornelius  and  most  of  the  other  presbyters  were  of  a 
different  opinion.  Hence,  when,  in  the  year  250,  Cornelius  was 
chosen  bishop  of  Rome,  Novatian  withdrew  from  his  communion. 
In  a  council  held  at  Rome  the  next  year,  Novatian  and  his  ad- 
herents were  excommunicated.  Novatian,  therefore,  established  a 
new  sect,  of  which  he  was  the  first  bishop.  The  sect  had  many 
adherents,  who  were  pleased  with  the  severity  of  its  discipline ; 
and  it  continued  to  flourish  in  different  parts  of  Christendom 
down  to  the  fifth  century. 

Besides  the  controversies  growing  out  of  the  heresies  which  have 
been  mentioned,  several  others  arose  during  the  period  we  are 
reviewing.  One  was  the  old  dispute  respecting  the  millennium. 
Origen  opposed  the  Millenarians,  and  brought  them  into  disrepute ; 
but  Nepos,  an  Egyptian  bishop,  espoused  their  cause,  and  published 
a  book  against  the  AUegorists,  as  he  contemptuously  styled  the  fol- 
lowers of  Origen.  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  who  had  been 
a  pupil  of  Origen,  took  up  the  matter,  and,  by  his  writings  and 
oral  discussions,  succeeded  in  quelling  the  rising  controversy. 

A  question  arose  in  the  third  century  as  to  the  validity  of  hereti- 
_cal  baptisms.  "  Were  those  who  came  over  from  the  heretics  to 
the  Catholic  Church  to  be  received  without  a  new  baptism  ?  or 
were  they  to  be  re-baptized  ?  "  By  most  of  the  Asian  and  African 
churches,  reclaimed  heretics  were  classed  with  the  catechumens, 
and  were  received  by  baptism ;  but  the  Christians  of  Europe,  in 
general,  regarded  the  baptisms  of  heretics  as  valid,  and  received 
those  who  came  over  to  them  simply  by  the  imposition  of  hands 
and  prayer.  This  diversity  of  practice  had  long  continued  without 
giving  rise  to  much  contention ;  but,  in  the  period  before  us,  it 
became  the  occasion  of  sharp  controversy.  The  Asiatic  Christians 
attempted  to  force  the  whole  Church  into  an  adoption  of  their 
views.  This,  Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  strenuously  resisted,  and 
excluded  the  Asiatics  from  his  fellowship.  The  controversy,  which 
for  a  time  seemed  very  portentous,  was  hushed,  partly  by  the  mod- 
eration of  Cyprian  and  the  other  African  bishops,  and  partly  by 
the  death  of  Stephen. 

The  controversies  respecting  Origen,  which  continued  to  trouble 
the  Church  for  several  centuries,  commenced  even  before  Origen's 


654  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

death.  Demetrius,  his  bishop,  was  displeased  with  him  because 
he  went  out  of  his  jurisdiction  to  be  ordained.  It  is  likely  that 
this  difficulty  might  have  been  healed  had  it  not  been  for  the 
doctrinal  speculations  of  Origen.  Demetrius  laid  hold  of  these, 
and  brought  them  before  a  council  at  Alexandria,  by  which  Origen 
was  condemned,  and  deprived  of  his  ministerial  office.  Their 
sentence,  however,  was  disregarded  by  the  Eastern  bishops,  among 
whom  Origen  labored  until  his  death. 

The  general  state  of  religious  feeling  and  practice  in  the  period 
before  us  was  less  satisfactory  than  in  the  second  century.  This 
was  specially  true  during  the  last  half  of  the  third  century.  Per- 
secution had  subsided ;  and  the  churches  were  favored  with  out- 
ward prosperity  and  peace.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  awaken 
ambition,  more  especially  among  some  of  the  higher  clergy  ;  to 
beget  a  selfish,  worldly  spirit ;  to  relax  watchfulness ;  to  induce 
negligence  and  sloth,  and  promote  a  sinful  conformity  to  the  world. 
Christians  at  all  periods  can  bear  affliction  better  than  they  can 
prosperity  and  ease. 

Then  the  causes  which  commenced  their  deteriorating  influence 
in  the  previous  age  continued  to  operate  with  increasing  force. 
Rites  and  forms  were  multiplied,  and  in  many  instances  substituted- 
for  true  Christian  spirituality.  The  philosophic  spirit  was  ap- 
plauded and  cultivated,  and  its  deleterious  influence  became  more 
and  more  manifest.  It  not  only  corrupted  the  theology  of  the 
Church,  but  affected  its  religious  life.  Celibacy  and  monkery 
were  much  insisted  on.  Those  who  renounced  a  useful  and 
active  life,  retired  into  the  deserts,  and  moped  away  a  miserable 
existence,  were  regarded  with  high  honor,  and  held  up  as  exam- 
ples to  the  world.  The  work  of  missions,  too,  was  not  prosecuted 
in  the  third  century  as  it  had  been  in  the  first  and  second.  Chris- 
tianity made  some  visible  progress,  but  not  so  much  in  heathen 
lands  as  in  countries  where  it  had  before  been  planted. 

Still,  notwithstanding  all  these  abatements,  there  was  much 
earnest  piety  and  holy  living  in  the  Church  in  the  period  before 
us.  Of  Origen  and  Cyprian  I  have  already  spoken  ;  not  perfect 
men,  either  of  them,  and  yet  eminent  examples  of  some  of  the 
Christian  graces  and  virtues.  The  piety  of  many  who  lived  later 
was  tried  and  proved  in  the  furnace  of  the  Diocletian  persecution. 
The  discipline  of  the  churches  was  very  strict,  not  only  purging 
out  and  keeping  out  every  species  of  immorality,  but  prohibiting 
many  things  which  at  other  periods  have  been  tolerated.     Church- 


,  THE    STATE  OF    RELIGION.  655 

members  were  forbidden,  on  pain  of  excommunication,  to  attend 
the  popular  gladiatorial  shows,  where  murders  were  often  per- 
petrated to  gratify  a  cruel  curiosity.  Attendance  was  also  pro-' 
hibited  at  all  kinds  of  public  spectacles,  —  as  theatres,  tragedies, 
comedies,  dances,  mimic  plays,  and  races,  —  because  such  things 
were  regarded  in  themselves  as  unbecoming  a  Christian ;  and 
then  they  were  so  closely  connected  with  other  heathenish  abomi- 
nations, that  to  reform  and  elevate  them  was  impossible.  Certain 
callings,  too,  were  strictly  forbidden,  —  as  that  of  the  stage-plaj^er, 
the  astrologer,  the  inn-keeper,  and  every  species  of  magic ;  also 
every  thing  connected  with  the  manufacture,  the  decoration,  or 
the  sale  of  images.  All  business  of  this  nature  was  prohibited  in 
the  Church,  and  must  be  renounced  by  the  candidate  for  baptism. 
We  read  of  one  Theodotus  of  Ancyra,  who  had  been  an  inn- 
keeper ;  but,  after  his  conversion,  he  made  his  house  a  refuge  for 
the  Christians,  and  a  place  of  prayer,  during  the  Diocletian  per- 
secution. 

Christians  had  no  power,  in  the  times  of  which  we  speak,  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  Romaii  Empire  ;  yet  much  was  done 
to  improve  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  the  slaves,  to 
lighten  their  burthens,  and  prepare  the  way  for  their  liberation. 
There  were  frequent  instances,  too,  of  individual  emancipation, 
especially  in  the  case  of  Christian  masters.  There  was  a  Christian 
by  the  name  of  Hermas,  in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  who  at  his  baptism 
liberated  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  slaves,  and  at  the  same  time 
endowed  them  with  munificent  gifts.  A  wealthy  Roman  prefect, 
Chromantius,  during  the  reign  of  Diocletian,  became  a  Christian, 
and  at  his  baptism  emancipated  fourteen  hundred  slaves.  These 
facts  show  that  the  spirit  of  Christianity  at  this  period  —  as  it 
must  be  at  all  periods  —  was  opposed  to  slavery,  and  that  the  two 
things  could  not  long  exist  .together.  "God,"  says  Lactantius, 
"  would  have  all  men  equal.  With  him  there  is  neither  servant 
nor  master.  As  he  is  the  same  Father  to  all,  they  are  all  by  the 
same  right  free.  No  one  is  poor  before  God  but  he  who  is  desti- 
tute of  righteousness.     No  one  is  rich  but  he  who  is  full  of  grace." 

I  need  not  say  more  as  to  the  state  of  religious  feeling  and 
practice  among  Christians  in  the  period  before  us.  Although  the 
third  century  was  not  so  interesting  in  this  respect  as  the  second, 
or  even  as  the  fourth,  yet  the  truth  was  not  left  without  its  wit- 
nesses. There  were  trees  of  righteousness  on  the  earth,  and  they 
yielded  much  precious  fruit. 


PEEIOD    lY. 

FROM  THE  REVOLUTION  UNDER  CONSTANTINE   TO   THE   FALL 
OF  THE  WESTERN  ROMAN  EMPIRE,  A.D.  476. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH    DURING    THIS    PERIOD. 

THE  revolution  under  Constantine  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced with  his  accession  to  the  government  of  his  father,  — 
in  the  year  306.  He  was  at  this  time  an  idolater,  but,  like  his 
father,  had  no  part  or  sympathy  with  the  persecutions  which  had 
been  inflicted  in  other  parts  of  the  empire.  He  was  soon  engaged 
in  war  with  Maxentius,  one  of  his  colleagues,  who  governed  Italy 
and  Africa.  The  two  armies  encountered  each  other  at  the  Milvian 
Bridge,  near  Rome,  in  the  year  312.  Maxentius  was  defeated,  and 
•was  drowned  in  the  Tiber.  It  was  on  his  march  to  this  engage- 
ment that  Constantine  saw  the  sign  in  the  heavens,  of  which  an 
account  was  given  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  vision  made  a  great 
impression  upon  him  ;  and  from  this  time  he  commenced  carrying 
the  Laharum  —  a  standard  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  upon  it  — 
in  front  of  his  armies.  From  this  time  he  seems  to  have  been 
intellectually  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  rehgion, 
though  not,  perhaps,  that  it  was  the  only  true  religion.  His 
victory  over  Maxentius  gave  him  entire  command  of  the  Western 
Roman  Empire  ;  and  in  the  year  313  he  published  an  edict  giving 
full  tolerance  not  only  to  the  Christian,  but  to  all  other  religions. 

Constantine  had  still  two  colleagues  in  the  East, — viz.,  Maximin 
and  Licinius,  —  the  first  of  whom  was  preparing  to  renew  the  per- 
secution of  the  Christians ;  but,  in  a  war  with  Licinius,  he  was 
defeated,  and  put  an  end  to  his  life.     The  whole  empire  was  now 

656 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH.  657 

held  by  Licinius  and  Constantine  ;  but  in  the  following  year,  314, 
Constantine  succeeded  in  wresting  Greece,  Macedon,  Illyria,  and 
several  other  provinces,  from  the  government  of  his  colleague,  and 
annexing  them  to  his  own. 

For  the  next  nine  years,  the  two  emperors  reigned  together ;  and, 
although  the  objects  of  constant  and  mutual  jealousy,  they  lived 
in  peace.  The  two  families  were  in  fact  connected ;  Constantia,  the 
sister  of  Constantine,  being  the  wife  oi  Licinius.  During  this  in- 
terval, the  mind  of  Constantine  became  more  decided  towards  the 
Christians ;  and  he  published  several  edicts  in  their  favor.  The 
punishment  of  crucifixion  was  abolished  ;  labor  on  the  sabbath  was 
in  part  prohibited  ;  permission  was  given  to  masters  to  release  their 
Christian  slaves ;  and  men  were  allowed  to  bequeath  property  to 
the  Church. 

But,  while  Constantine  was  thus  showing  favor  to  the  Christians, 
Licinius  oppressed  them,  and  was  manifesting  in  various  ways  his 
determination  to  renew  the  persecution.  This,  with  other  causes, 
led  to  an  open  war  in  the  year  323,  in  which  Licinius  was  defeated, 
and  afterwards  put  to  death. 

Having  by  this  victory  become  sole  master  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, Constantine  was  more  than  ever  decided  in  his  attachment  to 
the  Christian  faith.  He  indemnified  the  churches  for  their  losses 
in  the  previous  persecutions  ;  built  for  them  splendid  temples ;  en- 
deavored by  all  meafis  to  heal  their  divisions ;  and  bestowed  high 
honors  upon  their  ministers.  He  caused  copies  of  the  Scriptures 
to  be  written  out  for  the  use  of  the  churches  ;  had  daily  prayers 
and  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  his  palace  ;  and  was  respect- 
ful in  his  attendance  upon  public  worship.  He  prescribed  a  form 
of  prayer  to  be  used  by  his  soldiers  ;  delivered  public  addresses  in 
favor  of  Christianity  ;  and  enjoined  upon  the  governors  of  prov- 
inces to  do  all  in  their  power  to  further  its  progress.  Still  he  pro- 
hibited a  resort  to  force  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  and  tolerated 
all  his  subjects  in  the  peaceable  observance  of  their  religious  rites. 
We  cite  the  following  from  one  of  his  proclamations :  "  Lfet  the 
followers  of  a  false  religion  enjoy  the  liberty  of  sharing  in  the  same 
peace  and  tranquillity  with  the  faithful.  The  restoration  of  a  com- 
mon and  friendly  intercourse  among  men  may  lead  these  people 
in  the  way  of  truth.  Let  no  one  molest  his  neighbor ;  but  let  each 
act  according  to  the  inclination  of  his  own  soul.  The  well-disposed 
only  will  live  in  holiness  and  purity,  and  find  rest  in  observ- 
ing  God's  holy  laws.       But  let  those  who  remain  strangers  to 

42 


658  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

them  retain,  since  they  wish  it,  the  temples  of  falsehood.  We  have 
the  resplendent  house  of  truth,  which  God  has  given  us  in  answer 
to  our  prayers.  We  could  wish  that  they,  too,  might  share  with 
us  the  joy  of  a  common  fellowship  ;  yet  let  no  one  trouble  his 
neighbor  by  that  which  is  his  own  conviction.  With  the  knowl- 
edge which  he  has  gained,  let  him,  if  possible,  profit  liis  neighbor; 
but,  if  this  is  not  possible,  he  should  allow  his  neighbor  to  go  on 
in  his  own  way  :  for  it  is  one  thing  to  enter  voluntarily  into  the 
contest  for  eternal  life,  and  quite  another  to  force  one  to  it  against 
his  will.  I  have  entered  thus  far  into  an  explanation  of  these  mat- 
ters, because  I  was  unwilling  to  keep  concealed  my  own  belief  of 
the  truth,  and  because  certain  persons  are  affirming  that  the  temple- 
worship  and  the  power  of  darkness  are  to  be  destroyed." 

Notwithstanding  this  manifesto,  it  appears,  that,  in  some  places, 
the  heathen  temples  were  destroyed,  and  the  sacrifices  abolished, 
during  the  remaining  period  of  Constantine's  reign ;  but  this  was 
done  generally,  and  perhaps  always,  on  account  of  some  disturbance . 
of  the  public  peace,  or  because  of  gross  and  illegal  impositions 
which  were  practised  on  the  people  by  the  priests. 

As  to  the  means  employed  for  the  religious  instruction  and  bene- 
fit of  the  emperor  we  are  not  particularly  informed.  His  mother, 
Helena,  was  an  earnest  Christian,  who  built  many  churches,  and 
spent  much  time  and  labor  at  Jerusalem  in  searching  for  the  holy 
sepulchre  and  the  true  wood  of  the  cross  ;*but  it  is  generally 
thought  that  she  was  converted  though  the  influence  of  her  son, 
and  not  that  he  was  converted  by  her  influence. 

It  is  stated  by  Zosimus,  that,  after  the  death  of  Licinius,  a  certain 
Egyptian  came  out  of  Spain  to  Rome,  and  was  instrumental  in  the 
conversion  of  Constantine.  This  Egyptian  was,  undoubtedly,  the 
venerable  Hosius,  bishop  of  Corduba,  who  from  this  time  was  held 
in  high  honor  by  the  emperor.  He  became  his  chief  counsellor  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  had  much  influence  in  the  great  Council 
of  Nice.  There  is  also  a  tradition,  that  when  distressed  for  sin, 
and  especially  for  the  sin  of  blood-guiltiness,  the  emperor  inquired 
of  the  pagan  priests  whether  they  knew  of  any  way  in  which  his 
sins  could  be  expiated  and  his  conscience  relieved.  They  answered 
him  in  the  negative  ;  but  Hosius  took  the  matter  up,  and  pointed 
him  to  the  blood  of  Christ,  which  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  This 
thought  is  said  to  have  had  much  weight  with  the  emperor,  and  to 
have  attached  him  immovably  to  the  faith  of  Christ. 

It  is  no  evidence  against  the  sincerity  of  Constantine  that  he 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH.  659 

did  not  partake  of  the  sacraments,  and  become  formally  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  until  near  the  close  of  life  ;  for  so  long 
as  the  o]3inion  prevailed  that  baptism  washed  away  all  sin  up  to 
the  time  of  its  administration,  and  that  sins  committed  after  bap- 
tism were  next  to  unpardonable,  it  was  deemed  a  matter  of  pru- 
dence, especially  among  those  who  were  much  exposed  to  temp- 
tation, to  defer  their  baptism  as  long  as  possible.  This  did  many 
of  those  who  were  in  public  stations  in  the  third  and  fourth  centu- 
ries. This  did  Constantine  ;  and  for  the  reason  above  stated.  His 
baptism  is  thus  described  by  one  of  the  fathers :  "  Being  clothed 
in  a  white  garment,  and  laid  upon  his  bed,  he  was  baptized  in  a 
solemn  manner  by  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia." 

If  it  be  inquired  here  whether  Constantine  was  a  true  Christian, 
a  regenerated  person,  I  frankly  acknowledge  that  I  cannot  tell. 
That  he  was  the  subject  of  a  great  change  of  religious  opinion,  of 
feeling,  and  of  conduct,  during  his  life,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
That  he  heartily  renounced  the  idolatry  of  his  fathers,  and  became 
a  sincere  believer  in  Christianity,  regarding  it  not  only  as  a  true 
religion,  but  ultimately  as  the  only  true  religion,  is  unquestionable. 
That  he  desired  the  diffusion  of  this  religion,  sought  its  interests, 
and  did  all  in  his  power  to  promote  them  as  he  understood  them,' 
not  only  his  words,  but  his  acts,  during  the  last  half  of  his  reign, 
abundantly  declare.  And  yet  his  life  was  not  altogether  consist- 
ent with  the  rules  of  the  gospel.  Judged  of  according  to  our  Pu- 
ritan standards,  his  character  would  be  found  in  many  respects 
defective.  Perhaps  —  considering  the  circumstances  of  his  educa- 
tion, the  temptations  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  the  moment- 
ous public  interests  intrusted  to  him,  and  the  stormy  period  and 
course  of  life  in  which  he  was  called  to  move  —  these  defects  were 
no  greater  than  might  reasonably  be  expected.  God  knows  how 
to  make  allowance  for  them,  if  we  do  not ;  and  the  question  of  his 
piety,  which  has  been  so  often  mooted,  must  be  left  to  the  judg- 
ment of  Him  to  whom  all  hearts  are  open,  and  "  by  whom  actions 
are  Aveighed." 

I  have  said  already  that  Constantine  earnestly  sought  to  advance 
the  interests  of  religion  accordmg  to  his  understanding  of  them. 
That  in  some  of  his  endeavors  he  made  great  mistakes  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  Thus  the  honors  which  he  heaped  upon  the  ministers 
of  religion,  and  more  especially  upon  the  bishops,  tended  to  foster 
a  spirit  of  worldly  ambition',  and  disqualify  them  for  the  right  per- 
formance of  their  holy  duties.     Of  the  same  tendency  was  the  care 


660  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

which  he  took  to  build  splendid  eliurehes,  to  furnish  them  with 
costly  ornaments,  and  endow  them  with  almost  unlimited  wealth. 
Constantine  thought  in  this  way  to  show  his  regard  for  the  new 
reUgion,  and  to  advance  its  interests  by  maldng  it  respectable  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world ;  but  a  spirit  of  pride  was  by  this  means  in- 
fused mto  the  body  itself,  and  an  injiuy  was  inflicted  for  which  no 
outward  embellishments  could  afford  a  compensation. 

It  was  under  Constantine,  too,  that  the  Church  entered  upon  its 
new  experiment  of  bemg  united  with  the  State.  Before,  it  had 
encoimtered  the  whole  power  of  the  State,  and  had  -triumphed  over 
it ;  but  now  —  with  the  design  to  protect  it,  and  advance  its 
interests  —  it  was  taken  into  the  embrace  of  the  State,  and  incor- 
porated with  it.  And  the  experience  of  fifteen  hundred  years  has 
shown  that  the  connection  is  an  unnatural  one,  —  damaging  to 
both  parties.  Its  influence  upon  the  Church  has  been  to  stifle  its 
energies,  to  corrupt  its  spmt,  to  induce  a  false  dependence,  and 
impregnate  it  with  spuitual  disease  and  death. 

By  the  building  of  Constantinople,  and  maldng  it  the  capital  of 
his  empire,  Constantine  effected  a  great  change  in  the  outward  . 
condition  of  the  Chiu'ch :  for  the  new  imj^erial  city  must  have  a 
bishop ;  and,  in  point  of  honor  and  authority,  he  must  be  equal  to 
the  bishop  of  Rome.  And  here  commenced  the  strife  between  these 
two  great  prelates,  —  a  strife  which  has  continued  for  long  centuries, 
and  the  results  of  which,  in  the  separation  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
chiu'ches,  remain  to  the  present  time. 

Constantine  was  the  instrument,  under  God,  of  bringing  the 
Chui-ch  into  a  state  of  great  outward  prosperity  and  glory :  but 
the  experience  of  ages  has  shown  that  prosperity  is  more  dan- 
gerous to  the  Church  of  God  than  adversity ;  that  it  can  better 
endiu-e  a  Diocletian  persecution  than  a  long-continued  coiu'se  of 
worldly  favor  and  honor.  The  former,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
tends  to  promote  humility,  spirituality,  a  weanedness  from  the 
world,  and  holy  trust ;  while  the  latter  more  commonl}-  begets 
pride,  self-sufficiency,  forgetfulness  of  God,  and  thus  prepares  the 
way  either  for  sore  chastisements^^  or  for  speedy  abandonment  and 
ruin. 

Constantine  died  in  the  year  337,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
three  sons,  —  Constantius,  Constantine  II.,  and  Constans;  the  first 
governing  in  the  East,  and  the  other  two  in  the  AVest.  Constan- 
tine also  left  two  brothers  who  had  sons ;  but  with  the  exception 
of  two  of  the  sons,  Galliis  and  Julian,  these  were  all  put  to  death. 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  661 

Constantine  II.  died  in  340,  only  three  years  after  his  father ;  and, 
ten  years  later,  Constans  fell  in  a  war  with  Maxentius,  a  usurper. 
From  this  time,  Constantius  ruled  the  whole  empire  until  the  year 
361,  when  he  died.  The  sons  of  Constantine  all  pursued  their 
father's  purpose  of  abolishing  the  ancient  superstitions  of  the 
Romans,  and  propagating  Christianity  throughout  the  empire,  but 
not  with  their  father's  moderation  and  wisdom.  They  resorted  to 
harsh  edicts  and  persecuting  force.  They  commanded  that  the 
heathen  temples  everywhere  should  be  sliut  up,  and  that  no  per- 
son should  be  allowed  to  visit  them.  All  sacrifices,  and  consul- 
tation of  the  oracles  and  of  soothsayers,  were  prohibited  under 
penalty  of  confiscation  and  death. 

It  is  refreshing  to  know  that  some  eminent  Christian  ministers 
protested  against  these  measures,  and  predicted  that  no  good  could 
come  of  them..  Thus  Athanasius  remarks,  "  It  is  an  evidence 
that  men  want  confidence  in  their  own  faith  when  they  use  force, 
and  constrain  men  against  their  wills.  So  Satan,  because  there  is 
no  truth  in  him,  wherever  he  gains  admittance,  pays  away  with 
hatchet  and  sword :  whereas  the  Saviour  forces  no  one,  but  only 
knocks  at  the  door ;  and,  if  the  door  is  opened,  he  goes  in ;  but,  if 
any  one  is  unwilling  to  open  the  door,  he  withdraws." 
•  The  harsh  measures  of  Constantius  had  paved  the  way  for  a 
re-action ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  dead  than  reverses  came.  His 
successor  was  Julian,  one  of  the  spared  nephews  of  Constantine, 
and  a  cousin  of  Constantius.  He  had  been  educated  for  the  Chris- 
tian ministry,  and  consecrated  as  a  reader  in  the  Church ;  but  he 
had  no  taste  or  fitness  for  the  sacred  profession.  There  were  many 
things  to  prejudice  him  against  Christianity,  not  the  least  of  which 
was  the  murder  of  his  father  and  brothers  that  they  might  not 
stand  in  the  way  of  the  Constantine  family.  He  had  been  secretly 
attached  to  the  pagan  rites  for  a  considerable  time  before  he  came 
to  the  throne ;  and  no  sooner  did  his  reign  commence  than  he 
threw  off  all  disguise,  and  proclaimed  his  purpose  to  re-establish 
the  old  heathen  worship.  He  ordered  the  temples  to  be  opened, 
those  that  were  decayed  to  be  repaired,  and  new  ones  to  be  built. 
Altars  were  everywhere  set  up,  and  the  whole  machinery  of 
paganism  was  again  put  in  motion. 

His  first  act  in  the  morning  was  to  oifer  sacrifice ;  and  by  his 
presence  and  example  he  encouraged  the  same  practice  in  others. 
He  repealed  the  laws  which  had  been  enacted  against  idolatry, 
reformed  its  abuses,  and  did  aU  in  his  power  to  make  it  respectable 


662  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  useful.  With  great  importunity,  lie  exhorted  magistrates  to 
correct  the  vices  of  men,  and  reHeve  theii"  miseries ;  assuring  them 
that  the  gods  would  reward  them  for  all  such  endeavors.  Priests, 
he  said,  should  so  live  as  to  be  an  example  to  others  ;  and  dissolute 
ones  should  be  expelled  from  office.  He  established  schools  for 
the  education  of  3'outh,  monasteries  for  devout  persons,  hospitals 
for  the  sick,  and  alms-houses  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  desti- 
tute. All  these  things  he  had  learned  from  the  Cluistians ;  and 
he  endeavored  to  ingraft  them  upon  his  reformed  idolatry. 

Julian  did  not  directly  persecute  Christianity.  He  was  too  politic 
to  adopt  such  a  measme,  or  rather  he  did  not  live  long  enough 
to  attempt  it  with  success ;  but  he  pursued  a  course  in  regard  to 
the  Christians  which  had  all  the  effect  of  persecution  without  its 
obloquy.  He  ridiculed  them  and  theb  divme  Master ;  shut  them 
out  from  all  places  of  honor  and  authority ;  forbade  them  to  be 
instructed  in  Gentile  learning ;  and  used  every  artifice  to  draw 
them  into  a  compliance  with  pagan  superstitions.  He  wantonly 
plundered  their  churches  and  ministers.  He  wrote  books  against 
them  himself,  and  encouraged  others  to  do  the  same.  He  patron- 
ized the  Jews  just  because  of  their  enmity  to  the  Christians,  and 
vainly  undertook  to  rebuild  their  city  and  temple.  In  this  attempt, 
however,  he  was  defetead.  Balls  of  fire,  issuing  from  the  ground 
with  a  tremendous  explosion,  scattered  both  his  materials  and  his 
workmen.  The  fact  of  such  explosions  is  well  attested ;  but  there 
is  no  reason  to  regard  them  as  miracles.  In  removing  the  rubbish 
from  the  site  of  the  old  temple,  phosphoric  elements  may  have 
been  encountered,  or  inflammable  gases  let  loose  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  account  for  all  the  phenomena. 

Had  Julian  reigned  as  long  as  Constantine,  he  might  have  in- 
flicted incalculable  injuries  upon  the  Christian  cause,  and  done 
much  towards  re-establishing  idolatr}^  in  the  vast  Roman  Empu*e. 
But  Providence  had  ordered  otherwise  respecting  him.  Soon  after 
he  came  to  the  throne,  he  madly  engaged  in  a  war  with  the  Per- 
sians. At  the  head  of  his  armies  he  marched  into  the  East,  where 
he  was  mortally  wounded,  and  died  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his 
age,  when  he  had  reigned  only  twenty  months. 

In  his  personal  habits,  Julian  was  grossly  ascetic.  He  lived 
chiefly  on  vegetables,  wore  common  clotlring,  slept  on  the  floor, 
suffered  his  beard  and  nails  to  grow  like  the  anchorets  of  Egypt, 
and  neglected  the  rules  even  of  decency  and  cleanliness.  In  one 
of  his  publications  he  boasts  of  his  cynic  coarseness,  and  describes 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  663 

with  great  complacence  his  long  nails,  his  ink-stained  hands,  and 
his  uncombed  hair  and  beard,  filled  —  horribile  dictu!  —  with  in- 
sects. 

To  Julian  succeeded  Jovian ;  an  excellent  prince,  who  seems  to 
have  been  a  true  Christian.  He  did  what  he  could  to  reform 
abuses,  to  restore  Christian  worship,  and  to  discountenance  the 
pagan  rites,  though  he  would  not  resort  to  persecution.  He  died 
at  the  end  of  seven  months,  much  to  the  sorrow  of  all  good  men. 

Jovian  was  succeeded  by  two  brothers,  Valentinian  and  Valens. 
The  former  governed  in  the  West,  the  latter  in  the  East.  Valen- 
tinian followed  the  plan  of  Jovian  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church ; 
earnestly  encouraging  the  cause  of  the  Christians,  but  refusing  to 
persecute  the  Pagans.  He  prohibited,  however,  divination  and 
enchantment,  and  appropriated  the  revenues  of  some  of  the  heathen 
temples  for  the  support  of  the  government. 

Valens  was  a  man  of  less  capacity  than  his  brother,  and  of  far 
less  principle.  He  fell  in  with  the  Arian  party  in  religion ;  and, 
instead  of  persecuting  the  pagans,  he  persecuted  his  brethren  of 
the  Nicene  faith.  He  drove  Athanasius  from  Alexandria  for  the 
fourth  time";  and  on  one  occasion  no  less  than  eighty  Orthodox 
ministers  were  burned  at  sea  with  his  connivance,  if  not  by  his 
order.*  A  little  before  his  death,  Valens  repented  of  his  persecu- 
tions, and  recalled  the  bishops  whom  he  had  sent  into  exile.  He 
perished  in  a  battle  with  the  Goths  in  the  year  378,  having  reigned 
.fourteen  years.  His  brother  Valentinian  died  three  years  before 
him. 

Gratian,  the  eldest  son  of  Valentinian,  succeeded  him  in  the 
West ;  and,  after  the  death  of  Valens,  Theodosius  was  appointed 
to  the  government  of  the  East.  G;-atian  seems  to  have  been  not 
only  an  upright,  conscientious  ruler,  but  a  truly  pious  man.  From 
conscientious  scruples  he  refused  the  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus^ 
which  had  always  belonged  to  the  Roman  emperors.  He  declared, 
that,  as  its  whole  nature  was  idolatrous,  he  could  not,  as  a  Christian, 
consent  to  assume  it.  At  the  very  commencement  of  his  reign,  he 
wrote  to  the  celebrated  Ambrose,  bishop  of  Milan,  for  instruction 
in  divine  things :  "  Come  to  me  immediately,  holy  priest,  that  you 
may  teach  me  the  doctrine  of  salvation.  I  would  not  study  for 
contention,  but  that  the  revelation  of  the  Divinity  may  dwell  more 
richly  in  my  breast."     Gratian  labored  assiduously,  in  connection 

*  See  Milner's  Ecc.  Hist.,  vol.  ii.  p.  159. 


664  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

with  Theodosius,  for  the  suppression  of  idolatry  and  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  truth,  until  the  year  383,  when,  in  attempting  to  quell 
a  rebellion  in  Britain,  he  lost  his  life. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  younger  brother,  Valentinian  II.,  who 
reigned  in  the  West  until  the  year  392.  In  the  first  part  of  his 
reign  he  was  very  much  under  the  influence  of  his  mother  Justina, 
who  was  an  Arian,  and  who  persuaded  him  to  persecute  Ambrose 
and -other  Orthodox  men;  but  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he 
became  reconciled  to  Ambrose,  and  loved  and  honored  him  a^  a 
fathej.\  In  the  near  prospect  of  death,  he  sent  for  Ambrose  to 
baptize  him ;  and  the  venerable  bishop  of  Milan  pronounced  his 
funeral  oration,  which  is  still  extant. 

At  this  time,  Theodosius,  who  had  reigned  for  many  years  in  the 
East,  became  sole  emperor  of  Rome,  He  was  one  of  the  best  of 
the  Roman  emperors,  who,  by  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  his  gov- 
ernment, secured  for  himself  the  title  of  Theodosius  the  Q-reat. 
He  exerted  himself  with  great  energy  for  the  suppression  of  idola- 
try, particularly  in  Egypt  and  in  the  West.  In  the  Temple  of  Se- 
rapis,  at  Alexandria,  there  was  an  image  of  the  god,  of  which  it 
had  been  affirmed,  that,  if  any  man  touched  it,  the  earth  would 
open,  the  heavens  be  dissolved,  and  all  things  return  to  their  origi- 
nal chaos.  One  of  the  soldiers  of  Theodosius  was  hardy  enough 
to  make  the  attempt.  With  his  axe  he  cleft  down  the  image  ; 
when,  lo !  a  flock  of  mice  ran  out  of  it.  The  awful  image  had 
been  converted  into  a  mouse-nest,  whence  the  little  animals  came 
forth,  night  by  night,  and  feasted  upon  the  sacrifices. 

As  the  course  of  Nature  was  not  interrupted  by  the  violence 
done  to  the  image,  its  votaries  gave  out  that  the  Nile  would  never 
overflow  again.  But  here,  again,  they  were  disappointed.  The 
Nile  returned  to  its  course  at  the  proper  time  ;  and  its  waters  rose 
higher  than  usual. 

Coming  to  Rome  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  Theodosius 
sternly  prohibited  a  further  observance  of  the  pagan  rites.  Men 
should  no  longer  frequent  the  altars,  or  offer  sacrifices  or  incense, 
or  consult  the  entrails  of  beasts.  This  was  a  fatal  blow  to  pagan- 
ism, from  which  it  never  recovered. 

Theodosius  expired  at  Milan,  in  the  year  395,  at  the  age  of  sixty ; 
having  reigned  sixteen  years.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  empire  by 
his  two  sons,  Arcadius  and  Honorius  ;  the  former  ruling  over  the 
East,  and  the  latter  the  West.  Both  of  these  were  feeble  but  well- 
meaning  men,  distinguished  rather  for  the  pomp  and  splendor  in 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF   THE    CHURCH.  6Q5 

which  tliey  lived  than  for  the  vigor  or  success  of  their  administra- 
tions. 

Honorius  was  continually  annoyed  by  incursions  of  the  barba- 
rians, until,  in  the  year  409,  Rome  was  captured  and  pillaged  by 
the  Goths.  At  the  same  time,  Gaul  and  Spain  were  overrun  by 
the  same  people  ;  and  Britain  —  being  abandoned  by  the  Romans 
—  was  left  to  take  care  of  itself.  The  native  Britons,  being  un- 
able to  resist  the  incursions  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  called  over  the 
Saxons  to  their  assistance.  The  Saxons  came,  drove  back  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  and  the  Britons  with  them,  and  established  their 
government  over  the  country.  They  annihilated  the  old  British 
Church,  and  brought  back  paganism :  so  that  England  needed  to 
be  Christianized  the  second  time,  —  a  work  which  was  not  accom- 
plished until  the  seventh  century. 

Honorius  died  in  the  year  423,  after  a  turbulent  but  inglorious 
reign  of  twenty-eight  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  Valentinian 
ni.,  —  a  weak,  debauched,  and  wicked  man,  who  reigned  rather  by 
the  sufferance  of  his  enemies  than  by  his  own  valor  and  strength. 

_At  the  instance  of  Leo,  bishop  of  Rome,  he  enacted  some  laws 
which  tended  greatly  to  increase  the  power  of  the  Roman  pontiffs. 
He  prohibited  all  bfshops  from  making  any  innovations  without 
permission  from  the  pope  :  he  declared  that  the  enactments  of  the 

(  see  of  Rome  should  be  a  law  to  all  other  bishops  ;  and  that,  if  any 
bishop  should  disregard  the  summons  of  the  bishop  of  Rome  to 
appear  before  him,  he  should  be  compelled  to  do  so  by  the  governor 
of  the  province.  These  were  important  stepj)ing-stones  towards 
that  height  of  usurpation  to  which  the  popes  of  Rome  at  length 
attained. 

During  the  twenty  years  next  following  the  death  of  Val- 
entinian  HI."  (which   occurred   in   the   year  455),    no   less   than 

-eight  persons  claimed  to  be  emperors  of  Western  Rome ;  of  the 
most  of  whom  we  know  nothing  but  their  names.  The  last  of 
them  was  Romulus,  surnamed  Augustus,  but  more  commonly 
called,  in  contempt,  Augustulus.  He  was  dethroned  by  Odoacer, 
a  Gothic  chieftain,  in  the  year  476  ;  and  the  Western  Roman  Em- 

r  pire  came  to  an  end. 

The  changes  in  the  East  during  the  same  period  were  not  so 
frequent  as  in  the  West.  While  Arcadius  lived,  he  Avas  constantly 
distressed  by  invading  barbarians,  and  was  governed  chiefly  by  his 
eunuchs  and  ministers.  He  died  in  the  year  408,  leaving  the  em- 
pire to  his  son,  Theodosius  II.,  who  was  only  seven  years  of  age. 


66Q  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Theodosius  was  of  weak  understanding,  like  his  father,  and  far 
less  respectable  in  point  of  character ;  but  he  had  a  sister  Pulche- 
ria,  older  than  himself,  who  took  the  chief  direction  of  public 
affairs,  and  managed  them  with  energy  and  wisdom.  He  carried 
on  a  war  successfully  against  the  king  of  the  Persians,  and  rescued 
many  Christians  from  persecution  and  death.  He  also  caused  a 
revision  of  the  Roman  laws,  and  published  what  is  called  the 
"  Theodosian  Code,"  which  continued  in  force  many  years,  both  in 
the  East  and  the  West.  Theodosius  died  in  the  year  450,  after  a 
reign  of  forty-two  years.  In  this  time,  Genseric,  king  of  the  Van- 
dals, had  established  himself  in  Africa ;  and  Attila,  "  the. scourge 
of  God,"  had  ravaged  some  of  the  fairest  provinces  of  the  Romans. 

After  the  death  of  Theodosius,  his  sister  Pulcheria  became  the 
wife  of  Marcion,  whom  she  constituted  emperor  in  place  of  her 
brother.  Marcion  was  a  wise  and  virtuous  prince,  who  loved  reli- 
gion, and  passed  some  very  good  laws  in  regard  to  it.  He  died 
after  a  reign  of  seven  years ;  and  the  Greek  Church  has  honored 
his  memory  by  a  festival. 

Marcion  was  succeeded  by  Leo,  who  died  in  474 ;  and  he  by 
Zeno,  who  reigned  almost  to  the  end  of  the  century. 

There  was  little  persecution  from  the  heathen  in  the  period  be- 
fore us,  if  we  except  one  set  on  foot  by  the  Persians  in  the  fifth 
century.  As  the  Persians  and  Romans  were  perpetual  enemies, 
and  as  the  Christians  residing  in  Persia  were  suspected  of  being 
favorable  to  the  Romans,  they  were  constantly  exposed  to  suffer 
for  this  cause.  A  vast  number  of  Christians,  we  are  told,  perished 
in  Persia  in  these  troublous  times. 

But  though  the  Christians  in  the  Roman  Empire  were  not  ex- 
posed, as  formerly,  to  persecution  from  the  heathen,  the  different 
sects  were  engaged  often  in  annoying  and  persecuting  one  another. 
The  Arians  and  Donatists  persecuted  the  Orthodox ;  and  the  Or- 
thodox persecuted  them.  Each  party  saw  the  wrong  of  it  when 
practised  upon  themselves,  while  each  stood  ready  to  practise  the 
same  so  soon  as  it  had  the  power.  It  was  a  shame  for  those  who 
had  so  recently  come  out  of  the  fires  of  heathen  persecution  to  be 
seen  inflicting  the  same  cruelties  one  upon  another. 

The  Christians  also  suffered  dreadfully  from  the  incursions  of 
the  barbarians,  —  the  Goths,  the  Vandals,  and  more  especially  the 
Huns.  The  churches  might,  indeed,  have  been  exterminated,  but 
that  the  invaders  after  a  time  were  induced  to  change  their  reli- 
gion, and  become  nominally  Christian.      Their  principal  motive 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  667 

seems  to  have  been,  that  they  thought  the  God  of  the  Christians 
more  powerful  than  their  own. 

But,  notwithstanding  tliese  adverse  circumstances,  Christianity 
made  some  progress  both  in  the  East  and  in  the  West.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Constantine  and  his  successors,  churches  were  planted 
in  Armenia  and  Abyssinia  in  the  fourth  century.  Into  Iberia 
(now  Georgia)  a  captive  Christian  woman  was  the  means  of  in- 
troducing Christianity.  The  king  and  queen  were  induced  by  her 
to  send  to  Constantinople  for  teachers  to  instruct  them  and  their 
people  in  the  principles  of  the  gospel. 

In  the  fifth  century,  the  inhabitants  of  Mount  Lebanon  applied 
to  Simeon  the  Stylite  to  know  how  they  might  be  .  delivered  from 
the  ravages  of  wild  beasts.  Simeon  told  them  that  their  only 
remedy  was  to  forsake  the  idolatry  of  their  ancestors,  and  embrace 
the  gospel.  They  listened  to  him,  and  became  Christians  ;  and  the 
beasts,  we  are  told,  departed  from  them. 

It  was  within  the  period  under  review,  that  Coelestine,  bishop 
of  Rome,  sent  Succathus,  a  Scotchman,  on  a  mission  to  Ireland. 
He  was  very  successful  in  his  work  ;  and,  having  converted  many 
of  the  Irish  to  the  faith,  he,  in  472,  established  at  Armagh  the 
bishopric  of  Ireland.  His  name  was  now  changed  to  Patricius 
(St.  Patrick)  ;  and  he  is  regarded  to  this  day  as  the  Apostle  of 
Ireland.  Though  not  altogether  free  from  the  superstitions  of  the 
times,'the  veritable  St.  Patrick  was  an  earnest,  devoted  Christian, 
—  a  very  different  person  from  what  is  generally  supposed  by 
Romanists  at  this  day. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,     RELIGIOUS     RITES    AND     TEACHERS,     IN     THIS 

PERIOD. 

~YT"riTH  the  revolution  under  Constantine,  the  Church  of 
V  V  Christ  entered  upon  the  new  experiment  of  being  united 
with  the  State.  Though  it  had  "been  previously  a  power  in  the 
State,  it  had  been  separate  from  it,  and  opposed  and  persecuted 
by  it ;  but  now  it  was  formally  taken  up  by  the  State,  and  con- 
nected, incorporated,  with  it. 

This  change,  it  must  be  allowed,  was  attended  with  some  advan- 
tages. The  clergy  were  exempt,  not  only  from  persecution,  but 
from  public  burthens,  and  in  most  instances  were  liberally  sup- 
ported. Houses  of  worship  were  built,  protected,  and  often  en- 
dowed. Laws  were  enacted,  too,  for  the  observance  of  the  Lord's 
day,  which  from  this  time  began  to  be  called  dies  solis,  —  Sunday. 
Numerous  reforms  were  also  effected  in  social  and  domestic  life. 
Slavery,  instead  of  being  protected,  was  discountenanced  ;  eman- 
cipation was  made  more  easy  ;  and  legislation  in  general  began  to 
assume  a  more  Christian  aspect :  but  these  advantages  might  have 
been  as  well  secured  without  that  close  connection  which  was 
now  established  between  Church  and  State,  — a  connection  which 
has  been  continued,  much  to  the  injury  of  the  Church,  in  most 
Christian  countries,  from  the  days  of  Constantine  to  the  present 
time. 

When  Constantine  undertook  the  government  of  the  Church, 
he  retained  to  himself  the  control  only  of  its  external  affairs ; 
leaving  those  of  an  internal  nature  to  the  direction  of  the  bishops. 
But,  as  the  distinction  between  external  and  internal  was  not  in 
all  cases  obvious,  he  became  virtually  the  head  of  the  Church.  He 
called  councils,  promulgated  and  enforced  their  decrees,  deposed 
bishops,  decided  controversies,  and  did  every  thing,  as  occasion 
presented,  which  a  temporal  head  could  do  ;  and  his  successors 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  6G9 

continued  to  do  the  same  down  to  the  dissolution  of  the  Western 
Empire.  If  there  was  any  pope  in  the  Church  during  this  period, 
it  must  have  been  the  emperor. 

The  government  of  the  Church  was  Episcopal  when  Constan- 
tino took  it ;  and  so  it  continued  to  be  afterwards.  And  yet  its 
outward  organization  was  somewhat  modified,  that  it  might  the 
better  conform  to  the  civil  divisions  of  the  empire.  As  there  were 
four  prcetorian  prefects^  so  there  must  be  four  great  prelates,  called 
patriarchs^  presiding  over  the  churches  in  each  prefecture ;  viz., 
those  of  Rome,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Constantinople.  Next  to 
these  were  the  exarchs^  corresponding  to  the  civil  exarchs.  Then 
came  the  metropolitans^  who  governed  each  a  single  province. 
After  them  were  the  archbishops,  and  then  the  bishops.  Below 
these  were  ,the  chorepiscopi,  or  rural  bishops,  the  presbyters, 
deacons,  and  sub-deacons. 

The  first  among  these  ecclesiastics  was  undoubtedly  the  bishop 
of  Rome  ;  and  yet  his  primacy  at  this  period  was  not  one  of  order, 
but  only  of  degree.  He  had  no  claim  as  yet,  nor  for  centuries 
afterward,  to  that  spiritual  supremacy  and  authority  which  he  at 
length  assumed. 

Several  reasons  concurred  at  this  time  to  give  to  the  bishop  of 
Rome  a  sort  of  primacy  among  his  brethren.  In  the  first  place, 
his  was  an  apostolic  cliurcli^  nurtured  by  some  one  or  more  of  the 
apostles,  if  not  planted  by  them ;  and  there  (as  was  commonly 
supposed)  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul  were  buried.  Then  the 
bishop  of  Rome  exceeded  all  other  bishops  in  the  amplitude  and 
splendor  of  his  church,  in  the  magnitude  of  his  revenues  and  ^^os- 
sessions,  in  the  number  of  his  assistants  or  ministers,  in  the  weight 
of  his  influence  with  the  people  at  large,  and  in  the  sumptuousness 
and  magnificence  of  his  style  of  living.  Also  Valentinian  III.  had 
been  induced  to  publish  some  decrees  in  his  favor.  He  had  pro- 
hibited all  bishops  from  making  any  changes  or  innovations  without 
his  permission,  and  had  decided  that  his  enactments  should  be 
universally  regarded.  Still  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  no  more  than 
a  primus  inter  pares,  —  a  leader  among  his  brethren,  —  subject,  like 
all  the  bishops,  to  the  control  of  the  emperor,  who,  as  I  said,  was 
the  virtual  head  of  the  Church. 

The  churches  enjoyed  at  this  period,  as  they  had  done  from  the 
beginning,  the  privilege  of  electing  their  own  pastors  ;  but  in  the 
large  churches  these  elections  were  in  some  instances  ■  shamefully 
conducted.      They  were  even  carried   by  bribery  and  violence. 


670  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Thus,  at  an  election  which  took  place  at  Rome  in  the  year  366, 
when  Damasus  was  created  bishop,  the  contest  issued  in  a  bloody- 
warfare,  in  which  much  property  was  sacrificed,  and  many  lost 
their  lives. 

There  had  been  synods  or  councils  in  the  churches  from  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  ;  but  in  this  period  the  plan  of 
councils  was  much  extended,  and  there  came  to  be  held  what  were 
called  (Ecumenical  or  Cfeneral  Cou7icils.  The  first  of  these  was 
assembled  at  Nice,  in  Bythinia,  in  the  year  325.  It  was  called  by 
Constantine,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  settle  the  Arian  controversy, 
and  restore  peace  to  the  Church.  It  consisted,  as  is  generally  sup- 
posed, of  three  hundred  and  eighteen  members,  collected  chiefly 
from  the  Eastern  churches,  besides  a  great  many  spectators,  who 
were  drawn  together,  either  from  motives  of  curiosity,  or  to  in- 
crease their  knowledge  of  divine  things.  The  council  assembled 
in  a  vast  hall,  with  no  presiding  officer,  unless  it  was  the  emperor. 
The  members  came  in,  took  their  places  round  the  hall,  and  con- 
tinued standing  until  the  emperor  entered  and  took  his  place. 
When  he  was  seated,  the  members  of  the  council  were  seated  also. 
An  address  was  then  delivered  to  him  by  some  one  of  the  bishops ; 
to  which  he  responded,  and  bade  the  members  proceed  to  business. 
A  free  discussion  now  followed.  Individuals  of  different  senti- 
ments offered  their  opinions  ;  while  the  emperor  heard,  remarked, 
commended,  or  disapproved,  and  so  influenced  the  whole  proceed- 
ing as  to  bring  about  a  good  degree  of  unanimity.  Yet  he  did  not 
act  as  dictator  or  judge,  but  left  the  bishops  to  decide  all  questions 
of  faith  and  discipline  for  themselves.  He  regarded  them  as  the 
divinely-constituted  judges  in  such  matters,  and  only  wished  them 
to  come  to  an  amicable  agreement.  How  many  sessions  were  held 
by  this  council  we  are  not  informed ;  but,  when  the  business  was 
ended,  the  emperor  gave  to  the  members  a  sjDlendid  banquet  in  his 
own  palace. 

Of  the  result  of  this  great  council  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak 
in  another  connection.  The  members  were  brought  to  the  place 
of  meeting,  and  returned,  in  public  conveyances ;  and  were  sup- 
ported, while  together,  at  the  public  expense.  Few  councils  in 
modern  times  have  been  so  liberally  provided  for  and  entertained. 

This  first  experiment  of  a  general  council  was  so  well  approved, 
that  others  followed  it  in  frequent  succession.  The  second  was 
called  by  Theodosius  the  Great,  at  Constantinople,  in  the  year  381, 
and  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  bishops.     The  principal  object 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  671 

of  this  council  was,  still  further  to  define  and  settle  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  and  guard  it  against  the  perversions  of  the  Semi-Arians. 
The  Nicene  Creed  was  revised  and  enlarged  ;  and  that  which  is  now 
commonly  published  as  the  Nicene  Creed  is  more  properly  the  Creed 
of  the  Council  of  Constantinople.  This  council  also  anathema- 
tized all  the  heresies  then  known.  It  assigned  to  the  bishop  of 
Constantinople  a  rank  next  after  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  made 
such  other  regulations  as  the  interests  of  the  Church  seemed  to 
require. 

The  third  general  council  .was  assembled  by  Theodosius  II.,  at 
Ephesus,  in  the  year  431.  The  subject  in  dispute  still  was  that  of 
the  Trinity  and  the  person  of  Christ.  It  was  by  this  council  that 
Nestorius,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  was  condemned,  on  the  charge 
of  holding  that  in  Christ  there  are  not  only  two  natures,  but  two 
persons. 

The  fourth  general  council,  like  the  preceding,  was  assembled  at 
Ephesus  at  the  request  of  Eutyches,  the  chief  promoter  of  the 
Monophysite  heresy.  The  council  was  under  the  direction  of  Di- 
oscorus,  bishop  of  Alexandria ;  and  came  together  in  the  year  449. 
In  it  Eutyches  was  acquitted  of  all  error,  and  the  Monophysite 
doctrine  was  confirmed.  Such,  however,  was  the  violence  with 
which  every  thing  was  carried  in  the  council,  that  it  has  not  im- 
properly been  called  an  "  Assembly  of  Robbers." 

The  fifth  general  council  was  summoned  by  the  emperor  Marcion, 
and  met  at  Chalcedon,  in  the  year  451.  At  this,  the  decision  of  the 
"  Assembly  of  Robbers  "  was  revoked,  and  the  Monophysite  errors 
were  condemned.  And  here  we  have  the  origin  of  the  Monophysite 
heresy,  which  so  long  divided  the  Eastern  Church,  and  which  still 
divides  it.  The  present  Armenians,  Copts,  and  Abyssinians  are 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Monophysites,  as  the  present  Nestori- 
ans  are  of  the  ancient  followers  of  Nestorius. 

There  were  other  general  councils  besides  those  here  described ; 
but  they  do  not  fall  within  the  period  under  review. 

I  have  spoken  before  of  the  tendency  early  manifested  to  add  to 
the  ritual  of  the  Christian  Church,  —  to  multiply  outward  forms 
and  ceremonies.  This  tendency  continued  in  the  period  before  us, 
until  the  saying  of  Augustine  was  fully  verified,  that  "  the  yoke 
once  laid  upon  the  Jews  was  more  supportable  than  that  borne  by 
many  Christians  in  his  time."  These  new  rites  were  mostly  bor- 
rowed from  the  heathen  temples,  under  the  impression  that  the 
heathen  would  more  readily  embrace  Christianity  if  they  found 


672  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  rites  handed  down  to  them  from  their  fathers  still  in  use  among 
the  Christians,  and  saw  Christ  and  the  martyrs  worshipped  in  the 
same  manner  as  their  gods  had  been  in  former  times.  From  this 
period  there  was  little  difference  between  the  external  worship  of 
the  Christians  and  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  In  both  there 
were  splendid  robes,  mitres,  tiaras,  wax  tapers,  crosiers,  processions, 
lustrations,  images,  gold  and  silver  vases,  and  many  other  like 
things.* 

Christian  temples  at  this  period  were  greatly  multiplied  and  rich- 
ly adorned.  A  part  of  them  were  intended  for  public  worship  ;  but 
others  were  monumental  in  their  character.  They  were  built  at  the 
tombs  of  the  martyrs,  and  were  called  3Iartyria.  Both  were  fur- 
nished with  pictures  and  images,  and  consecrated  with  rites  bor- 
rowed from  the  heathen.  As  an  inducement  to  opulent  families  to 
build  churches,  they  were  endowed  with  what  was  called  the  right 
of  patronage :  in  other  words,  it  was  permitted  to  these  families 
and  their  descendants  to  say  who  should  occupy  the  churches  built 
by  them,  and  be  entitled  to  their  revenues.  This  right  of  patron- 
age has  descended  to  our  own  times,  and  has  been  a  constant 
source  of  corruption  in  the  State  churches  of  Europe. 

Another  custom  came  from  the  heathen  to  the  Christian  temples 
in  the  period  before  us.  They  were  used  as  an  asylum  for  fugitive 
slaves  and  criminals,  where  they  were  protected  for  a  time  from 
their  masters  and  from  the  officers  of  justice.  This  custom,  which 
may  have  been  benevolent  in  its  origin,  degenerated  into  one  of 
intolerable  abuse.  The  vilest  criminals  were  harbored  and  pro- 
tected in  the  churches  as  servants  of  the  priests,  and  were  often 
employed  by  them  for  the  basest  purposes. 

The  public  worship  of  the  Christians  still  consisted,  as  at  the 
first,  in  hymns,  prayers,  reading  the  Scriptures,  a  discourse  to  the 
people,  and  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  all  congre- 
gations did  not  follow  the  same  order  or  rule  ;  each  bishop  being 
left  to  prescribe  to  his  flock  such  a  form  of  worship  as  he  judged 
expedient.  The  discourses  at  this  period  were  not  the  simple  ex- 
hortations of  the  first  century,  but  had  become  artistic,  and  were 
better  calculated,  often,  to  win  admiration  than  to  impress  the 
heart ;  and  the  people  were  allowed  to  express  their  admiration 
by  cheering,  clapping,  and  other  noisy  demonstrations  of  applause. 
The  first  day  of  the  week  was  observed  as  the  weekly  sabbath, 

*  See  Middleton's  Letters  from  Rome. 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  673 

and  was  i)rotectecl  by  the  laws.  In  most  congregations,  five  annual 
festivals  were  also  observed ;  viz.,  those  in  honor  of  the  Saviour's 
birth,  of  his  sufferings  and  death,  of  his  resurrection,  of  his  ascen- 
sion, and  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Eastern  Chris- 
tians celebrated  the  Saviour's  birth  and  baptism  on  the  same  day 
(the  6th  of  January),  which  was  called  the  Epiphany  ;  but,  by  the 
Western  Christians,  the  25th  of  December  was  consecrated  to  the 
memor}^  of  our  Saviour's  birth.  This,  however,  was  not  fixed  be- 
fore the  fifth  century.  One  circumstance  which  decided  the  West- 
ern Christians  in  favor  of  the  25th  of  December  was,  that  the 
heathen  had  a  festival  at  this  time,  called  YiUe,  to  celebrate  the- 
birth  of  the  sun,  or  its  beginning  to  return  from  the  winter  solstice. 
It  was  with  them  a  time  of  great  merriment  and  rejoicing.  The 
Christian  fathers  hoped  to  conciliate  the  pagans  by  celebrating  the 
birth  of  Christ  on  the  same  day.  From  this  time,  Christmas  be- 
came, like  Yule,  a  season  of  merriment;  and  "  A  merry  Christmas  !  " 
is  still  the  first  salutation  of  the  day. 

For  the  more  convenient  administration  of  baptism,  baptisteries 
were  erected  near  the  churches,  and  furnished  with  fonts  and  cis- 
terns. Some  of  these  were  spacious  and  elegant  buildings,  in  which 
the  catechumens  were  accustomed  to  assemble  for  instruction. 
The  Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated,  not  only  in  the  churches,  but 
at  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  and  often  at  funerals.  -Hence  arose 
the  custom  of  saying  masses  for  the  dead.  Previous  to  distribu- 
tion, the  bread  and  wine  were  elevated,  so  that  they  might  be 
seen  and  reverenced  by  the  people.  From  this  practice  originated 
what  is  called  by  Romanists  the  elevation  and  worship  of  the 
sacred  symbols,  —  the  host. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  period  before  us,  the  love-feasts,  which 
had  long  been  observed  in  connection  with  the  sacred  supper,  were 
abolished.  They  were  so  grossly  perverted  and  abused,  that  it 
was  no  longer  possible  to  continue  them. 

Owing  to  the  superior  efficacy  ascribed  to  fasting  in  repelling 
the  assaults  of  evil  spirits,  the  number  of  public  fasts  was  in- 
creased. The  most  sacred  of  these  fasts  was  that  of  Lent,  al- 
though the  number  of  days  was  not  yet  definitely  fixed.  In  the 
sixth  century,  it  was  made  to  continue,  as  it  does  at  present,  for 
forty  days.  In  these  long  fasts,  however,  the  people  did  not 
abstain  from  food  and  drink,  but  only  from  wine  and  flesh. 

The  church-fathers  of  the  period  under  review  were  more  dis- 
tinguished for  talents  and  learning  than  those  of  any  previous  age. 

43 


674  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Among  the  more  eminent  of  them  were  Eusebius  Pamphilus,  the 
church -historian,  and  the  particular  friend  and  counsellor  of 
Constantine  ;  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria ;  Basil,  surnamed 
the  Great ;  Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem ;  John  Chrysostom,  the 
most  eloquent  preacher  in  the  ancient  Church  ;  Gregory  Nazianzen 
and  Gregory  Nyssa ;  Ephraim  the  Syrian ;  Hosius,  bishop  of 
Corduba  ;  Hilary  of  Poitiers  ;  Lactantius,  who  has  been  styled 
the  Christian  Cicero ;  Ambrose,  bishop  of  Milan  ;  Jerome,  the 
learned  monk  of  Palestine  ;  Augustine,  bishop  of  Hippo  ;  Rufinus  ; 
Leo  the  Great,  bishop .  of  Rome  ;  and  Paul  Orosius,  the  historian. 
Of  each  of  these  I  shall  give  a  brief  notice.  To  write  fully  re- 
specting them  would  require  volumes. 

Eusebius^  surnamed  Pamjjhilus,  bishop  of  Csesarea  in  Palestine, 
is  to  be  distinguished  from  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia,  as  being  a  far 
more  learned  and  respectable  man.  He  was  born  about  the  year 
270,  at  Csesarea ;  and  here  he  resided  ever  afterwards.  During 
the  first  half  of  his  life,  he  was  in  great  intimacy  with  the  martyr 
Pamphilus,  —  a  learned,  wealthy,  and  devout  inan  of  Csesarea, 
who  established  an  extensive  library,  from  which  Eusebius  drew 
his  vast,  stores  of  learning.  In  the  persecution  under  Diocletian, 
Pamphilus  was  seized  and  cast  into  prison,  Avhere  he  remained 
two  years.  Eusebius  was  constantly  with  him  during  his  long 
confinement,  endeavoring  to  console  and  strengthen  him,  and 
ministering  to  his  wants.  After  the  martyrdom  of  his  friend, 
Eusebius  fled,  —  first  to  Tyre,  and  afterwards  into  Egypt,  where 
he  remained  till  the  close  of  the  persecution.  Upon  his  return  to 
Csesarea,  about  the  year  314,  he  was  constituted  bishop  of  his  own 
city.  In  the  year  325  he  attended  the  great  Council  of  Nice, 
where  he  was  appointed  to  address  the  emperor  on  his  entering 
the  council,  and  had  the  honor  to  be  seated  at  his  right  hand. 
The  first  draft  of  the  Nicene  Creed  is  said  to  have  been  written 
by  him ;  to  which  the  term  oiwaawv  and  the  anathemas  were  after- 
wards added,  and  not  without  some  scruples  on  the  part  of  Eu- 
sebius. He  has  been  denounced  by  his  enemies  as  an  Arian,  but 
certainly  without  sufficient  reason.  He  believed  in  the  proper 
divinity  of  Christ ;  regarding  him  as  an  eternal  emanation  from 
the  Father,  and  consequently  as  in  eternal  subordination  to  him,  — 
"  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  very  God  of  very  God."  If  he 
was  not  a  strict  Trinitarian  on  the  ground  of  the  Bible,  he  was  so 
in  the  philosophic  sense  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Still  he 
was  a  liberal,  moderate  man  ;  belonged  to  a  moderate  party  in 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  675 

the  Church  ;  and  could  not  go  all  lengths  on  either  side.  About 
the  year  ^30,  he  was  offered  the  patriarchal  chair  at  Antioch  ; 
which  he  declined,  on  the  ground  that  the  ancient  customs  of 
the  Church  forbade  the  transfer  of  bishops  from  one  see  to 
another.  He  died  about  the  year  340,  —  some  three  years  after 
the  death  of  his  great  patron  and  friend,  Constantine. 

Eusebius  wrote  many  books,  the  more  important  of  which  are 
the  following  :  A  chronological  work,  entitled  "  The  Chronicon  ;  " 
his  "  Preparatio  Evangelica,"  in  fifteen  books  ;  his  "  Demonstratio 
Evangelica,"  in  twenty  books ;  his  work  against  Hierocles,  in 
defence  of  Christianity ;  his  "  Life  of  Constantine ; "  and  his 
"  Oration  in  Praise  of  Constantine."  But  the  work  by  which  he 
is  chiefly  known  and  valued  is  his  "  Ecclesiastical  History."  His 
was  the  first  proper  Christian  history  that  was  written  after  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.  He  had  access  to  the  best  helps  for  com- 
posing his  history ;  and  it  is  a  thesaurus  of  facts  and  documents 
respecting  the  early  state  of  the  Church,  which,  but  for  him,  must 
in  all  probability  have  been  lost.* 

Athanasius  was  born  at  Alexandria  about  the  j'ear  298.  He 
had  a  good  education,  and  early  displayed  great  strength  of  mind, 
and  uncommon  sagacity  as  a  disputant  and  a  man  of  business.  He 
was  ordained  a  deacon  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  He  became  the 
confidant  and  chief  counsellor  of  his  bishop,  Alexander,  whom  he 
accompanied  to  the  Council  of  Nice  in  the  year  325.  In  the 
business  and  discussions  of  the  council  he  was  very  active,  and 
acquired  much  reputation.  Upon  the  death  of  Alexander,  the  fol- 
lowing year,  Athanasius  became  bishop  of  Alexandi'ia  when  but 
twenty-eight  years  old. 

For  half  a  century,  he  was  the  head  of  the  Orthodox  part}^  in 
the  Arian  controversy.  This  rendered  him  extremely  odious  to 
the  Arians,  and  involved  him  in  disputes  and  sufferings  for  the 
greater  part  of  his  life.  False  accusations  were  raised  against 
him  ;  and  a  council  Avas  held  at  Ceesarea  in  the  year  334,  before 
which  he  was  summoned,  but  did  not  appear.  The  next  year,  he 
was  commanded  by  Constantine  to  appear  before  a  council  at 
Tyre,  and  answer  to  various  charges  against  his  moral  character. 
As  his  trial  proceeded,  charge  after  charge  was  shown  to  be  un- 
founded ;  and  the  prosecution  appeared  evidently  to  be  the  result 


*  The  History  of  Eusebius  comes  down  to  the  year  421.    It  was  continued  by  Theodoret, 
bishop  of  Cyrus,  to  the  year  427 ;  by  Socrates  and  Sozomen  to  439 ;  and  by  Evagrius  to  694. 


676  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

of  malice.  Socrates  has  recorded  one  article  of  charge  which  is 
too  clearly  characteristic  of  Arian  management  and  iniquity  to  be 
omitted.  Athanasius  was  said  to  have  murdered  a  person  by  the 
name  of  Arsenius,  to  have  cut  off  his  hand,  and  to  have  preserved  it 
for  magical  purposes.  In  proof  of  this,  a  box  was  produced,  out 
of  which  a  dead  hand,  dried  and  salted,  was  taken,  and  exhibited 
to  the  council.  It  providentially  turned  out  that  Arsenius,  who 
had  been  profoundly  secreted  by  the  Arians,  was  discovered  at 
Tyre  just  before  this  affair  was  introduced.  He  was  taken  imme- 
diately into  the  custody  of  Athanasius  ;  and  no  sooner  had  the 
hand  of  the  murdered  victim  been  exhibited,  to  the  council,  than 
the  victim  himself,  with  both  his  hands,  was  exhibited  alive  ! 

But,  nothing  daunted  by  this  defeat,  the  enemies  of  Athanasius 
despatched  commissioners  into  Egypt  to  hunt  up  new  charges  and 
witnesses  against  him.  Fully  satisfied  that  no  justice  was  to  be 
expected  from  such  a  tribunal,  Athanasius  now  left  it,  and  repaired 
directly  to  the  emperor  at  Constantinople.  The  account  which 
he  gave  of  the  transactions  of  the  synod  so  excited  the  emperor's 
indignation,  that  he  ordered  the  bishops  to  depart  immediately  from 
Tyre,  and  to  appear  before  him.  But  a  small  portion  of  them,  how- 
ever, dared  to  comply.  Only  Eusebius  of  Nicomedia  and  a  few 
others  came  to  the  emj^eror ;  but  these,  waiving  all  their  former 
charges,  endeavored  to  persuade  the  emperor  that  Athanasius  had 
threatened  to  stop  the  fleet  which  brought  corn  from  Alexandria 
to  Constantinople.  The  credulous  Constantine  listened  to  the 
report :  intrigue  and  falsehood  prevailed,  and  Athanasius  was  ban- 
ished to  Treves,  in  Gaul ;  and  here  he  remained  in  exile  until  the 
death  of  Constantine. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  emperor,  Athanasius  returned  to  Alex- 
andria. He  was  again  banished  by  a  council  at  Antioch,  in  the 
year  341 ;  his  see  was  declared  vacant ;  and  one  Gregory,  an 
Arian,  was  appointed  to  succeed  him.  He  now  fled  to  Rome, 
where  he  was  fully  justified  and  protected ;  and  the  proceedings 
of  the  council  at  Antioch  were  annulled.  In  the  year  347,  through 
the  influence  of  Constans,  one  of  the  sons  of  Constantine,  he  was 
permitted  to  return  to  his  see  :  but,  upon  the  death  of  Constans, 
Constantius,  who  was  an  Arian,  instituted  proceedings  against  him ; 
and,  in  355,  he  was  for  the  third  time  driven  away.  He  now  took 
refuge  among  the  recluses  of  Egypt  until  the  death  of  Constantius, 
—  in  the  year  361.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  most  quiet  and 
happy  part  of  the  good  man's  life.     He  was  greatly  beloved  by  the 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  677 

devout  religionists  among  whom  he  dwelt,  and  spent  his  time  in 
writing  letters  and  some  religious  treatises,  which  are  still  extant. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Julian,  Athanasius  once  more  returned  to 
his  flock ;  but  his  stay  among  them  was  short.  Julian,  though 
averse  to  persecution,  was  persuaded  to  send  Athanasius  away. 
He  Avas  in  exile,  however,  only  a  few  months,  when  Julius  was 
slain  in  battle,  and  Jovian  succeeded  him.  Jovian  immediately 
took  Athanasius  under  his  protection,  restored  him  to  his  flock, 
confirmed  him  in  office,  and  made  him  his  counsellor  in  religious 
things  ;  but  Jovian  died  in  less  than  a  year,  and  Athanasius  was 
again  left  to  the  fury  of  his  enemies.  The  Roman  Empire  was 
now  divided ;  and  Valens,  a  man  of  weak  mind  and  of  Arian  prin- 
ciples, became  the  emperor  of  the  East.  Not  long  after  his  acces- 
sion, Athanasius  was  for  the  fifth  time  expelled ;  and  the  governor 
of  Alexandria  undertook  to  drive  him  from  the  city.  Bilt  the  ven- 
erable bishop  had  prudently  retired  ;  and  for  several  months  he 
lay  concealed  in  his  own  father's  sepulchre.  No  wonder  he  should 
thus  seem  to  desire  and  to  anticipate  the  quiet  of  the  tomb. 

Valens  found  it  necessary  at  last,  in  order  to  appease  the  people, 
to  recall  their  bishop  ;  nor  could  any  exertions  of  the  Arians  in- 
duce him  to  disturb  Athanasius  more.  After  the  continued  changes 
and  sufferings  through  which  he  had  passed,  the  good  old  man  was 
allowed  to  spend  the  remainder  of^his  weary  life  in  peace.  The 
many  storms  which  had  beat  upon  him  were  blown  over ;  and  the 
sun  of  prosperity  shone  forth  to  gild  the  evening  of  his  days.  He 
was  spared  to  his  people  for  several  years  to  enlighten  them  by  his 
wisdom,  benefit  them  by  his  experience,  and  confirm  them  by  his 
holy  and  upright  example.  He  died  in  the  year  373,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five  ;  having  been  a  bishop  forty-six  years.  His  works  are 
chiefiy  controversial,  consisting  of  numerous  letters,  discourses,  and 
tracts,  several  of  which  are  still  extant.  Many  spurious  works 
have  been  ascribed  to  him,  one  of  which  is  the  so-called  Athana- 
sian  Creed. 

I  have  dwelt  so  long  upon  the  checkered  life  of  Athanasius,  that 
I  shall  be  under  the  necessity  of  proceeding  more  summarily  with 
the  remaining  fathers  of  this  period. 

Basil,  surnamed  the  Great,  was  born  at  Csesarea,  in  Cappadocia, 
about  the  year  329.  He  had  a  thorough  education,  and  was  em- 
ployed several  years  as  a  teacher  of  rhetoric  in  his  native  place. 
He  then  retired  to  a  monastery  for  thirteen  years,  and,  from  that 
period  onward,  was  a  rigid  ascetic  and  monk.     In  the  year  363  he 


678  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

was  called  to  Csesarea,  and  ordained  presbyter ;  and  in  370  he  was 
created  archbishop  of  the  province.  He  still  dressed  and  lived 
like  a  monk,  but  was  a  most  active  and  efficient  bishop.  He  cor- 
rected the  morals  of  the  clergy,  established  discipline  in  the 
churches,  promoted  orthodoxy  and  harmony  in  that  jarring  age, 
and  built  hospitals  for  the  sick  and  the  poor.  His  works  that  re^ 
main  are  very  numerous.  He  died  triumphantly,  on  the  1st  of 
January,  379. 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem  was -born  there  about  the  year  315,  and  was 
constituted  bishop  of  Jerusalem  near  the  middle  of  the  century. 
He  was  thrice  deposed  and  expelled  by  the  Arians ;  but  was  re- 
stored to  his  charge  by  Theodosius,  and  continued  in  it  till  his 
death  in  the  year  386.  His  "Catechetical  Lectures"  are  highly 
valued ;  being  the  most  complete  system  of  theology,  and  the  most 
circumstantial  account  of  the  rites  of  the  Church,  which  have  come 
down  to  us  from  so  early  a  period. 

John  Chrysostom^  the  eloquent  bishop  of  Constantinople,  was  born 
at  Antioch,  in  Syria,  about  the  year  354.  He  lost  his  father  in  early 
life,  and  is  one  of  those  distinguished  men  who  owe  almost  every 
thing  to  their  mothers.  His  mother,  Arethusa,  was  his  guide  and 
instructor  in  religion ;  and  she  secured  for  him  the  best  literary 
education  which  the  age  afforded.  He  became  pious  in  early  life ; 
and,  following  an  example  which  then  prevailed,  he  spent  six 
years  as  a  recluse  in  the  deserts  and  mountains.  Worn  out  by  his 
austerities,  he  returned  to  Antioch,  and  was  ordained  presbyter  in 
386.  During  the  next  twelve  years,  he  wrote  and  delivered  many 
discourses ;  and  his  reputation  as  a  preacher  was  very  high.  In 
the  year  398,  he  was  made  patriarch  of  Constantinople  ;  but  liis 
life  was  too  austere,  his  preaching  too  pungent,  and  his  disci- 
pline too  strict,  for  that  corrupt  metropolis.  He  soon  raised  up 
enemies,  —  at  the  head  of  whom  was  the  wicked  empress  Eudoxia, 
—  who  were  intent  upon  his  destruction.  They  procured  his  ban- 
ishment in  the  year  404 ;  and  in  three  years  afterwards  he  died. 
His  works  are  contained  in  thirteen  folio  volumes. 

Crregory  Nazianzen  and  Gregory  Nyssd  had  a  high  reputation 
among  the  theologians  and  controversialists  of  this  age.  Their 
works  are  numerous  both  in  poetry  and  prose.  They  were  at- 
tached to  Origen,  as  most  of  the  monks  were  ;  and  their  eloquence, 
though  admired  at  the  time,  is  too  wordy  and  grandiloquent  for 
modern  ears. 

Epliraim  the  Syrian  was  of  Nisibis,  in  Northern  Syria,  where  he 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  679 

spent  the  most  of  liis  life.  To  avoid  being  made  bishop  of  the 
place,  he  feigned  himself  crazy,  and  absconded.  He  was  a  great 
promoter  of  monkery,  but  a  man  of  genius  and  a  prolific  writer. 
It  is  said  that  his  hymns  and  prayers  are  still  used  in  the  Syrian 
churches. 

ITosius,  bishop  of  Corduba  in  Spain,  was  born  about  the  middle 
of  the  third  century,  and  hved  to  be  more  than  a  hmidred  years 
old.  He  is  thought  to  have  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  the  con- 
version of  Constantine,  and  had  great  influence  with  him  so  long 
as  he  lived.  Hosius  assisted  in  many  councils ;  and  would  have 
left  an  untarnished  reputation,  but  that  he  was  over-persuaded  by 
the  Arians,  in  extreme  old  age,  to  sign  an  artfully-written  Arian 
creed.     Little  or  nothing  of  his  writing  remains  to  us. 

Among  the  Latin  writers  in  this  period,  Augustine  of  ITippo,  in 
Northern  Africa,  stands  pre-eminent.  He  was  the  great  luminary 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived ;  and  his  influence  is  felt  even  to  our 
own  times.  Augustinp  was  born  at  Tagaste,  an  obscure  village  in 
Numidia,  A.D.  354.  His  father  remained  a  Pagan  till  near  the 
•close  of  hfe ;  but  his  mother  was  an  eminently  devoted  Christian. 
He  is  to  be  classed,  therefore,  with  many  other  excellent  Chris- 
tians who  have  owed  not  only  their  usefulness,  but  their  salvation, 
to  the  influence  of  a  pious  mother. 

Augustine's  advantages  of  education  were  good,  and  his  talents 
of  the  highest  order ;  but  his  early  life  was  one  of  continued  de- 
bauchery and  wickedness.  Li  philosophy  he  was  a  Manichee,  and 
by  profession  a  teacher  of  rhetoric  and  oratory.  In  the  exercise 
of  his  profession,  after  visiting  several  other  cities,  he  came  to 
Milan ;  and  here,  under  the  searching  ministry  of  Ambrose,  his 
heart  was  touched,  and  he  was  brought  to  consideration  and  re- 
pentance. His  convictions  of  sin  were  deep,  painful,  —  I  had 
almost  said  terrible,  —  and  abiding.  His  conversion  was  eminently 
satisfactory,  —  very  like  to  those  which  sometimes  occur  in  our  best 
modern  revivals.  Old  things  passed  away  with  him ;  all  things 
became  spiritually  new ;  and  he  was  prepared  at  once  to  renounce 
his  flattering  worldly  prospects,  and  devote  his  cultivated  and  bril- 
liant powers  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son. 

Augustine  was  thirty-three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  con- 
version. Subsequent  to  this,  he  lived  more  than  forty  years,  and 
was,  as  I  have  said,  the  great  luminary  of  the  Church.  He  was 
specially  instrumental  in  reviving  and  diffusing  spiritual,  evangeh- 
cal  religion.     His  contro^rsy  with  Pelagius  was  no  other  than  a 


680  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

struggle  for  evangelical  truth  against  one  who  impugned  it  and 
was  laboring  to  subvert  it. 

Augustine  lived  to  see  Northern  Africa  overrun,  and  his  beloved 
Hippo  besieged,  by  the  ruthless  Vandals.  In  the  prospect  of 
approaching  trials  and  sufferings,  it  was  his  daily  prayer,  either 
that  God  would  deliver  the  city,  or  that  he  would  give  to  his  ser- 
vants grace  to  endure  all  that  might  be  inflicted,  or  that  he  might 
himself  be  taken  out  of  the  world.  In  the  last  particular  certainly, 
—  we  hope  in  the  second, — his  prayer  was  heard.  In  the  third 
month  of  the  siege,  which  lasted  fourteen  months  in  all,  Augustine 
was  seized  with  a  fever,  which  terminated  his  life.  He  died  in  the 
year  429,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age  and  in  the  fortieth 
of  his  ministry.  He  was  engaged  in  most  of  the  controversies  of 
the  times,  —  against  the  Manichees,  the  Arians,  the  Origenists,  the 
Donatists,  and  the  Pelagians.  His  works  are  published  in  eleven 
folio  volumes  ;  the  more  important  of  which  are  his  "  Confessions," 
and,  his  great  work  "  De  Civitate  Dei."  Perhaps  no  man  has  lived 
since  the  days  of  the  apostle  Paul,  the  influence  of  whose  writings 
upon  the  religious  world  has  been  so  great,  so  enduring,  and,  on* 
the  whole,  so  happy,  as  those  of  the  renowned  bishop  of  Hippo. 

Hilary^  bishop  of  Poitiers  in  France,  was  a  native  of  that  coun- 
try, and  had  a  thorough  literary  education.  He  was  consecrated 
bishop  about  the  year  350.  He  was  the  great  opponent  of  Arian- 
ism  in  the  West,  as  Athanasius  was  in  the  East.  He  was  banished 
by  Constantine,  but  was  afterwards  restored.  His  principal  work 
is  on  the  Trinity,  in  twelve  books. 

Lactantius,  the  Christian  Cicero,  was  a  native  of  Italy ;  was  never 
a  bishop,  but  was  the  private  tutor  of  Crispus,  the  eldest  son  of 
Constantine  the  Great.  His  principal  work  is  entitled  "  Divine 
Institutions."  It  maybe  called  a  guide  to  true  religion;  being 
designed  to  enlighten  the  pagans,  remove  their  prejudices,  and 
bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Ambrose  was  nobly  born,  was  liberally  educated,  and  for  several 
years  was  governor  at  Milan.  In  the  year  374,  the  bishop  of  Milan 
died ;  and  there  was  much  contention  between  the  Arians  and 
Orthodox  as  to  a  successor.  In  the  Church,  the  two  parties  became 
tumultuous,  and  Governor  Ambrose  came  in  to  quell  the  disorder. 
A  little  child,  seeing  him,  spoke  out,  as  if  by  inspiration,  "  Let 
Ambrose  be  bishop !  "  The  crowd  caught  it,  and  repeated  the  cry; 
and  Ambrose  was  chosen  by  acclamation.  He  felt  constrained  to 
submit  to  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  ^all  from  God,  gave  up  his 


^  CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS    RITES,   ETC.  681 

property  and  his  worldly  honors,  received  baptism,  and  became  a 
laborious  and  self-denying  bishop.  It  was  under  his  instructions 
that  the  great  Augustine  was  brought  to  repentance.  He  had 
much  controversy  with  the  Arians,  and  was  frequently  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  emperors  after  he  became  a  bishop.  He  was 
strict  and  impartial  m  his  discipline,  and  had  the  courage  to  debar 
Theodosius  the  Great  from  Christian  ordinances  for  what  he 
deemed  his  excessive  cruelty  in  punishing  the  Thessalonians.  His 
genuine  works  are  not  numerous ;  but  many  spurious  productions 
are  ascribed  to  him. 

Jerome  was  born  about  the  year  331,  of  Christian  parents,  who 
gave  him  the  best  advantages  for  education.  During  the  first  half 
of  his  life,  he  was  a  laborious  student,  and  a  great  traveller ;  having 
visited  nearly  every  part  of  the  Roman  Empire.  He  was  at  this 
time  very  fond  of  classical  studies,  from  which  he  was  weaned  by 
a  vision  of  the  Saviour,  who  sharply  reproved  him,  and  gave  him 
a  terrible  flagellation.  He  now  addicted  himself  to  monkery,  and 
had  the  faculty  of  inspiring  others  with  the  like  spirit.  In  the  year 
382,  he  came  to  Rome,  and  infused  this  spirit  into  some  noble 
Roman  ladies.  Paula  and  her  daughter  were  induced  to  accom- 
pany him  to  the  East.  In  the  year  386,  they  came  to  Bethlehem, 
where  Paula  erected  four  monasteries,  —  one  for  monks,  and  three 
for  nuns.  In  the  first  of  these,  Jerome  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
days,  in  reading,  composing  books,  and  contending  with  all  who 
presumed  to  differ  from  him.  He  was  the  greatest  biblical  scholar 
of  the  age  ;  was  familiarly  acquainted  with  the  Latin,  Greek,  and 
Hebrew  languages  ;  and  did  much  to  promote  a  correct  knowledge 
of  the  Bible.  The  Latin  Vulgate  is  but  an  amended  copy  of 
Jerome's  translation.  His  greatest  fault  was  his  choleric  temper, 
which  scorned  all  restraint,  and  rendered  him  one  of  the  most 
caustic  and  abusive  controversial  writers  that  ever  bore  the  Chris- 
tian name.  He  has  been  proverbially  called  "  the  foul-mouthed 
Jerome."  His  works  have  been  published  by  the  Benedictines  in 
five  folio  volumes. 

Rufinus  is  chiefly  known  from  his  translations  of  Origen  and 
other  Greek  fathers  into  Latin,  and  from  his  bitter  contests  with 
Jerome. 

Leo  the  Great  was  bishop  of  Rome  from  the  year  440  to  the  year 
461.  He  was  a  good  writer,  an  indefatigable  bishop,  and  very 
successful  in  promoting  the  usurpations  of  Rome.  He  has  been 
said  to  have  possessed  every  virtue  that  was  compatible  with  an 


682  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

unbounded  ambition.  His  works  are  published  in  two  volumes 
folio. 

Oroshis  was  a  Spanish  presbyter,  who  came  into  Africa  in  the 
year  413,  and  was  ever  after  the  particular  friend  of  Augustine. 
It  was  Augustine  who  put  him  upon  writing  his  history  in  refuta- 
tion of  the  pagans,  who  charged  all  the  calamities  of  the  Roman 
Empire  upon  the  decline  of  idolatry,  and  the  consequent  anger  of 
the  gods.  Augustine  himself  had  the  same  object  m  view  in  writ- 
ing his  great  work  entitled  "•  The  City  of  God." 

Prosper  of  Aquitaine  was  not  a  clergyman,  though  he  was  a 
learned  theologian.  He  was  a  great  admirer  and  an  able  defender 
of  the  doctrines  of  Augustine  respecting  original  sin,  predestina- 
tion, and  grace.  His  writings  were  chiefly  in  opposition  to  Cassian, 
the  author  of  the  semi-Pelagian  heresy. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,    AND    CONTROVERSIES. STATE    OF   RELIGION. 

IN  treating  of  the  doctrines  and  errors  of  tliis  period,  let  us  first 
consider  those  errors  which  crept  into  the  Church  itseK,  and 
became  incorporated  with  it ;  and,  secondly,  those  which  led  to 
schisms  and  separations,  and  were  regarded  as  heresies. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  though  firmly  held  and  manfully 
contended  for  in  tliis  period,  was  not  held  in  precisely  the  sense  of 
the  apostles.  The  emanation  doctrine,  which  prevailed  in  both  the 
Gnostic  and  Platonic  philosophies,  and  with  which  the  Eastern 
world  was  filled,  had  crept  into  th^  theology  of  the  Church,  and 
appeared  even  in  the  Nicene  Council.  The  fathers  of  that  council 
believed  in  the  eonsuhstantial  divinity  of  Christ,  and  condemned 
Arius,  who  denied  it ;  but  the  Christ  in  whom  they  believed  was 
"God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  very  God  of  very  God,"  —  an 
eternal  emanation  from  the  Father,  essentially  subordinate  to  the 
Father,  and  dependent  on  him,  as  light  is  dependent  on  the  sun, 
or  the  stream  on  the  fountain.  Clearly,  this  view  or  explanation 
of  the  Trinity  was  not  derived  from  the  Scriptures,  but  fi^om  the 
philosophies  of  the  times. 

Another  doctrine  which  had  been  corrupted  was  that  of  justifi- 
cation hy  faith  alone.  This  was  incontestably  the  doctrine  of  Paul. 
Thrusting  aside  the  works  of  the  ceremonial  law,  on  which,  in  liis 
youth,  he  had  rested  and  gloried,  he  came  to  see  that  the  blood  of 
Christ,  and  that  alone,  was  the  foundation  of  the  pinner's  hope, 
and  that  this  could  be  appropriated  only  by  faith.  But,  in  the  age 
of  which  we  speak,  —  an  age  of  multiplied  rites  and  forms,  and  of 
abounding  superstitions,  —  a  system  of  formalism  grew  up,  wliich 
was  as  fatal  to  the  true  doctrine  of  justification  as  was  that  of  the 
Judaizing  teachers.  Men  macerated  their  bodies,  and  went  on 
pilgrimages,  and  made  costly  sacrifices,  and  hunted  and  worshipped 
relics,  and  toiled  through  a  burthensome  round  of  rites  and  forms, 

683 


68-4  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  then  trusted  to  what  they  had  done,  and  gloried  in  it,,  as  the 
foundation  of  their  hope.  This,  to  be  sure,  cannot  be  said  of  all 
who  lived  in  the  period  before  us.  Doubtless  there  were  many 
true  and  faitliful  Christians ;  but  such  were  the  tendencies  of  the 
times,  and  such  the  current  of  superstition,  which  was  rolling  in 
like  a  flood  to  ingulf  the  great  doctrine  of  salvation  by  Christ. 

An  undue  efficacy  began  early  to  be  ascribed  to  the  Cluistian 
sacraments ;  and  this  tendency  increased  with  years,  until  they 
were  regarded  as  of  a  saving  nature.  Baptism,  instead  of  being 
the  si</)i  of  regeneration,  was  regeneration  itself,  and  washed  away 
all  sin  up  to  the  time  of  its  being  administered.  And  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Supper  had  come  to  be  an  awful  mysterj-,  without 
which  no  one  could  hope  to  be  saved.  The  declaration  of  Clu'ist 
was  understood  literally :  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of 
man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you  "  (Jolin  vi.  53). 

Another  great  doctrine,  or  class  of  doctrines,  in  the  corruption 
of  which  the  whole  Church  participated,  were  those  pertaining  to 
the  state  of  the  dead.  The  earh'  Christians  believed  that  the 
righteous,  at  death,  went  directly  to  heaven,  and  the  wicked  to 
hell ;  and  that  the  states  of  both  classes  were  fixed  for  eternity. 
But  in  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  and  at  an  earlier  period,  the 
doctrine  prevailed,  that  wliile  only  the  martyrs  and  more  eminent 
saints  went  at  once  to  heaven,  and  only  the  more  outrageously 
wicked  to  hell,  the  great  majority  of  both  classes  passed,  at  death, 
into  an  intermediate  state  or  place  (a  kind  of  purgatory')^  where 
the}'^  would  remain  under  discipline  for  a  time,  —  perhaps  till  the 
general  resurrection.  This  doctrine,  it  is  well  known,  has  contin- 
ued in  the  Romish  Church  to  our  own  times,  and,  through  all  the 
intervening  ages,  has  been  a  perpetual  source  of  imposition  and 
corruption. 

There  was  no  system  of  theology  published  in  the  times  of  which 
we  speak  :  nor  had  there  been  at  any  previous  period.  The  best 
connected  account  of  the  theolog}'  of  the  age,  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  will  be  found  in  "  The  Catechetical  Discourses  "  of 
Qy\\\  of  Jerusalem.  These  are  plain,  didactic  treatises,  and  well 
adapted  to  the  age  in  which  the}'  were  written. 

We  have  spoken,  in  a  former  chapter,  of  the  theological  school 
at  Alexandria,  and  of  its  influence  upon  the  Church.  About  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century,  another  school  grew  up  at  Antioch,  a 
preparation  for  which  had  been  long  in  progress,  mider  the  direc- 
tion of  the  learned  presbyters  of  that  Church.     This  school  was 


DOCTRIXES,   HERESIES,   AND    CONTROVERSIES.  685 

particularly  useful  in  diffusing  among  the  clergy  a  taste  for  the 
thorough  study  of  the  Scriptures  ;  nor  did  it  follow  implicitly  the 
allegorical  method  of  interpretation  which  was  so  prevalent  in 
the  Alexandrian  school,  but  labored  to  exhibit  the  real,  grammati- 
cal meaning  of  the  inspired  Word.  Consequently,  some  of  the  best 
interpreters  of  the  age,  as  Eustathius,  bishop  of  Antioch,  Eusebius, 
bishop  of  Emesa,  and  especially  Theodoras,  bishop  of  Mopsuestia, 
had  been  connected  with  this  school.  The  greatest  biblical  scholar 
of  the  age,  as  I  have  before  remarked,  was  Jerome.  He  had  the 
honor  of  preparing  the  Latin  Vulgate  translation  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  has  so  long  been  used  in  the  Romish  Church. 

In  the  third  century,  there  were  those  in  the  Eastern  Church 
who  denied  any  proper  distinctions  in  the  Godhead,  and  received 
only  a  modal,  official  Trinity.  Such  were  Theodotus,  Artemon, 
Paul  of  Samosate,  SabelHus,  and  some  others.  In  opposing  this 
error  of  no  essential  distinctions  in  the  Godhead,  some  went  to  the 
other  extreme.  They  made  wider  distinctions  than  the  Scriptures 
warrant.  They  were  aided  in  this  movement  by  the  emanation 
doctrine  which  I  have  before  described.  Prominent  among  this 
class  of  heretics  was  Arius,  the  founder  of  the  Arian  heresy. 

Arius  was  a  presbyter  of  the  Church  at  Alexandria,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  fourth  century.  His  peculiarity  consisted  in  teaching 
that  our  blessed  Saviour  was  a  creature,  though  the  first  and  great- 
est of  all  creatures.  Even  in  his  highest  nature,  which  was  his 
only  nature  (for,  according  to  Arius,  he  had  no  human  soul),  he 
had  a  heginniiig.  There  was  a  time  when  he  ivas  not.  The  Gnos- 
tics and  Platonics,  who  professed  belief  in  Christ,  were  agreed  in 
regarding  him  as  an  emanation  from  God ;  but  Arius  represented 
him  as  a.  mighty  created  spirit  (literally  "  the  first-born  of  every 
creature  ")  who,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  became  incarnate  in  the 
person  of  Jesus,  and  died  on  the  cross  for  sinners.  Arius  had  no 
difficulty  in  applying  to  our  Saviour  the  names  of  God,  in  attribut- 
ing to  him  the  works  of  God,  and  in  ascribing  to  him  divine  honors. 
Still  he  did  not  believe  him  to  be  properly  divine  or  human,  God 
or  man.     He  had  no  human  soul,  though  he  had  a  human  body. 

After  various  fruitless  attempts  to  settle  the  disputes  respecting 
Arianism,  Constantino  convened  for  this  purpose  the  first  general 
council,  and  probably  the  most  general  council,  that  ever  was  con- 
vened. It  was  held  at  Nice,  in  Bythinia,  A.D.  325.  By  this 
great  council,  Arius  was  condemned  and  deposed ;  and,  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  emperor,  he  was*lDanished  to  lUyricum.     His  books 


686  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

were  also  burned ;  and  it  was  made  a  capital  offence  to  read  or 
retain  them. 

It  might  have  been  supposed  that  the  ruin  of  Arius  was  now 
complete  ;  but  the  event  was  far  otherwise.  The  character  of  the 
heresiarch  was  not  yet  fully  developed ;  nor  was  his  race  of  dissim- 
ulation and  error  run.  His  courtly,  intriguing  friends,  whose  pliant 
consciences  would  permit  them  to  subscribe  any  thing  when  their 
interest  required  it,  were  still  retained  in  the  imperial  palace  and 
family ;  and  by  their  means  Constantine  was  induced,  after  a  five- 
years'  banishment,  to  re-admit  Arius  to  his  presence.  This  was  all 
that  the  artful  man  desired.  He  professed  to  retract  some  of  his 
former  expressions  ;  and  had  no  difficulty  in  satisfying  the  emperor, 
who  is  represented  as  a  child  in  religious  discernment,  that  his  opin- 
ions had  been  misrepresented,  and  he  abused,  and  that  he  was 
really  an  asserter  of  the  Nicene  faith.  Constantine  was  so  far 
persuaded,  that  he  sent  him  back  to  Alexandria,  and  even  wrote 
in  his  favor  to  the  churches. 

But  although  Arius  returned  to  the  place  of  his  former  residence, 
fortified  with  letters  from  the  emperor  and  others,  he  came  thither 
to  no  purpose.  Athanasius,  who  now  filled  the  Alexandrian  see,* 
was  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with.  He  kncAV  the  character  of  his 
visitant,  saw  through  his  designs  and  artifices,  and  absolutely  re- 
fused to  admit  him  to  the  Church.  Nor  was  his  resolution  shaken 
by  the  subsequent  commands  and  threats  of  the  emperor.  He  per- 
sisted in  his  refusal,  and,  after  a  severe  struggle  against  absolute 
power  and  disguised  heresy  and  impiety,  was  himself  banished 
from  his  people  and  country. 

Arius  remained  at  Alexandria  for  a  time  in  a  kind  of  triumph ; 
but  it  soon  became  so  apparent  that  he  was  acting  a  double  part, — 
that,  while  pretending  to  support  the  established  faith,  he  was 
laboring  to  overthrow  it,  —  that  the  emj)eror  summoned  him  to 
Constantinople  to  give  an  account  of  his  conduct.  He  came  as 
required,  prepared  to  practise  new  impositions.  When  asked 
whether  he  agreed  to  the  Nicene  faith,  without  hesitation  he  an- 
swered in  the  affirmative.  He  readily  subscribed  to  the  creed ; 
and  when,  to  remove  all  doubt,  he  was  required  to  swear  that  he 
believed  as  he  had  written,  he  solemnly  swore  that  he  did.  That 
there  was  some  mental  reservation  here,  there  can  be  no  doubt ; 
and  Socrates  has  told  us  what  it  was.*  At  the  time  of  the  oath. 
Alius  had  concealed  under  his  arm  a  paper  on  which  he  had  just 

*  Lib.  i.  cap.  38. 


DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,    AND    CONTROVERSIES.  687 

written  his  real  sentiments ;  and  the  purport  of  the  oath  was,  in 
his  intention  of  it,  that  he  beheved  as  he  had  written  on  that  paper. 

The  emperor  now  could  doubt  no  longer.  He  appointed  a  day 
on  which  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  was  required,  under  severe 
j)enalties,  to  admit  Arius  to  communion  in  that  city ;  but  the  ex- 
cellent bishop,  Alexander,  was  not  Avanting  to  himself  or  his  charge 
on  this  occasion.  He  renounced  all  dependence  upon  human  aid, 
resolved  not  to  dispute,  but  gave  himself  to  prayer.  He  shut  him- 
self up  in  the  great  church  of  Irene,  prostrated  himself  under  the 
holy  table,  and  prayed,  that,  if  Arius'  opinions  were  true,  he  might 
not;  himself  live  to  see  the  day  the  emperor  had  appointed  ;  but,  if 
his  own  sentiments  were  true,  that  Arius  might  suffer  the  punish- 
ment due  to  his  crimes.  At  length,  the  day  of  trial  came.  The 
Arians  paraded  through  the  city  in  triumph,  with  their  champion 
in  their  midst,  and  drew  the  attention  of  all  the  citizens ;  but  the 
hour  of  retribution  was  hastening  on.  When  they  came  near  to 
Constantine's  forum,  a  sudden  terror,  with  a  disorder  of  the  bowels, 
seized  upon  Arius.  He  was  obliged  to  hasten  to  an  outhouse 
(latrina)  that  was  shown  him,  where,  with  a  vast  effusion  of  blood, 
his  very  bowels  gushed  out.     He  fainted  and  expired. 

With  regard  to  the  manner  of  Arius'  death  there  can  be  no 
dispute  :  respecting  the  cause  of  it  there  were  two  opinions  in 
ancient  times, — that  of  the  Arians,  who  ascribed  it  to  magic; 
and  that  of  their  opponents,  who  regarded  it  as  a  special  judg- 
ment of  God.  It  was  reserved  to  modern  ingenuity  to  assign  a 
third  cause ;  viz.,  poison.  Of  this  it  is  enough  to  say,  that  it  is 
improbable  in  itself;  and  it  rests  on  mere  suspicion,  without  a 
particle  of  proof. 

The'  cause  of  Arianism  was  destined  to  outlive  its  founder. 
Constantine  was  succeeded  by  his  three  sons  ;  the  second  of  whom, 
Constantius,  ruled  the  East,  and  eventually  obtained  the  whole 
empire.  He  was  a  superstitious  and  bigoted  Arian;  and  during 
his  whole  reign  a  contest  was  carried  on  between  the  Church  and 
the  heretics  by  arms,  and  other  resources  suited  to  the  genius  of 
the  parties :  those  of  the  former  were  prayers,  treatises,  and 
preaching ;  of  the  latter,  policy,  intrigue,  persecution,  and  the 
friendship  of  the  great.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  and  godly 
men  were  scourged,  banished,  put  in  irons,  and,  in  some  instances, 
put  to  death. 

During  the  short  reigns  of  Julian  and  Jovian,  the  Arian  con- 
troversy was  less  agitated  than  it  had  been  before.     It  was  re- 


688  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

sumed,  however,  under  Valens,  with  whom  Valentinian  divided 
the  empire  ;  the  former  riiHng  in  the  East,  and  the  latter  in  the 
West.  Valens  was  an  Arian,  who  imprisoned  and  banished  the 
friends  of  truth,  and  revived  the  persecuting  measures  of  Con- 
stantius. 

Arianism  next  made  its  appearance  in  the  West  under  the 
younger  Valentinian  and  his  mother  Justina,  but  was  in  a  measure 
suppressed  and  driven  out  of  the  empire  by  Theodosius  the  Great. 
It  was  driven  out,  however,  only  that  it  might  gather  strength, 
and  return  in  a  form  more  terrible  than  it  had  ever  assumed.  The 
dispersed  Arians  took  refuge  among  the  Goths,  Vandals,  and  other 
barbarous  nations  ;  and,  when  these  commenced  their  ravages  upon 
Rome,  among  all  the  other  miseries  which  they  inflicted  were 
mingled  the  horrors  of  an  Arian  persecution.  The  Vandals  in  a 
special  manner,  who  ravaged  Africa,  surpassed  all  the  other  bar- 
barous nations  in  their  cruelty  to  the  orthodox.  They  pulled 
down  the  churches  of  those  Christians  who  acknowledged  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  sent  their  bishops  into  exile,  and  in  various 
ways  tormented  those  who  were  nobly  inflexible  in  the  profession 
of  their  faith. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  omit  mentioning  the  miracle  which  is  said 
to  have  been  wrought  during  these  persecutions,  by  which  God 
was  pleased  to  show  favor  to  his  suffering  people.  The  miracle 
consisted  in  his  enabling  those  persons  whose  tongues  had  been 
cut  out  by  the  Vandal  king  Huneric  to  speak  distinctly,  and  to 
proclaim  aloud  the  divine  majesty  of  the  Saviour.  The  fact  of 
such  speaking  can  hardly  be  denied,  since  it  is  supported  by  the 
testimony  of  the  most  credible  witnesses  ;  *  but  that  it  amounts  to 
a  proper  miracle  is  not  so  clear. 

Arianism,  which  so  cruelly  triumphed  during  these  persecutions, 
was  crushed  almost  at  once  when  the  Vandals  were  driven  out 
of  Africa,  and  the  Goths  out  of  Italy,  by  the  arms  of  Justinian,  in 
the  sixth  century.  It  revived  again  in  Italy,  under  the  protection 
of  the  Lombards,  in  the  seventh  century  ;  and  was  not  extinguished 
till  near  the  end  of  the  eighth. 

The  great  opponent  of  Arius  in  the  early  part  of  this  protracted 
controversy  was  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria.  Next  to  him 
in  the  progress  of  the  discussion  may  be  reckoned  Basil,  Ambrose, 
and  Hilary  of  Poitiers. 

The  creed  established  by  the  Council  of  Nice,  which  was  some- 

*  See  Spirit  of  Pilgrims,  vol.  iv.  p.  427. 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  689 

wliat  modified  and  enlarged  by  the  Council  at  Constantinople,  and 
which  continued  to  be  the  creed  of  the  Church  general  down  to 
the  time  of  the  reformation  from  Popery,  is  as  follows :  "  We 
believe  in  one  God,  Almighty,  Maker  of  all  things  visible  and  in- 
visible. And  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  So;i  of  God,  begotten 
of  the  Father,  the  only-begotten,  i.e.  of  the  substance  of  the 
Father ;  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  very  God  of  very  God ;  be- 
gotten, not  made  ;  of  one  substance  with  the  Father  ;  by  whom  all 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  were  made  ;  who  for  us  men,  and  for 
our  salvation,  came  down  from  heaven,  and  was  incarnate,  and 
made  man,  and  suffered,  and  the  third  day  rose  again,  and  ascended 
into  heaven,  and  shall  come  again  to .  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead.  Also  we  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  those  who  say 
there  Avas  a  time  when  the  Son  of  God  was  not,  or  that  he  did  not 
exist  before  he  was  made,  because  he  was  made  out  of  nothing,  or 
of  another  substance  or  essence,  or  that  he  was  created  or  muta- 
ble, —  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  anathematizes  such." 

In  the  progress  of  the  Arian  controversy,  there  arose  another 
sect,  usually  denominated  the  semi-Arian.  These  men  regarded 
the  Son,  not  as  a  created,  but  a  derived  Being ;  begotten  of  the 
Father  from  himself ;  an  emanation  from  the  Father  in  something 
like  the  Gnostic  and  Platonic  sense  ;  partaking  of  the  very  sub- 
stance of  the  Father.  They  ascribed  divine  names  and  attributes 
to  the  Son ;  and  believed,  that,  with  respect  to  his  substance^  he  was 
self-existent  and  eternal.  Still,  as  a  distinct  person,  he  was  not 
eternal :  there  was  a  time  when  his  generation,  or  derivation,  took 
place.  It  is  likely  that  many  of  those  who  lived  and  died  in  a 
profession  of  the  Nicene  faith  were  in  reality  semi-Arians. 

Other  and  smaller  sects  and  disputes  grew  out  of  the  long-pro- 
tracted Arian  controversy.  Thus  ApoUinaris  the  younger,  bishop 
of  Laodicea,  while  contending  manfully  for  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
was  led  almost  to  set  aside  his  human  nature.  He  may  have  had 
an  animal  nature  ;  but  the  place  and  office  of  an  intellectual  spirit 
was  supplied  by  the  incarnate  Logos. 

Marcellus,  bishop  of  Ancyra,  taught  that  the  Son  and  Spirit 
are  distinct  e^nanations  from  the  Father,  which,  having  performed 
their  respective  offices,  Avill  return  into  the  substance  of  the 
Father  again.  Photinus,  a  disciple  of  Marcellus,  perverted  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  much  as  he  did,  except  that  he  denied 
the  personality  of  the  Spirit,  regarding  what  is  called  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  but  an  energy,  or  influence,  proceeding  forth  from  God. 

44 


690  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

With  liim  agreed  Maceclonius,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  whose 
error  was  condemned  by  the  second  oecumenical  council,  convened 
at  Constantinoj)le  in  the  year  381. 

The  disputes  which  originated  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries 
respecting  the  Trinity  and  the  person  of  Christ  continued  into  the 
fifth,  though  not  in  precisely  the  same  form.  The  inquiry  now  was 
as  to  the  union  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ.  Nestorius,  a  learned, 
pious,  and  eloquent  man,  and  bishop  of  Constantinople,  was 
charged  with  holding,  not  only  to  two  natures  in  Christ,  but  two 
persons.  His  real  offence,  however,  was  his  unwillingness  to  adopt 
a  phraseology  then  in  common  use,  and  call  Mary  the  mother  of 
God.  He  believed  that  she  was  yQioromyog,  the  mother  of  Christ ; 
but  not  &£oxoxog,  the  mother  of  God.  For  this  he  was  anathema-- 
tized  iDy  Cyril,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  in  a  provincial  council  held 
at  that  place  in  the  year  430.  To  be  even  Avith  his  adversary, 
Nestorius  called  a  council  shortly  after,  which  anathematized  Cyril 
in  return.  To  heal  the  breacli  between  these  two  great  prelates, 
Theodosius  II.  called  the  third  general  council,  which  convened 
at  Ephesus  in  the  year  431.  C3all  presided,  and  insisted  on  having 
the  question  settled  before  the  Eastern  bishops  should  arrive. 
Nestorius  objected  to  this,  and,  when  the  matter  was  pressed  for- 
ward, refused  to  appear  before  the  council.  The  result  was, 
that  Nestorius  was  condemned,  deprived  of  his  office,  and  sent  into 
banishment,  where  he  ended  his  days. 

But  this  rash  and  inconsiderate  council  was  far  from  putting  an 
end  to  the  controversy ;  for  when  John,  bishop  of  Antioch,  and 
the  other  Eastern  prelates,  for  whom'  Cyril  would  not  wait,  had 
come  together,  they  passed  upon  Cyril  as  severe  a  sentence  as  he 
had  passed  upon  Nestorius. 

The  commotions  produced  by  this  controversy  continued  long 
in  the  East ;  and  the  results  of  them  remain  even  to  this  day.  The 
followers  of  Nestorius  were  exceedingly  active,  propagating  their 
faith,  and  gathering  churches  which  rejected  with  abhorrence  the 
Ephesine  decrees.  They  established  a  famous  school  at  Nisibis, 
from  which  issued  teachers,  which,  in  this  and  the  following  cen- 
turies, carried  the  gospel,  as  interpreted  by  themselves,  into  Egypt, 
Syria,  Arabia,  India,  Tartary,  and  even  into  China.  For  the  next 
three  hundred  years  or  more,  no  class  of  Christians  so  much  dis- 
tinguished themselves  for  missionary  effort  and  success  as  the 
Nestorians. 

In  resisting  the  alleged  error  of  Nestorius  in  giving  to  Christ 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  691 

not  only  two  natures,  but  two  persons,  a  class  of  Cliristians  in  the 
East  ran  into  the  opposite  extreme.  They  held,  that  in  Christ 
there  is  not  only  one  person,  but  one  nature.  The  leader  in  this 
movement,  which  issued  in  what  was  called  the  Monophysite 
heresy,  was  Eutyches,  a  monk  of  Constantinople.  Having  been 
condemned  by  a  provincial  council  held  at  Constantinople,  and 
cast  out  of  the  Church,  Eutyches  appealed  to  a  general  council ; 
and,  to  gratify  him,  the  Emperor  Theodosius  II.  convened  one  at 
Ephesus  in  the  year  449.  This  was  entirely  under  the  influence 
of  Dioscorus,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  —  a  restless  and  ambitious 
man,  who  fully  syifipathized  with  the  error  of  Eutyches.  The 
consequence  was,  that  Eutyches  was  cleared,  and  the  doctrine  of 
one_n(iture  incarnate  triumphed.  This  conclusion  was  not  reached, 
however,  but  by  threats  and  violence  ;  and  the  council  that  pro- 
mulged  it  has  not  inappropriately  been  called  an  "  Assembly  of 
Robbers." 

But  in  a  very  little  time  the  scene  was  changed.  At  the  in- 
stance, of  Leo  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  the  Emperor  Marcion 
was  induced  to  call  another  general  council,  which  assembled  at 
Chalcedon  in  the  year  451.  Here  Dioscorus  was  condemned,  de- 
posed, and  banished  ;  Eutyches  was  also  condemned  ;  the  decrees 
of  the  "Assembly  of  "Robbers"  were  revoked;  and  all  Christians 
were  required  to  believe  —  what  all  Orthodox  Christians  still 
believe  —  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  subsisted  "  in  two  distinct 
natures  and  one  person  forever." 

But  this  council,  so  far  from  healing  the  divisions  in  the  East, 
seemed  rather  to  increase  them.  The  Monophysites  were  exceed- 
ingly active :  they  got  possession,  for  the  time,  of  the  sees  both  of 
Alexandria  and  Antioch  ;  and  the  Church  seemed  likely  to  be  rent 
asunder  by  them. 

To  allay  these  dissensions,  the.  Emperor  Zeno,  in  the  year  482, 
published  a  formula  of  concord^  commonly  called  "  The  Henoticon," 
and  invited  the  leaders  of  both  parties  to  subscribe  to  it.  The 
more  moderate  among  them  did  subscribe  ;  but  the  more  violent 
on  either  side  denounced  them  for  doing  so,  and  did  not  hesitate 
to  denounce  the  Henoticon  itself.  The  paper,  therefore,  served 
rather  to  increase  the  strife  than  to  allay  it.  Nevertheless,  it 
tended  to  weaken  the  Monophysites  ;  since  it  was  a  means  of  di- 
viding them  among  themselves.  Their  disputes  went  over  into 
the  next  century,  where  we  shall  hear  from  them  again. 

We  now  pass  from  the  controversies  relating  to  the  Trinity  and 


692  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  person  of  Christ  to  notice  several  others,  not  so  directly  doc- 
trinal, which  prevailed  in  the  period  before  us.  And,  first  of  all, 
there  was  the  standing  controversy  between  the  bishops  of  Rome 
and  of  Constantinople.  No  sooner  was  Constantinople  built,  and 
the  seat  of  empire  transferred  there,  and  a  bishop  appointed,  than 
•  a  rivalry  between  the  bishops  of  old  and  new  Rome  commenced, 
each  endeavoring  to  outstrip  the  other  in  the  extent  of  his  powers 
and  prerogatives,  and  in  the  race  of  ambition.  The  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople was  at  once  constituted  a  patriarchy  like  those  of  Rome, 
Antioch,  and  Alexandria.  Then  it  was  decreed  in  the  second 
general  council,  A.D.  381,  that  the  bishop  of  'Constantinople 
should  take  the  first  rank  7iext  after  the  bishop  of  Rome.  From 
this  period,  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  was  constantly  enlarging 
his  spiritual  domain  by  the  annexation  of  new  provinces,  until,  in 
the  year  451,  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  decreed  that  the  bishop  of 
new  Rome  ought  to  enjoy  the  same  honors  and  prerogatives  with 
'the  bishop  of  ancient  Rome,  on  account  of  the  equal  dignity  and 
rank  of  the  two  cities.  Leo  the  Great,  bishop  of  old  Rome,  strenu- 
ously resisted  this  decree,  but  in  vain  ;  for  the  Greek  emperors  sup- 
ported the  cause  of  their  bishops.  And  thus  the  rivalry  and  strife 
went  on  from  century  to  century,  until  the  Greek  and  Roman 
churches  became  permanently  separated,  as  they  are  to  this  day. 

Among  the  schisms  and  controversies  not  relating  directly  to 
points  of  doctrine,  we  may  next  notice  the  Meletian.  This  sprang 
up  in  Alexandria  near  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  century. 
Meletius  was  bishop  of  Lycopolis,  but  subject  to  the  patriarchal 
jurisdiction  of  Peter,  bishop  of  Alexandria.  INIeletius  disputed 
some  of  the  claims  of  Peter,  and  found  fault  with  his  discipline,  as 
being  too  lax.  For  this  Peter  censured  and  deposed  him.  Mele- 
tius disregarded  the  sentence  of  Peter,  and  continued  to  exercise 
his  functions  as  before.  Many  adhered  to  him,  more  especially  the 
monks ;  and  a  strong  party  was  raised  in  his  favor.  The  sect  con- 
tinued till  the  fifth  century. 

Not  long  after  Meletius,  Eustathius,  bishop  of  Sebaste,  in  Arme- 
nia, excited  great  commotions  in  Armenia,  Pontus,  and  the  neigh- 
boring countries,  by  his  rigorous  ascetic  notions  and  injunctions. 
He  prohibited  marriage,  the  eating  of  flesh,  love-feasts,  &c.,  and 
recommended  immediate  divorce  to  all  married  persons.  He  was 
condemned  by  the  Council  of  Gangra. 

Lucifer,  bishop  of  Cagliari  in  Sardinia,  though  apparently  a  sin- 
cere and  godly  man,  was  separated  from  the  Church,  on  account  of 


DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  693 

the  strictness  of  his  discipHne,  about  the  year  363.  Like  Eusta- 
thius,  he  continued  to  exercise  his  functions  as  before  ;  and  a 
schism  was  created  in  the  body  of  the  Church. 

But  the  most  important  schism  in  the  period  before  us,  growing 
out  of  differences  not  directly  doctrinal,  was  that  of  the  Do- 
natists.  The  main  question  in  this  protracted  controversy  was 
simply  this  :  Who  is  the  proper  bishop  of  Carthage  ?  This  question 
assumed  the  more  importance  because  Carthage  was  the  principal 
city  of  Northern  Africa,  and  its  bishop  was  thought  to  hold  a  sort 
of  primacy  in  the  African  Church.  Csecilian  was  chosen  bishop  of 
Carthage  in  the  year  311,  and  was  hastily  consecrated,  without 
waiting  for  the  assent  and  co-operation  of  the  Numidian  bishops. 
At  this  the  Numidians  were  highly  offended ;  and,  assembling  at 
Carthage  shortly  after,  they  appointed  Majorinus  bishop.  Here, 
now,  were  two  bishops  of  Carthage  ;  and  the  North  African  Church 
was  about  equally  divided, — some  holding  to  the  one,  and  some  to 
the  other.  Among  the  Numidian  bishops,  none  were  more  zealous 
in  this  matter  than  Donatus,  bishop  of  Casae  Nigroe  ;  and  from  him 
the  controversy  is  said  to  have  taken  its  name. 

The  Donatists  having  brought  their  cause  before  Constantino- 
the  Great,  he  submitted  it  to  three  successive  tribunals ;  in  each 
of  which  it  was  decided  against  the  plaintiffs.  The  Donatists  then 
appealed  to  the  emperor  personally,  and  desired  him  to  look  into 
the  question,  and  decide  it  for  them.  He  did  so  ;  but  his  decision 
also  was  against  them.  The  enraged  Donatists  now  cast  reproaches 
on  the  emperor  himself,  and  complained  that  Hosius,  bishop  of  Cor- 
duba,  had  prejudiced  his  mind  against  them.  This  moved  the 
indignation  of  the  emperor ;  and  he  now  (A.D.  316)  ordered  their 
temples  to  be  taken  from  them,  and  the  seditious  bishops  banished, 
and  some  of  them,  who  had  offended  personally  against  him,  to  be 
put  to  death.  This  was  the  first  example  among  Christians  of  at- 
tempting to  quell  religious  disputes  by  force,  —  an  example  which 
was  terribly  imitated  in  the  Arian  disputes  which  followed,  and 
in  the  carrying-out  of  which  the  Roman-Catholic  Church  has  since 
made  herself  drunk  with  the  blood  of  saints  and  martyrs.  It  was 
during  these  inflictions  upon  the  Donatists  that  armed  bands  were 
organized  among  them,  called  Circumcelliones,  for  their  defence. 
These  roamed  through  the  province  of  Africa,  filling  it  with  rapine, 
burnings,  and  slaughter,  and  committing  the  most  atrocious  crimes 
against  the  adverse  party.    These  violent  proceedings  furnished  an 


69-1  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

excuse,  and  created  a  necessity,  for  much  of  the  violence  which 
was  afterwards  inflicted  upon  the  Donatists. 

Constantine  subsequently  repealed  his  laws  against  the  Dona- 
tists, and  suffered  the  people  of  North  Africa  'to  follow  either  of 
the  contending  parties  as  they  thought  best ;  but  neither  lenity 
nor  force  nor  argument  nor  persuasion  could  overcome  the  obsti- 
nacy of  the  leacUng  Donatists.  They  continued  to  multiply ;  and 
the  controversy  continued  to  rage  down  to  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, and  far  into  the  fifth, — more  than  a  hundred  years  in  all.  But 
at  length  the  Donatists  became  divided  among  themselves;  the  au- 
thority of  the  emperors  was  brought  to  bear  heavily  upon  them  ; 
and,  more  than  all,  they  were  obliged  to  encounter  the  arguments 
and  influence  of  the  great  Augustine  of  Hippo.  For  the  most 
part,  Augustine  treated  them  kindly  and  tenderly,  and  exhausted 
all  mild  means  to  bring  them  to  a  reconciliation  ;  and  yet  it  must 
be  said,  that,  in  some  of  his  letters,  he  justified  a  resort  to  violent 
measures  to  an  extent  which  good  men  have  found  occasion  to 
regret. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,    AND    CONTROVERSIES.  STATE    OF    RELIGION. 

IN  the  previous  chapter,  I  gave  some  account  of  the  controver- 
sies in  the  period  before  us  relating  to  the  Trinity  and  the 
person  of  Christ ;  also  of  some  minor  controversies,  particularly 
that  of  the  Donatists.  We  are  now  to  consider  an  important  doc- 
trinal controversy,  —  the  Pelac/ian,  —  relating  to  the  subjects  of 
depravity  and  grace. 

This  controversy  commenced  at  Carthage  about  the  year  412 ; 
but,  looking  back  upon  it  in  the  light  of  history,  we  see  that  the 
public  mind  had  been  prej)aring  for  it  through  a  long  period.  On 
the  subjects  embraced  in  this  controversy,  there  had  not  been  for 
centuries  an  entire  unanimity  in  the  Church.  In  the  Western 
Church,  these  doctrines  had  been  inculcated  more  strongly  than  in 
the  Eastern.  Origen  in  particular,  whose  influence  in  the  East 
was  very  great,  had  leaned  so  strongly  to  the  side  of  free-will,  as 
almost  to  forget,  that,  without  the  aids  of  omnipotent  grace,  the 
human  will  had  been  enslaved  forever. 

Pelagius  was  an  inhabitant  of  Britain  ;  but,  as  the  ancient  British 
Church  received  its  teachers  from  the  East,  he  seems  to  have  been 
early  indoctrinated  in  the  Oriental  peculiarities.  The  natural  tem- 
perament of  Pelagius,  and  the  course  of  life  which  he  pursued, 
tended  also  to  favor  tlie  views  which  he  entertained.  His  disposi- 
tion was  mild  and  amiable  ;  and  instead  of  mixing  with  the  stormy 
world,  and  engaging  in  the  rough  conflicts  of  life,  he  had  been  ac- 
customed only  to  the  retirement  and  the  exercises  of  the  cloister. 
Of  course,  he  hardly  knew  in  his  own  experience  what  it  was  to 
grapple  with  strong  passion,  or  to  feel  the  indomitable  power  of 
sin. 

Of  the  particulars  of  the  early  life  of  Pelagius  we  know  but 
little.  He  never  aspired  to  the  clerical  office,  but  was  a  monk  and 
a  layman  to  the  day  of  his  death.     He  visited  the  monasteries  in 

695 


696  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  different  parts  of  the  emph^e  previous  to  the  disclosure  of  his 
peculiar  sentiments,  and  was  everywhere  esteemed,  not  only  for 
his  intelligence,  but  for  the  excellence  of  his  moral  character. 

As  to  the  real  doctrines  of  Pelagius,  there  has  been  little  or  no 
dispute.  He  held  that  the  sin  of  Adam  affected  only  himself.  It 
exerted  no  injurious  influence  upon  the  natural  state  and  character 
of  his  posterity.  Men  came  into  the  world  as  innocent  as  Adam 
in  paradise,  —  as  innocent  as  they  would  have  been  if  he  had 
never  sinned.  They  are  not  only  free  from  sin,  but  have  no  nat- 
ural proneness  or  tendency  to  sin :  so  that  the  sin  which  is  in  the 
world  may  all  be  traced  to  badexamples,  to  injurious  moral  influ- 
ences, to  external  temptations,  and  not  to  any  inherent  or  inherited 
corruption.  Pelagius  acknowledged,  in  terms,  our  need  of  divine 
grace,  and  our  obligations  to  God  for  bestowing  it ;  but  by  divine 
grace  he  understood  only  divine  instructions,  outward  means  and 
influences,  and  not  a  divine  influence  exerted  directly  upon  the 
heart,  exciting  it  to  the  exercise  and  practice  of  holiness. 

How  early  Pelagius  came  to  entertain  opinions  such  as  these  it 
is  impossible  now  to  ascertain.  It  is  certain  that  he  did  not  divulge 
them  till  late  in  life,  and  then  not  openly,  but  with  the  utmost  pre- 
caution. It  was  his  custom  to  &t^xt  queries  concerning  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church ;  and  these,  not  as  having  originated  with  himself, 
but  with  others. 

Near  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  Pelagius  came  to  .Rome, 
where  he  found  an  advocate,  by  name  Celestius,  who  was  easily 
led  to  the  adoption  of  his  peculiar  views.  Celestius  was  much 
younger  than  Pelagius,  and  more  bold  and  decided  in  the  expres- 
sion *of  his  opinions.  He  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and,  ever  after 
his  acquaintance  with  Pelagius,  was  his  devoted  follower  and 
friend. 

When  Rome  was  taken  by  the  Goths,  about  the  year  410,  great 
numbers  fled  into  Africa  ;  and,  among  the  rest,  Pelagius  and  Celes- 
tius. Pelagius  soon  retired  into  Palestine,  leaving  Celestius  at 
Carthage.  It  was  during  his  stay  at  Carthage  that  the  Pelagian 
controversy  may  be  said  to  have  commenced.  Celestius  wished  to 
become  a  presbyter,  and  proposed  himself  as  a  candidate  for  ordi- 
nation. As  he  labored  under  some  suspicions  as  to  his  orthodoxy, 
he  was  brought  before  a  council  at  Carthage ;  and  Paulinus,  a  dea- 
con of  the  Church  at  Milan,  appeared  as  his  accuser.  Six  heretical 
propositions  were  charged  against  him,  all  growing  out  'of  the  first 
and  leading  one  ;  viz.,  that  the  sin  of  Adam  had  mjured  only  him- 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  697 

self,  and  not  liis  posterity.  The  answers  of  Celestius  were  evasive 
and  unsatisfactory,  and  he  was  excluded  from  the  fellowship  of 
the  Church. 

Meanwhile  Pelagius  had  arrived  in  Palestine,  where  the  tone  of 
feeling  on  these  subjects  was  very  different  from  that  prevailing 
in  North  Africa,  and  where  some  of  the  leading  ecclesiastics  were 
not  unwilling  to  receive  him.  There  was  one,  however,  with  whom 
he  could  find  no  favor.  This  was  the  monk  Jerome,  who  was  now 
residing  at  Bethlehem,  and  pursuing  with  diligence  the  study  of 
the  Bible.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  Jerome  in  other  respects,  he 
seems  to  have  rightly  apprehended  the  natural  state  and  character 
of  man,  and  his  need  of  the  gracious  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Of  course,  he  could  not  endure  the  theology  of  Pelagius ;  and  it 
was  through  his  influence  that  the  latter  was  brought  before  a  synod 
at  Jerusalem  in  the  year  415.  But  John,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  was 
little  better  than  a  Pelagian  himself.  He  paid  little  regard  to  the 
charges  brought  against  Pelagius ;  accepted  his  excuses ;  and  so 
far  was  he  from  condemning  him,  that  he  was  disposed  to  treat  him 
with  peculiar  honor. 

The  accusers  of  Pelagius  at  length  proposed,  that  as  he  was  of 
Western  origin,  and  had  been  a  resident  at  Rome,  the  case  should 
-be  referred  to  Innocent,  bishop  of  Rome ;  and  to  this  the  synod 
and  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem  gave  their  consent. 

Little  satisfied  with  the  issue  of  this  first  trial,  the  opposers  of 
Pelagius  resolved  to  make  another  attempt.  A  council  was  con- 
vened at  Diospolis,  under  the  presidency  of  Eulogius,  bishop  of 
Csesarea,  before  which  the  heresiarch  was  summoned  to  appear. 
But  here  he  came  forward  again  with  his  old  evasions.  He  bdfceved, 
not  only  in  the  freedom  of  the  will,  but  in  the  necessity  of  divine 
gracej—rin  his  sense  of  the  term  grace  ;  and  this  was  enough  to  satis- 
fy his  judges.  The  result  was,  that  Pelagius  was  acquitted,  and 
accepted  as  a  faithful  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

As,  by  the  decision  of  the  first  council,  the  matter  was  to  come 
before  the  bishop  of  Rome,  both  parties  now  undertook  to  justify 
themselves  to  him,  and  to  prepare  his  mind  for  a  favorable  issue. 
Three  letters  were  addressed  to  him  in  the  year  416  by  the 
North  'African  Church,  in  which  the  bishops  accuse  Pelagius  of 
maintaining  free-will  in  a  way  that  exchides  grace,  at  least  in  the 
proper  Christian  sense  of  the  term.  In  connection  with  these 
letters,  they  also  sent  to  Innocent  one  of  Pelagius' .  books,  in 
which  several  passages  were  marked  for  his  consideration. 


698  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Pelagius  and  Celestius  also  sought  to  justify  themselves  before 
the  Roman  bishop.  Pelagius  wrote  him  a  long  letter,  and  sent  on 
a  full  confession  of  faith,  setting  forth  his  orthodoxy,  more  espe- 
cially on  points  not  connected  with  the  controversy  ;  but,  before  a 
decision  could  be  had.  Innocent  was  removed  by  death. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Zosimus,  whose  doctrinal  predilections 
were  with  the  Pelagians.  At  this  juncture,  Celestius  himself  ap- 
peared at  Rome.  _  He  had  several  interviews  with  Zosimus,  in 
which  he  endeavored  to  persuade  him  that  the  matters  in  dispute 
touched  no  important  point  of  doctrine  ;  that  they  were  questions 
of  speculative  controversy,  relating  to  the  propagation  of  sin  and 
the  origin  of  souls ;  that  himself  and  Pelagius  held  firmly  to  the 
doctrines  both  of  free-will  and  grace  ;  and  that  differences  of  opin- 
ion respecting  the  nature  of  divine  grace,  and  the  mode  of  its 
operation,  belonged  only  to  the  schools. 

These  explanations  were  enough  to  satisfy  Zosimus.  Accord- 
ingly, he  wrote  to  the  North  African  bishops,  charging  them  with 
having  decided  the  matter  too  hastily,  and  giving  the  most  unequiv- 
ocal testimony  to  the  orthodoxy  of  Celestius  and  Pelagius.  Of 
Pelagius'  letter,  he  said,  "  How  surprised  and  rejoiced  were  all 
the  pious  men  who  heard  it !  Scarcely  could  some  refrain  from 
tears,  to  find  that  one  so  thoroughly  orthodox  had  been  made  the 
object  of  so  much  suspicion."  The  new  pontiff  sternly  rebuked 
the  African  bishops  for  their  too  great  zeal  and  officiousness  in  this 
matter,  and  entreated  them,  in  the  name  and  authority  of  the 
apostolic  see,  that  they  would  restrain  their  curiosity,  and  submit 
their  reason  to  the  decisiojis  of  the  Bible  and  the  Church. 

It  -v^l  be  readily  supposed  that  the  African ,  bishops  —  at  the 
head  of  whom  was  the  great  .Augustine  —  would  not  sit  down 
very  submissively  under  such  a  rebuke.  They  were  conscious  of 
understanding  the  matter  far  better  than  the  "new-made  bishop  of 
Rome ;  and  the  time  had  not  come  when  his  letters  carried  with 
them  any  special  spiritual  terrors.  They  returned  him  a  respectful 
answer ;  and,  without  waiting  for  a  more  formal  decision  on  his  part, 
they  summoned  a  council  at  Carthage,  before  which  all  the  points^ 
in  the'  controversy  were  thoroughly  examined;  and  Pelagianism 
was  decidedly  condemned.  Meanwhile,  the  emperor  thought  it 
time  for  him  to  interpose  his  influence ;  and  from  the  year  418y- 
and  onwards,  there  appeared  several  rescripts,  couched  in  a  style 
more  theological  than  poHtical,  censuring  Pelagius  and  his  adher- 
ents. 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  699 

Against  such  an  influence  the  infallible  bishop  of  Rome  could 
not  long  maintain  his  ground.  He  summoned  Celestius  to  appear 
before  him,  and  submit  to  another  examination ;  but  the  heretic, 
foreseeing  the  result,  hastily  left  the  city.  Upon  this  Zosimus 
issued  a  circular  letter,  in  which  (in  express  contradiction  of  his 
former  views)  he  pronounced  the  condemnation  of  Pelagius  and 
Celestius.  By  the  authority  of  the  emperor,  his  letter  was  cir- 
culated through  the  whole  Western  Church  ;  and  all  bishops  were 
required  to  subscribe  to  it.  Those  who  refused  (and  there  were 
some  such)  were  banished  from  their  churches,  and  djiposed. 

I  have  said  that  Celestius  fled  from  Rome  previous  to  his  con- 
demnation by  Zosimus.  We  next  hear  of  him  at  Constantinople, 
where  he  was  opposed  by  Atticus  the  bishop,  and  where  he  was 
again  condemned. 

Pelagius,  who  had  remained  all  this  while  in  PalestinCj^  com- 
plained of  the  treatment  he  had  received,  and,  by  evasive  answers 
and  ambiguous  statements,  continued  to  impose  upon  those  around 
him.  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Augustine  wrote  his 
treatise  on  original  sin  and  the  grace  of  Christ,  which  opened  the 
eyes  of  many  as  to  the  real  nature  and  importance  of  the  subjects 
in  dispute. 

About  the  year  420,  Celestius  appeared  again  at  Rome ;  but  he 
was  not  suffered  to  remain.  The  probability  is  that  both  he  and 
Pelagius  retired  into  Britain,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives 
in  obscurity. 

The  Pelagian  heresy  did  not  die  at  once  when  its  original  pro- 
moters had  retired  from  the  scene :  the  controversy  was  continued 
for  a  time,  and  especially  by  Julian,  the  deposed  bishop  of  Eclanum. 
He  tried  to  provoke  a  quarrel  with  Augustine,  calling  him  the  great 
Goliath  of  Hippo,  and  styling  himself  the  little  David  ;  but  Augus- 
tine took  very  little  notice  af  him.  Finding  no  encouragement  in 
the  West,  Julian  passed  over  into  the  East ;  but  here  no  favor  was 
extended  to  him.  That  same  Council  of  Ephesus,  which  con- 
demned Nestorius  in  the  year  431,  condemned  also  the  Pelagians. 
From  this  period,  pure  Pelagianism  passed  into  comparative  obscu- 
rity. Little  more  was  heard  of  it  in  the  Church  for  a  long  course 
of  years. 

Still  there  were  some  in  the  Western  Church,  who,  as  they  could 
not  accept  the  system  of  Pelagius  on  the  one  hand,  so  neither 
would  they  embrace  the  doctrines  of  Augustine  on  the  other. 
They  sought  to^ompromise  the  matter,  —  to  split  the  difference, — 


•700  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  between  the  two  to  construct  a  theory  which  should  be  more 
nearly  in  accordance  with  the  truth  than  either.  Hence  the  origin 
of  what  has  been  called  semi-Pelagianism. 

The  principal  supporter  of  this  doctrine  in  the  ancient  Church 
was  John  Cassian.  He  was  a  Scythian  monk,  who  came  from  the 
country  bordering  on  the  Black  Sea,  and,  after  many  travels  in 
the  East,  settled  at  length  at  Marseilles,  where  he  was  the  founder, 
of  a  famous  cloister.  He  recognized  the  universal  corruption  of 
human  nature  in  consequence  of  the  first  transgression,  and  also 
the  necessity  of  grace  and  justification,  but  held  that  the  bestow- 
ment  of  grace  is  conditioned  on  the  free  self-determination  of  the. 
human  will.  And  yet,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  he  taught,  that  in 
some  cases,  though  not  in  all,  grace  is  prevenient.  "  The  question," 
he  says,  "has  been  much  discussed,  whether  free-will  depends  on 
grace,  or  grace  on  free-will ;  but  this  question  does  not  admit  of 
an  answer  which  will  apply  to  all  cases.  In  some  instances,  the 
first  incitements  to  goodness  are  from  the  grace  of  God ;  -in  others, 
they  are  from  the  will  of  man,  which  divine  grace  meets,  supports,, 
and  strengthens,  till  renovation  and  recovery  are  secured."  Tlius 
taught  Cassian  in  the  fifth  century ;  and  his  doctrine  found  accept- 
ance with  many  of  the  Gothic  monks  and  bishops.  There  were 
others,  however,  who  clung  to  the  entire  system  of  Augustine,  and 
regarded  the  new  explanations  as  heretical  and  dangerous.  Fore- 
most among  these  were  Prosper  of  Aquitaine,  and  Hilary,  bishop 
of  Aries.  At  length,  a  synod  was  held  in  the  south  of  France,  — 
the  very  seat  and  focus  of  the  semi-Pelagian  errors, — in  which 
these  doctrines  were  formally  condemned,  and  the  system  of 
Augustine,  so  far  as  relates  to  depravity  and  grace,  was  fully  ap- 
proved. This  decision  was  re^affii'med  by  a. subsequent  council, 
and  afterwards  by  the  Roman  bishop,  Boniface  11.  The  pontiff, 
in  his  letter,  describes  the  followers  of  -  Cassian  as  '■'■  offshoots  from 
Pelagianism^  who  refuse  to  acknowledge  grace  as  the  cause  of 
faith,  and  consider  that  to  be  a  work  of  corrupted  nature  which  can 
only  be  a  work  of  Christ." 

Of  remaining  doctrinal  controversies  in  the  period  before  us,  we 
shall  notice  only  two ;  viz.,  those  with  the  followers  of  Priscillian 
and  of  Origen. 

The  Priscillianists  were  the  last  issue  of  the  Gnostic  family, 
with  which  the  Church  of  Christ  has  been  troubled.  The  heresy 
appeared  in  Spain,  having  been  introduced  into  that  country  from 
North  Africa  and  Egypt.     Priscillian,  the  founder  of  the  sect,  was 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  "701 

a  nobleman  of  fortune  and  eloquence,  who,  having  imbibed  the 
error,  exerted  all  his  influence  .to  promote  it.  He  was  constituted 
by  his  followers  bishop  of  Avila.  He  was  banished  from  Spain  by 
the  Emperor  Gratian,  but  soon  returned.  He  was  condemned  and 
executed  by  the  usurper  Maximus  in  the  year  385. 

The  sentiments  of  the  Priscillianists  were  very  like  those  of  the 
ancient  Gnostics.  They  denied  that  Christ  had  any  real,  material 
body.  They  held  that  the  material  universe  is  not  from  God,  but 
the  production  of  some  inferior  evil  demon.  They  taught  the 
existence  of  -^ons,  or  emanations  from  God  ;  declared  human 
bodies  to  be  the  prisons  and  corrupters  of  celestial  minds ;  con- 
demned marriage  ;  denied  the  resurrection  of  the  body  ;  and  incul- 
cated a  severe,  ascetic  course  of  life.  These  doctrines  spread 
extensively  in  Spain  and  Gaul,  and  were  not  entirely  suppressed 
before  the  seventh  century. 

Origen  was  a  source  of  controversy  in  the  Church,  even  before 
his  death  ;  and,  after  his  death,  his  opinions  were  controverted 
more  or  less  for  several  centuries.     In  the  fourth  century,  Origen 

.was  denounced  by  Epiphanius,  Jerome,  and  Theophilus,  bishop  of 
Alexandria ;  and  was  defended  by  Rufinus,  the  translator  of  many 
of  his  works,  and  by  the  whole  army  of  the  monks.     In  the  year 

.  399,  Theophilus  of  Alexandria  convened  a  council,  which  con- 
demned the  Origenists ;  after  which  he  proceeded  with  an  armed 
force  to  drive  away  the  monks  from  their  cells  in  the  mountains 
of  Nitria.     The  exiled  monks  fled  to  Constantinople,  where  they 

_  were  favorably  received  by  John  Chrysbstom,  the  bishop.  Thus  a 
foundation  was  laid  for  the  quarrel  between  Theophilus  and  Chrys- 
ostom;  and  this,  with  other  things,  led  on  to  the  banishment  of 
Chrysostom  from  Constantinople.      The  controversy  was  revived 

^at  Constantinople  during  the  reign  of  Justinian,  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury ;  and  the  errors  ascribed  to  Origen  were  condemned  by  a 
general  council  in  the  year  553.  Among  the  errors  mentioned 
and  condemned  at  this  time  were  the  folio Aving :  The  pre-^existence 
of  the  human  soul ;  the  pre-existence  of  Christ's  human  soul ;  the 
animation  of  the  heavenly  bodies ;  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  for 
the  devils ;  and  the  final  restoration  of  the  devils  to  their  pristine 
state  in  heaven.  These  opinions,  so  far  as  they  belonged  to  Origen, 
were  held  by  him  as  mere  matters  of  speculation,  and  were  not 
inculcated  in  his  discourses  to  the  people. 

Having  spent  so  much  time  upon  the  controversies  of  this  period, 
it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  manner  in  which  these 


702  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

controversies  were  often  conducted.  The  ancient  simplicit}^  had  in 
great  measure  passed  away  ;  and,  in  place  of  it,  dialectical  quibbjes 
and  subtilties,  invectives  and  other  disingenuous  artifices,  had  suc- 
ceeded, indicating  a  desire  of  victory  rather  than  a  love  of  truth. 
New  sources  of  argument  had  also  been  invented.  Particular 
doctrines  were  thought  to  be  proved  by  the  number  of  martyrs  or 
of  ancient  apostolic  men  who  had  received  them  ;  or  they  were 
substantiated  by  prodigies,  or  by  the  confession  of  those  who 
were  possessed  with  devils.  Thus  the  great  Ambrose  undertook - 
to  confute  the  Arians  by  bringing  forward  persons  possessed  with 
devils,  who  were  constrained  to  cry  out,  in  the  presence  of  certain 
relics,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicene  Creed  was  true.  The 
Arians,  we  are  told,  ridiculed  the  prodigy,  insisting  that  Ambrose 
had  bribed  the  infernals  to  bear  testimony  in  his  favor.  The  at- 
tempt to  establish  doctrines  by  the  number  of  ancient  apostolic 
men  who  had  received  them,  led,  with  other  things,  to  the  mul- 
tiplication of  spurious  writings,  to  which  the  names  of  such  men, 
were  prefixed. 

We  close  with  a  few  remarks  respecting  the  state  of  religious 
feeling  and  life  in  the  period  which  has  been  reviewed. 

Notwithstanding  the  multiform  corruptions  of  the  period  over 
which  we  have  passed,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  there  was  still 
much  true  piety  and  godliness  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  ,  Some  of  - 
the  rulers  of  the  Church  were  godly  men,  who  exerted  a  strong 
influence,  according  to  the  light  they  had,  to  sustain  and  extend 
the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Such  were  Athanasius  and  Basil,  and 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  and  Chrysostom  and  Ambrose,  and  especially 
Augustine.  This  great  man  seems  to  have  been  raised  up  in  a 
dark  and  declining  period  for  the  purpose  of  reviving  the  Avork  ^ 
of  God,  and  restoring  to  their  place  and  influence  some  of  the 
more  important  truths  of  his  Word  ;  and  nobly  did  he  fulfil  his 
mission.  He  lifted  up  a  voice  which  resounded  through  the  ages 
of  darkness  down  to  the  times  of  the  Reformation,  and  which  has 
not  ceased  to  reverberate  at  the  present  day.  Still  it  was  proba- 
bly in  the  lower  walks  of  life  that  some  of  the  brightest  examples 
of  holy  living  were  exhibited.  The  histories  of  this  humble 
class  of  Christians  have  never  been  written.  Their  works  of 
benevolence  have  not  been  recorded,  and  will  not  be  known  until 
the  book  of  God's  remembrance  shall  be  opened  in  the  final  day. 

The  Christians  of  this  period  were  certainly  a  self-sacrificing  — 
class  of  people.     They  bestowed  of  their  substance  liberally  for 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  703 

what  tliey  regarded  as  works  of  piety  and  benevolence  :  tliey  not 
only  built  chiirclies  and  endowed  schools,  but  they  furnished  insti- 
tutions for  the  reception  of  strangers,  and  hospitals  for  the  sick, 
and  asylums  for  orphans,  and  almshouses  for  the  aged,  the  helpless, 
and  the  poor.  They  subjected  themselves,  too,  to  all  sorts  of  pri- 
vations and  austerities,  in  obedience  to  what  they  conceived  to  be 
the  calls  of  duty. 

Still  their  consciences,  as  a  general  thing,  were  not  well  enlight- 
ened ;  and  their  piety  ran  out  into  various  forms  of  superstition  and 
extravagance.  It  was  at  this  time  that  monasticism  became  an  in- 
stitution in  the  Church,  and  spread  itself  over  the  greater  part  of 
the  Christian  world.  There  had  been  monks  in  Syria  and  Egypt 
in  the  previous  centuries  :  they  multiplied  until  the  deserts  liter- 
ally swarmed  with  them.  Still  they  were  without  any  prescribed 
rule  or  form  of  government ;  herding  together,  or  living  apart,  as 
seemed  to  them  good. 

Pachomius  and  Anthony  were  the  first  who  gave  to  the  monks 
of  Egypt  a  rule,  and  formed  them  into  regular  communities.  The 
rules  Avhich  they  gave  were  soon  carried  into  other  countries  ;  and,' 
from  this  period  (the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century),  monasticism 
assumed  an  organic  form. 

The  monks  of  this  period  are  divided  by  Cassian  into  three 
classes,  —  the  ccenobiteSj  the  anchorets,  and  the  sarabaites.  The 
former  of  these  classes  lived  in  communities,  having  buildings  and 
gardens,  and  all  that  was  necessary  for  their  support.  The  mode 
of  life  pursued  by  the  second  class  was  much  more  rigid  and  re- 
volting. They  occupied,  the  rudest  and  most  secluded  recesses  of 
the  deserts ;  fed  upon  roots ;  and  had  their  dwelling  among  the 
wild  beasts  :  they  suffered  their  beards  and  nails  to  grow,  and 
their  bodies  to  become  hirsute  and  weather-beaten,  till  they  could 
scarcely  be  distinguished  from  the  beasts  themselves.  The  saraba- 
dtes,  or  third  class  of  monks,  were  no  better  than  vagrants.  They 
roamed  about  the  cities  and  provinces,  and  procured  a  subsistence 
without  labor,  by  pretended  miracles,  trafficldng  in  relics,  and  by 
various  other  impositions. 

There  was  yet  another  class  of  monks,  denominated  stylites. 
They  mounted  upon  .high  pillars,  and  on  the  tops  of  them  spent 
the  greater  portion  of  their  lives.  Simeon,  for  example,  is  said  to 
have  spent  thirty-seven  years  on  the  tops  of  five  different  pillars, 
of  six,  twelve,  twenty-two,  thirty-six,  and  forty  cubits'  elevation. 
He  took  food,  it  is  said,  but  once  in  a  week,  and  never  slept ;  he 


704  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

wore  a  long  sheepskin  robe,  and  a  cap  of  the  same  material ;  his 
beard  and  nails  were  very  long,  and  his  frame  exceedingly  ema- 
ciated ;  he  spent  most  of  his  time  in  prayer,  and  in  addressing  the 
multitudes  who  thronged  his  pillar.  He  died  on  his  pillar,  in  a 
praying  attitude,  in  which  no  one  ventured  to  disturb  him  until 
after  three  days.* 

If  it  be  asked  what  could  have  led  human  beings  to  pursue  such 
absurd  and  monstrous  courses  of  hfe,  I  answer,  Many  things.  Their 
conduct  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  one  cause,  but  to  many.  It  was 
induced,  in  part,  by  example.  There  had  been  recluses  among  the 
heathen  and  the  Jews  long  before  the  coming  of  Christ ;  and  many 
Christians  thought  it  a  shame  to  be  outdone  by  such  characters  in 
self-mortification,  and  deadness  to  the  world.  Then  the  philoso- 
phies of  the  times  —  the  Gnostic  and  Neo-Platonic  —  insisted  on 
the  necessity  of  neglecting  and  macerating  the  body,  that  so  the 
soul  might  be  delivered  from  its  contaminating  influence.  T\\q  mys- 
tic theology  too,  which  was  popular  in  these  times,  and  which  taught 
that  a  knowledge  of  God  and  divine  things  can  be  attained  only  in 
meditation  and  seclusion,  exerted  a  strong  influence  in  the  same 
direction. 

From  the  operation  of  these  and  other  causes,  monasticism,  with 
all  its  fooleries  of  superstitions,  became  immensely  popular.  Ad- 
miring multitudes  flocked  after  the  monks,  and  thronged  around 
their  pillars  and  their  cells.  Their  words  were  listened  to  as  the 
reponses  of  an  oracle.  The  refuse  of  their  garments,  and  the  very 
offal  of  their  persons,  were  regarded  as  treasures  of  the  greatest 
value. 

By  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  monasticism  was  trans- 
ported from  the  East  into  the  West,  and  spread  with  astonishing  ^ 
rapidity  through  Italy,  France,  Spam,  Britain,  and  some  parts  of 
Germany. '  Its  growth  was  greatly  promoted  by  the  translation  into 
Latin  of  a  spurious  mystical  work  ascribed  to  Dionysius  the  Are-.^ 
opagite.  The  first  to  organize  the  Western  monks  into  communi- 
ties was  Benedict  of  Nursia  ;  and  for  long  ages  the  Benedictines 
were  almost  the  only  order  of  monks  to  be  found  in  Europe. 

But  the  superstition  of  the  age  did  not  show  itself  alone  in 
monkery  and  its  connected  observances :  it  appeared  in  other 
forms.     The  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  —  that  source  of  untold  clerical 


*  We  read  of  another  Simeon  who  lived  on  a  pillar  sixty-eight  years ;  and  of  Daniel  the 
Stylite,  who  pursued  the  same  course  of  life  thirty  years. 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  705 

abominations,  —  though  not  yet  enjoined,  was  warmly  encouraged  ; 
while  second  marriages  were  held  in  abhorrence.  The  churches 
were  ornamented  with  pictures,  and,  in  some  places,  with  images  of 
the  saints,  which  were  held  in  the  greatest  reverence,  if  not  reli- 
giously worshipped.  Pilgrimages  were  undertaken  to  the  Holy 
Land,  and  relics  were  hunted  and  hoarded  up  as  the  richest  treas- 
ures. The  zeal  for  bones  and  relics  of  the  saints  gave  rise  to  end- 
less' impositions.  Graves"  of  saints  and  martyrs  were  alleged  to 
be  where  they  were  not ;  and  even  robbers  were  converted  into 
martyrs.  ■    ' 

There  were  some,  indeed,  who  undertook  to  withstand  this  tide 
of   superstition  and  corruption  which   was  setting   in   upon   the 

eWorld.  There  was  Aei'ius,  who  disapproved  of  alms  and  prayers 
for  the  dead,  and  strove  in  vain  to  bring  back  the  religion  of  Christ 
to  its  primitive  simplicity-  and  purity.  There  was  Jovinian,  an 
Italian  monk,  who  taught,  that  if  persons  keep  the  vows  which 
they  make  to  God  in  baptism,  and  lead  holj^^  obedient  lives,  they 
have  an  equal  title  to  the  rewards  of  heaven  as  those  who  mace- 
rate their  bodies,  and  toil  through  a  round  of  unmeaning  and  un- 
authorized ceremonies.  There  was  Vigilantius  too,  a  Spanish 
presbyter,  who,  after  having  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine,  came 
back  and  denounced  and  ridiculed  the  senseless  superstitions  which 
he  saw  prevailing  around  him.  But  such  efforts  were  but  the  work 
of  individuals :  their  voices  were  quickly  silenced ;  and  the  current 
of  superstition  rolled  on  as  before. 

I  have  spoken  abeady  of  the  tendency  of  the  age  to  a  dead 
Jormalism^  —  a  trusting  to  multiplied  rites  and  forms,  rather  than 
to  the  blood  of  Christ,  for  pardon  and  salvation  ;  thus  bringing 
back  the  identical  error  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  which  Chris- 
tianity was  intended  to  supplant.  There  was  also  a  tendency  to 
one  of  the  worst  forms  of  Ayitinomianism,  —  the  separation  of  reli- 

-gion  from  morality  ;  the  holding  that  men  may  be  good  Christians, 
and  yet  violate  some  of  the  plain  precepts  of  the  moral  law.  We 
trace  the  workings  of  this  error  in  the  pious  frauds  which  were 
continually  practised,  —  the  false  pretences  to  prodigies  and  mira- 
cles, and  the  palming-off  of  books  under  forged  names.  In  short, 
the  Jesuitical  principle  had  begun  already  to  show  itself,  —  that  it 
is  right  to  deceive  and  lie  for  a  worthy  object,  and  that  the  end 
sanctifies  the  means. 

But  after  all  these  abatements,  which  we  are  bound  in  fairness  to 

45 


706  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

make,  it  still  remains  a  truth,  that  God  did  not  leave  himself  with- 
out witness  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  There  was  still  much 
life  and  goodness  in  the  Church,  and  many  examples  of  holy  living 
and  patient  suffering,  and  earnest  contending  for  the  faith,  and^  per- 
severing labor  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  which  the  Church  in  every 
age  would  do  "well  to  imitate. 


PEEIOD    Y. 

FROM  THE  SUBVERSION  OF  THE  WESTERN  ROMAN  EMPIRE,  A.D.  476, 
TO  ITS  RESTORATION  UNDER  CHARLEMAGNE,  A.D.  800. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

EXTERNAL   HISTORY    OF   THE    CHURCH    DURING   THIS    PERIOD. 

THE  preceding  period  closed  with  the  overthrow  of  the  West- 
ern Roman  Empire,  in  the  year  476.  The  last  who  bore  the 
name  of  emperor  was  Romulus  Augustulus.  He  was  dethroned  by 
Odoacer,  a  Gothic  chieftain,  who  reigned  in  Italy  for  the  next  six- 
teen years.  He  retained  the  same  laws,  offices,  and  form  of  gov- 
ernment, to  which  the  Romans  had  been  accustomed ;  was  nomi- 
nally subject  to  the  Eastern  emperor ;  and,  though  himself  an 
Arian,  was  not  disposed  to  persecute  other  Christians.  At  this 
time,  the  different  tribes  of  Goths  were  in  possession,  not  only  of 
Italy,  but  of  Spain  and  Gaul ;  the  Vandals  had  ravaged  Northern 
Africa ;  while  Britain  had  been  overrun  by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  its 
churches  destroyed,  and  the  whole  of  what  is  now  England  had 
been  reduced  to  paganism.  The  Huns,  too,  —  the  most  dreaded 
of  all  the  barbarians,  —  had  ravaged  both  the  East  and  the  West. 
During  this  trying  period,  the  churches,  of  course,  suffered  greatly  ;• 
and  might  have  been  utterly  destroyed,  but  that  the  conquerors, 
after  a  time,  were  induced  to  change  their  religion,  and  become 
nominally  Christians. 

The  distresses  of  the  times  were  referred,  as  usual  by  the  Pa- 
gans, to  the  prevalence  of  Christianity,  and  the  consequent  anger 
of  the  gods  :  "  Every  thing  went  well  with  us  in  former  years  ; 
but  now  the  altars  are  forsaken,  and  the  gods  have  turned  against 
us."    To  refute  this  cavil,  Augustine  wrote  his  great  Avork,  entitled 

^  707 


708  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

"  The  City  of  God ; "  and  Orosius  wrote  his  seven  books  of  his- 
tory. Both  writers  endeavored  to  show  historically,  that  as  great 
calamities  had  befallen  the  empire  during  the  prevalence  of  Pagan- 
ism, and  that  the  gods  in  whom  they  trusted  had  no  power  either 
to  protect  or  injure  them. 

The  Eastern  Roman  Empire,  though  assailed  on  every  side,  still 
remained,  and  continued  to  drag  out  a  precarious  existence  for 
almost  a  thousand  years.  It  fell  when  Constantinople  was  taken 
by  the  Turks  in  1453.  The  reigning  emperor  in  the  East  at  the 
commencement  of  the  period  under  review  was  Zeno,  —  the  same 
who  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  Orthodox  and  the  Monophysites  by 
his  famous  concordat  styled  the  Henoticon.  He  died  in  the  year 
491,  and  was  succeeded  by  Anastasius,  Avho  married  his  widow, 
and  reigned  until  the  year  518.  He  was  succeeded  by  Justin  I., 
and  he  by  Justinian,  who  reigned  from  527  to  565,  —  almost  forty 
years.  These  were  times  of  great  dissension  in  the  East,  and  of 
earnest  theological  discussion.  The  churches  did  not  suffer  so 
much  from  palpable  persecution  as  from  internal  divisions  and 
controversies. 

During  the  period  before  us,  the  external  state  of  religion  in 
some  parts  of  what  had  been  the  Western  Empire  was  much  im- 
proved. As  remarked  already,  many  tribes  of  the  invaders  re- 
nounced their  idols,  and  became  nominally  Christian.  Various 
motives  led  them  to  do  this.  Some  thought  that  the  God  of  the 
Christians  was  more  powerful  than  their  own,  and  could  better 
protect  them  against  their  enemies  ;  others  had  married  Christian 
wives,  and  by  them  were  induced  to  forsake  their  old  superstitions, 
and  put  their  trust  in  Christ.  It  was  this  motive  which  led  to  the 
conversion  of  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks,  and  founder  of  the  French 
monarchy.  In  the  year  496  he  had  a  battle  with  the  AUemanns,  a 
tribe  of  Germans  ;  and,  when  his  situation  had  become  almost  des- 
perate, he  implored  the  aid  of  Christ,  whom  his  Christian  wife, 
'Clotildis,  had  often  recommended  to  him,  and  made  a  vow,  that,  if 
he  came  off  victorious,  he  would  thenceforth  worship  Christ  as  his 
God.  He  gained  the  victory,  and  he  stood  to  his  promise.  He 
was  soon  after  baptized  ;  and  thousands  of  his  followers  were  bap- 
tized with  him.  It  is  said  that  at  his  baptism  a  dove  descended 
from  heaven,  bringing  a  phial  of  oil  for  his  anointing.  If  the 
story  is  entitled  to  any  credit,  the  dove  must  have  been  a  carrier- 
pigeon  which  had  been  trained  for  the  purpose. 

The  kingdom  of  Odoacer  in  Italy  was  overthrows  by  Theodoria, 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF   THE  CHURCH.  709 

king  of  the  Ostro-Goths,*  in  the  year  494.  Theodoric  was  one  of 
the  best  montirchs  that  ever  reigned  in  Italy.  He  cultivated  the 
friendship  of  the  Romans,  and  governed  them  according  to  their 
own  laws.  Though  unaLle  to  read  or  write,  he  showed  himself 
the  friend  and  promoter  of  learning  and  of  learned  men.  He  was 
an  Arian  in  religion,  as  Avere  most  of  those  who  subverted  the 
Roman  Empire  ;  yet  he  forbore  persecution  himself,  and  discour- 
aged it  in  others,  insisting  that,  in  matters  of  conscience,  men  should 
be  free.  He  professed  a  nominal  subjection  to  the  Eastern  emper- 
ors, as  did  also  his  successors ;  but  in  reality  the  government  was 
independent.  He  died  in  the  year  526,  after  a  prosperous  reign  of 
thirty  years.  The  kingdom  of  the  Ostro-Goths  in  Italy  continued 
until  the  year  554,  when  it  was  overthrown  by  Narses,  one  of 
Justinian's  generals. 

The  reign  of  Justmian  was  long,  and  prosperous  to  the  Church. 
By  his  missionaries,  he  succeeded  in  the  conversion  of  several  bar- 
barous tribes  who  resided  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea ;  also  in 
the  conversion  of  the  Heruli  and  other  tribes  of  Goths.  In  his 
reign,  too,  it  is  said  that  a  great  many  Jews  made  a  profession  of 
Christianity,  induced  to  it,  probably,  by  the  promise  of  rewards. 
Though  not  himself  a  military  man,  Justinian  was  peculiarly  for- 
tunate in  the  selection  of  his  generals.  Under  the  direction  of 
Belisarius,  the  Vandals  were  driven  out  of  Africa,  which  they  had 
held  in  possession  almost  a  hundred  years.  By  Belisarius  and  Nar- 
ses the  kingdom  of  the  Ostro-Goths  in  Italy  was  overthrown  when 
it  had  subsisted  about  sixty  years.  By  these  great  conquests,  the 
Roman  power  was  re-established  in  a  considerable  part  of  what  had 
been  the  Western  Empire. 

Though  represented  as  a  weak  and  superstitious  man,  Justinian 
accomplished  another  great  work  for  the  Romans.  He  caused  to 
be  prepared  and  published  a  digest  of  Roman  laws.  This  was  a 
prodigious  undertaking.  It  was  to  collect  and  arrange  in  methodi- 
cal order  all  that  was  useful  in  the  works,  of  the  ancient  lawyers, 
amounting  to  more  than  two  thousand  volumes.  This  great  work, 
entitled  "  The  Pandects  of  Justinian,"  is  studied  and  valued  at  the 
present  day. 

I  have  before  spoken  of  the  disaster  which  came  upon  the  ancient 
British  churches  from  the  invasion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.     In  the 


*  Ostro-Goths,  i.e.  Eastern  Goths,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Visi-Goths,  or  Western  Goths. 
The  Suavi,  Heruli,  Alans,  AUemanns,  &c.,  were  only  names  of  different  tribes  of  Goths. 


710  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

greater  part  of  what  is  now  England,  Christianity  was  extirpated, 
and  German  Paganism  took  its  place.  Thor  and  Woolen  were 
worshipped  instead  of  God,  and  Christian  pastors  were  succeeded 
by  Druidical  priests.  The  war  between  the  Britons  and  Saxons 
continued  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  during  which  time  vast 
multitudes  of  the  native  Christians  were  destroyed ;  and  what  re- 
mained were  driven  into  the  fastnesses  of  Wales,  or  into  foreign 
lands.  Many  of  them  fled  into  France,  and  settled  the  province 
which  is  still  named  for  them,  Brittany.  The  government  of  Eng- 
land was  entirely  changed.  In  place  of  the  ancient  monarchs,  seven 
Saxon  chieftans  ruled  over  as  many  provinces  ;  and  the  government 
of  the  whole  was  styled  a  heptarchy. 

Near  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  Christianity  was  again  intro- 
duced into  England,  and  from  two  opposite  quarters  at  the  same 
time.  Augustine,  with  forty  other  monks  or  missionaries,  was  sent 
by  Gregory,  bishop  of  Rome,  to  publish  the  gospel  in  the  south  of 
England.  He  succeeded  in  the  conversion  of  the  Idng  of  Kent ; 
and  the  greater  part  of  his  kingdom  —  at  that  time  the  most  pow- 
erful branch  of  the  heptarchy  —  was  soon  persuaded  to  embrace 
the  religion  of  Rome. 

Meanwhile  Oswald,  king  of  Northumberland,  — the  northernmost 
branch  of  the  heptarchy,  —  applied  for  teachers  to  another  source. 
A  missionary  school  or  convent  had  been  for  some  time  established 
at.  lona,  one  of  the  Hebrides  Islands,  under  the  direction  of  Co- 
lumba,  an  Irish  monk,  from  which  proceeded,  for  a  long  course  of 
years,  a  most  valuable  class  of  missionaries,  called  Culdees.  For 
one  of  these,  Oswald  made  application ;  and  Aidan  was  -sent  to  in- 
struct him  in  the  faith.  The  character  of  this  missionary  would 
have  done  honor  to  the  purest  times.  He  gave  to  the  poor  what- 
ever presents  he  received  from  the  rich,  and  diligently  employed 
himself  with  his  associates  in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
He  strictly  avoided  every  thing  luxurious,  and  every  appearance 
of  secular  avarice  and  ambition.  He  redeemed  captives  with  the 
money  that  was  given  to  him,  and  afterwards  instructed  them,  and 
fitted  them  for  the  ministry.  He  labored  under  a  disadvantage, 
indeed,  in  not  being  able  to  speak  the  language  of  the  English ; 
but  King  Oswald,  who  perfectly  understood  both  languages,  acted 
as  his  interpreter,  and  did  what  he  could  to  assist  him  in  his  labors. 
The  zeal  of  this  monarch  was  extraordinar3^  He  was  a  nursing 
father  to  the  infant  Church.  Encouraged  by  his  protection,  more 
missionaries  came  from  lona ;  and  churches  in  considerable  numbers 
were  gathered. 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH.  711 

Aidan  was  their  first  bisliop,  and  had  his  seat  at  Lindisfarne,  a 
small  island  in  the  German  Sea.  He  was  succeeded  in  office  by 
Finan,  and  he  by  Colman ;  both  of  whom  were  ordained  and  sent 
forth  from  the  school  at  lona. 

This  work  of  evangelizing  England  being  commenced  in  the 
south  by  missionaries  from  Rome,  and  in  the  north  by  missiona- 
ries from  lona,  in  a  little  time  the  two  classes  of  teachers  came 
together ;  when  it  was  found,  that,  on  several  points  of  doctrine 
and  practice,  they  did  not  agree.  Theydiffered  as  to  the  proper 
time  of  observing  Easter ;  the  northern  missionaries  following  on 
this  point  the  Asiatic  churches,  and  the  southern  the  Church  of 
Rome.  The  northern  missionaries  did  not  practise  auricular  con- 
fession ;  they  rejected  penance  and  priestly  absolution  ;  they  made 
no  use  of  chrism  in  baptism,  or  of  confirmation  ;  they  opposed  the 
doctrine  of  the  real  presence ;  they  condemned  the  worship  of 
saints  and  angels  ;  they  dedicated  their  churches  to  God,  and  not  to 
the  saints ;  they  placed  no  reliance  on  merits  of  any  kind,  except 
the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ ;  they  were  opposed  to  the  celibacy  of  the 
clergy,  and  were  themselves  married  men.  In  short,  they  were  wit- 
nesses to  the  simple  truths  and  institutions  of  the  gospel  in  an 
age  of  abounding  and  increasing  darkness  and  superstition. 

Controversies  on  these  points,  as  might  be  expected,  soon  sprang 
up  in  England.  Various  synods  and  conferences  were  held  with  a 
view  to  reconciling  differences  ;  but  in  vain.  The  emissaries  from 
Rome  were  bigoted  and  overbearing.  The  missionaries  from  lona 
had  learned  their  religion  from  the  Bible,  and  could  not  be  convinced 
on  any  other  authority.  The  kings,  however,  rather  inclined  to  the 
customs  of  Rome,  as  being  the  more  fascinating  and  imposing ;  and 
the  Scots  were  obliged,  after  a  time,  to  give  way.  Colman,  the 
-third  bishop  from  lona,  left  his  charge  in  the  year  662,  and  returned, 
with  many  of  his  adherents,  into  Scotland.  Bede  informs  us,  that, 
"  the  Catholic  institution  daily  increasing,  all  the  Scots  who  resided 
among  the  Angles  either  confirmed  to  it,  or  returned  to  their  own 
country." 

But,  though  the  Culdees  were  shut  out  of  England,  they  did  not 
relax  their  exertions  to  propagate  the  gospel.  They  labored  with 
great  earnestness  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  Wales,  and  in  Batavia,  or 
what  is  now  Holland.  In  Scotland,  the  influence  of  the  Culdees 
continued,  with  little  abatement,  until  the  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth century. 

While  these  good  men  were  laboring  in  England,  Columbanus, 


712  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

another  Irish  missionary,  was  spreading  the  light  of  truth  in  Gaul 
and  in  some  parts  of  Germany.  Indeed,  Ireland  at  this  period  — 
owing  to  the  previous  efforts  of  St.  Patrick  and  his  followers — was 
more  noted  for  religion  than  any  other  part  of  Europe.  It  was 
styled,  not  improperly,  insula  sanctorum  (an  island  of  saints). 

The  most  successful  missionaries  in  the  East,  at  this  time,  Avere 
the  Nestorians.  From  their  home  in  Persia,  they  were  extending 
their  labors  all  through  what  is  now  Tartary,  or  Central  Asia,  filhng 
it  with  churches,  and  with  at  least  a  nominal  Christianity.  As 
early  as  the  seventh  century  they  reached  China,  and  commenced 
operations  there.  A  monument  was  discovered  in  the  year  1625 
at  Si-an-fu,  in  the  province  of  Schen-si,  the  genuineness  of  which  is 
generally  admitted,  which  records  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  China  by  the  Nestorians  in  the  year  636.  This  monument  is 
a  marble  slab,  ten  feet  long  and  five  feet  broad,  the  top  of  which 
is  a  pyramidal  cross.  The  caption  to  the  inscription  is  thus  trans- 
lated :  "  This  stone  was  erected  to  the  honor  and  eternal  memory 
of  the  Law  of  Light  and  Truth,  brought  from  Tacin  "  (i.e.,  Judgea 
or  Syria),  "  and  promulgated  in  China."  The  principal  inscription 
is  in  Chinese  characters,  and  consists  of  twenty-eight  columns,  each 
containing  sixty-two  words.  It  first  states  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity ;  and  then  mentions  the  arrival  of  missiona- 
ries in  the  year  636,  their  gracious  reception  by  the  king,  their  la- 
bors and  success,  and  the  principal  events  of  the  mission,  until  the 
year  780.  During  this  time,  there  were  two  persecutions;  Soon 
after  the  second  persecution,  some  new  missionaries  arrived.  The 
monument  was  erected  in  782.  At  the  time  of  its  discovery,  this 
stone  had  fallen,  and  was  covered  with  earth.  Of  its  genuineness 
I  think  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt ;  and,  if  genuine,  it  cer- 
tainly is  a  monument  of  the  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  the  Nestorian 
missionaries  in  the  ages  of  which  we  speak.*' 

One  of  the  most  successful  missionaries  in  these  times  Avas  Boni- 
face, sometimes  called  "  the  Apostle  of  Germany."  He  Avas  an 
English  Benedictine  monk,  of  noble  birth,  whose  proper  name  was 
Winifrid.  He  commenced  his  labors  among  the  Frieslanders, 
Thuringians,  and  Hessians,  in  719,  and  continued  them  for  more 
than  forty  years.  In  723,  he  was  ordained  a  bishop  at  Rome  ;  and 
in  746  he  was  constituted  archbishop  of  Mentz,  and  primate  of 
Germany  and  Belgium.     He  was  supported  by  the  pope  of  Rome, 

*  Fac-similes  of  this  monument  are  now  common  in  some  parts  of  North  China.  The  tab- 
let itself  has  been  seen  and  examined  by  American  missionaries. 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH.  713 

and  by  Charles  Martel  and  his  sons  Caiioman  and  Pepin;  and 
seems  to  have  relied  more  on  an  arm  of  flesh  than  would  be 
deemed  proper  by  modern  missionaries.  He  was  attended  fre- 
quently by  soldiers  as  his  body-guard.  Still  Boniface  was  an  in- 
defatigable man,  who  encountered  many  dangers  and  hardships, 
and  served  God  and  his  generation  according  to  the  light  he  had. 
He  was  very  earnest  in  subjecting  to  Rome  those  Christians  who 
had  been  previously  instructed  by  Columbanus  and  the  Culdees. 
He  was  finally  murdered  by  the  barbarous  people  for  whose  good 
he  had  so  long  and  so  faithfully  toiled.  He  was  assisted  in  his 
labors  by  Corbinian  and  Pirniin,  monks  of  France. 

The  Saxons  of  Germany  had  proved  themselves  incorrigible  as  to 
all  missionary  influence  until  near  the  close  of  our  present  period, 
when  they  were  taken  in  hand  by  Charlemagne.  At  first  he  sent 
missionaries  to  instruct  and  persuade  them  ;  but  these  met  with  no 
success.  He  next  invaded  them  with  his  armies,  and  left  them  no 
alternative  but  to  receive  the  gospel,  or  be  exterminated.  They 
now  reluctantly  ceased  to  resist,  and  consented  to  be  baptized  by 
the  teachers  whom  the  conqueror  had  sent.  We  may  well  doubt 
as  to  the  value  of  such  conversions ;  and,  in  respect  to  the  charac- 
ters of  those  converted,  they  were  probably  of  no  value.  Still  a 
degree  of  importance  is  to  be  attached  to  them  in  their  influence 
on  future  generations.  Idolatry,  with  all  its  hideous  abominations, 
was  abolished  ;  a  nominal  Christianity  was  introduced ;  and  the  way 
was  prepared  for  a  more  thorough  spiritual  work  in  future  than  at 
the  time  was  possible. 

Most  of  the  conversions  occurring  in  the  period  of  which  we 
speak  were  probably  of  no  more  value  than  those  ascribed  to 
Charlemagne.  They  were  brought  about  by  sinister  motives,  and 
consisted  in  little  more  than  a  change  of  heathen  rites  for  those 
of  the  Christians.  The  converts  were  taught  to  commit  to  memory 
some  Christian  formulas,  and  to  worship  the  images  of  Christ  and 
the  saints  in  place  of  those  of  their  former  divinities.  Miracles 
were  continually  appealed  to  in  support  of  Christianity ;  but  these 
were  no  better  than  tricks  or  fables.  Of  fabulous  miracles,  the 
following  may  be  taken  as  examples :  While  Corbinian,  a  French 
missionary,  was  journeying  through  Bavaria,  a  huge  bear  attacked 
one  of  his  pack-horses,  and  killed  it.  Corbinian  caught  the  bear, 
gave  him  a  sound  whipping,  and  compelled  him  to  serve  in  place 
of  the  horse.  St.  Winnock  had  a  hand-mill,  which,  when  he  let 
go  of  it  to  say  his  prayers,  would  turn  of  itself ;  and,  when  an 


714  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

inquisitive  monk  looked  through  a  crevice  to  see  the  wonder,  he 
was  instantly  struck  blind  for  his  presumption.  Let  any  one  look 
into  the  "  Acta  Sanctorum,"  written  at  this  period  and  a  little 
later,  and  he  will  find  them  stuffed  with  marvels  and  miracles  such 
as  these. 

Among  those  who  persecuted  the  Christians  during  this  period, 
we  may  mention,  first  of  all,  the  Persians.  Chosroes,  king  of 
Persia,  exceeded  all  others  in  barbarity  ;  for  he  publicly  declared 
that  he  would  make  war,  not  upon  Justinian  only,  but  upon  the 
God  of  the  Christians.  A  great  number  of  Christians  were  put 
to  death  by  his  hands.  The  Britons  also,  previous  to  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings,  suffered  from  them  the  most  dis- 
tressing calamities.  In  a  war  of  more  than  a  hundred  years,  vast 
multitudes  of  Christians  were  destroyed  ;  while  those  that  remained 
were  driven  from  their  homes,  and  obliged  to  seek  refuge  in  foreign 
lands. 

Of  books  written  against  the  Christians  in  these  times,  the  most 
considerable  were  "The  Eighteen  Arguments"  of  Proclus,  a  Neo- 
Platonic  philosopher.  His  principal  object  was  to  prove,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  sacred  writers,  that  this  world  had  no  beginning,  —  that 
it  was  eternal.  His  work  was  widely  circulated,  and  was  solidly 
confuted  by  John  Philoponus  of  Alexandria  in  his  commentary  on 
the  creation. 

But  the  great  adversary  of  the  Church  in  the  seventh  century 
and  onward  was  Mohammed.  He  was  a  native  of  Mecca,  in  Ara- 
bia ;  of  a  poor  but  noble  family ;  and  was  brought  up  in  comparative 
ignorance.  "Whether  he  could  read. or  write  is  still  matter  of  dis- 
pute among  his  followers.  Having  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
Christianity  by  his  intimacy  with  a  Nestorian  monk,  he  conceived 
the  design  of  forming  a  new  religion,  and  founding  a  new  empire. 
He  set  himself  up  as  a  prophet  about  the  year  612,  and,  like  Mon- 
tanus  and  Manes,  pretended  to  be  the  Far aclete,  —  the  promised 
Comforter  from  heaven.  Plis  religion  is  a  compound,  in  about 
equal  proportions,  of  Christianity,  Judaism,  and  Oriental  heathen- 
ism, inculcating  the  unity  of  God  and  many  precepts  of  charity,  but 
filled  up  with  fables  and  ridiculous  superstitions. 

The  new  prophet  at  first  met  with  opponents,  and,  being  obliged 
to  flee  from  Mecca,  took  refuse  in  Medina,  where  he  was  protected 
by  some  Jews  and  Christians.  From  the  ITegira,  or  flight  of  Mo- 
hammed, which  took  place  in  the  year  622,  his  followers  date  the 
commencement  of  their  era. 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH.  715 

The  religion  of  Mohammed  is  contained  in  the  Koran,  which, 
it  is  pretended,  was  composed  by  God  in  the  highest  heaven,  and 
sent  down  to  the  lower  heavens  by  the  angel  Gabriel,  who  com- 
municated it  by  parcels  to  Mohammed  during  the  twenty-three 
years  of  his  prophetic  ministry.  The  parcels,  when  revealed, 
were  written  down  by  the  prophet's  scribe,  and  communicated  to 
the  people.  The  original  manuscripts  were  thrown  promiscuously 
into  a  chest ;  whence  they  were  taken,  after  Mohammed's  death, 
and  23ublished  in  their  present  form,  without  any  regard  to  dates 
or  a  classification  of  subjects. 

The  religion  of  Mohammed  was  admirably  calculated  to  make 
warriors ;  for  he  promised  paradise  to  every  believer  who  fell  in 
battle,  and  taught  that  the  duration  of  human  life  was  so  fixed  by 
fate,  or  the  divine  decrees,  that  no  precautions  to  preserve  it  were 
of  any  avail.  His  followers  soon  became  an  army  of  the  most 
enthusiastic  and  determined  warriors.  During  the  life  of  the 
prophet,  they  had  swept  over  several  of  the  surrounding  countries ; 
and,  after  his  death,  they  rapidly  conquered  Syria,  Persia,  Egypt, 
all  Northern  Africa,  the  Islands  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  and  a  con- 
siderable part  of  Spain  and  Gaul.  Their  conquests  were  indeed 
checked  by  Charles  Martel,  who  gained  a  great  victory  over  them 
at  Poitiers  in  the  year  732  ;  and  afterwards  by  Charlemagne,  who 
attacked  them  in  Spain  in  the  year  778.  Still  they  continued  to 
extend  their  conquests,  and  for  a  time  seemed  to  threaten  all  Chris- 
tendom. 

They  had  an  argument  for  their  religion  which  was  invincible. 
They  carried  the  Koran  in  one  hand,  and  the  sabre  in  the  other, 
and  proclaimed  everywhere  to  those  whom  they  conquered,  "  We 
bring  you  either  paradise  or  hell :  you  must  either  embrace  Islam- 
ism  and  pay  a  tribute,  or  be  cut  in  pieces  by  our  swords." 

Mohammed  died  in  the  year  632,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his 
age.  A  dispute  immediately  arose  among  his  followers  as  to  a 
successor,  —  one  part  choosing  Abubeker,  his  father-in-law ;  and  the 
other  part  Ali,  his  son-in-law.  This  controversy  has  been  handed 
down  to  posterity,  and  has  divided  Mussulmans  into  two  great  par- 
ties, the  Sonnites  and  the  Ski-ites.  The  followers  of  Abubeker  are 
called  Sonnites^  —  embracing  the  Turks,  Tartars,  Africans,  and  the 
Mohammedans  of  India,  —  because,  in  connection  with  the  Koran, 
they  hold  to  the  Sonna,  or  oral  law,  whicli  the  Shi-ites  reject.  Tlie 
Shi-ites  include  the  Persians,  the  Mogores,  aiid  some  other  tribes. 

We  have  heard  of  the  success  of  Justinian's  generals,  Belisarius 


716  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  Narses,  in  subverting  the  kingdom  of  the  Ostro-Goths  in  Italy 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century.  By  this  conquest,  Italy  fell 
again  under  the  control  of  the  Eastern  Roman  emperors  ;  but  it 
was  subject  to  them  for  only  a  little  Avhile.  In  568,  the  Lombards, 
a  warlike  German  tj-ibe,  broke  into  Italy,  and,  having  possessed 
themselves  of  the  whole  country  except  Rome  and  Ravenna, 
founded  a  new  kingdom  at  Pavia.  Under  these  heathen  barba- 
rians, the  Italian  Christians,  for  a  time,  suffered  severely  ;  but,  in 
process  of  years,  the  Lombards  became  more  civilized,  and  made  a 
profession  of  Christianity.  At  the  same  time,  also,  they  became 
more  grasping  and  ambitious.  They  were  not  satisfied  with  what 
of  Italy  they  already  possessed,  but  strove  to  become  masters  of 
the  whole  country.  In  these  circumstances,  Stephen  11. ,  bishop 
of  Rome,  applied^to  Pepin,  the  newly-constituted  king  of  the_ 
Franks,*  to  come  with  an  army  into  Italy,  and  aid  him  against  the 
Lombards.  In  compliance  with  this  request,  Pepin  invaded  Italy ; 
wrested  from  Aistulphus,  king  of  the  Lombards,  the  provinces 
which  he  had  taken ;  and  made  a  donation  of  them  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome. 

After  the  death  of  Pepin,  Desiderius,  king  of  the  Lombards,  col- 
lected an  army,  and  retook  the  provinces  which  had  been  given  to 
the  jDontiff.  Adrian  I.,  who  was  now  pontiff,  had  recourse  at 
once  to  Charlemagne,  the  son  of  Pepin.  He  crossed  the  Alps  with 
a  powerful  army  in  the  year  774 ;  overturned  the  empire  of  the 
Lombards ;  and  took  their  king,  Desiderius,  with  him  into  France. 
He  also  confirmed  the  donation  which  his  father  had  made  to  St.- 
Peter,  —  i.e.,  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  —  and  added  to  it  several  more 
cities. 

And  here  we  have  the  beginning  of  what  are  called  the  temporal 
possessions  of  the  pope  of  Rome.  He  governed  the  city  of  Rome 
before,  and  held  some  towns  and  villages  round  it,  which  were 
called  his  'patrimony ;  but  now  he  received  —  subject  nominally 
to  Charlemagne  —  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  and  the  greater  part 
of  what  had  been  the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards.  He  became,  at 
this  period,  a  temporal  sovereign^  —  a  heast^  a  Jiorn,  in  the  sense  of 
the  prophets ;  and  this  dominion  the  popes  have  held  (with  some 
changes  and  revolutions)  almost  to  the  present  time.  This,  there- 
fore, is  an  important  era  in  the  history  of  Popery. 

*  Zecharias,  bishop  of  Ropie,  had  recently  dethroned  Childeric,  king  of  the  Franks,  and 
given  the  kingdom  to  Pepin,  son  of  Charles  Martel.  Thus  ended  the  Merovingian  dynasty, 
the  descendants  of  Clovis ;  and  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  commenced. 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF   THE   CHURCH.  717 

To  reward  Charlemagne  for  his  assistance  and  donations  to  the 
po^De,  he  was  solemnly  declared,  in  the  year  800,  emperor  of  Rome. 
To  this  office  he  was  elected  by  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome, 
and  to  it  he  was  set  apart  and  consecrated  by  the  pontiff  himself. 
In  him,  therefore,  —  so  far  as  the  altered  circumstances  of  the 
times  would  allow,  —  was  restored  the  Western  Roman  Empire^ 
more  than  three  hundred  years  after  its  subversion  by  Odoacer, 
king  of  the  Goths. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

CHURCH    ORGANIZATION. RELIGIOUS    RITES    AND    TEACHERS. 

THE  government  of  the  Church  in  the  period  before  us  was 
Episcopal,  as  it  had  been  for  two  hundred  years.  In  Europe, 
during  the  latter  part  of  this  period,  it  was  more  than  Episcopal : 
it  was  coming  to  be  Papal.  The  higher  clergy  were  becoming 
rich  and  powerful,  and  proportionally  extravagant  and  corrupt : 
many  of  them  affected  a  show  of  royalty,  and  formed  around  them- 
selves a  kind  of  sacred  court.  In  the  eighth  century,  when  the 
notion  came  to  prevail,  that,  by  gifts  for  religious  purposes,  persons 
might  make  amends  for  sin,  and  secure  absolution,  presents  flowed - 
in  to  the  bishops,  the  churches,  and  monasteries,  as  they  never  had 
done  before.  Not  only  did  prelates  receive  private  donations,  but 
whole  provinces,  cities,  and  castles,  with  all  their  rights  of  sove- 
reignty, were  made  over  to  them  ;  and  those  persons  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  teach  contempt  for  the  world  suddenly  became 
dukes,  counts,  marquises,  legislators,  and  sovereign  lords,  and  not- 
only  administered  justice,  but,  at  the  head  of  armies,  marched  out 
to  war. 

This  great  aggrandizement  o'f  the  clergy  commenced  with  the 
Roman  pontiff,  and  from  him  extended  to  inferior  bishops  and 
priests.  The  conversion  of  the  barbarous  nations  which  over- 
turned the  Western  Empire  contributed  largely  to  the  increase  of 
popish  and  priestly  power:  for  these  people  had  been,  time  imme- 
morial, in  the  most  abject  subjection  to  their  Druidical  priests,  and 
especially  to  the  high  priest  or  pontiff ;  and  now  they  readily  trans- 
ferred to  the  Roman  pontiff  the  fear,  the  reverence,  the  honor,  the 
submission,  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  render  to  their 
former  lords.  They  had  before  been  terribly  priest-ridden,  and 
hence  they  the  more  readily  submitted  to  be  priest-ridden  still. 

It  was  in  the  eighth  century  that  the  bishop  of  Rome  first  as- 
sumed the  power  of  making  and  unmaking  kings.     Pepin,  viceroy 

718 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  719 

of  Chilcleric,  king  of  tlie  Franks,  wished  to  divest  his  sovereign  of 
the  title  and  the  honors  of  royalty,  and  take  them  to  himself.  He 
conferred  with  his  nobles  on  the  subject ;  and  they  demanded  that 
the  Roman  pontiff  should  be  first  consulted  as  to  the  right  of  yield- 
ing to  his  wishes.  Pepin,  therefore,  despatched  an  envoy  to  Pope 
-Zecharias  with  the  question.  The  pope,  at  that  time,  needed  the 
aid  of  Pepin  and  the  Franks  against  the  Lombards,  who  were 
troubling  him  ;  and  so  he  answered  the  question  in  Pepin's  favor. 
His  reply  being  known  in  France,  no  further  objection  was  made. 
The  unhappy  monarch  was  divested  of  his  royal  dignity ;  and  Pepin 
mounted  the  throne  of  his  king  and  lord. 

Still  the  pontiffs  of  Rome  did  not  accomplish  their  usurpations 
without  resistance.  There  was  the  old  rivalry  between  the  bishops 
of  Rome  and  Constantinople,  which  continued  to  rankle,  and  en- 
gender strife,  through  the  whole  of  the  period  under  review.  In 
the  year  451,  the  council  of  Chalcedon  had  decreed  that  the  bishop 
of  new  Rome  ought  to  enjoy  the  same  honors  and  prerogatives 
with  the  bishop  of  ancient  Rome  ;  but  neither  party  was  quite  sat- 
isfied with  this  decision.  Both  wished  and  intended  to  be  first ; 
and  so  the  former  strife  was  continued.  In  a  council  held  at  Con- 
stantinople in  587,  John,  the  patriarch,  assumed  to  himself  the  title 
■of  Universal  Bishop  ;  and  the  assumption  was  acquiesced  in  by  the 
council.  At  this,  Gregory  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  was  greatly 
scandalized :  for  several  years  he  labored  by  entreaties  and  threats, 
and  by  frequent  applications  to  the  Eastern  emperors,  to  divest  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  of  a  title  which  he  declared  to  be 
'•'•profane,  anti- Christian,  and  infernal,  by  whomsoever  assumed." 
And  yet,  in  a  very  short  time  (A.D.  606),  Boniface  III.,  bishop  of 
Rome,  prevailed  on  the  Emperor  Phocas  to  take  from  the  Constanti- 
nopolitan  patriarch  the  offensive  title,  and  confer  it  on  himself,  — 
a  title  which  —  "profane,  anti-Christian,  and  infernal"  though  it 
be  —  the  bishops  of  Rome  have  not  been  ashamed  to  wear  ever 
since.  From  this  period,  —  owing  to  causes  which  have  been  al- 
ready mentioned,  and  to  the  fact  that  Pepin  and  Charlemagne 
always  favored  the  claims  of  the  Roman  bishop,  —  he  had  little 
difficulty  in  maintaining  the  priority  which  he  so  much  desired. 

Still  the  popes  had  not  yet  put  forth  all  their  claims ;  nor  would 
they  have  been  admitted  if  they  had.  The  ancient  Britons  and 
Scots  would  not  be  moved  for  a  long  time,  either  by  the  threats 
or  the  promises  of  the  papal  legates,  to  subject  themselves  to  the 
government  of  Rome.     The  Gauls  and  Spaniards  attributed  just 


720  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

SO  must  authority  to  the  pontiff  as  they  supposed  would  be  for 
their  own  advantage,  and  no  more.  Nor  in  Italy  itself  could  he 
make  the  bishop  of  Ravenna,  and  some  others,  bow  obsequiously 
to  his  will.*  It  is  also  clear,  that,  in  both  the  East  and  the  West, 
supreme  power  over  the  clergy  and  the  churches  was  still  vested 
—  as,  from  the  time  of  Constantine,  it  ever  had  been  —  in  the  em- 
perors and  kings.  In  proof  of  this,  I  may  refer  to  the  contention 
between  Symmachus  and  Laurentius,  in  the  sixth  century,  as  to 
which  of  them  was  the  true  pope  of  Rome.  After  three  councils 
had  in  vain  tried  to  settle  the  dispute,  it  was  taken  up  by  Theod- 
orj_c,  the  Gothic  king  of  Italy,  and  decided  in  favor  of  Symmachus. 
And,  even  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  a  council  at  Rome  conferred 
on  him  and  his  successors  the  power  of  appointing  and  confirming 
the  Roman  pontiffs.  The  pontiffs  were  also  subject  to  the  laws  of 
the  sovereigns,  and  liable  to  be  punished  for  crimes  and  misde- 
meanors, like  other  citizens. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth  century,  a  new  patriarch  was  added 
to  the  four  already  existing ;  A^iz.,  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem.  These 
patriarchs  had  great  prerogatives.  They  consecrated  the  bishops 
ill  their  respective  provinces ;  convoked  councils  to  settle  difficul- 
ties and  regulate  ecclesiastical  affairs ;  and,  if  any  of  the  bishops 
were  charged  with  offences,  they  were  obliged  to  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  patriarch.  But  this  constitution  of  things,  so  far 
from  contributing  to  the  peace  of  the  churches,  was  rather  the 
source  of  very  great  evils.  The  patriarchs  encroached  on  the 
rights  of  the  bishops,  and  they  on  the  rights  of  the  inferior  clergy 
and  the  people.  In  some  cases,  the  patriarchs  actually  excited 
dissensions  and  controversies,  that  so  they  might  have  the  more 
frequent  occasion  to  exercise  their  authority,  be  much  appealed  to, 
and  have  a  multitude  of  chents  round  them.  Then  the  patriarchs 
were  in  perpetual  controversy  among  themselves.  They  would 
curtail  one  another's  provinces,  encroach  on  each  other's  rights, 
and  render  the  interposition  of  the  civil  power  of  frequent  necessity 
to  put  an  end  to  their  broils  and  contentions. 

In  the  period  before  us,  the  monks  had  come  to  be  a  numerous 
and  powerful  body.  The  original  monks  were  a  noiseless  though 
useless  class  of  men,  who  retired  from  the  world,  each.seeldng 
salvation  in  his  own  way.  They  were  not  clergj'men,  and  aspired 
to  no  office  or  honor  in  the  Church ;  but  as  their  number,  wealth, 

*  See  Mosheim's  Ecc.  Hist.,  vol.  i.  p.  514. 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  721 

and  reputation  increased,  tliey  became  more  ambitious,  and  fond 
of  show.  Numerous  and  costly  edifices  were  erected  for  them ; 
and,  when  church-officers  were  to  be  elected,  they  were  frequently 
chosen  from  the  monasteries.  Previous  to  the  sixth  century,  they 
were  not  all  subject  to  the  same  regulations.  Some  followed  the 
rule  of  Augustine,  others  that  of  Basil,  and  others  those  of  Anthony, 
Athanasius,  and  Pachomius.  They  were  under  the  protection  and 
control  of  the  bishops  where  their  houses  were  situated.  But  subse- 
quent to  the  year  529,  when  Benedict  of  Nursia  established  his 
new  order  on  Mount  Cassino,  this  gradually  swallowed  up  all  the 
rest.  The  monks  of  Europe,  for  several  centuries,  were  almost 
universally  Benedictines.  His  rule  is  still  extant ;  and  it  may  not 
be  improper  to  give  the  substance  of  it :  "  The  monks  were  to  rise 
in  winter  at  two  o'clock,  a.m.,  and  in  summer  at  such  times  as  the 
abbot  might  direct ;  repair  to  the  place  of  worship  for  vigils  ;  and 
spend  the  remainder  of  the  night  in  reading  and  committing 
psalms,  and  in  private  meditation.  At  sunrise,  they  assembled  for 
matins  ;  then  spent  four  hours  in  labor ;  then  two  hours  in  reading ; 
then  dined ;  and  read  in  private  until  half-past  two,  p.m.  ;  when  they 
met  again  for  worship,  and  afterwards  labored  till  their  vespers.  In 
their  vigils  and  matins,  twenty -four  psalms  were  to  be  chanted  each 
day,  so  as  to  go  through  the  Psalter  every  week.  They  ate  twice 
a  day  at  a  common  table.  Both  the  quantity  and  quality  of  their 
food  were  limited.  To  each  was  allowed  one  pound  of  bread  per 
day,  and  a  little  wine.  On  the  public  table  no  meat  was  allowed, 
but  always  two  kinds  of  porridge.  While  at  table,  all  conversation 
was  prohibited ;  and  some  one  read  aloud  the  whole  time.  They 
all  served  as  cooks  and  waiters  by  turns.  Their  clothing  was  coarse 
and  simple.  Each  one  had  two  suits,  together  with  a  knife,  a 
needle,  and  other  necessaries.  They  slept — from  ten  to  twenty  in 
a  room  —  in  single  beds,  without  undressing,  with  a  light  burning, 
and  an  inspector  in  each  room.  No  conversation  was  permitted 
after  they  retired  ; '  nor  were  they  ever  permitted  to  talk  for  mere 
amusement.  The  gate  was  kept  locked  night  and  day ;  and  none 
could  go  out  or  come  in  without  permission  of  the  abbot.  A 
school  for  children  in  the  neighborhood  was  kept  without  the  walls. 
For  admission  to  the  society,  a  probation  of  twelve  months  was 
requisite." 

So  long  as  the  Benedictines  observed  these  rules,  they  were  a 
virtuous  and  useful  people.  In  consequence  of  the  labor  enjoined 
upon  them,  wherever  they  set  up  their  establishments,  they  con- 

46 


722  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

verted  the  wilderness  into  a  fruitful  country.  They  pursued  agri- 
culture, raised  cattle,  drained  morasses,  and'  cleared  away  forests. 
They  cultivated  the  sciences,  taught  schools,  and  did  much  in  the 
way  of  transcribing  and  preserving  ancient  works.  Indeed,  the 
monasteries  embodied  almost  all  the  learning  of  the  age ;  and 
through  them  have  come  down  to  us  nearly  all  the  great  works, 
both  classical  and  religious,  which  the  ancients  have  left  us. 

But,  as  the  Benedictines  increased  in  reputation  and  honor,  they 
increased  in  wealth ;  and  this  engendered  indolence,  voluptuous- 
ness, and  every  form  of  vice.  Repeated  endeavors  were  put  forth 
to  reform  them ;  but  a  permanent  reformation  was  to  them  impos- 
sible. They  continued,  however,  under  different  names,  and  con- 
stituted almost  the  only  order  of  monks  in  Europe  down  to  the 
rise  of  the  Mendicants  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

As  before  remarked,  the  monastic  establishments  were  at  first 
subjected  to  the  bishops  where  they  were  located ;  but,  owing  to 
their  frequent  quarrels  with  the  bishops,  they  were  at  length  taken 
under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  This  change., 
went  to  link  the  monks  to  the  pontiff,  on  the  one  hand,  and  thereby 
to  increase  his  power :  while,  on  the  other,  it  was  a  source  of  cor- 
ruption to  themselves ;  for  the  pontiff,  being  far  removed  from 
them,  and  deeply  engaged  in  his  own  affairs,  could  exercise  but 
little  supervision  over  them,  and  they  were  left  to  do  very  much 
as  they  pleased. 

The  great  corruption  of  the  whole  sacred  order,  both  monks 
and  priests,  led,  in  the  eighth  century,  to  the  formation  of  an  inter- 
mediate class,  called  canons.  They  adopted,  in  part,  the  mode  of  -. 
life  pursued  by  the  monks  ;  yet  they  did  not  take  upon  themselves 
monastic  vows,  and  they  performed  ministerial  services  in  the 
churches.  The  institution  of  this  new  order  is  attributed  to 
Chrodegang,  bishop  of  Mentz. 

I  might  have  said  at  an  earlier  period,  that  monks  and  nuns  made 
their  appearance  in  the  Church  at  about  the  same  time ;  and 
their  establishments,  for  the  most  part,  grew  up  together.  Wher- 
ever there  were  convents  for  males,  there  would  be  nunneries  for 
females,  subject,  in  general,  to  the  same  rules.  So,  when  the  order 
of  canons  was  instituted,  it  was  followed  very  soon  by  that  of 
canonesses. 

I  have  spoken  before  of  the  constant  increase  of  rites  and  cere- 
monies in  the  Church.  These  had  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  in 
the  sixth  century,  that  a  class  of  men  was  set  apart  expressly  to 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  RELIGIOUS   RITES,  ETC.  723 

interpret  them ;  nor  would  this  have  been  a  useless  class  if 
they  had  interpreted  correctly.  Instead  of  searching  for  the  origin 
of  the  added  rites  in  reason  or  Scripture,  or  in  their  own  fancies, 
they  should  have  traced  them  to  the  Jewish  and  heathen  temples ; 
from  which,  undoubtedly,  the  most  of  them  were  copied. 

A  multitude  of  temples  were  erected  in  this  age,  both  in  the  East 
and  in  the  West,  —  not  so  much  as  places  of  worship,  as  in  honor 
of  departed  saints.  The  impression  prevailed  that  the  saints  were 
pleased,  and  could  be  propitiated,  by  such  offerings,  and  took  the 
places  where  the  temples  were  located  under  their  special  care. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  period  before  us,  a  reverence  for  the 
eucharist,  and  for  the  elements  employed  in  celebrating  it,  had  be- 
come excessive  and  absurd.  The  idea  did  not  yet  prevail  that  these 
elements  were  transmuted  into  the  veritable  body  and  blood  of 
Christ :  still  it  was  believed  that  Christ  was  s,omeho\y  ivith  them 
and  in  them,  so  that  those  who  partook  of  them  literally  received 
the  Saviour.  Hence  the  elements,  after  being  consecrated,  were 
held  in  great  veneration,  and  were  strictly  guarded  by  ecclesiasti- 
cal law.  Thus  it  was  decided  by  Pope  Gregory  III.,  that  "  if  the 
bread  be  injured  through  the  negligence  of  any  one,  let  him  do 
penance  one  year.  If  he  lets  it  fall  on  the  ground,  he  must  sing 
fifty  psalms.  If,  by  neglect,  worms  shall  get  into  the  sacrifice,  or 
it  lose  its  color  or  taste,  the  guilty  person  must  do  penance  thirty 
days,  and  the  sacrifice  must  be  burned.  Whoever  turns  up  the 
cup  at  the  close  of  the  mass  must  do  penance  forty  days.  If  a 
drop  from  the  cup  shall  fall  on  the  altar,  the  minister  must  suck  it 
up,  and  do  penance  three  days  ;  and  the  linen  cloth  on  which  the 
drop  fell  must  be  Avashed  three  times  over  the  cup,  and  the  water 
in  which  it  was  washed  must  be  cas^into  the  fire." 

In  proportion  as  the  eucharist  came  to  be  reverenced,  exclusion 
from  it  was  deprecated.  Excommunication  was  more  dreaded  in  the 
^Vest  than  in  the  East,  owing  to  the  fact  that  those  who  had  been  re- 
cently converted  from  heathenism  confounded  Christian  excommu- 
nication with  that  of  tb.e  Druidical  priests,  which  was  supposed  to 
bring  with  it  the  most  intolerable  evils,  both  temporal  and  eternal. 
In  Europe,  from  the  eighth  century  onward,  an  excommunicated 
.person  Avas  an  outlaw  and  a  monster.  He  was  no  longer  a  king,  a 
ruler,  or  a  citizen  ;  he  was  no  longer  a  husband,  a  father,  or  a  man, 
but  was  considered  as  a  brute,  and  even  below  the  brutes. 

But,  if  excommunication  was  made  so  terrible,  the  methods  of 
avoiding  it  were  made  more  easy,  especially  to  the  rich.     Private 


724  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

confessions  were  substituted  in  place  of  those  which  had  been  pub- 
he,  and  severe  penances  were  allowed  to  be  commuted  for  money-. 
In  these  innovations  we  have  the  origin  of  auricular  confession  and 
of  priestly  itidulgences, — both  of  them  sources  of  immense  influence 
and  wealth,  and  also  of  corruption,  in  the  Romish  Church  in  the 
following  ages. 

The  teachers  and  writers  of  this  period  were  not  so  numerous 
or  eminent  as  those  of  the  preceding ;  yet  with  the  more  distin- 
guished of  them  we  ought  to  be  acquainted. 

One  of  the  best  men  of  the  age  Avas  Columba,  principal  of  the., 
convent  school  at  lona,  and  leader  of  that  noble  band  of  Scottish 
missionaries  commonly  called  Culdees.  Columba  was  of  royal  de- 
scent, and  was  born  at  Donegal,  in  Ireland,  about  the  year  521. 
He  came  into  Scotland  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  northern  Picts 
in  the  year  563.  He  is  to  be  distinguished  from  Columbanus,  an- 
other Irish  missionary,  who  rose  a  little  later,  preached  the  gospel 
in  France  and  Germany,  and  finally  died  in  Italy.  His  success 
among  the  Picts  was  very  great,  many  of  whom  were  converted 
through  his  instrumentality.  To  reward  him  for  his  disinterested 
labors,  the  king  of  the  Picts  put  him  in  possession  of  the  little 
Island  of  lona,  lying  on  the  outer  shore  of  Mull,  which  is  one  of 
the  principal  of  the  Hebrides,  or  Western  Islands.  Columba  now 
returned  to  Ireland,  and,  having  secured  twelve  assistants,  came 
back,  and  established  himself  at  lona.  The  first  object  of  these 
adventurers  was  to  prepare  themselves  huts,  and  to  erect  a  little 
church ;  but  as  the  fame  of  their  enterprise  spread,  and  numbers 
resorted  to  them  for  instruction,  these  rude  structures  gave  place 
to  others  of  a  more  commodious  and  permanent  character.  In  a 
few  years,  lona"  was  covered  with  cloisters  and  churches,  and  be- 
came the  residence  of  a  numerous  body  of  teachers  and  students. 
The  institution  was  supported,  partly  by  charitable  contributions, 
and  partly  by  the  inmates  themselves  ;  a  certain  portion  of  each 
day  being  devoted  to  labor. 

The  school  at  lona  had  a  valuable  library.  Its  government  was 
vested  in  a  principal  and  twelve  assistants.  The  office  of  princi- 
pal was  held  by  Columba  till  his  death  in  the  year  597.  Himself 
and  his  assistants  were  all  presbyters  ;  there  being  no  higher  minis- 
terial office  among  them.  To  them  pertained  the  business  of  in- 
struction, and  the  general  oversight  of  the  concerns  of  the  institu- 
tion. They  judged  of  the  qualifications  of  those  under  their  care ; 
gave  them  ordination  when  prepared  for  it ;  sent  them  forth  to 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS   RITES,   ETC.  725 

their  respective  fields  of  labor ;  and  still  continued  them  under 
their  direction  and  control.  Even  those  of  them  who  were  consti- 
tuted bishops  still  considered  themselves  amenable  to  the  teachers 
at  lona,  and  might  be  removed  or  recalled  whenever  they  should 
think  it  proper. 

The  course  of  study  at  lona  was  eminently  scriptural.  It  is  re- 
corded of  Columba,  that  "  he  Avas  much  devoted  to  the  study  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures."  He  taught  his  pupils  to  confirm  their  doc- 
trines by  the  Bible,  and  to  receive  that  alone  as  of  divine  authority 
which  was  so  established.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  students 
at  lona  were  simple  Bible  Christians,  uncontaminated  with  the 
superstitions  which  were  then  beginning  to  prevail  in  other  parts 
of  the  Christian  world. 

Aftei-  the  commencement  of  the  establishment  at  lona,  Columba 
did  not  desist  entirely  from  missionary  labors.  We  hear  of  him, 
at  a  certain  time,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Inverness,  in  the  north 
of  Scotland,  where  he  preached  to  the  rude  inhabitants  by  means 
of  an  interpreter ;  but  his  principal  influence,  from  this  time,  was 
through  the  medium  of  his  pupils.  They  penetrafed  into  every 
part  of  Scotland  ;  so  that,  before  the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  were  nominally  converted.  They  preached 
also  in  Ireland,  in  Wales,  in  the  north  of  England,  in  some  parts 
of  the  Belgic  provinces,  and  also  in  Germany. 

In  process  of  time,  several  other  establishments  grew  up,  con- 
stituted substantially  after  the  model  of  lona.  One  was  founded 
at  Abernethy,  another  at  Dunkeld,  another  at  St.  Andrew's,  and 
others  at  Dunblane,  Monimusk,  and  Scone.  The  whole  number 
of  their  schools  in  different  countries  is  said  to  have  been, eighty- 
nine.  The  missionaries  from  these  establishments  were  the  Culdees. 
They  were  found  in  ever}^  part  of  the  British  Islands,  and  beyond 
them ;  and  constituted  a  numerous  and  powerful  body  of  preachers 
and  teachers.  They  were'  distinguished  for  their  love  of  the  Bible, 
for  the  simplicity  of  their  faith  and  worship,  and  for  their  steady 
and  persevering  opposition  to  the  usurpation  and  superstitions  of 
the  Church  of  Rome.  In  Scotland,  their  influence  continued,  with 
little  abatement,  until  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

G-regory  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome,  was  of  senatorian  rank,  and 
was  born  at  Rome  about  the  year  540.  He  was  made  governor  of 
the  city  before  he  was  thirty  years  old.  The  death  of  his  father 
put  him  in  possession  of  a  vast  estate,  which  he  devoted  to  pious 
and  charitable  uses.  He  built  and  endowed  six  monasteries  in  Sicily, 


726  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  a  seventh  at  Rome,  in  ^Yllicll  he  himself  lived,  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  abbot.  He  resided  several  years  at^onstantinople  as 
Papal  legate  ;  and  then  returned  to  his  monastery  with  a  rich  treas- 
ure of  relics,  of  which  he  was  excessively  fond.  He  was  raised 
to  the  Papal  chair  ^590,  much  against  his  own  inclination ;  and 
for  the  next  thirteen  years  was  an  indefatigable  bishop,  a  zealous 
reformer  of  the  clergy  and  the  monasteries,  and  a  strenuous  defender 
of  the  rights  of  his  see.  He  was  instrumental  in  converting  the 
ArianJLombards  to  the  Orthodox  faith,  and  in  restraining  the  rav- 
ages of  that  warlike  people.  It  was  he  who  resisted  the  claim  of 
the  bishop  of  Constantinople  to  be  styled  Universal  Bishop.  It  was 
he  who  sent^  Augustine  with  liis  forty  monks  into  England  to  at- 
tempt the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  Gregory  was  a  learned 
man  ;  and  his  works  are  more  voluminous  than  those  of  any  other 
pontiff.  Still  he  discouraged  secular  learning,  more  especially  in 
the  clergy.  Writing  to  one  of  his  clergy,  he  says,  "  The  praises  of 
Christ  and  of  Jupiter  cannot  have  place  in  the  same  mouth.  If  it 
shall  appear  that  jou.  do  not  study  vanities  and  secular  literature, 
I  shall  praise  ^od,  who  has  not  j)ermitted  your  heart  to  be  defiled 
with  the  blasphemies  of  the  horrible  ones."  Gregory  seems  to  have 
been  a  truly  pious  man,  and  a  well-wisher  to  the  cause  of  Christ ; 
but  his  character  was  much  marred  by  superstition,  and  his  devotion 
to  the  extravagant  claims  of  Rome. 

Evagrius  Scholasticus  was  one  of  the  continuators  of  Eusebius' 
"  Ecclesiastical  History."  Eusebius  brought  it  down  to  the  year 
421.  It  was  continued  by  Theodoret,  bishop  of  Cyrus,  to  the  year 
427 ;  by  Socrates  and  Sozomen  to  439 ;  and  by  Evagrius  to  594.  It 
makes  us  acquainted  with  many  important  facts,  but  is  much  dis- 
figured by  monkish  legends  and  other  fabulous  tales. 

Benedict  of  Niirsia  is  chiefly  distinguished  as  the  founder  of  the 
numerous  order  of  Benedictine  monks.  He  has  left  almost  noth- 
ing in  writing,  except  his  monastic  regulations. 

Dionysius  Exiguus  was  a  Scythian  monk,  who  flourished  at  Rome 
from  about  the  year  533  to  556.  He  gave  attention  to  chronologi- 
cal studies,  and  was  the  first  to  jDropose  that  Christians  should 
commence  their  era  from  the  birth  of  Christ.  But  Dionysius  mis- 
calculated the  time  of  Christ's  birth,  placing  it  about  four  years 
too  late. 

The  most  learned  man  of  the  sixth  century  was  Bcethius.  He 
was  educated  at  Athens,  and  was  at  once  a  philosopher,  orator, 
poet,  and  theologian.     He  was  counsellor  and  major  domus  under 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   RELIGIOUS   RITES,   ETC.  727 

Theodoric,  king  of  the  Goths,  whom  he  served  faithfully  more 
than  twenty  years.  At  length,  he  was  falsely  accused  to  the  king, 
and  by  him  banished,  and  afterwards  put  to  death.  He  left  many 
works,  —  classical,  scientific,  philosophical,  and  theological,  —  which 
have  been  published  in  three  volumes  folio. 

I  conclude  my  notice  of  authors  with  a  few  words  on  the  life 
and  character  of  the  Venerable  Bede.  He  was  an  Englishman,  born 
at.  Farrow,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne,  in  Northumberland,  in  the 
year  673.  He  spent  nearly  his  whole  life  in  a  monastery  and  in 
the  prosecution  of  various  studies.  His  works  fill  no  less  than 
eight  folio  volumes.  The  most  valuable  of  them  is  his  "  Ecclesias- 
tical History  of  England,"  commencing  with  the  invasion  of  Julius 
Csesar,  and  terminating  in  the  year  731.  Notwithstanding  its  many 
blemishes,  it  is  invaluable  to  the  student  of  English  church-history. 
Bede  was  not  a  man  of  much  originality  and  genius,  but  truly 
pious jind  orthodox  according  to  the  standard  of  the  age.  He 
was  a  diligent  compiler  and  collector  of  facts  and  legends.  He 
died  in  the  year  735. 

A  revolution  in  philosopliy  took  place  during  the  period  of  which 
we  speak.  The  first  philosophy  with  which  Christianity  came  in 
contact  was  the  Oriental,  or  Gnostic.  This  culminated^ in.  the  sec- 
ond century,  and  gave  place  to  the  Neo-Platonic  philosophy  in  the 
third.  This  philosophy  had  its  principal  schools  at  Athens  and 
Alexandria,  and  flourished  (more  particularly  in  the  East)  for  sev- 
eral hundred  years ;  but,  in  the  sixth  century,  Justinian  broke  up 
the  schools  of  the  Platonics,  forbade  the  teachers  to  continue  their 
instructions,  and  required  them  to  embrace  Christianity.  These 
orders  scattered  the  teachers,  and  sent  many  of  them  into  Persia 
and  other  places,  from  which  they  did  not  return.  From  this  pe- 
riod, Neo-Platonism  soon  passed  away ;  and  Aristotelianism  came 
,into  its  place.  The  dialectics  of  Aristotle  were  thought  to  be 
peculiarly  calculated  to  sharpen  the  intellect,  and  prepare  it  for 
the  controversies  of  the  times.  The  reign  of  the  Stagirite  now 
commenced,  and  continued,  with  little  interruption,  for  the  next 
thousand  years,  —  until  it  encountered,  in  the  first  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  more  popular  systems  of  Bacon  and 
Descartes.  • 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,    CONTROVERSIES,    STATE    OF    RELIGION,    IN    THIS 

PERIOD. 

THE  great  facts  of  the  Christian  system  were  held  and  taught 
in  the  period  before  us  ;  and  some  points  of  doctrine  were 
more  accurately  defined  and  better  understood  than  they  had  been 
before.  This  was  a  natural  result  of  the  controversies  which  were 
had  respecting  them.  Still  these  facts  and  doctrines  were  so  mixed 
up  with  superstitious  errors  and  additions  as  to  mar  their  excel- 
lence, and  divest  them  of  their  saving  power.  Thus  the  Chris- 
tians, in  these  times,  believed  in  one  God,  and  rendered  him  reli- 
gious worship  ;  but  they  also  worshipped  various  other  things,  — 
such  as  the  wood  of  the  cross,  and  the  images  and  relics  of  the,, 
saints.  They  believed  that  Christ  had  died  to  make  expiation  for 
sin  ;  but  they  did  not  trust  in  him  alone  for  salvation  :  so  far  from 
this,  they  trusted  chiefly  to  their  penances,  their  free-will  offerings, 
their  meritorious  performances,  and  the  intercession  of  the  saints. 
They  believed  in  the  existence  of  heaven  and  of  hell :  but  they 
also  believed  that  none  but  martyrs  and  -the  more  rigid  recluses 
went  to  heaven  at  death ;  while  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  even  of 
Christians,  were  doomed  to  undergo  a  purification  in  purgatorial 
fire.  They  believed  in  the  necessity  of  holy  living  in  order  to  a 
good  hope  of  heaven  ;  but  what  was  holy  living  according  to  the 
standard  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  ?  What  must  a  man 
be  and  do  in  order  to  be  esteemed  a  good  Christian?  "He  is  a 
good  Christian,"  says  St.  Eligius,  "who  comes  often  to  church,  and 
brings  his  offering  to  be  laid  on  the  altar ;  who  does  not  taste  of  his 
produce  till  he  has  first  offered  some  of  it  to  God ;  who,  as  often 
as  the  holy  solemnities  return,  keeps  himself  for  some  da,js  j)ure 
even  from  his  own  wife,  that  so  he  may  come  to  the  altar  with 
a  safe  conscience  ;  and  who  has  committed  to  memory  the  creed 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer."     "  Redeem  your  souls  from  punishment," 

728 


DOCTRINES,  HERESIES,  AND   CONTROVERSIES.  729 

says  the  same  St.  Eligius,  "  wliile  ye  have  the  means  in  your  power ; 
present  oblations  and  tithes  to  the  churches,  bring  candles  to  the 
holy  places,  according  to  your  wealth  ;  come  often  to  the  church ; 
and  beg  suppliantly  for  the  intercession  of  the  saints.  If  ye  do 
these  things,  ye  may  .come  with  confidence  before  the  tribunal  of 
the  eternal  God,  and  say,  ^Grive,  Lord  ;  for  ive  have  given.''  " 

These  extracts  show  how  entirely  the  religion  of  the  gospel  had 
beenjoeryerted  and  changed  by  the  superstitions  of  the  times.  The 
main  facts  were  held,  as  before  stated  ;  but  they  were  held  to  little 
purpose.  The  sole  object  of  worship,  the  foundation  of  hope,  the 
nature  of  religion,  the  conditions  of  salvation,  —  all  were  changed. 

The  interpreters  of  Scripture  in  this  age  may,  in  general,  be 
divided  into  two  classes  :  first,  those  who  collected  the -interpreta- 
tions^ of  the  fathers,  and  combined  them  into  what  were  called 
ca^e/tfc,  chains.  These,  of  course,  were  mere  compilers ;  but  their 
compilations  were  often  of  considerable  value,  embodying  a  synop- 
sis of  .patristical  interpretation.  The  other  class  followed  Origen, 
and  busied  themselves  in  searching  out  mystical,  allegorical  mean- 
ings. Their  works,  so  far  as  .they  have  come  down  to  us,  are  of 
little  importance.  If  there  were  any  commentators,  aside  from 
these  two  classes,  they  will  be  found  among  the  JS^^estorians,  who, 
following  the  example  of  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  sought  for  the 
true  meaning  and  intent  of  the  sacred  writings. 

Th.e  theologians  of  the  times  may  be  divided,  as  before,  into  two 
classes,  —  the  scJioIastics  and  the  mystics.  To  these  may  be  added, 
towards  the  close  of  the  period  under  review,  a  third  class  ;  viz., 
Jih.Qj£ositives.  The  scholastics  sought  to  elicit  and  establish  truth 
by  reason  and  discussion ;  the  positives,  by  the  authority  of  Scrip- 
ture and  the  fathers ;  the  mystics,  by  seclusion  and  meditation.  To 
the  last  class  belonged  the  more  rigid  of  the  monks ;  and  it  is  incred- 
ible what  severe  laws  they  imposed  upon  themselves  in  order  to 
stir  the  divinity  within  them,  and  deliver  themselves  from  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  gross  body.  To  live  among  wild  beasts,  and  after 
the  manner  of  beasts ;  to  roam  about  naked,  like  madmen,  in  desert 
places ;  to  feed  their  emaciated  bodies  with  roots  and  grass ;  to 
stand  motionless  in  one  place  for  years  ;  to  shut  themselves  uj)  in 
confined  cabins  or  caves  till  life  could  endure  no  longer,  —  these 
they  thought  the  true  methods  of  eliciting  the  spark  of  divinity 
from  the  recesses  of  their  souls,  and  bringing  them  into  a  oneness 
with  the  Deity. 

In  the  period  before  us,  several  attempts  were  made  to  produce 


730  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

systems  of  tlieplogy.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  century,  Isi- 
dore of  Seville  published  three  books  of  "  Sentences,"  collected  from 
the  writings  of  Augustine  and  of  Gregory  the  Great.  These  were 
followed  up  by  Scripture  proofs  and  illustrations,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  constituting  a  manual  of  theology.  Still  it  was  but  a 
naked  compilation,  and  very  poor  at  that.  In  the  next  century, 
Antiochus,  a  monk  of  Palestine,  composed  a  short  summary  of 
Christian  doctrine,  entitled  "  Pandects  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 
At  the  close  of  the  Pandects  we  have  some  verses,  in  which  the 
author  deplores,  in  mournful  measure,  the  loss  of  the  true  wood 
of  the  cross,  which  he  believed  the  Persians  had  carried  away. 

Following  this,  there  was  a  summary  of  the  theology  of  the 
times,  prepared  by  Ildefonsus,  bishop  of  Toledo,  called  "  De  Cogni- 
tione  Baptismi."  .As  the  title  imports,  this  was  designed  chiefly 
for  the  benefit  of  catechumens. 

Still  another  work  of  the  kind  was  prepared  in  the  seventh 
century  by  Tajo,  bishop  of  Saragossa.  It  contains  five  books  of 
"  Sentences,"  taken  chiefly  from  the  writings  of  Gregory  the  Great. 
Though  a  dry  and  insipid  performance,  it  was  so  greatly  valued  by 
the  other  bishops,  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it  "  the 
very  salt  of  the  earth,"  and  its  author  "  a  divine  luminary  in  the 
Church." 

In  the  eighth  century,  we  have  a  more  full  and  perfect  system  of 
theology  than  any  which  had  before  appeared.  It  was  prepared 
by  John  of  Damascus,  an  eminent  divine  of  the  Eastern  Church. 
It  is  divided  into  four  books,  and  unites  what  are  called  the  posi- 
tive and  scholastic  theologies.  The  author  employs  a  subtle  ratioci- 
nation in  explaining  doctrines,  and  then  confirms  them  by  quota- 
tions from  Scripture  and  the  fathers. 

In  his  first  book,  John  treats  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  God 
and  of  the  Trinity.  In  the  second  book,  he  speaks  of  the  work  of 
creation,  — of  thp  world,  angels,  and  demons,  of  heaven  and  earth, 
of  paradise  and  man.  He  speaks  also  of  divine  providence,  pre- 
science, and  predestination;  afiirming  that  the  latter  does  not 
reach  to  the  free  actions  of  men.  God  permits  their  actions,  but 
does  not  decree  them.  He  concludes  his  second  book  with  a  con- 
sideration of  Adam's  fall,  and  its  consequences  to  his  posterity. 

John's  third  book  is  on  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  his  method 
of  salvation.  He  asserts  the  twofold  nature  of  Christ,  and  his 
two  wills ;  and  holds  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  confined  to 
his  human  nature.     The  fourth  book  is  chiefly  occupied  with  the 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  731 

external  rites  and  ordinances  of  the  Church.  He  speaks  of  the 
sacraments  much  after  the  manner  of  the  Romanists.  He  says 
there  are  eight  distinct  kinds  of  baptism ;  viz.,  that  of  the  Deluge, 
that  of  the  cloud  and  sea,  the  purifications  under  the  law,  that  of 
John,  that  appointed  by  Christ,  the  baptism  of  tears,  that  of  blood 
or  martyrdom,  and  that  of  eternal  fire. 

I  have  given  a  more  fall  account  of  this  work  because  it  is  the 
first  which  really  deserves  to  be  called  a  system  of  theology ;  and 
because  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  it  was  long  held  in  the 
Eastern  Church,  and  is,  perhaps,  to  the  present  day. 

The  Donatists,  who  had  so  long  been  a  terror  and  trouble  to  the 

churches  in  Africa,  kept  up  their  separate existence  until  near 

the  close  of  the  sixth  century ;  but  from  this  time  they  gradually 
dwindled  away,  and  became  extmct. 

The  Arians,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  when  driven  out  of  the 
Roman  Empire  by  Theodosius,  near  the  close  of  the  fourth  centu- 
ry, took  refuge  among  the  Goths  and  Vandals.  When  these 
nations  came  into 'power,  and  the  Western  Empire  was  over- 
thrown, the  Arians  rose  and  flourished  with  them,  and  terribly 
repaid  the  Orthodox  for  any  hard  treatment  which  they  had  before 
received.  But,  in  process  of  time,  the  Vandals  were  driven  out  of 
Africa,  and  the  Goths  out  of  Italy,  by  Justinian's  generals ;  and 
several  other  of  the  Gothic  kings  embraced  the  Orthodox  faith. 
These  events  were  fatal  to '  the  spread  of  Arianism.  The  heresy 
ere  long  disappeared ;  and  we  hear  little  more  of  it  until  subsequent 
to  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  Nestorians  and  Monophysites,  after  their  formal  separation 
from  the  Catholic  Church  and  their  establishment  in  the  East, 
enjoyed  a  large  measure  of  peace  and  prosperity.  The  Nestorians 
were  specially  active  in  the  missionary  Avork,  and  established 
churches  in  Persia,  in  India,  in  Armenia,  Arabia,  and  Syria,  among 
the  tribes  of  Tartary  and  Scythia,  and  even  in  China.  The  Monoph- 
ysites were  less  devoted  and  active  as  Christians,  and  their  state 
was  not  one  of  such  continued  prosperity.  Still  they  spread  them- 
selves far  and  wide  in  the  East,  and  were  a  numerous  and  powerful 
body  of  Christians.  The  Persians  were  less  hostile  to  these  sects 
than  they  were  to  the  Greek  Catholic  Christians ;  and  when  the 
Saracens  came  into  power,  in  the  seventh  century,  they  treated 
the  Nestorians  and  Monophysites  with  much  favor.  Indeed,  there 
is  an  instrument  extant,  purporting  to  have  come  from  Mohammed 
himself,  in  which  he  promises  to  the  Nestorians  and  Monophysites 


732  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

his  protection ;  and  they  promise  him  loyalty  and  obedience.  He 
promises  them  entire  religious  freedom  ;  and  they  promise  him  sup- 
port against  his  enemies.  The  authenticity  of  this  written  cove- 
nant has  indeed  been  called  in  question ;  but  it  is  not  disputed  by 
the  Mohammedans.  It  is  certain,  too,  that  the  Mohammedans  of 
Persia,  in  these  times,  employed  the  Nestorians  in  the  most  impor- 
tant affairs  both  of  the  court  and  the  provinces ;  nor  would  they 
suffer  any  patriarch  but  that  of  the  Nestorians  to  reside  in  their 
kingdom  of  Babylon. 

The  eagerness  of  the  Eastern  emperors  to  conciliate  the  Monoph- 
ysites,  and  by  paper  compromises  to  bring  them  back  to  the 
Church,  involved  both  parties  in  new  controversies.  The  Emperor 
Justinian  was  made  to  believe,  that,  if  the  acts  of  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon  (by  which  council  the  Monophysites  were  condemned) 
were  purged  of  three  offensive  chapters,  the  Monophysites  would 
return  to  the  communion  of  the  Church.  Accordingly,  it  was 
ordered,  in  the  year  .544,  that  these  three  chapters  should  be  ex- 
punged, but  without  prejudice  to  the  authority,  of  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon.  But  this  edict  was  violently  oj)posed  by  the  Western 
bishops,  and  especially  by  Vigilius,  the  Roman  pontiff,  who  insisted 
that  great  injury  was  done  by  it,  both  to  the  Council  of  Chalcedon 
and  to  deceased  worthies  who  died  in  the  communion  of  the  Church. 
Justinian  summoned  Vigilius  to  Constantinople,  and  compelled 
him  to  condemn  the  three  chapters :  but  the  African  and  Illyrian 
bishops,  on  the  other  liand,  compelled  Vigilius  to  revoke  that  con- 
demnation ;  for  no  one  of  them  would  own  him  for  a  bishop  or  a 
brother  until  he  had  approved  of  those  three  chapters.  By  a  new 
edict,  Justinian  again  condemned  the  three  chapters,  in  the  year 
551. 

After  much  contention,  it  was  thought  best  to  refer  the  contro- 
versy to  the  decision  of  a  general  council.  Justinian,  therefore, 
assembled  at  Constantinople,  in  the  year  553,  what  is  called  the  fifth 
general  council.  In  this  council,  the  three  Chalcedonian  chapters 
were  judged  to  be  erroneous,  and  pernicious  to  the  Church.  Yet 
this  was  a  decision  of  the  Eastern  bishops,  as  very  few  from  the 
West  were  present.  Vigilius,  then  at  Constantinople,  would  not  at 
first  assent  to  the  decrees  of  the  council :  he  was  therefore  sent  into 
banishment,  and  not  allowed  to  return  until  his  assent  was  gained. 
Here  we  have  the  mfallible  bishop  of  Rome  changing  his  opinion 
back  and  forth  in  two  instances  on  this  question  of  the  three 
chapters.     Pelagius  his  successor,  and  several  subsequent  pontiffs, 


DOCTRINES,    HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  733 

agreed  in  receiving  the  decrees  of  this  last  council ;  but  neither 
their  authority,  nor  that  of  the  emperors,  could  induce  the  Western 
bishops  generally  to  follow  their  example.  Many  of  them  seceded 
from  the  communion  of  the  Roman  pontiff:  the  contention  con- 
tinued ;  nor  could  this  great  wound  be  healed  but  by  the  great 
healer,  Time. 

In  the  next  century,  another  ill-timed  effort  to  produce  peace 
resulted  in  prolonged  contention  and  war.  The  Emperor  Heraclius 
was  told  by  some  of  the  leading  Monophysites  that  the  believers 
in  the  one  nature  of  Christ  might  be  induced  to  accept  the  decrees 
of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  and  come  back  to  the  Church,  pro- 
vided the  Church  would  admit,  that,  after  the  union  of  the  two 
natures  in  Christ,  he  had  hut  one  tvill  and  one  voluntary  operation. 
The  bishop  of  Constantinople  expressed  the  opinion  that  this  ex- 
planation might  l^e  adopted  without  prejudice  to  the  truth  or  to 
the  Council  of  Chalcedon.  Heraclius,  therefore,  issued  a  decree 
that  this  faith  should  be  received  and  taught.  At  first,  the  affair 
seemed  to  go  on  well.  The  statement  was  acquiesced  in  by  the 
patriarchs  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch  ;  and  many  of  the  Monophy- 
sites returned  to  the  Church.  Even  Honorius,  bishop  of  Rome, 
was  induced  to  decide  in  favor  of  the  one  will  and  one  operatioii  in 
Christ;  but  Sophronius,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  could  not  be 
brought  to  acquiesce  in  the  doctrine.  He  assembled  a  council  in 
the  year  633,  which  condemned  the  MotiotJielites,  and  maintained 
that  their  statement  was  but  a  new  phase  of  the  old  error  of  one 
nature  in  Christ.  The  consequence  was  a  severe  controversy, 
which  divided  both  Church  and  Commonwealth  into  two  parties. 

To  quiet  these  dissensions,  Heraclius  published  in  the  year  639 
a  formula  of  faith,  called  the  Ucthesis,  in  which,  while  he  as- 
serted the  one  will  in  Christ,  he  forbade  all  further  discussion  or 
agitation  of  the  subject.  Some  acquiesced  in  this  decree ;  while 
others  despised  it.  In  particular,  John  IV.,  who  had  succeeded 
Honorius  in  the  see  of  Rome,  called  together  a  council,  which 
condemned  both  the  Ecthesis  and  the  Monothelites. 

As  the  controversy  continued,  the  Emperor  Constans,  in  the  year 
648,  published  a  new  edict,  called  the  Typus,  by  which  the  Ecthesis 
was  revoked ;  but  silence  was  still  enjoined  on  both  the  contending 
parties.  The  monks,  however,  Avould  not  keep  silence  ;  and  Mar- 
tin, bishop  of  Rome,  in  the  year  649  assembled  a  council,  which 
anathematized  both  the  Ecthesis  and  Typus,  and  likewise  all  wlio 
befriended  the  Monothelites.     For  this  offence,  Martin,  the  next 


734  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

year,  was  arrested,  and  banished  to  the  Island  of  Naxia.  From 
this  time,  the  controversy  slept  for  several  years ;  but  as  it  was 
only  a  concealed  fire  burning  in  secret,  and  as  new  commotions 
were  constantly  to  be  feared,  the  Roman  pontiff,  Agatho,  in  con- 
currence with  the  emperor,  summoned  a  general  council  in  680,  by 
which  the  Monothelites  and  the  deceased  pontiff  Honorius  were 
both  condemned.  The  decision  of  the  council  was  confirmed  by  the 
emperor,  and  enforced  by  penal  laws.  The  condemned  Monothe- 
lites took  refuge  in  Mount  Lebanon,  and  were  afterwards  called 
Maronites,  —  a  name  which  they  still  bear. 

From  the  controversies  with  the  Monophysites  arose  a  sect  which 
went  to  ^he  other  extreme,  and  became  Tritheists.  Its  author,  John 
Ascunage,  believed  that  there  were  in  God  three  numerically  dis- 
tinct natures,  all  perfectly  alike,  and  connected  by  no  common 
vinculum  of  essence.  This  was  tritheism ;  but  the  sect  did  not 
spread  far,  or  continue  very  long. 

In  the  eighth  century,  there  was  a  controversy  between  the 
Greek  and  Latin  churches  respecting  tJie  procession  of  the  Spirit. 
The  Greeks  held,  according  to  the  promise  in  our  Bibles,  that  he 
jDroceedeth  only  from  the  Father ;  while  the  Latins  insisted  that  he 
proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  (see  John  xv.  26).  The 
controversy  was  ^slight  in  itself,  but  important  in  its  consequences, 
as  it  tended,  with  other  things,  to  bring  about  an  entire  separation 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches. 

The  great  controversy  of  the  eighth  century,  and  the  last  which 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  notice,  was  that  respecting  the  worship  of 
images.  Pictures  and  images  had  been  gradually  introduced  into 
the  churches,  partly  as  a  matter  of  taste,  but  chiefly  as  remem- 
brancers of  the  deeds  and  sufferings  of  the  martjrrs  an-d  other  holy 
men.  By  degrees,  the  images  had  been  converted  into  objects  of 
worsl^ip ;  and,  in  point  of  idolatry,  the  churches  of  the  Christians 
were  likely  soon  to  rival  the  heathen  temples.  Unable  to  endure 
the  scandal  which  such  worship  brought  upon  the  Christians,  es- 
pecially among  the  Jews  and  Saracens,  the  Emperor  Leo  III.,  the 
Isaurian,  in  the  year  726  published  an  edict  commanding  all  im- 
ages of  the  saints  to  be  removed  out  of  the  churches,  and  the  wor- 
ship of  them  to  be  wholly  discontinued.  This  produced  a  great 
commotion  among  the  superstitious  people,  and  more  especially 
among  the  priests  and  monks,  to  whom  the  images  were  a  source 
of  gain.  They  denounced  the  emperor  as  an  apostate  from  the  true 
religion,  and  declared  his  subjects  free  from  all  obligations  of  obe- 


DOCTRINES,    H;ERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  735 

dience.  In  Italy,  the  Roman  pontiffs,  Gregory  II.  and  Gregory  III., 
were  the  principal  instigators  of  rebellion.  They  induced  the 
people  of  Italy  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  Eastern  emperor, 
and  to  kill  or  expel  the  governors  which  he  had  set  over  them. 
Exasperated  by  these  proceedings,  Leo  deposed  Germanus,  bishop 
of  Constantinople,  who  favored  images  ;  and  put  Anastasius  in  his 
place.  He  commanded  that  the  images  should  be  burned,  and,  in 
some  instances,  punished  those  who  worshipped  them.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  severity,  the  Christian  Church  was  rent  into  two 
parties,  the  Iconodules  and  Iconoclasts,  who  assailed  each  other  with 
mutual  invectives,  abuses,  and  assassinations. 

Leo  died  in  the  year  741,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Constan- 
tine  Copronymus,  who  labored,  as  his  father  had  done,  for  the  ex- 
tirpation of  image-worship,  though  with  more  of  method  and  mod- 
eration. He  convened  a  council  of  Eastern  bishops  at  Constantino- 
ple in  the  year  754,  which  decided  according  to  the  views  of  the 
emperor,  and  condemned  images.  But  the  great  horde  of  monks 
which  swarmed  the  East  were  not  to  be  silenced  by  a  council. 
They  continued  to  stir  up  the  people,  and  excite  sedition ;  while 
the  emperor  pursued  them  with  more  rigorous  laws  and  punish- 
ments. 

Leo  IV.,  who  succeeded  Constantine  in  the  year  775,  entertained 
the  same  views  with  his  father  and  grandfather ;  and,  when  he  saw 
that  the  abettors  of  images  were  not  to  be  moved  by  gentle  means, 
he  coerced  them  by  penal  statutes.  But  this  prince  was  put  to  death 
in  the  year  780  by  his  perfidious  wife  Irene.  And  now  the  cause 
of  image-worship  triumphed  ;  for  this  guilty  woman,  entering  into 
a  league  with  Adrian,  the  Roman  pontiff,  convened  a  council  at 
Nice,  in  Bythinia,  in  the  year  786,  by  which  the  laws  of  the  emper- 
ors, and  the  decrees  of  the  late  council  at  Constantinople,  were 
abrogated;  the  worship  of  images  and  of  the  cross  was  established; 
and  severe  penalties  were  denounced  against  those  who  should 
maintain  that  worship  and  adoration  were  to  be  given  only  to 
God. 

This  wicked  woman,  Irene,  not  only  poisoned  her  husband,  but 
procured  the  death  of  her  own  son  Constantine  in  order  that  she 
might  reign  alone.  But  the  judgments  of  God  at  length  overtook 
her.  In  the  year  802  she  was  banished  to  the  Isle  of  Lesbos, 
where  she  died  most  miserably  the  following  year. 

In  these  contests  respecting  images,  the  British,  French,  and 
German  churches,  with  Charlemagne  at  their  head,  took  a  mid- 


736  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

die  grouncl.  They  decided  that  images  might  be  retained  in  the 
churches,  but  that  no  rehgious  worship  could  be  offered  them 
without  dishonoring  the  Supreme  Being.  Charlemagne  caused  a 
book  to  be  written  against  image-worship,  which  he  sent  to  Pope 
Adrian,  and  which  the  pontiff  condemned.  Charlemagne  also 
convened  a  council  of  three  hundred  bishops  at  Frankfort-on-the 
Main  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  this  protracted  controversy. 
The  council  approved  the  sentiments  of  his  book,  and  determined 
that  images  were  not  to  be  worshipped. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this  whole  controvers}'",  which  lasted 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  the  bishops  of  Rome  were,  from  first 
to  last,  the  open,  decided  abettors  and  advocates  of  image-worship  ; 
and  this  I  deem  a  very  important  fact  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy. 
In  the  imagery  of  the  Old  Testament,  idol-worship  is  set  forth  as 
harlotry ;  and  from  this  time,  perhaps,  the  Church  of  Rome  be- 
came, in  the  language  of  the  Apocalypse,  "  the  mother  of  harlots 
and  abominations  of  the  earth"  (Rev.  xvii.  5). 

In  estimating  the  state  of  religion  in  the  period  which  has  been 
reviewed,  we  must  distinguish  between  the  rulers  of  the  Church 
and  those  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life.  The  character  of  the 
Church  dignitaries  was,  for  the  most  part,  very  bad.  The  Oriental 
bishops  and  doctors  wasted  their  lives  in  controversies  and  quar- 
rels, disquieting  both  Church  and  State  ;  while  those  in  the  West 
gave  themselves  up  to  various  kinds  of  profligacy,  —  such  as  hunt- 
ing, gluttony,  lust,  sensuality,  and  war.  The  laws  enacted  at  va- 
rious times  with  a  view  to  reclaim  them  show  plainly  enough  what 
were  their  characters.  Among  the  "  Capitularia  "  of  Charlemagne, 
as  cited  by  Harduin,  are  laws  against  clergymen's  "  haunting  tav- 
erns, practising  magic,  and  receiving  bribes  to  ordain  improper  per- 
sons ; "  also  against  "  clerical  drunkenness,  concubinage,  and  profane 
swearing."  "  Bishops,  abbots,  and  abbesses  are  forbidden  to  keep 
packs  of  hounds,  or  hawks,  or  falcons."  To  be  sure,  not  all  the 
clergy,  nor  even  the  higher  clergy,  were  such  as  these  laws  would 
seem  to  indicate.  There  were  some  honorable  exceptions,  and  the 
more  honorable  because  they  were  few. 

But,  when  we  turn  from  church  dignitaries  to  those  in  the  hum- 
bler walks  of  life,  —  missionaries,  private  laborers  in  the  cause  of 
Christ,  and  the  multitudes  for  whom  they  labored,  whose  histories 
will  never  be  written  on  earth,  but  whose  names  are  in  the  Lamb's 
book  of  life,  —  we  are  presented  with  a  much  more  agreeable  pros- 
pect.   Such  were  the  Culdees,  of  whom  we  have  before  spoken,  who 


DOCTRINES,   HERESIES,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.  787 

were  silently  traversing  the  greater  part  of  Western  Europe,  cir- 
culating the  Scriptures,  preaching  to  the  people,  and  holding  their 
little  private  meetings  for  prayer  and  praise.  Such,  too,  were  the 
Paulicians  and  the  Cathari,  who  were  privatel}''  laboring  in  both 
the  East  and  the  West,  and  who  only  become  visible  as  they  are 
reproached  and  persecuted.  Previous  to  the  close  of  the  period 
before  us,  we  begin  to  hear  of  the  Vallenses,  afterwards  called 
Waldenses,  who  had  fixed  their  residence  in  the  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont, and  dared  to  confront  the  arrogant  claims  of  Rome.  In  fine, 
we  may  be  sure  that  God  had  in  this  age,  as  he  has  in  every  age, 
witnesses  for  his  truth  and  for  the  power  of  his  gospel :  and 
though  unknown  to  earthly  fame,  and  choosing  to  be  unknown, 
yet  saith  God,  "  They  shall  be  mine  in  the  day  when  I  make  up 
my  jewels ;  and  I  will  spare  them  as  a  man  spareth  his  own  son 
that  serveth  him." 

47 


PEEIOD    YI. 

FROM  THE  RESTORATION  0?  THE  WESTERN  EMPIRE  UNDER  CHARLE- 
MAGNE TO  THE  CULMINATION  OF  POPERY  AT  THE  BEGIN- 
NING OF   THE  FOURTEENTH   CENTURY. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

EXTERNAL   HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH    DURING   THIS    PERIOD. 

WHEN  our  last  period  closed,  A.D.  800,  the  Eastern  Empire 
was  ruled  by  the  perfidious  Irene,  the  patroness  of  images, 
who  had  poisoned  her  husband,  and  betrayed  her  son.  But  her 
sins  soon  found  her  out ;  and  in  the  year  802  she  was  banished  to 
the  Isle  of  Lesbos,  where  she  died.  She  was  succeeded  by  her 
treasurer,  Nicephorus  ;  and,  between  him  and  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  more  than  forty  different  individuals  ruled  over  the 
Greeks.  These  all  reigned  at  Constantinople,  with  the  exception 
of  three  or  four,  who  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  while  the  Lat- 
ins held  Constantinople  (from  A.D.  1204  to  1261),  had  the  seat 
of  their  empire  at  Nice.  They  were,  in  general,  a  pusillanimous 
succession  of  monarchs,  who  accomplished  little  that  is  worthy  of 
note  in  history ;  and  who  only  lived  to  see  the  empire  gradually 
broken  down  by  the  Saracens  and  Turks,  preparatory  to  its  final 
overthrow,  —  about  the  middle  of  the  next  century. 

Egypt  and  Northern  Africa,  where  had  been  so  many  hundreds 
of  Christian  churches,  and  where  religion  had  flourished  for  ages, 
under  the  auspices  of  such  men  as  Athanasius,  Cyprian,  and  Au- 
gustine, was  entirely  overrun  by  the  Saracens  a  hundred  years 
before  the  close  of  our  last  period ;  and  Christianity  did  but  linger 
there,  if  it  existed  at  all. 

In  the  year  800,  as  stated  in  the  last  chapter,  Charlemagne  was 

738 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF  THE  CHURCH.  739 

made  emperor  of  Rome ;  and  the  old  Western  Roman  Empire,  so 
far  as  the  altered  condition  of  things  would  permit,  was  restored. 
He  lived  fourteen  years  subsequent  to  this,  and  reigned  over  all 
France  and  Germany,  together  with  a  part  of  Hungary,  of  the 
Netherlands,  of  Italy,  and  of  Spain.  He  was  a  remarkable  man, 
—  the  great  man  of  his  age,  —  a  friend  and  promoter  of  learning, 
and  of  religion  too,  as  he  understood  it,  though  not  always  in 
ways  which  to  us  would  seem  the  most  desirable.  His  successors 
inherited  none  of  his  great  qualities :  his  vast  empire  was  divided 
among  them  ;  and  they  kept  up  the  succession  through  six  or  seven 
generations,  constituting  what  is  called  the  Carlovingian  dynasty 
of  France.  But,  in  the  year  987,  the  last  of  the  Carlovingians  was 
dethroned  by  Hugh  Capet ;  and  the  Capetian  dynasty  commenced. 
This  dynasty  continued  through  a  long  line  of  generations,  —  the 
most  of  them  weak,  inglorious  princes,  —  until  the  close  of  our 
present  period,  and  beyond  it.  At  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, Philip  the  Fair  was  on  the  throne  of  France.  He  contended 
successfully  against  the  usurpations  of  Boniface  VIII.,  one  of  the 
most  vigorous  of  the  pontiffs ;  and  was  the  means  of  removing  the 
seat  of  the  Papacy  from  Rome  to  Avignon,  in  France,  where  it 
remained  seventy  years. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  period  before  us,  England  was  still 
governed  by  the  Saxon  kings  ;  but  the  heptarchy  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  Egbert,  Idng  of  Wessex,  in  the  year  827.  The  great 
Alfred  was  one  of  his  descendants,  and  reigned  from  871  to  901. 
The  Norman  and  Danish  pirates  were  now  prowling  and  plunder- 
ing everywhere.  They  overcame  the  feeble  successors  of  Alfred ; 
and  Canute  the  Dane  began  to  reign  over  England  in  1017.  But 
his  sons  soon  lost  the  kingdom,  which  reverted  to  Edward  II.,  a 
descendant  of  AKred,  and  passed  over  from  him  to  William  the 
Conqueror  in  1076. 

The  condition  of  Spain  through  the  whole  period  under  review 
was  deplorable.  The  Saracens,  who  had  crossed  over  from  Africa, 
possessed  about  three-fourths  of  the  country:  the  remaining  fourth 
was  divided  into  four  petty  kingdoms ;  viz.,  Castile,  Leon,  Na- 
varre, and  Aragon,  which  were  perpetually  contending,  one  with 
another,  and  with  the  Saracens.  The  Saracens  also  were  fre- 
quently quarrelling  among  themselves. 

The  empire  of  Germany  passed  from  the  Carlovingians  on  the 
death  of  Louis  IV.,  —  in  the  year  912.  The  Germans  elected  for 
their  sovereign  Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia ;  who  was  succeeded 


740  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

by  Heniy  the  Fowler ;  who  Avas  succeeded  by  Otho  the  Great. 
Otho  was  crowned  emperor  of  Rome  and  Germany,  by  the  pontiff 
John  XII.,  in  the  year  9-36.  He  was  the  next  great  monarch  in 
Europe  after  Charlemagne,  whom  in  many  respects  he  resembled. 
Like  Charlemagne,  he  was  the  promoter  of  learning  and  religion ; 
and  did  much  for  the  civilization  and  conversion  of  the  rude  Ger- 
mans, as  we  shall  see.  He  was  succeeded  by  a  son  and  grandson 
who  bore  the  name  of  Otho,  and  by  a  long  line  of  sovereigns, 
among  whom  were  Henry  IV.  and  Henry  V.,  who  had  the  memora- 
ble quarrel  with  Pope  Gregory  VII.  on  the  subject  of  investitures. 

I  have  presented  this  brief  sketch  of  the  civil  state  of  Christen- 
dom that  we  may  the  better  understand  the  condition  of  the  Church. 
It  was  in  the  countries,  and  under  the  governments,  of  which  we 
have  spoken,  that  the  Church  lived  through  all  this  dark  period ; 
and  how  can  its  external  state  be  sketched  without  some  knowl- 
edge of  its  civil  relations  ? 

It  should  be  added,  that,  through  the  greater  part  of  the  period 
before  us,  the  feudal  system  was  in  vigorous  operation ;  which 
tended  much  to  weaken  the  power  of  the  respective  governments, 
and  promote  contention  and  confusion.  The  great  lords  and  barons 
were  well-nigh  independent  in  their  respective  domains.  They 
were  continually  quarrelling  among  themselves,  and  could  not  be 
relied  on  to  aid  the  sovereign  except  in  cases  of  the  most  imminent 
common  danger. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  infelicities  of  the  times,  Christianity 
made  some  progress  in  the  period  before  us.  In  the  ninth  century, 
it  was  propagated  in  Jutland,  Denmark,  and  Sweden,  by  the  inde- 
fatigable Ansgarius,  who  was  one  of  the  best  missionaries  in  all  the 
middle  ages.  By  Lewis  the  Meek,  son  of  Charlemagne,  he  was 
constituted  archbishop  of  Hamburg,  Bremen,  and  all  the  north  coun- 
try ;  but  the  profits  of  his  high  station  were  small,  while  the  perils 
of  it  were  great,  and  its  labors  immense.  He  took  frequent  jour- 
neys among  the  Danes,  the  Cimbrians,  the  Swedes,  and  other  na- 
tions ;  and  labored,  though  at  the  peril  of  his  life,  to  plant  new 
churches,  and  to  strengthen  those  previously  formed,  until  death 
overtook  him,  in  the  year  865. 

The  good  work  thus  begun  in  Denmark  was  continued  in  the 
next  century,  though  with  various  success,  under  the  auspices  of 
Otho  the  Great  of  Germany.  Christianity  was  also  extended  to 
Norway,  Iceland,  Greenland,  and  the  Orkney  Islands. 

Some  praiseworthy  efforts  were  made  by  the  Greeks  to  propa- 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH.  741 

gate  the  faith  in  the  ninth  century.  Two  Greek  monks,  Methodius 
and  Cyril,  were  sent  from  Constantinople  by  the  Empress  Theodora, 
who  taught,  first  the  Moetians  and  Bulgarians,  and  afterwards  the 
Bohemians  and  INIoravians,  to  renounce  their  false  gods,  and  embrace 
Christianity.  In  the  year  867,  the  Slavonic  nations  who  inhabited 
Dalmatia  (now  a  part  of  Austria)  voluntarily  placed  themselves 
in  subjection  to  the  Greek  Empire,  and  professed  a  willingness  to 
embrace  Christianity.  Greek  priests  were  therefore  sent  among 
them,  who  instructed  and  baptized  them.  At  the  same  time,  Chris- 
tianity was  introduced  among  the  Russians  inhabiting  the  Ukraine,* 
who  received  an  archbishop  appointed  by  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople. This  was  the  commencement  of  Christianity  in  Rus- 
sia. In  the  folloAving  century,  Wlodimir,  duke  of  Russia  and 
Muscovy,  having  married  the  sister  of  the  Greek  emperor,  she  did 
not  cease  to  importune  and  exhort  him,  until  he  consented  to  re- 
ceive baptism.  Most  of  the  Russians  followed  the  example  of  their 
duke,  and  became  Christians,  at  least  in  name. 

In  the  West,  Rollo,  a  Norwegian  pirate,  who  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  a  part  of  Gaul  in  the  ninth  century,  embraced  Christianity, 
with  his  whole  army,  about  the  year  912.  He  did  this  at  the  in- 
stance of  Charles  the  Simple,  king  of  France,  who  offered  him  an 
extensive  territory  on  condition  that  he  would  marry  his  daughter 
Gisela,  desist  from  war,  and  embrace  the  Christian  religion.  Rollo 
accepted  the  condition,  and  received  what  has  since  been  called 
Normandij  in  France.  From  him  were  descended  the  celebrated 
dukes  of  Normandy,  and  William  the  Conqueror  of  England. 

In  the  year  965,  Micislaus,  duke  of  Poland,  was  persuaded  by 
his  Christian  wife,  Dambrowka,  to  renounce  the  idolatry  of  his 
ancestors,  and  embrace  Christianity.  His  people  were  induced  to 
follow  his  example  ;  and  Poland  became  a  nominally  Christian  na- 
tion. In  the  twelfth  century,  another  Duke  of  Poland  introduced 
the  gospel  into  the  ancient  Pomerania,  now  a  part  of  Prussia, 
where  a  new  bishopric  was  established. 

Some  knowledge  of  Christianity  had  reached  the  Hungarians  as 
early  as  the  times  of  Charlemagne ;  but,  after  his  death,  it  was 
chiefly  lost.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century,  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Hungarians  was  seriously  undertaken  by  Stephen,  their 
king.  He  established  bishops  in  different  parts  of  the  country ; 
provided  for  their  support ;  built  churches ;  and  by  promises,  threats, 

*  The  frontier  between  what  is  now  Poland  and  Russia. 


742  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

and  punishments,  brought  the  whole  nation  into  his  views.  For 
his  zeal  and  success  in  this  matter,  he  was  afterwards  canonized, 
and  became  a  saint. 

In  the  twelfth  century,  new  efforts  were  made  by  the.  kings  of 
Denmark  and  Sweden  to  propagate  Christianity  in  North-western 
Europe.  The  Slavonians,  the  Wends,  the  Finns,  and  some  other 
barbarous  nations,  were  compelled  by  force  of  arms  to  forsake 
their  idolatries,  and  embrace  the  religion  of  their  conquerors.  The 
same  thing  was  acted  over  in  Esthonia  and  Livonia,  now  belonging 
to  Russia.  Troops  were  marched  into  these  countries  from  Saxony 
and  other  parts  of  Germany,  under  the  lead  of  men  calling  them- 
selves bishops  ;  by  whose  arms  the  wretched  people  were  subdued 
and  exhausted,  and  at  length  compelled  to  substitute,  in  place  of 
their  idols,  the  images  of  Christ  and  the  saints.  The  only  impor- 
tance to  be  attached  to  such  conversions  lies,  not  in  their  inherent 
nature  or  character,  but  in  the  preparation  which  they  sometimes 
make  for  better  things  in  time  to  come. 

During  the  former  part  of  the  period  before  us,  the  Nestorians 
were  busily  engaged,  as  they  had  long  been,  in  propagating  their  re- 
ligion among  the  Tartars  of  Central  Asia,  —  even  unto  the  borders 
of  China.  In  the  tenth  century,  we  have  an  interesting  account 
of  a  Tartar  king,  who,  while  hunting  in  the  wilderness,  lost  his  way, 
and  was  utterly  unable  to  extricate  himself.  A  venerable  man, 
probably  some  Nestorian  hermit,  appeared  to  him,  and  promised  to 
show  him  his  way  out  on  condition  that  he  would  become  a  Chris- 
tian. The  king  accepted  the  condition.  On  returning  to  his  camp, 
he  received  baptism  ;  in  which  he  was  followed  by  a  multitude  of 
his  people. 

Other  modes  of  promoting  Christianity  were  in  some  instances 
adopted  by  the  Nestorians.  Thus,  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century,  we  hear  of  a  Nestorian  priest,  whose  name  was  John,  who 
made  war  upon  a  horde  of  Tartars,  conquered  them,  and  became 
their  king.  This  was  the  famous  Prester  John,  whose  country  was 
for  a  long  time  deemed  by  Europeans  the  seat  of  all  felicity  and 
opulence.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  or  brother,  who  also  took 
the  name  of  Prester  John.  He  continued  to  reign  till  near  the 
close  of  the  century ;  when  he  was  vanquished  and  slain  by  the 
renowned  Tartar  general,  Genghis  Khan. 

This  Genghis  was  a  Mogul  prince,  who,  being  obliged  to  escape 
from  Delhi,  took  refuge  among  the  Tartars  of  Central  Asia.  After 
various  conquests,  he  became  one  of  the  greatest  generals  and 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  T43 

monarchs  of  this  or  of  any  age.  He  carried  his  victorious  arms 
from  the  Chinese  Sea  to  the  Euphrates  and  the  Euxine,  and  from 
the  frozen  north  of  Asia  to  the  borders  of  India.  His  empire  was 
extended  and  consolidated  by  his  sons,  till  in  the  East  it  included 
all  Northern  China  and  Thibet ;  and,  in  the  West,  Persia,  Mesopo- 
tamia, Armenia,  Georgia,  and  the  southern  part  of  what  is  now 
Russia  in  Europe.  For  a  course  of  years,  Genghis  and  his  succes- 
sors were  tolerant  towards  all  religions.  Hence  in  their  courts  and 
camps  were  found  Christians,  Mohammedans,  Jews,  and  Pagans. 
Genghis  himself  married  a  daughter  of  Prester  John  ;  and  several 
of  his  descendants  had  Christian  wives.  But,  towards  the  close  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  the  Mohammedan  religion  gained  the  as- 
cendency, especially  in  the  western  parts  of  the  Mogul  Empire. 
The  Khans  themselves  leaned  towards  it,  and  in  some  instances 
allowed  the  Christians  to  be  persecuted.  From  this  period  we  date 
the  decline  of  Nestorian  Christianity  in  Central  Asia  and  China ; 
and  it  continued  to  decline,  till  but  a  remnant  of  it  is  left. 

We  have  previously  spoken  of  the  conquests  of  the  Saracens 
in  Southern  Europe.  They  took  Sicily  in  the  ninth  century,  and 
held  it  till  about  the  middle  of  the  tenth.  But,  in  the  year  1059, 
Robert  Guiscard,  the  Norman  duke  of  Apulia,  assisted  by  his 
brother  Roger,  attacked  them  with  great  vigor ;  nor  did  he  relin- 
quish the  war  till  he  had  gained  possession  of  the  whole  island. 
This  was  an  important  acquisition  for  the  Christians  ;  for  the  con- 
querors drove  out  the  Saracens,  and  firmly  established  the  Christian 
religion. 

The  period  before  us  was  that  of  the  Crusades.^  of  which  some 
account  will  now  be  given.  Jerusalem  had  been  captured  by  the 
Saracens  in  the  seventh  century ;  when  the  religion  of  the  Prophet 
succeeded  to  that  of  Moses,  of  Jesus,  and  of  God.  For  more  than 
three  centuries,  the  Mohammedans  continued  to  rule  undisturbed 
in  the  Holy  Land.  But  though  this  state  of  things  was  acquiesced 
in  by  the  Christians  of  Europe  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  still  it  was 
to  them  a  grievous  necessity.  It  was  thought  to  be  a  disgrace  to 
all  who  bore  the  Christian  name,  that  the  country  in  which  the 
Saviour  lived  and  taught,  and  made  expiation  for  sin,  should  be 
left  under  the  dominion  of  his  enemies.  Add  to  this  the  indignities 
and  cruelties  which  were  continually  practised  upon  pilgrims  to 
the  Holy  Land,  and  upon  Christians  who  still  resided  there,  and  it 
was  thought  that  abundant  cause  was  furnished  for  the  raising  of 
a  powerful  army  in  Europe,  and  marching  at  once  to  the  deliver- 


744  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

ance  of  Jerusalem.  Fired  with  such  sentiments,  a  crusade  began 
to  be  talked  of  in  the  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century ;  and  yet, 
for  various  reasons,  nothing  effectual  was  done. 

But,  near  the  close  of  the  following  century,  the  work  was  under- 
taken in  sober  earnest.  Peter  the  Hermit,  a  native  of  France,  had 
visited  Palestine  in  the  year  1093,  and  had  seen  with  the  inten- 
sest  sorrow  the  oppressions  which  were  there  inflicted  upon  the 
Christians  by  their  enemies.  He  returned  to  Europe  filled  with  an 
enthusiasm  which  he  took  to  be  a  divine  revelation.  He  carried 
with  him  an  epistle  on  the  subject,  which  he  said  came  from 
heaven,  and  was  addressed  to  all  Christians.  He  traversed  the 
country  in  every  direction,  and  preached  with  an  energy  which 
has  never  been  exceeded.  Pope  Urban  II.  fell  in  with  his  views ; 
and  the  Greek  emperor  was  understood  to  favor  them.  The  result 
was,  that  a  vast  multitude,  of  all  ranks  and  ages,  Avere  ready  at 
once  to  engage  in  a  military  expedition  to  Palestine.  We  are 
assured  that  not  less  than  eight  hundred  thousand  persons  marched 
from  Europe  in  the  year  109G,  pursuing  their  way  to  Constantino- 
ple, that,  after  receiving  instructions  from  the  Greek  emperor,  they 
might  pass  over  into  Asia. 

This  host  might  seem  to  be  a  very  formidable  army,  sufficient  to 
overcome  almost  any  obstacle :  but  in  reality  it  was  a  very  weak 
one ;  for  it  was  composed  chiefly  of  monks,  mechanics,  farmers, 
persons  without  any  regidar. occupation,  spendthrifts,  speculators, 
prostitutes,  servants,  malefactors,  and  the  lowest  dregs  of  an  idle 
populace,  who  hoped,  in  some  way,  to  make  their  fortunes.  They 
were  called  Crusaders^  not  only  because  they  went  to  fight  for  the 
cross,  but  because  each  one  wore  upon  his  right  shoulder  a  white, 
red,  or  green  cross,  made  of  woollen  cloth,  and  solemnly  conse- 
(*      crated. 

Of  this  vast  army,  Peter  the  Hermit,  girded  with  a  rope,  led  on 
a  band  of  eighty  thousand  through  Hungary  and  Thrace.  But  this 
company,  after  committing  innumerable  base  deeds,  were  nearly 
all  destroyed  by  the  Hungarians  and  Turks.  Nor  did  better  for- 
tune attend  some  other  armies  of  these  crusaders,  who  roamed 
about  like  robbers  under  unskilful  commanders,  and  plundered 
and  laid  waste  the  countries  over  which  they  passed. 

But  other  portions  of  the  army,  under  brave  and  skilful  leaders 
accustomed  to  discipline  and  war,  —  the  chief  among  whom  were 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon  and  his  brother  Baldwin, — proceeded  in  a 
more  orderly  and  successful  manner.     They  passed  over  into  Asia 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  745 

in  1097,  and,  the  same  year,  captured  Nice,  the  capital  of  Bj^thinia. 
The  next  year,  they  took  Antioch  and  Edessa ;  and,  in  the  follow- 
ing 3'ear  (1099),  they  conquered  Jerusalem.  Aiid  here  they  set  up 
their  new  Christian  kingdom,  the  crown  of  which  they  first  offered 
to  Godfrey ;  but,  upon  his  declining  it,  they  gave  it  to  his  brother 
Baldwin. 

That  these  Avars  were  ill  advised  and  ill  conducted,  and  of  most 
injurious  influence  upon  both  Church  and  State,,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  They  drained  Europe  of  its  population  and  of  immense 
sums  of  money.  Many  families  before  opulent  and  powerful 
either  became  extinct,  or  were  reduced  to  extreme  poverty.  At  the 
same  time,  the  power  and  greatness  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  the 
wealth  of  the  churches  and  monasteries,  were  greatly  increased. 
Property  made  over  to  them  by  those  wlio  lost  their  lives  in  Pales- 
tine never  reverted  to  its  right  owners ;  and  those  who  returned, 
instead  of  bringing  back  their  money,  generally  exchanged  it  for 
worthless  relics  which  they  had  purchased  of  the  fraudulent 
Syrians  and  Greeks. 

By  some  of  the  best  Christians  in  Europe,  —  such  as  the  Cathari, 
the  Albigenses,  and  Waldenses,  —  the  wars  of  the  crusaders  were 
condemned  at  the  time.  They  said  that  Christians  had  no  right, 
for  the  causes  assigned,  to  invade  the  Saracens,  and  put  such  mul- 
titudes of  them  to  death.  But  to  this  it  was  replied,  quoting  their 
own  words,  "  The  Church  does  not  intend  to  harm  the  Saracens, 
much  less  to  kill  them.  Christian  princes  have  no  such  design ; 
and  yet,  if  they  tvill  stand  in  the  ivay  of  the  swords  of  the  pri^ices, 
they  ivill  be  slain!  "  A  rare  argument  this,  truly  !  What  war  was 
ever  more  ingeniously  defended  ? 

But,  though  the  nations  of  Europe  had  set  up  a  Christian  king- 
dom at  Jerusalem,  they  found  it  no  easy  matter  to  sustain  it.  For 
a  time,  it  seemed  to  flourish  and  to  stand  strong ;  but  this  prosper- 
ity was  soon  succeeded  by  adversity.  When  most  of  the  cru- 
saders had  returned  home,  the  Mohammedans,  recovered  from  their 
sudden  consternation,  attacked  their  forces,  and  harassed  the  Chris- 
tians with  perpetual  wars.  They  took  the  city  of  Edessa,  and 
were  preparing  to  attack  Antioch.  The  Christians  in  Palestine 
were  constrained,  therefore,  to  cry  to  the  princes  of  Europe  for 
help.  This  cry  reached  the  ears  of  St.  Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairval, 
in  France,  —  a  man  of  immense  influence  in  the  religious  world. 
He  commenced  preaching  the  cross,  as  the  phrase  was,  in  the  year 
1146  ;  and  succeeded  in  persuading  Louis  VII.  of  France,  and  Con- 


746  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

rad  III.,  emperor  of  the  Germans,  to  enter  upon  a  second  crusade. 
Both  collected  great  armies,  and  proceeded  by  different  routes 
towards  Palestine.  But  the  most  of  their  men  perished  miserably 
on  the  road ;  and,  after  an  absence  of  two  years,  they  were  obliged 
to  return  to  Europe  with  the  few  that  remained,  having  accom- 
plished nothing. 

In  the  year  1188,  the  Christians  in  the  East  were  vigorously 
assailed  by  the  celebrated  Mohammedan  general,  Saladin.  He  was 
a  Persian  by  birth,  but  had  been  promoted,  on  account  of  his  valor 
and  success  in  arms,  to  be  viceroy  of  Egypt  and  Syria.  He  soon 
captured  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  and  reduced  the  city  under  his 
power.  To  the  Christians  of  Europe  there  was  now  no  alterna- 
tive :  they  must  fly  to  the  succor  of  their  friends  in  the  East,  or 
give  up  every  thing  as  lost. 

The  third  crusade  was  commenced  by  the  Emperor  Frederic  I., 
surnamed  Barbarossa,  in  the  year  1189.  He  raised  a  large  army 
of  Germans,  crossed  over  into  Asia,  vanquished  a  Mohammedan 
king  at  Iconium,  and  penetrated  into  Syria.  But  the  next  year, 
while  bathing,  he  lost  his  life ;  and  most  of  his  soldiers  returned 
into  Europe.  The  few  that  remained  were  commanded  by  his 
son ;  but  the  plague  swept  off  the  most  of  them,  and  only  a  rem- 
nant escaped  to  their  own  country. 

The  Emperor  Frederic  was  followed  the  next  year  by  Philip 
Augustus,  king  of  France,  and  Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  king  of 
England.  These  went  to  Palestine  by  sea,  and  reduced  the  city 
and  fortress  of  Acre  ;  after  which  the  king  of  France  returned. 
The  king  of  England  prosecuted  the  war  with  vigor,  vanquished 
Saladin  in  several  battles,  and  took  the  cities  of  Jaffa  and  Csesarea ; 
but,  being  under  the  necessity  of  returning  to  England,  he  entered 
into  a  truce  with  Saladin  for  three  years,  three  months,  and  three 
days,  and  so  left  the  ground. 

The  fourth  crusade  was  got  up  by  the  French  and  Venetians  in 
the  year  1203.  But  the  crusaders,  instead  of  going  to  Palestine, 
directed  their  course  to  Constantinople,  where  they  dethroned 
Alexius  Ducas,  who  had  usurped  the  imperial  crown,  and  consti- 
tuted Baldwin,'  Count  of  Flanders,  emperor  of  the  Greeks.  From 
this  time,  the  Latins  kept  possession  of  the  throne  at  Constantino- 
ple for  about  sixty  years  ;  the  Greeks,  meanwhile,  having  appointed 
another  emperor,  who  reigned  at  Nice.  But,  in  the  year  1261,  the 
Greek  emperor,  Michael  Palseologus,  recovered  Constantinople, 
and  obliged  the  Latin  emperor,  Baldwin  II.,  to  flee  into  Italy. 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH,  747 

The  fifth  crusade  was  undertaken  by  the  united  forces  of  the 
Italians  and  Germans,  and  was  conducted  by  several  able  generals. 
They  went  with  a  fleet,  and  in  the  year  1220  captured  the  strongly- 
fortified  city  of  Damietta,  in  Egypt.  But  their  successes  did  not 
long  continue.  In  the  following  year  they  lost  both  their  fleet 
and  the  city  which  they  had  taken,  and  were  obliged  to  return  to 
Europe  in  disgrace. 

Still  the  pontiff  and  his  legates  were  not  discouraged.  They 
enlisted  a  new  army  of  crusaders  from  almost  every  country  in 
Europe,  which  was  to  be  commanded  by  Frederic  II.,  emperor  of 
Germany.  After  long  delay,  Frederic  consented  to  follow  the 
army  which  was  already  in  Palestine ;  but,  instead  of  carrying  on 
the  war,  he  suddenly  terminated  it.  He  formed  a  truce  with  the 
Mohammedan  sultan  for  ten  years,  and,  as  part  of  the  conditions 
of  it,  was  crowned  king  of  Jerusalem.  Having  effected  this 
arrangement,  he  hastened  back  into  Italy  to  quell  a  disturbance 
which  the  pontiff  had  excited  there. 

After  this,  several  crusades  were  undertaken  with  no  better  suc- 
cess. In  the  first  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  an  army  of 
children  was  collected  in  Germany  and  France  for  the  purpose  of 
invading  the  Holy  Land.  They  expected  that  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  would  open  to  give  them  a  passage.  About  seven  thousand 
of  them  reached  Marseilles,  and  were  taken  up  by  shipmasters  to 
carry  them  to  their  destination ;  but  a  part  of  them  were  lost  on 
the  voyage,  and  the  remainder  were  sold  into  slaver}^ 

The  last  crusade  was  undertaken  by  Louis  VIL,  king  of  France. 
He  had  made  a  vow  in  sickness,  that,  if  he  recovered,  he  would 
fight  for  the  cross  in  Palestine.  In  fulfilment  of  his  vow,  he  got 
together  a  great  fleet  and  a  powerful  army  in  1248,  and  set  sail 
for  Egypt.  At  first,  he  was  successful ;  for  he  captured  Damietta. 
But  the  issue  of  the  war  was  most  disastrous.  The  Mohammedans 
cut  off  his  supplies  ;  famine  and  pestilence  raged  in  his  camp  ;  one 
of  his  brothers  was  slain  in  battle  ;  while  himself,  two  other  broth- 
ers, and  the  greater  part  of  his  army,  were  taken  prisoners.  He 
was  ransomed  for  a  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, and,  after  several  years  spent  in  the  East,  returned  to  France, 
with  a  few  followers,  in  the  year  1254.  Still  his  invincible  spirit 
was  not  discouraged,  nor  his  vow  satisfied.  He  collected  another 
fleet,  and  set  sail  for  Northern  Africa,  intending  to  establish  an 
advanced  post  there.  He  attacked  and  carried  the  fortress  of 
Carthage,  but  was  soon  after  visited  with  a  pestilential  disease, 


748  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

which  swept  off  the  greater  part  of  his  army,  and  to  which  him- 
self became  a  victim  in  the  summer  of  1270. 

After  him,  no  sovereign  of  Europe  dared  venture  again  on  an 
expedition  of  so  much  toil  and  peril ;  and  the  Idngdom  of  the  Latins, 
in  the  East  became  extinct  in  the  year  1291,  having  been  held  up 
at  arm's-length,  by  the  efforts  of  the  pontiffs  and  by  the  deluded 
sovereigns  of  Europe,  for  about  two  hundred  years. 

During  the  wars  of  the  crusaders,  there  arose  three  orders  of 
knights  in  Palestine ;  viz.,  those  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  the 
Knights  Templars,  and  the  Teutonic  Knights.  Their  object 
was  partly  charitable,  —  to  afford  assistance  to  the  poor,  the 
wounded,  and  the  sick ;  and  partly  militanj,  —  to  aid  the  crusaders 
in  their  wars.  After  the  loss  of  Palestine,  the  Knights  of  St.  John 
occupied,  first  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  then  that  of  Rhodes,  and 
lastly  Malta,  of  which  they  kept  possession  several  hundred  years. 
In  1798,  they  surrendered  their  island  to  Bonaparte,  then  on  his 
way  to  Egypt.  In  1800,  it  was  taken  by  the  English,  to  whom  it 
has  belonged  ever  since. 

By  their  valor  and  success,  the  Knights  Templars  acquired  great 
fame  and  wealth :  but  at  the  same  time  they  became  so  cruel  and 
corrupt,  that  they  could  not  be  tolerated ;  and  by  a  decree  of  the 
pontiff,  and  of  the  Council  of  Vienne,  the  order  was  suppressed 
near  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

When  the  Teutonic  Knights  retired  from  Palestine,  they  were 
invited  to  undertake  the  conversion  of  the  Prussians.  Of  all  the 
countries  of  Central  Europe,  Prussia  had  held  out  longest  in  its 
paganism  and  idolatry.  By  no  methods  of  persuasion  or  force 
could  it  be  induced  to  exchange  its  ancient  superstitions  for  the 
religion  of  Christ.  As  a  last  resort,  the  Teutonic  Knights  were 
invited  by  Conrad,  a  Polish  duke,  to  come  and  attempt  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Prussians.  They  came  ;  and,  after  a  Avar  of  fifty-three 
years,  they  accomplished  their  object.  They  compelled  the  fierce 
Prussians  to  submit,  and  allow  the  Christian  religion  to  succeed 
that  of  their  fathers.  The  successors  of  these  knights  are  still 
among  the  nobility  of  Germany. 

Among  those  who  opposed  and  persecuted  the  Christians  during 
the  long  period  before  us,  may  be  reckoned,  first,  the  pagan 
nations  of  Eurojye  :  I  mean  those  who  were  pagans  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  period.  Many  of  these,  we  have  seen,  —  as  the 
Saxons,  the  Prussians,  the  Slavonians,  Finns,  and  other  nations  in 
North-western  Europe,  —  were  converted  (if  such  a  change  can  be 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY   OF  THE   CHURCH.  749 

called  a  conversion)  by  force  of  arms.  They  were  compelled  to 
accej)t  the  religion  of  their  conquerors,  or  be  extirpated.  As  we 
may  naturally  suppose,  they  resisted  strenuously  :  they  resisted 
unto  blood.  Many  Christians  were  undoubtedly  slain  in  these 
unrighteous,  aggressive  wars  ;  and  the  slaughters  which  took 
place  are  set  down  among  the  calamities  of  Christians :  but  they 
were,  for  the  most  part,  calamities  which  the  Christians  brought 
upon  themselves.  They  might  have  been  avoided,  and  they  would 
have  been,  if  Christians  had  pursued  their  missionary  Avork  in  a 
more  Christian  way. 

The  same  remark  may  be  made  respecting  the  second  class  of 
enemies  from  whom  the  Christians  were  called  to  suifer :  I  mean 
the  Saracens.  During  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  the  Saracen 
warriors  were  generally  the  aggressors.  They  fell  upon  the  Chris- 
tians without  stint  or  mercy ;  and  as  they  spread  their  conquests 
from  the  East  to  the  West,  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Southern  Europe, 
multitudes  of  Christians  were  destroyed.  But,  from  the  ninth 
century  to  the  thirteenth,  the  conquests  of  the  Saracens  were 
mostly  at  a  stand,  and  they  stood  upon  the  defensive.  They 
slaughtered  the  Christians  because  the  Christians  first  attacked 
and  slaughtered  them.  This  was  particularly  true  in  the  bloody 
wars  of  the  crusaders.  In  these  wars.  Christians  complained  loudly 
and  truly  of  the  cruelties  of  their  enemies.  The  Saracens  undoubt- 
edly ivere  cruel.  But  who  were  the  aggressors  ?  and  what  right 
had  the  Christians  of  Europe  to  pour  such  immense  armies  into  the 
East,  and  institute  such  bloody  wars  upon  those  whose  only  offence 
was  that  they  had  conquered  and  held  in  subjection  the  Holy 
Land  ? 

In  the  period  before  us,  we  begin  to  hear  for  the  first  time  of 
the  Turks.  The  Turks  were  originally  a  horde  of  Tartars,  inhabit- 
ing the  northern  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  They  had  already 
embraced  the  religion  of  Mohammed,  and  had  been  called  on  to 
assist  the  Persians  in  their  contests  with  the  Saracens  of  Western 
Asia.  Their  next  movement  was  to  invade  the  Saracens  them- 
selves, and  take  from  them  some  of  the  provinces  which  they  had 
conquered  from  the  Christians.  Ere  long,  they  began  to  make 
inroads  uj)on  the  Christians,  and  subjugated  some  of  the  fairest 
portions  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  They  took  the  cities  and  provinces 
bordering  upon  the  Euxine  Sea,  and  made  perpetual  incursions  in 
other  places.  Nor  were  the  Greeks  able  to  withstand  their  deso- 
lating progress,  being  without  forces  or  finances,  and  miserably 


750  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

divided  among  themselves.  The  invasions  of  the  Turks,  thus 
commenced  in  the  eleventh  century,  continued  and  increased  as 
years  rolled  by,  till  at  length  they  captured  Constantinople,  broke 
up  and  dissolved  the  old  Eastern  Empire,  and  have  ever  since 
held  in  subjection  some  of  the  fairest  portions  of  what  once  was 
Christendom.  Durmg  th^  latter  half  of  the  period  before  us,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Christians  of  the  East  suffered  more  from 
the  Turks  than  from  any  other  people.  Nor  were  these  troubles 
confined  to  Asia.  South-eastern  Europe,  also,  fell  under  the  power 
of  the  Turks ;  and,  for  a  time,  they  seriously  threatened  the  subver- 
sion of  Christianity. 

We  have  yet  to  speak  of  other  enemies  of  the  Christians  in  the 
north  and  west  of  Europe.  These  were  the  Norman  pirates, 
who  commenced  their  ravages  in  the  ninth  century.  These  Nor- 
man chiefs  inhabited  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  —  Denmark,  Sweden, 
and  Norway,  —  and  were  the  greatest  freebooters  of  the  age.  They 
made  frequent  descents  upon  Germany,  Britain,  Friesland,  and 
more  especially  France  ;  plundering,  and  devastating  with  fire  and 
sword,  wherever  they  went.  They  extended  their  inroads  even  to 
Italy  and  Spain. 

The  first  views  of  these  savages  extended  only  to' the  collecting 
of  plunder  and  slaves  in  the  countries  which  they  invaded :  but 
they  at  length  planted  themselves  in  the  most  fertile  provinces ; 
nor  could  the  kings  and  princes  of  these  provinces  expel  them. 
But,  as  they  became  permanently  settled  among  the  Christians, 
they  became  gradually  civilized ;  and,  by  intermarrying  with  the 
Christians,  they  were  led  to  exchange  the  superstitions  of  their 
ancestors  for  the  religion  of  Christ.  Not  a  few  of  the  present 
nobility  of  Europe  are  lineal  descendants  of  these  Norman  pirates. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,  GOVERNMENT,    AND   TEACHERS. 

PREVIOUS  to  the  commencement  of  the  period  before  us, 
Popery  was  pretty  fully  developed.  It  had  not,  indeed,  risen 
to  the  height  of  power  to  which  it  afterwards  attained,  —  much 
less  to  the  extent  of  its  aims  and  wishes :  but  it  had  long  been 
making  progress  upward ;  and  a  foundation  had  been  laid  on  which 
it  might  hope  to  gain  the  summit  of  its  ambition.  As  early  as  the 
year  533,  Justinian  had  declared  the  Church  of  Rome  to  be  "  the 
head  of  all  the  holy  churches."  In  the  beginning  of  the  next  century, 
the  Emperor  Phocas  had  conferred  on  the  pontiff  the  title  of  Uni- 
versal Bishop.  Near  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  the  pope 
received  his  temporal  dominion.,  and  thus  became  a  beast,  a  horn,  in 
the  sense  of  the  prophets.  About  the  same  time,  the  popes  be- 
came the  open,  avowed  advocates  and  supporters  of  image-wor- 
ship, and  so  constituted  their  church  the  "  mother  of  harlots  " 
spoken  of  in  the  seventeen  chapter  of  the  Revelation.  Thus  all 
things  conspired  to  transform  the  once  pure  and  holy  Church  of 
Rome  into  the  Antichrist  of  the  New  Testament,  and  lay  a  founda- 
tion for  the  usurpations  which  rapidly  followed  through  the  entire 
period  on  which  we  are  now  to  enter. 

During  the  five  hundred  years  embraced  in  this  period,  there 
were  more  than  ninety  different  pontiffs,  the  most  of  whom  reigned 
but  a  short  time.  To  name  them  all  would  be  tedious  and  super- 
fluous. The  more  vigorous  among  them,  those  who  did  most  to 
advance  the  interests  of  the  Papacy,  were  Gregory  VII.,  Alexander 
III.,  Innocent  III.,  Gregory  IX.,  and  Boniface  VIII.  ;  which  last 
held  the  pontifical  throne  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth 
century. 

Until  the  eleventh  century,  the  pontiffs  were  elected  by  the  suf- 
frages of  the  whole  body  of  the  clergy  and  people  of  Rome,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  emperor.     But,  in  the  reign  of  Nicolaus  IL, 

751 


752  ■      ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  election  was  given  primarily  to  the  cardinals,  in  which  the 
nobles  and  the  people  generally  were  expected  to  concur.  This 
order  of  things  continued  until  past  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century.  At  that  period,  Alexander  III.,  by  and  with  the  consent 
of  the  third  Lateran  council,  ordained  that  the  right  of  election 
henceforth  should  belong  exclusively  to  the  cardinals,  and  that  the 
person  who  had  the  votes  of  two-thirds  of  the  college  of  cardinals 
should  be  considered  the  legitimate  pontiff.  This  regul^^tion  has 
continued  to  the  present  time  ;  by  which  not  only  the  people,  but 
the  clergy  of  Rome,  are  entirely  precluded  from  having  any  voice 
in  the  election. 

The  cardinals  at  this  day  are  sixty-two  in  number ;  viz.,  six 
bishops  ill  Rome  or  the  vicinity,  fifty  presbyters  of  the  churches  of 
Rome,  and  six  Romish  deacons.  The  cardinals,  when  they  meet 
for  the  choice  of  a  pope,  are  shut  up  in  a  kind  of  prison,  which  is 
called  the  conclave,  that  so  they  may  avoid  interruption,  and  bring 
the  responsible  business  intrusted  to  them  more  speedily  to  a  close. 
No  one  who  is  not  a  member  of  the  college  of  cardinals,  and  a 
native  Italian,  can  now  be  constituted  head  of  the  Church. 

Among  the  methods  taken  to  advance  and  substantiate  the  claims 
of  the  pontiffs  was  the  forging  of  documents  purporting  to  run 
back,  in  some  instances,  almost  to  the  apostolic  age.  Thus  it  Avas 
pretended  by  Pope  Adrian,  in  the  eighth  century,  that  Constantino 
the  Great  had  made  a  donation  to  the  Church  of  the  city  of  Rome 
and  the  territory  dependent  on  it.  He  pretends,  also,  that  later 
emperors  had  made  like  donations  in  different  parts  of  Italy ;  and 
refers  to  deeds  of  conveyance  which  were  laid  up  in  the  archives 
of  the  Lateran.  These  deeds  (if  they  had  any  existence)  were 
undoubtedly  forgeries. 

To  the  same  class  of  writings  belong  the  celebrated  "  Decretal 
Epistles."  From  these  epistles  it  would  seem,  that,  from  the  earli- 
est ages  of  the  Church,  the  Roman  pontiffs  possessed  the  same 
authority  and  power  which  they  claimed  in  after-ages ;  yet  the  • 
epistles  were  never  published,  or  appealed  to  in  support  of  Papal 
authority,  until  the  ninth  century. 

Of  like  origin  and  value  are  the  pretended  decrees  of  a  Roman 
council  held  by  Pope  Sylvester  in  the  year  324.  Nothing  could 
be  better  calculated  than  these  decrees  to  enrich  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs, and  exalt  them  above  all  human  authority ;  yet  these,  like 
the  "  Decretal  Epistles,"  never  saw  the  light  until  past  the  middle 
of  the  ninth  century. 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,   ETC.  753 

There  were  some,  indeed,  when  these  writings  first  made  their 
appearance,  who  doubted  their  authenticity  ;  but  they  were  over- 
borne by  the  pertinacity  of  the  pontiffs  and  their  adherents.  And 
so  the  cheat,  being  once  estabhshed,  remained  undisturbed  until 
the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  And  it  is  incalculable 
how  much  weight  and  authority  these  forged  writings  gave  to  the 
subsequent  usurpations  of  Rome.  If  an}^  one  doubted  the  extrav- 
agant claims  of  the  pontiffs,  an  appeal  was  made  at  once  to  the 
"  Decretal  Epistles,"  which  showed  that  the  same  rights  had  been 
claimed  and  exercised  almost  from  the  apostolic  age. 

It  began  to  be  insisted  in  the  ninth  century  that  the  bishop  of 
Rome  had  been  constituted  by  Christ  himself  a  legislator  and 
judge  over  the  whole  Church ;  that  other  bishops  derived  all  theu- 
authority  from  him ;  and  that  councils  could  decide  nothing  with- 
out his  direction  and  approbation.  In  the  tenth  century,  the  pon- 
tiffs were  frequently  called  "  the  bishops  of  the  world ; "  and,  in 
the  eleventh,  "  the  masters  of  the  world."  They  presided  by  their 
legates  in  all  councils,  and  claimed  the  right  of  decision  on  all 
questions,  whether  of  doctrine  or  practice.  Nor  were  they  satisfied 
with  being  sovereigns  of  the  Church  only  :  they  also  claimed  to  be 
lords  of  the  whole  earth,  — judges  over  judges,  and  kings  over 
kings.  Of  Gregory  VII.,  who  reigned  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eleventh  century,  it  is  said  that  he  "  wished  to  reduce  all  kingdoms 
into  fiefs  of  St.  Peter,  and  to  subject  all  causes  of  kings  and  princes, 
and  the  interests  of  the  whole  world,  to  the  arbitrament  of  an 
assembly  of  bishops,  who  should  meet  annually  at  Rome."  The 
following  are  some  of  "The  Dictates"  of  Gregory,  b}^  which  he 
undertook  to  regulate  his  government :  "  That  the  Romish  Church 
never  errs ;  that  the  pope  can  be  judged  by  no  one  ;  that  his  sen- 
tence is  not  to  be  reviewed  by  any,  while  he  can  review  the  decis- 
ions of  all  others ;  that  he  can  absolve  subjects  from  their  alle- 
giance to  unrighteous  rulers ;  that  it  is  lawful  for  him  to  depose 
emperors  and  kings." 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  teachings  such  as  these  that  Pope 
Adrian  IV.  insisted  that  the  emperor  of  Germany  should  hold  his 
stirrup  when  he  mounted  or  dismounted  his  horse ;  and  that  Pope 
Alexander  III.  is  said  to  have  placed  his  foot  upon  the  neck  of  the 
prostrate  emperor,  repeating  at  the  same  time  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  "  Thou  shalt  tread  upon  the  lion  and  the  adder ;  the  young 
lion  and  the  dragon  shalt  thou  trample  under  feet"  (Ps.  xci.  13). 

I  have  spoken  of  the  thirteenth   century  as   the  culminating 


754  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

period  in  Popish  history,  —  the  time  when  the  pontiffs  put  forth 
their  strongest  claims,  and  stood  before  the  world  in  the  height 
of  their  power.  They  perseveringly  urged  —  with  violence  and 
menace,  with  fraud,  and  force  of  arms  —  that  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  canon  law,  —  that  the  Roman  pontiff  is  sovereign  of  the 
whole  world ;  and  that  other  rulers  in  Church  and  State  have  so 
much  power  and  authority  as  he  sees  fit  to  allow  them,  and  no 
more. .  Resting  on  this  eternal  principle,  as  they  declared  it,  the 
pontiffs  arrogated  to  themselves  the  power,  not  only  of  conferring 
sacred  offices,  but  also  of  giving  away  empires,  and  divesting 
kings  of  their  crowns  and  authority ;  and  this  terrific  power  they 
often  ventured  to  put  in  operation.  Innocent  III.,  who  reigned 
near  the  beginning  of  this  century,  created  kings  and  dethroned 
them,  according  to  his  pleasure.  In  Asia,  he  gave  a  king  to  the 
Armenians  ;  in  Europe,  he  conferred  the  honors  of  royalty  upon 
the  duke  of  Bohemia,  and  also  on  the  duke  of  the  Bulgarians  and 
Waliachians.  He  crowned  Peter  II.  king  of  Aragon  because  he 
had  rendered  his  dominions  tributary  to  the  Church.  He  made 
Otho  IV.  emperor  of  Germany ;  and  afterwards  dethroned  him, 
and  substituted  Frederic  II.  in  his  place. 

But  no  one  suffered  more  severely  from  the  arrogance  of  Inno- 
cent than  King  John  of  England.  John  had  ventured  to  resist 
the  pontiff  in  refusing  to  accept  Stephen  Langton  as  archbishop 
of  Canterbury :  wherefore  the  pontiff  first  excommunicated  him ; 
then  he  absolved  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance  to  him  ;  and 
finally,  in  the  year  1212,  divested  him  of  his  authority,  and  gave 
his  kingdom  to  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France.  Terrified  by 
these  proceedings,  and  dreading  a  war,  John  compromised  the 
matter  by  making  his  kingdom  tributary  to  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

During  the  period  we  are  considering,  the  pontiffs  increased  very 
materially  their  temporal  dominions.  Gregory  VII.  persuaded 
Matilda,  a  noble  Italian  duchess  with  whom  he  had  a  peculiar 
intimacy,  to  make  over  all  her  estates  to  the  Church.  Also  under 
Innocent  III.,  and  then  under  Nicolaus  III.,  very  large  accessions 
of  territory  were  obtained,  partly  by  force  of  arms,  and  partly  by 
the  munificence  of  the  emperors  and  kings. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  the  pontiffs  rose  to  that 
height  of  wealth,  of  arrogance,  and  power,  which  they  attained  in 
these  centuries,  without  a  struggle.  They  had  continual  struggles 
—  sometimes  with  other  bishops,  but  more  commonly  with  the  civil 
sovereigns  of  the  age  —  as   to  the  justice  and  validity  of  their 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,  ETC.  755 

claims.  In  the  tenth  century,  Otho  the  Great  passed  a  haw,  that 
no  Roman  pontiff  should  be  created  without  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  emperor ;  and  this  regulation  continued  in  force  to 
the  end  of  the  century.  The  Emperor  Frederic  I.,  surnamed  Bar- 
Iparossa,  soon  after  his  coronation,  A.D.  1152,  declared  his  intention 
to  maintain  the  imperial  prerogatives  throughout  the  empire,  and 
set  bounds  to  the  immense  power  and  wealth  of  the  pontiffs  and 
the  clergy.  The  result  was  a  continual  strife  between  him  and  the 
popes  —  first  with  Adrian  IV.,  and  then  with  Alexander  III.  —  to 
the  end  of  his  reign.  It  was  Alexander  III.  who  had  a  contest  with 
Henry  II.  of  England  in  regard  to  the  case  of  Thomas  a  Becket, 
in  the  issue  of  which  the  king  was  obliged  to  make  peace  with  the 
pontiff  on  his  oavu  terms.  With  a  view  to  restrain  the  pontiffs, 
more  especially  in  their  work  of  creating  and  displacing  bishops, 
Louis  IX.  of  France,  in  the  year  1268,  published  his  famous  ordi- 
nance, entitled  "  The  Pragmatic  Sanction,"  by  which  he  carefully 
secured  the  rights  of  the  Galilean  Church  in  regard  to  its  own 
ministers. 

But  the  most  violent  pontifical  contest  of  the  period  was  that 
of  Gregory  VII.  with  Henry  IV.  of  Germany  with  respect  to 
investitures.  It  had  been  the  custom  in  Germany,  when  bishops 
were  appointed,  for  the  emperor  to  confer  the  regalia,  and  invest 
them  with  the  rights  of  office ;  for  which  service  a  sum  of  money 
was  paid.  Gregory  VII.  called  this  simony,  and  was  resolved  to 
break  it  up.  The  appointed  bishops  must  receive  their  tokens  of 
office  from  him,  and  he  must  have  the  compensation.  Hence  a 
violent  contest  commenced  between  the  pontiff  and  the  emperor, 
which  continued  till  Henry's  death,  and  far  into  the  reign  of  his 
successor.  Gregory  first  passed  a  decree,  that  "  whosoever  should 
confer  a  bishopric  or  abbacy,  or  should  receive  an  investiture  from 
the  hands  of  any  layman,  should  be  excommunicated,"  But,  undis- 
mayed by  this  decree,  Henry  utterly  refused  to  relinquish  his 
right  of  appointing  bishops  and  abbots  in  his  dominions,  and  invest- 
ing them  with  the  insignia  of  office.  Gregory  now  summoned  the 
emperor  to  Rome  to  answer  to  charges  which  had  been  preferred 
against  him.  But,  instead  of  going,  the  emperor  called  a  convention 
of  German  bishops  at  Worms,  who  pronounced  Gregory  unworthy 
of  the  pontificate,  and  appointed  a  meeting  for  the  choice  of  a 
new  pontiff.  When  Gregory  heard  what  had  been  done,  he  inter- 
dicted Henry  from  the  communion  and  the  throne,  and  absolved 
his  subjects  from  their  allegiance.     A  part  of  his  subjects,  taking 


756  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

advantage  of  this  act,  raised  the  standard  of  rebelHon,  and  resolved, 
that  unless  their  sovereign,  withiji  a  year,  should  obtain  absolu- 
tion from  the  pontiff,  he  should  forfeit  his  kingdom. 

Alarmed  at  this  aspect  of  his  affairs,  Henry  now  resolved  to  go 
into  Italy,  and  implore  the  clemency  of  the  pontiff.  But  the  jour- 
ney did  not  issue  as  he  hoped ;  for  after  presenting  himself  at  the 
Castle  of  Canosa,  where  the  pontiff  was  staying  with  his  patroness 
Matilda,  and  standing  at  the  gate  for  three  days  together,  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  bare-headed  and  bare-footed,  and  meanly  clad, 
professing  himself  a  penitent,  all  he  could  gain  was  a  postpone- 
ment of  the  consideration  of  his  case,  and  a  prohibition,  meanwhile, 
of  his  wearing  any  of  the  ornaments,  or  exercising  the  functions,  of 
a  king. 

To  these  terms  of  reconciliation  Henry  would  not  submit.  His 
friends  took  up  arms  for  him ;  and  a  violent  war  ensued  both  in 
Germany  and  Italy.  This  was  carried  on  with  various  success, 
until,  in  1084,  Henry  had  -made  himself  master  of  Rome,  and 
closely  besieged  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  where  Gregory  was 
shut  up.  It  was  during  the  siege  that  this  most  ambitious  and 
audacious  of  all  the  pontiffs  terminated  his  life. 

The  war,  however,  did  not  end  with  his  death.  It  was  carried 
vigorously  on,  pontiff  against  pontiff,  and  one  pretender  to  the 
throne  against  another,  until,  in  the  year  1104,  Henry's  own  son 
was  seduced  from  his  allegiance,  and  induced  to  take  up  arms 
against  his  father.  Soon  after  this,  Henry  IV.  abdicated  his  throne 
in  favor  of  his  son,  and  died,  friendless  and  forsaken,  at  Liege,  in 
the  year  1106. 

But  Henry  V.  was  as  unwilling  as  his  father  had  been  to  relin- 
quish the  right  of  investing  bishops  and  abbots  in  his  own  domin- 
ions. Hence  the  old  quarrel  was  renewed.  In  the  year  1110, 
Henry  marched  an  army  into  Italy,  seized  the  pontiff  Pascal  II., 
confined  him  in  the  Castle  of  Viterbo,  and  obliged  him  to  relinquish 
his  claims  of  investiture. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  emperor  gone,  and  the  pontiff  released, 
than  he  revoked  the  concessions  he  had  made,  and  entered  upon 
the  contest  anew.  War  followed,  and  continued  until  the  death 
of  Pascal,  which  took  place  in  the  year  1178.  Under  his  succes- 
sors, a  compromise  was  entered  into,  and  peace  established,  on  the 
following  conditions :  that  bishops  and  abbots  should  be  freely 
chosen  in  presence  of  the  emperor  or  his  representative  ;  that  the 
person  elected  should  take  an  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  emperor,  and 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,   ETC.  757 

receive  the  regalia  from  his  hand ;  but  that  the  emperor  should 
confer  civil  prerogatives  by  the  presentation  of  a  sceptre,  and  not 
by  the  crosier  and  ring,  which  which  were  held  to  be  the  emblems 
of  sacred  authority.  These  were  to  be  presented  by  the  pontiff 
or  his  legate ;  and  thus  the  candidate  for  office,  instead  of  paying 
for  one  investiture,  was  henceforth  obliged  to  pay  for  two. 

It  was  during  these  contests  between  the  popes  and  emperors 
that  the  two  noted  factions  of  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  arose  in 
Italy ;  the  former  siding  with  the  pontiffs,  the  latter  with  the  civil 
powers.     We  shall  hear  more  of  them  hereafter. 

The  private  characters  of  many  of  the  pontiffs  during  the  period 
before  us,  even  according  to  the  confession  of  Romanists,  was  of 
the  worst  description.  Thus  Baronius  speaks  of  the  character  of 
the  popes  in  the  tenth  century:  "One  can  scarcely  believe,  nay 
absolutely  cannot  credit,  without  ocular  demonstration,  what  un- 
worthy conduct,  what  base  and  enormous  deeds,  what  execrable 
and  abominable  transactions,  disgraced  the  holy  Catholic  see, 
which  is  the  pivot  on  which  the  whole  Catholic  Church  revolves. 
Alas  the  shame !  alas  the  mischief !  AVhat  monsters  horrible 
to  behold  were  then  raised  to  the  holy  see,  which  angels  revere ! 
What  evils  did  they  perpetrate  !  What  horrible  tragedies  ensued  ! 
With  Avhat  pollution  was  this  see,  though  itself  without  spot  or 
wrinkle,  then  stained  !  What  corruptions  infected  it !  what  filthi- 
ness  defiled  it !  and  hence  what  marks  of  perpetual  infamy  are 
visible  upon  it !  "  The  great  Romish  annalist,  it  will  be  seen, 
makes  a  wide  distinction  between  the  see  itself  and  those  who 
occupy  it.  The  latter  may  have  been,  and  were,  as  black  as  devils ; 
while  the  former  is  pure  as  heaven. 

It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  century  that  the  Papess 
Joanna,  by  concealing  her  sex,  opened  her  way  to  the  pontifical 
throne,  and  occupied  it  for  a  considerable  time.  This  fact,  which 
is  denied  and  ridiculed  by  Romanists  in  our  day,  was  universally 
admitted  for  the  next  five  hundred  years ;  nor  did  any  one,  prior 
to  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  regard  the  thing  as 
incredible,  or  disgraceful  to  the  Church.  Her  statue  was  standing 
at  Rome  in  the  time  of  Luther. 

John  XIL,  who  reigned  as  pope  in  the  latter  half  of  the  tenth 
century,  was  a  most  despicable  character.  On  trial  before  a  coun- 
cil at  Rome,  the  following  are  some  of  the  charges  that  were  proved 
against  him:  "  That  he  had  carried  on  amours  with  various  females, 
one  of  whom  was  his  father's  concubine ;  that  he  had  turned  the 


758  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

holy  palace  into  a  brothel ;  that  he  had  put  out  the  eyes  of  his  god- 
father ;  that  he  had'  castrated  one  of  the  cardinals ;  that  he  had 
set  several  houses  on  fire  ;  and  that  he  had  drunk  to  the  health 
of  the  Devil."  The  end  of  this  monster  was  conformable  to  his 
hfe ;  for,  having  retired  from  the  city  to  spend  the  night  in  criminal 
converse  with  a  married  woman,  he  received  a  mortal  wound 
(probably  from  the  injured  husband),  of  wliich  he  died  in  a  few 
days. 

While  such  things  were  true  of  those  who  claimed  to  be  the 
head  of  the  Church,  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  nothing  better 
can  be  said  of  the  mass  of  the  bishops  and  of  the  inferior  clergy. 
In  the  ninth  century,  we  are  told  that  "  the  bishops  hung  around 
the  courts  of  princes,  and  indulged  themselves  m  every  species  of 
voluptuousness ;  corrupting  by  the  grossest  vices  the  people  whom 
they  were  set  to  reform."  But  few  of  the  clergy  at  this  time 
could  read  or  write.  Of  the  inferior  clergy  it  is  said,  a  hundred 
years  later,  "  Few  of  them  exhibited  any  degree  of  virtue  or 
integrity  ;  but  they  gave  themselves  up,  without  shame,  to  frauds, 
debaucheries,  and  crimes  of  every  description." 

In  the  twelfth  century,  the  ecclesiastics  renounced  all  responsibil- 
ity to  civil  magistrates  or  coui'ts  of  justice.  Spiritual  penalties  only 
could  be  inflicted  on  them.  Hence  crimes  of  the  deepest  dye  — 
murders,  robberies,  adulteries,  rapes  —  were  continually  perpetrated 
by  them  with  impunity.  It  was  ascertained,  on  inquiry,  that  no 
less  than  a  hundred  murders  had  been  committed  by  them  in  Eng- 
land in  the  space  of  nine  years,  for  which  they  had  never  been 
called  to  an  account.  Holy  orders  were  a  sure  protection  for  every 
species  of  enormity. 

Nor  was  the  state  of  morals  in  the  monasteries  at  all  better.  The 
old  Benechctine  estabhshments,  which  at  the  first  were  useful 
institutions,  had  so  degenerated  in  point  of  character  as  to  be  a 
nuisance.  As  they  increased  in  wealth,  the  inmates  became  lazy, 
shiftless,  voluptuous,  and  vicious :  and  their  degeneracy  was  has- 
tened by  their  being  withdrawn  from  the  superintendence  of  the 
bishops  where  they  were  located,  and  placed  under  the  direct  con- 
trol of  the  pontiffs ;  for  as  the  pontiffs  were  far  removed  from 
many  of  them,  and  could  exercise  but  little  supervision  over  th^n, 
they  were  left  very  much  to  their  own  way,  and  could  practise  all 
kinds  of  wickedness  without  restraint.  Hence  the  records  of  the 
times  are  filled  with  the  most  painful,  shameful  accounts  of  their 
corruptions.     Many  of  them  were  so  ignorant,  that  they  did  not- 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,   ETC.  759 

even  know  the  rule  which  they  had  bound  themselves  to  follow ; 
while  by  their  irreligious  lives,  their  frauds,  their  broils  and  quarrels, 
the  dissoluteness  of  their  characters,  and  the  crimes  which  were 
everywhere  charged  upon  them,  they  brought  inevitable  disgrace, 
not  only  upon  themselves,  but  upon  the  Christian  name. 

Repeated  attempts  were  made  to  reform  the  Benedictine  estab- 
lishments, and  the  old  order  was  brought  before  the  public  under 
new  names.  Such  were  the  Cluniacensians,  the  Cistercians,  the 
Carthusians,  and  several  others.  These  were  all  reformed  Bene- 
dictines, which  flourished  for  a  time,  but  soon  relaj^sed  into  their 
old  corruptions.  And  yet,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  monastic  life 
did  not  cease  to  be  regarded  as  holy,  and  as  such  was  held  in  high 
estimation.  In  frequent  instances,  we  find  kings  and  nobles  aban- 
doning their  honors  and  their  wealth,  and  retiring  to  the  monas- 
teries, that  the}^  might  devote  themselves  to  the  service  of  God ; 
and  some  who  could  not  go  as  far  as  this  would  seek  the  monastic 
garb  to  die  in,  and  would  actually  put  it  on  before  they  left  the 
world,  that  they  might  enjoy  the  prayers  and  spiritual  succorti  of 
the  fraternity  among  whom  they  were  received. 

I  have  before  spoken  of  the  order  of  canons  and  canonesses,  wliich 
was  got  up  by  Chrodegang  in  the  eighth  century.  These  were 
in  great  re]3ute  for  a  time,  and  establishments  were  multiplied  in 
every  part  of  Europe ;  but,  like  the  monasteries,  they  ere  long  de- 
generated, and  fell  into  manifold  corruptions.  There  were  also  fre- 
quent and  bitter  controversies  between  tM  monks  and  canons,  in 
which  each  party  exposed  the  vices  and  wickedness  of  the  other. 

The  stolidity  and  corruption  of  the  old  orders  of  monks  rendered 
the  establishment  of  new  orders  necessary ;  i.e.,  if  the  Papacy  was 
to  be  sustained.  And  this  want  was  met  most  effectually  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  by  the  institution  of  the  Mendicants.  These  mendi- 
cant friars  were  not  confined  in  convents,  like  the  Benedictines, 
but  roamed  everywhere,  intent  upon  their  work.  They  were  un- 
der a  vow  of  perpetual  poverty,  and  gained  a  subsistence  by  beg- 
ging from  door  to  door.  They  were  the  body-guard  of  the  existing 
pontiff,  and  were  responsible  to  him  alone.  They  were  also  his 
runners,  his  itinerant  preachers  and  missionaries,  whom  he  sent 
out  into  all  parts  of  the  world.  TJiey  were  divided  into  several 
orders,  the  more  important  of  which  were  the  Franciscans,  the 
Dominicans,  the  Augustinians,  and  the  Carmelites.  They  instructed 
youth ;  they  associated  freely  with  persons  of  all  ranks ;  and  ex- 
hibited in  their  lives,  at  least  during  theii"  early  history,  a  greater 


760  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

appearance  of  holiness  than  was  observable  in  the  members  of  the 
older  societies.  For  these  reasons,  their  fame  was  unrivalled  ;  and 
they  Avere  regarded  with  the  utmost  veneration  in  all  the  countries  of 
Europe.  They  were  to  the  hierarchy  in  the  thirteenth  century  what 
the  Jesuits  were  at  a  later  period,  —  its  factors  and  agents ;  the 
directors  of  all  great  and  important  events  in  education,  in  politics, 
and  religion.  In  such  esteem  were  they  held  in  a  dark  and  super- 
stitious age,  that  their  old  worn-out  garments  were  often  purchased 
as  a  covering  for  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  under  the  impression  that 
those  could  not  fail  to  receive  mercy  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ 
who  appeared  there  in  the  garb  of  a  mendicant  monk. 

The  two  great  rival  orders  of  mendicants  were  the  Dominicans 
and  Franciscans,  —  the  former  the  followers  of  St.  Dominick,  whose 
disgrace  it  was  to  have  originated  and  worked  the  terrible  tribunal 
of  the  Inquisition  ;  the  latter  the  followers  of  St.  Francis,  a  fanatic 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  who  pretended  to  have  received  from  the 
hand  of  an  angel  the  five  wounds  of  Jesus,  and  whom  the  Fran- 
ciscans honored  as  a  second  Christ. 

By  their  excessive  popularity,  and  the  means  they  employed  to 
secure  and  retain  it,  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  incurred  the 
hostility  of  nearly  all  the  other  religious  orders.  They  quarrelled 
with  the  bishops  and  the  universities,  and  were  continually  at 
variance  between  themselves.  The  Franciscans  were  divided  as  to 
the. meaning  of  their  vow,  some  interpreting  it  more  strictly  than 
the  rest ;  and  here  again  Avas  ground  for  perpetual  hostility.  The 
stricter  Franciscans,  called  the  Spirituals^  seem  to  have  been  a  con- 
scientious class  of  men ;  and  many  of  them  were  terribly  persecuted. 
Not  a  few  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition,  and  were  put  to 
death. 

As  time  rolled  on,  the  mendicants  departed  from  the  strictness 
of  their  early  discipline,  till,  instead  of  poverty,  they  came  to  pos- 
sess unbounded  wealth ;  and,  instead  of  extraordinary  appearances 
of  piety,  they  were  known  to  indulge  in  the  grossest  wickedness. 
They  continued  to  wax  worse  and  worse,  till  they  became  at  length 
an  intolerable  nuisance,  the  burthen  of  which  society  could  hardly 
endure,  and  from  which  it  groaned  to  be  delivered. 

The  number  of  learned  men  in  the  period  before  us,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  first  half  of  it,  was  less  than  in  either  of  the  previous 
periods ;  and  yet  there  were  some  whose  names  must  be  mentioned. 
The  Greeks  were  so  much,  divided  among  themselves,  and  so  sorely 
pressed  by  political  troubles,  that  few  writers  of  distinction  can  be 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,   ETC.  ■    761 

mentioned.  The  only  ones  which  occur  to  me  as  worthy  of  notice 
were  Photius  of  the  ninth  century,  Siddas  of  the  tenth,  and  Theo- 
dorus  Lascaris  of  the  thirteenth. 

Photius  was  of  noble  birth,  well  educated,  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  genius  of  his  age.  He  spent  the  first  part  of  his  life  as  a 
civilian,  and  held  some  of  the  more  important  civil  offices  at  Con- 
stantinople. He  was  ordained  patriarch  of  Constantinople  in  the 
year  858,  deposed  by  the  emperor  in  867,  and  restored  to  his  office 
in  877.  He  continued  in  office  during  the  next  nine  years ;  when  he 
was  again  deposed  and  banished,  and  died  in  a  convent  in  Arme- 
nia in  890.  His  "  Bibliotheca,"  his  "  Epistles,"  and  other  writ- 
ings which  remain  to  us,  are  highly  valued.  In  his  "  Bibliotheca  " 
he  gives  a  critical  account  of  books  which  he  had  read,  with  sum- 
maries of  their  contents,  and  numerous  extracts.  As  many  of  these 
works  are  no  longer  extant,  the  account  of  them  by  Photius  is 
very  valuable. 

Suidas  is  chiefly  known  as  a  lexicographer.  His  dictionary  is  a 
IdncI  of  historical  and  literary  encyclopaedia,  which  was  published, 
in  three  volumes  folio,  in  England,  in  the  year  1705. 

Lascar  was  born  at  Nice,  was  much  devoted  to  literature,  and 
wrote  many  theological  tracts.  He  became  emperor  of  the  East 
in  1255,  but  resigned  after  three  years,  and  closed  his  life  in  a 
monastery  In  1259. 

The  Latin  writers  of  this  period  are  more  numerous,  and  much 
better  known.  At  the  head  of  them  we  may  justly  place  Rabanus 
Maurus,  archbishop  of  Mentz.  He  was  a  Frenchman  by  birth, 
and  was  the  common  preceptor  of  Germany  and  France  in  the  ninth 
century.  No  one  can  compare  with  him  for  genius,  extent  of  learn- 
ing, or  the  multitude  of  books  which  he  composed.  He  was  edu- 
cated, in  part,  under  the  famous  Alcuin.  He  wrote  commentaries 
on  all  the  Scriptures,  besides  sermons,  letters,  and  tracts.  His 
works  are  published  in  six  folio  volumes. 

Claudius  of  Turin  was  a  native  of  Spain,  became  a  presbyter  in 
the  court  of  Louis  the  Meek,  and  was  by  him  constituted  bishop 
of  Turin  in  the  year  821.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  truly  pious, 
devoted  Christian,  who  rose  in  great  measure  above  the  follies  and 
superstitions  of  his  age.  He  opposed  image-worship,  and  removed 
or  destroyed  the  pictures  and  images  throughout  his  diocese.  He 
disapproved  of  pilgrimages,  refused  all  honor  to  the  pretended 
wood  of  the  cross,  denied  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  &c.  He  de- 
serves to  be  regarded  as  a  reformer ;  and  some  have  thought  him. 


7G2  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

though  erroneously,  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  sect  of  the 
Waldenses.  The  Roman  Catliolics  tax  him  with  great  errors ; 
though  lie  was  never  arraigned  as  a  heretic,  nor  removed  from  his 
bishopric,  till  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  year  839. 

Gottschalk  was  of  Saxon  origin,  and  educated  in  the  monastery 
of  Fulda.  When  arrived  at  manhood,  he  wished  .no  longer  to  lead 
a  monastic  life,  but  was  compelled  to  it  on  the  ground  that  his 
father  had  devoted  him  to  such  a  life,  and  that  no  human  poAver 
could  vacate  the  transaction.  He  now  removed  to  Orbais ;  was 
ordained  a  presbyter ;  and  was  so  distinguished  as  a  scholar,  that 
he  was  surnanied  Fulgentius.  Augustine  was  his  favorite  aullior ; 
and  he  freely  advanced  the  opinions  of  Augustine  respecting  pre- 
destination and  grace.  Many  favored  those  views  ;  but  more  were 
opposed  to  them,  among  whom  were  Rabanus  Maurus,  and  Ilinc- 
mar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  to  whose  diocese  Gottschalk  belonged. 
They  professed  to  hold  Augustine  in  great  veneration,  but  per- 
secuted those  who  advocated  his  peculiar  doctrines.  In  the  year 
848,  Gottschalk  was  arraigned  before  the  synod  of  Chiersey,  where 
he  was  condemned,  degraded,  and  shut  up  by  Hincmar  in  the 
monastery  of  Hauteville.  Here  he  was  confined  twenty-one  years ; 
and  lusre  he  died.  He  persevered  to  the  last  in  his  opinions,  and 
was  denied  Christian  burial.  Still  he  was  a  much  better  man 
than  his  persecutors,  and  deserves  to  be  regarded  as  a  martyr  to 
the  truth. 

Paschasius  Radbert  was  a  French  monk,  and  was  born  about 
the  year  786.  He  Avas  a  member  of  the  synod  of  Chiersey,  which 
condemned  Gottschalk.  He  wrote  much  on  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  and  was  a  means  of  its  introduction  into  the 
Catholic  Church. 

Walafrid  Strabo  (or  Strabus,  i.e.  squint-eyed)  was  a  Swabian, 
who  studied  under  Rabanus  JNIaurus.  He  was  a  learned  and  pleas- 
ing writer,  though  steeped  in  monkish  superstition.  He  wrote 
"  Poems,"  "  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  and  "  Expositions  "  of  difficult 
passages  of  Scripture. 

John  Krigena  Scotus  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  but  spent  much 
of  his  time  at  the  court  of  Charles  the  Bald,  in  France.  He  was 
a  philosopher  as  Avell  as  theologian,  and  had  the  reputation  of 
being  a  profound  scholar.  He  was  one  of  those  who  wrote  against 
Gottsehiilk.  He  was  a  mystic  (some  think  a  pantheist),  who 
translated  the  works  of  the  pseudo  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  into 
Latin,  and  in  this  way  did  much  for  the  spread  of  mysticism  and 
monkery  in  Europe. 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,   ETC.  763 

The  most  distinguished  man  of  the  tenth  century  was  Gerbert, 
a  Frenchman,  known  among  the  pontiffs  as  Sylvester  II.  He  liad 
attended  the  schools  of  the  Saracens  in  Spain,  and  made  great 
proficiency  in  mathematics,  mechanics,  geometry,  astronomy,  and 
the  other  exact  sciences.  His  example  had  much  influence  in 
turning  the  thoughts  of  others  to  similar  studies.  Yet  by  many  in 
that  dark  age  his  learning  was  not  appreciated.  The  ignorant 
monks  thought  his  geometrical  diagrams  to  be  magical  figures,  and 
set  him  down  as  one  in  league  with  the  Devil. 

Lanfranc  was  a  native  of  Pavia,  in  Italy,  but  early  travelled  into 
France,  and  became  a  monk  at  Bee,  in  Normandy,  in  the  year  1041. 
Here  he  taught  with  great  applause,  and  drew  together  pupils 
from  other  countries.  He  was  a  particular  friend  and  counsellor 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  made  him  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury ;  in  which  office  he  died  in  the  year  1089. 

Anselm  was  a  pupil  of  Lanfranc  at  Bee,  and  succeeded  him  in 
the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury.  He  was  a  better  scholar  and 
theologian  than  Lanfranc,  but  had  less  administrative  ability  and 
wisdom.  He  was  in  constant  collision  with  the  kings  of  England 
respecting  investitures  and  other  clerical  rights.  Twice  he  left 
the  kingdom,  and  travelled  into  Italy,  but  died  at  Canterbury  in 
the  year  1109.  He  was  a  bigoted  churchman,  but  seems  to  have 
been  a  truly  pious  man,  and  had  a  better  understanding  of  some 
theological  subjects  than  any  who  preceded  him.  His  works 
have  been  often  published.  His  little  work,  entitled  "  Cui  Deus 
Homo,"  was  translated  and  printed  in  this  country  only  a  few 
years  ago. 

The  most  remarkable  man  in  the  twelfth  century  was  the  cele- 
brated Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairval.  He  was  born  at  Fontaine  in  the 
year  1091.  He  was  educated  at  Chatillon,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  much  as  a  scholar.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  became  a 
Cistercian  monk  ;  and  two  years  later  he  was  created  abbot  of  Clair- 
val, where  he  spent  his  life,  and  acquired  an  influence  almost  un- 
bounded throughout  Europe;'  His  eloquence  was  bold,  thrilling, 
and  irresistible,  and  his  zeal  determined  and  unyielding.  Although 
a  devoted  Catholic,  and  strongly  tinctured  with  the  superstitions 
of  the  age,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  truly  pious  man  and  an  ear^ 
nest  Christian.  His  controversy  with  Abelard  was  a  plea  for  spir- 
itual heart-religion,  against  the  great  liberalist  of  the  age.  He 
originated  the  second  crusade,  and  actually  persuaded  the  king  of 
France  and  the  emperor  of  Germany  to  march  large  armies  to  the 


764  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.- 

Holy  Land.  His  works  are  mostly  on  practical  religion,  consisting 
of  letters  and  discourses.  He  died,  A.D.  1153,  in  the  sixty-third 
year  of  his  age. 

Abelard  was  older  than  Bernard,  having  been  born  in  the  year 
1079.  He  was  much  distinguished  as  a  scholar  in  early  life ;  and 
became,  in  two  instances,  the  rival  of  his  teachers.  His  seduction 
of  his  pupil,  Heloise,  was  the  great  sin  of  his  life,  from  the  conse- 
quences of  which  he  never  fidly  recovered.  Still  he  was  much 
distinguished  as  a  lecturer  on  philosophy  and  theology  at  Paris  and 
in  other  places.  The  publication  of  his  "  Theology  "  brought  upon 
him  the  charge  of  heresy ;  and  the  work  was  burned,  by  order  of 
the  Council  of  Soissons,  in  1121.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he 
founded  a  new  monastery,  called  the  Convent  of  the  Paraclete ; 
where  he  is  said  to  have  gathered  six  hundred  pupils.  A  nunnery 
was  connected  with  it,  over  which  Heloise  presided  as  abbess.  .  It 
was  here  that  the  correspondence  between  Heloise  and  Abelard 
took  jjlace,  which  Pope  has  given  (much  altered)  in  a  poetic 
version.  Abelard  was  again  accused  of  heresy  by  Bernard  and 
others,  left  his  convent,  and  died  at  Cluny  in  the  year  1142.  He 
was  the  great  scholastic  and  liberalist  of  his  time,  and  did  not  sus- 
tain a  high  character  either  for  piety  or  orthodoxy. 

Peter  Lombard  was  a  native  of  Lombardy  (whence  his  name 
Lombard'),  and  was  a  contemporary  of  Bernard  and  Abelard.  He 
was  bishop  of  Paris,  and  professor  of  divinity  there  until  his  death 
in  the  year  1164.  He  is  chiefly  known  for  his  system  of  divinity, 
entitled  "  The  Sentences,"  in  four  books.  It  consists  mostly  of 
extracts  from  the  fathers, — more  especially  from  Hilary,  Ambrose, 
Jerome,  and  Augustine.  It  was  a  text-book  in  theology  for  ages; 
and  learned  men  filled  ponderous  folios  with  commentaries  on 
"  The  Sentences." 

The  thirteenth  century  was  the  golden  age  of  the  scholastics,  in 
which  flourished  such  men  as  Albertus  Magnus,  Thomas  Aquinas, 
Alexander  Hales,  and  Roger  Bacon. 

Albertus  Magnus,  or  Albert  the  Great,  was  born  of  noble 
parentage  in  the  year  1205.  He  was  a  Dominican  friar  and  a 
universal  scholar,  —  excelling  particularly  in  mathematics,  natural 
philosophy,  metaphysics,  and  scholastic  theology.  His  works  are 
in  twenty-one  volumes  folio. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  called  the  Angelical  Doctor  and  the  Angel  of 
the  Schools,  was  born  at  Aquino,  in  Naples,  in  the  year  1224.  He 
was  a  pupil  of  Albert  the  Great,  and,  like  him,  was  a  Dominican 


CHURCH-ORGANIZATION,   GOVERNMENT,   ETC.  765 

monk.  The  pope  offered  him  the  archbishopric  of  Naples,  which 
he  refused.  He  died  while  on  his  way  from  Naples  to  a  council  at 
Lyons,  in  the  year  1274,  at  the  age  of  fifty.  His  works  have  been 
published  in  twenty-three  folios,  comprising  comments  on  nearly 
all  the  works  of  Aristotle  and  on  the  "  Sentences  "  of  Lombard, 
besides  a  huge  "  Summa,"  or  system  of  scholastic  theology,  written 
by  himself. 

Alexander  Hales  was  an  Englishman,  of  Gloucestershire,  but  was 
early  sent  to  Paris,  where  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life. 
He  was  the  Irrefragable  Doctor.  He  wrote  "  Commentaries  on 
Aristotle,"  on  "  The  Scriptures,"  and  on  Lombard's  "  Sentences  ;  " 
also  a  system  of  theology  and  some  tracts.  Hales  was  a  Francis- 
can monk. 

Roger  Bacon,  styled  the  Admirable  Doctor,  was  nobly  born  in 
Somersetshire,  England,  about  the  year  1206.  He  was  a  Francis- 
can, and  taught  the  physical  sciences  at  Oxford.  He  expended 
much  time  and  money  in  his  experiments  on  optics,  mechanics,  and 
chemistry,  for  which  he  was  accounted  a  magician,  and  as  such 
was  confined  for  many  years  in  a  monastery.  He  died  in  1284, 
and  was  buried  at  Oxford. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

HISTORY    OF   DOCTRINES,    SUPERSTITIONS,    AND    CONTROVERSIES. 

THE  history  of  doctrines  during  the  long  period  before  us  may- 
be given  in  few  words.  Some  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
were  firmly  held  through  all  the  middle  ages,  as  they  have  always 
been  in  the  Romish  Church ;  such  as  the  Trinity,  and  the  proper 
divinity  of  Christ.  Other  important  doctrines  were  keenly  contro- 
verteVl ;  as  those  respecting  depravity,  predestination,  and  grace. 
And  all  were  more  or  less  obscured  and  perverted  by  profane  addi- 
tions and  superstitious  rites.  Thus  the  great  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith,  of  salvation  by  Christ  alone,  was  virtually  nullified  by 
superadded*  penances,  rites,  and  forms,  which  placed  salvation  on 
the  ground  of  merits  and  works,  rather  than  on  that  of  grace  through 
faith ;  and  all  those  doctrines  pertaining  to  the  future  life  were 
obscured  and  rendered  powerless  by  the  inventions  of  priests  as 
to  purgatory,  and  the  methods  of  deliverance  from  if  by  prayers, 
masses,  indulgences,  and  charitable  gifts. 

The  theologians  of  this  period,  like  those  of  the  last,  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes,  —  the  positives,  the  scholastics,  and  the 
mystics.  The  positives  rested  their  faith  upon  authority :  they 
established  their  positions  by  quotations  from  Scripture  and  from 
the  ancient  fathers.  The  scholastics  depended  chiefly  upon  reason  : 
they  had  great  confidence  in  the  dialectic  philosophy,  and  in  the 
discussions  growing  out  of  it.  Of  this  class  were  the  schoolmen 
of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  They  felt  competent  to 
decide  all  questions,  and  delighted  to  sharpen  their  wits  by  keen 
metaphysical  and  theological  disputes.  At  the  opposite  extreme 
from  the  scholastics  were  the  mystics,  who  relied  more  upon  intui- 
tion than  discussion  ;  who  shunned  society,  and  sought,  by  poverty, 
penance,  mortification,  and  seclusion,  to  awaken  the  divinity  within 
them,  and  so  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

Of  these  several  classes  of  theologians,  the  most  popular,  by  far, 

766 


DOCTRINES,   SUPERSTITIONS,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.         767 

were  the  scholastics,  especially  in  the  latter  half  of  the  period 
before  us.  They  drew  around  them  admiring  pupils,  and  professed 
to  be  able  to  "  search  all  things,  even  the  deep  things  of  God." 
Their  speculations  often  led  them  away  from  the  dogmas  of  the 
Church ;  but  they  contrived  to  save  their  orthodoxy  by  a  shrewd, 
characteristic  distinction  between  things  theologically  true,  but 
philosophically  false.  Theologically,  they  clung  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church ;  while,  as  philosophers,  they  despised  and  rejected 
as  many  of  them  as  they  chose. 

In  the  period  before  us,  several  writers,  following  the  example 
of  John  of  Damascus,  prepared  systems  of  theology.  Such  were 
Hildebert  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  Peter  Lombard  in  the 
twelfth,  and  Albertus  Magnus  and  Thomas  Aquinas  in  the  thir- 
teenth. These  all  pursued  substantially  the  same  method,  which 
was  a  blending  of  the  positive  and  the  scholastic.  They  substan- 
tiated each  doctrine  by  passages  of  Scripture,  and  extracts  from  the 
fathers ;  and  then  undertook  to  solve  difficulties  and  remove  objec- 
tions by  the  aid  of  reason  and  philosophy.  The  more  distinguished 
of  these  writers  on  theology  were  Lombard  and  Aquinas.  The 
"  Sentences"  of  Lombard  was  a  text-book  for  long  ages;  and  folios 
of  commentaries  were  written  upon  it. 

The  superstitions  of  the  period  under  review  were  endless ;  and 
they  showed  themselves  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  The  venera- 
tion of  saints  and  relics,  which  before  had  been  great,  now  exceeded 
all  bounds.  The  utensils  which  the  old  saints  were  said  to  have 
used,  the  garments  they  had  worn,  the  earth  they  had  tilled,  and 
the  very  ground  on  which  they  had  set  their  feet,  —  all  were  ven- 
erated and  valued  as  things  of  the  greatest  importance.  Some  jour- 
neyed into  Arabia  to  see  the  dunghill  on  which  Job  had  set,  and 
to  kiss  the  ground  which  had  been  saturated  with  his  tears  and 
blood.  The  hunting  of  relics  came  to  be  a  regular  business  in  the 
East ;  and,  when  a  supply  of  the  genuine  article  could  not  be  found, 
a  fictitious  one  was  made  to  answer  the  purpose  as  well.  The 
bones  of  common  people,  of  criminals,  and  even  of  beasts,  were 
exhumed,  and  sold  to  pilgrims  as  the  veritable  relics  of  the 
saints. 

As  the  rage  for  saint-hunting  and  saint-worship  increased,  it 
became  necessary  to  manufacture  a  great  many  new  saints ;  the 
most  of  whom  had  no  existence,  and  never  had,  out  of  the  fancies 
of  those  who  produced  them.  This  practice  was  easy  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries,  when  no  restriction  had  been  imposed  upon 


768  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

it  by  papal  or  episcopal  authority.  As  the  saints  were  multiplied, 
it  was  necessary  that  their  lives  should  be  written ;  and  the  writing 
of  them  constituted  no  small  part  of  the  literature  of  the  age. 
And  the  greater  the  stories  of  marvels  and  miracles  which  these 
fictitious  lives  of  the  saints  contained,  the  more  gagerly  were  they 
read,  and  the  more  illustrious  were  the  shrines  of  the  fancied  sub- 
jects of  them.  Fifty-eight  folio  volumes  of  "  Acta  Sanctorum  " 
("  Lives  of  the  Saints  ")  have  been  already  published ;  and  the 
work  is  still  in  progress. 

The  superstition  of  the  age  showed  itself  in  the  different  methods 
which  were  resorted  to  to  acquire  merit  before  God,  and  secure  sal- 
vation. The  rich,  who  were  able  to  build  churches,  or  to  contribute 
large  sums  for  their  erection  or  repair,  esteemed  themselves  happy, 
and  the  favorites  of  Heaven ;  while  the  poor,  who  had  no  money 
to  contribute,  cheerfully  submitted  to  do  the  work  of  beasts, — 
bearing  burthens,  moving  stones,  and  drawing  carts,  —  and  they 
were  taught  to  expect  salvation  for  these  voluntary  hardships.  By 
these  and  the  like  methods,  some  acquired  even  more  merit  than 
they  needed  for  themselves,  and  were  able  to  make  over  the  sur- 
plus to  a  general  fund  for  the  benefit  of  others. 

The  superstition  of  the  age  was  manifest  in  the  methods  resorted 
to  by  the  priests  and  monks  for  getting  money,  and  in  the  readiness 
of  the  people  to  submit  to  such  exactions.  One  of  these  methods 
was  the  sale  of  indulgences.  These  indulgences  were  originally 
no  more  than  a  commutation  of  ecclesiastical  penances.  A  person 
confesses  to  the  priest,  and  has  some  painfid  penance  imposed  upon 
him  as  the  condition  of  absolution.  But  the  priest  says  to  him, 
"  Give  me  so  much  money,  and  I  will  remit  your  penance  :  I  will 
absolve  you  without  its  performance."  The  bargain  is  concluded, 
and  the  work  is  done.  And  thus  far  there  was  some  show  of 
reason  in  indulgences ;  for,  if  the  Church  had  the  right  to  impose 
penances,  it  might  be  supposed  to  have  the  right  to  commute  them 
for  money. 

But,  the  traffic  proving  very  gainful,  the  priests  soon  proceeded 
to  greater  lengths.  They  professed  to  be  able  to  commute  not 
only  ecclesiastical  penances  for  money,  but  the  inflictions  of  God, 
—  the  penalties  of  the  divine  law.  "  For  so  much  money,  your 
sins  before  God  shall  be  forgiven,  so  that  they  shall  never  come  up 
against  you.  Yea,  more  than  this :  for  so  much  money,  you  shall 
have  the  privilege  of  committing  any  specified  act  of  sin  or  crime 
in  time  to  come  with  entire  impunity."     And  if  any  one  inquired 


DOCTRINES,   SUPERSTITIONS,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.         769 

of  the  priests,  "  On  what  ground  are  you  able  to  give  such  assur- 
ances ?  "  the  answer  was  ready :  "  We  have  access  to  an  infinite 
store  of  merit,  —  all  the  merits  of  Christ  increased  by  all  the  super- 
erogatory merits  of  the  saints.  This  infinite  storehouse  of  merit 
is  intrusted  to  the  popes.  They  have  the  keys ;  and  they  have 
made  over  to  us,  the  priests,  a  sufficient  quantity  to  answer  any 
specified  purpose.  Give  us  so  much  money,  and  we  will  make  over 
to  you  enough  of  merit  to  cancel  all  your  past  transgressions ;  or 
we  will  make  over  to  you  enough  of  merit  to  secure  you  from 
punishment  in  the  commission  of  any  particular  sin  in  future.  For 
so  much  money  you  may  lie  or  steal,  or  commit  adultery.  For  so 
much  money  you  may  murder  your  father  or  mother  or  your 
nearest  friend." 

It  is  incalculable  what  sums  of  money  came  into  the  hands  of 
the  priests,  and  into  the  coffers  of  a  corrupt  church,  through  this 
shameful  traffic  in- indulgences.  The  sale  of  them  continued  down 
to  the  Reformation,  and  was  the  main  thing  which  excited  Zwingle 
and  Luther  to  attempt  a  reformation. 

The  abbots  and  monks,  who  at  the  first  were  not  intrusted  with 
the  sale  of  indulgences,  resorted  to  other  means  of  raising  money. 
They  travelled  about  the  villages  and  through  the  provinces,  carry- 
ing in  solemn  procession  the  carcasses  and  relics  of  holy  men, 
which  they  allowed  people  to  see,  to  handle,  and  to  kiss,  by  paying 
well  for  the  privilege.  Or  they  amused  the  people  with  mock- 
fights  with  evil  spirits,  whom  they  pretended  to  see  around  them, 
in  the  air,  or  on  the  ground ;  and,  when  the  fight  was  over,  claimed 
pay  of  the  spectators  on  account  of  their  victory.  In  these  ways, 
the  monks  often  amassed  as  great  gains  as  the  priests  did  by  their 
indulgences. 

Another  absurd  and  superstitious  practice,  which  had  been 
borrowed  from  the  heathen,  was  that  of  deciding  civil  and  criminal 
cases  by  arbitrary  tests,  —  such  as  cold  and  hot  water,  single  combat, 
red-hot  iron,  by  the  cross,  and  other  methods.  It  is  needless  to 
detail  these  several  modes  of  trial.  No  one  doubts  that  they  are 
the  relics  of  a  barbarous  age  ;  that  they  are  utterly  fallacious,  and 
abhorrent  to  every  principle  of  religion :  yet  the  pontiffs  and 
bishops  did  not  blush  to  honor  them  with  prayers  and  masses 
and  other  sacred  rites,  in  order  to  give  them  somewhat  of  a 
religious  aspect. 

Among  the  superstitions  of  the  age  may  be  noticed  the  societies 
of  flagellants,  which  made  their  appearance  in  Italy  about  the  year 

49 


770  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

1260,  but  afterwards  spread  over  a  great  part  of  Europe.  A  great 
multitude  of  persons,  of  all  ranks  and  ages,  and  of  both  sexes,  ran 
about  the  streets  of  cities  and  country  towns  with  whips  in  their 
hands,  miserably  lashing  their  naked  bodies ;  expecting,  by  their 
voluntary  sufferings,  their  frightful  countenances,  and  agonizing 
cries,  to  secure  the  divine  compassion  for  themselves  and  others. 
For  a  time,  the  flagellants  were  highly  revered  and  extolled  for 
their  sanctity.  Flagellation  was  pronounced  equal,  in  point  of 
cleansing  efficacy,  to  baptism.  But  when  the  turbulent  and  extrav- 
agant joined  themselves  to  the  flagellants,  and  disturbances  of  the 
peace  ensued,  the  emperors  and  pontiffs  issued  decrees  to  restrain 
this  religious  frenzy. 

Finally,  we  may  notice  among  the  superstitions  of  the  age  the 
great  excitement  which  prevailed  in  the  tenth  century  respecting 
the  approaching  day  of  judgment  and  the  end  of  the  world. 
Christ  was  expected  to  come  at  this  "time,  not  to  commence  the 
millennial  period,  but  rather  to  close  it.  The  opinion  prevailed, 
that  Satan  was  bound  at  the  first  advent  of  Christ ;  and  that,  having 
now  been  confined  for  almost  a  thousand  years,  the  period  of  his 
release  was  just  at  hand.  This  was  to  be  followed  by  a  short 
triumph  of  the  enemies  of  God ;  and  then  the  end  of  the  world 
would  come. 

This  doctrine  began  to  be  preached  by  Bernhard,  a  monk  of 
Thuringia,  about  the  year  960.  He  relied  not  alone  upon  the 
revelations  of  Scripture,  but,  like  most  other  fanatics,  upon  special 
revelations  vouchsafed  to  himself.  There  appeared  something 
plausible  in  his  doctrine,  and  it  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the 
superstitions  of  the  age.  The  clergy  at  once  adopted  it ;  the  pul- 
pits resounded  with  it.  It  was  diffused  with  astonishing  rapidity, 
and  embraced  with  an  ardor  proportioned  to  the  obscurity  of  the 
subject  and  the  greediness  of  human  credulity.  In  the  belief  of  it, 
great  numbers  abandoned  their  friends  and  homes,  and  hastened 
to  the  shores  of  Palestine ;  not  doubting  that  Mount  Zion  would 
be  the  throne  of  Christ  when  he  should  descend  to  judge  the  world. 
And  these,  in  order  to  secure  a  more  favorable  reception  from  their 
final  Judge,  usually  made  over  their  property,  before  their  depart- 
ure, to  some  adjacent  monastery  or  church.  Others,  who  had  no 
property  to  bestow,  became  the  menial  servants  of  the  priests  and 
monks  ;  believing  that,  through  their  intercessions,  they  should  find 
favor  at  the  judgment-seat.  Still  others  permitted  their  lands  to 
lie  waste,  their  houses  to  decay,  and  their  earthly  substance  to  be 


DOCTRINES,   SUPERSTITIONS,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.         771 

wantonly  wasted.  Some  took  shelter  in  the  caverns  of  rocks,  as 
though  these  fastnesses  of  Nature  could  preserve  them  amid  "the 
wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds." 

But  the  century  closed,  and  the  course  of  Nature  moved  right  on. 
It  gave  no  heed,  either  to  the  predictions  of  monks,  or  to  the  ter- 
rors of  those  who  had  been  deluded  by  them.  The  people  at  length 
(or  a  portion  of  them)  returned  to  their  homes,  repaired  their 
buildings,  and  resumed  their  former  occupations ;  and  the  principal 
effect  of  this  stupendous  panic  was  a  vast  increase  of  the  property 
of  the  Church.  What  had  been  given  in  an  hour  of  affright  and 
terror,  with  the  return  of  reason  could  not  be  recovered. 

Those  who  undertook  to  interpret  the  Scriptures  in  the  period 
before  us  differ  very  little  from  their  predecessors  in  former  periods. 
They  may,  in  general,  l)e  divided  into  two  classes,  —  those  who 
merely  compiled,  or  made  extracts  from,  the  more  ancient  inter- 
preters ;  and  those  who  searched  for  hidden,  allegorical  senses. 
The  latter  class  are  nearly  worthless :  the  works  of  the  former 
class,  called  eatence,  or  chains,  are  of  more  value,  as  they  present  us 
with  a  synopsis  of  patristical  interpretation,  running  back,  in  some 
instances,  almost  to  the  apostles. 

Some  of  the  controversies  of  the  previous  period  extended  down 
into  that  before  us.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the  controversy 
in  regard  to  image-worship.  In  the  year  802,  the  perfidious  Irene, 
the  great  patroness  and  promoter  of  image-worship  in  the  East,  ■ 
went  into  banishment.  This  encouraged  the  opposers  of  images  to 
renew  the  controversy,  which  continued  through  the  first  half  of 
the  ninth  century.  Nearly  all  the  emperors  were  opposed  to  the 
worship  of  images,  though  they  would  not  persecute  those  who 
favored  it.  Theophilus,  who  reigned  from  829  to  842,  bore  harder 
upon  the  defenders  of  images  than  his  predecessors  had  done,  and 
put  some  of  the  more  violent  of  them  to  death.  Upon  his  decease, 
his  consort  Theodora  administered  the  government ;  and  beino- 
worn  out  iDy  the  menaces,  the  entreaties,  and  the  fictitious  miracles 
of  the  monks,  who  had  ever  been  clamorous  for  pictures  and  images, 
she  called  a  council  at  Constantinople,  which  revoked  all  the  de- 
crees against  images,  and  restored  the  worship  of  them  among  the 
Greeks.  Thus,  after  a  contest  of  one  hundred  and  ten  years,  imao-e- 
worship  gained  the  victory  ;  nor  did  any  one  of  the  succeeding 
emperors  atte-mpt  to  cure  the  Greeks  of  their  folly  and  sin  in  this 
matter. 

The  standing  controversy  between  the  bishops  of  Rome  and  ' 


772  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Constantinople,  which  had  so  long  agitated  and  rent  the  Church, 
was  continued  with  much  violence  through  the  greater  part  of  the 
period  before  us.  It  had  slumbered,  indeed,  for  a  while ;  but  it 
broke  out  afresh  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  when 
Photius,  the  most  learned  Greek  of  the  age,  was  elevated  to  the 
see  of  Constantinople.  Nicolaus  I.,  bishop  of  Rome,  refused  to 
acknowledge'  Photius,  and  pronounced  him  and  his  adherents 
unworthy  of  Christian  communion.  Photius,  in  return,  accused 
Nicolaus  of  sundry  errors  in  doctrine  and  practice,  and  excom- 
municated him  in  a  council  held  at  Constantinople  in  the  year  866. 
Upon  the  death  of  Photius,  the  controversy  might  have  been 
healed  had  there  been  due  moderation  and  equity  at  Rome ;  but, 
as  these  were  wanting,  the  grounds  of  dissension  still  remained. 
We  hear  little  of  the  quarrel  in  the  tenth  century ;  but  in  the 
eleventh  it  was  renewed  with  increased  violence.  The  pontiif  of 
Rome  was  endeavoring,  by  various  arts,  to  bring  the  Greek  patri- 
arch into  subjection  to  him  ;  and  the  disturbed  and  unhappy  con- 
dition'of  the  Greek  Empire  seemed  to  favor  his  designs:  but  the 
Greek  patriarch  had  no  thought  of  such  subjection,  and,  to  ward  it 
off,  publicly  accused  the  Latins  of  serious  errors.  To  these  the 
bishop  of  Rome  replied  in  a  very  imperious  manner,  and  thundered 
forth  an  excommunication  against  the  Greeks.  Anxious  for  a  set- 
tlement, the  Greek  emperor  invited  the  pontiff  to  send  legates  to 
Constantinople  to  negotiate  a  peace.  The  legates  came,  but  ob- 
viously not  so  much  to  restore  harmony  as  to  establish  a  Roman 
domination  over  the  Greeks ;  for  after  making  their  demands, 
and  finding  that  they  were  not  acceded  to,  they  proceeded,  in  the 
most  arrogant  manner  possible,  to  renew  their  excommunication  of 
the  Greek  patriarch  and  all  that  adhered  to  him.  They  left  a  copy 
of  their  anathema  upon  the  great  altar  in  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia, 
shook  o&  the  dust  of  their  feet,  and  went  back  to  Rome.  Of  course, 
the  Greek  patriarch  returned  the  anathema,  excommunicating  the 
pontiff's  legates,  with  all  their  supporters  and  friends.  By  order  of 
the  emperor,  the  Latin  excommunication  was  committed  to  the 
flames.  From  this  time,  the  most  offensive  and  insulting  writings 
were  issued  by  both  parties,  which  added  continually  fresh  fuel  to 
the  fire. 

These  contests  passed  over  from  the  eleventh  century  into  the 
twelfth,  and  were  carried  on  with  great  spirit  on  both  sides.  Ne- 
gotiations for  a  compromise  were  repeatedly  entered  upon,  at  the 
instance  especially  of  the  Greek  emperors  ;  but  as  the  Latins  aimed 


DOCTRINES,    SUPERSTITIONS,    AND   CONTROVERSIES.         773 

at  nothing  less  than  an  absolute  spiritual  dominion  over  the  Greeks, 
and  as  the  Greeks  had  no  thought  of  submitting  to  such  dominion, 
the  efforts  for  peace  had  the  effect  rather  to  increase  hostility  than 
to  produce  a  reconciliation. 

In  the  thirteenth  century,  efforts  were  again  made  to  bring  about 
a  settlement ;  and  at  times  the  difficulty  seemed  on  the  point  of 
being  adjusted.  But  something  would  continually  occur  to  prevent 
a  compromise  ;  and  so  the  disputes  and  the  rancor  were  prolonged. 
And  so  they  continued  until  Constantinople  was  taken  by  the 
Turks,  —  in  the  fifteenth  century ;  and  so  they  continue  to  the 
present  day. 

One  of  the  points  at  issue  between  the  Eastern  and  Western 
churches,  and  perhaps  the  principal  one  (though  it  may  seem  small 
to  us),  related  to  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Did  he  proceed 
from  the  Father  only  ?  or  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  ?  This  con- 
troversy commenced  in  the  eighth  century ;  the  Greeks  holding 
that  the  Spirit  proceedeth  from  the  Father  only,  according  to  the 
declaration  of  Christ  (John  xv.  26) ;  while  the  Latins  insisted  that 
he  proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  Latins  were  also 
accused  of  enlarging  the  creed  of  Constantinople  (adopted  in  the 
year  381)  by  the  addition  of  filioque  to  the  paragraph  relating  to 
the  procession  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  certain  that  this  addition  is  not 
in  the  original  creed  of  Constantinople,  and  that  it  crept  into  the 
copy  of  the  creed  in  use  in' the  Western  Church;  but  by  whose 
instrumentality  the  alteration  was  made  is  not  so  clear.  The 
Latins,  however,  adopted  it ;  and  it  continued  to  be  a  matter  of 
controversy  for  hundreds  of  years. 

The  disputes  respecting  predestination  and  grace,  which  had 
been  so  thoroughly  settled  at  the  close  of  the  Pelagian  controversy, 
in  the  fifth  century,  were  revived  by  Gottschalk  in  the  ninth. 
Of  the  sufferings  of  Gottschalk  I  have  already  spoken.  For  his 
alleged  heresy  he  was  tried,  condemned,  degraded,  tortured,  and 
shut  up  in  prison.  In  the  extremity  of  torture  he  made  some 
retractions,  and  consented  to  burn  a  portion  of  his  writings ;  but 
his  constancy  soon  returned,  and  he  remained  in  prison  till  his 
death. 

Gottschalk  was  a  learned,  able,  conscientious,  good  man,  whose 
name  should  not  be  forgotten.  He  deserves  to  be  ranked  among 
the  martyrs.  But,  though  he  died,  the  cause  for  which  he  suffered 
did  not  die  with  him.  Numerous  and  powerful  advocates  were 
raised  up  for  it,  both  during  his  imprisonment,  and  subsequent  to 


774  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

his  death ;  among  whom  were  Prudentius  of  Troyes,  Servatus 
Lupus,  Ratram,  and  Remigius,  archbishojD  of  Lyons  .  The  opmions 
of  Gottschalk,  or  rather  of  Augustine,  were  confirmed  by  several 
councils,  and  were  received  generally  by  the  churches  of  France. 

From  this  period,  the  discussion  of  the  topics  we  are  considering 
commenced  anew  in  the  Romish  Church,  arid  continued  to  agitate 
it  for  the  next  eight  hundred  years.  The  schoolmen  were  divided 
on  these  subjects,  and  their  divisions  led  to  endless  disputes.  Peter 
Lombard  and  Thomas  Aquinus  advocated,  in  general,  the  views 
of  Augustine  ;  while  the  other  view  was  taken  by  Duns  Scotus 
and  Abelard.  Nor  was  the  controversy  confined  to  the  scholastics ; 
but  as  Aquinas  was  a  Dominican,  and  Scotus  a  Franciscan,  it  em- 
broiled and  agitated  these  two  great  rival  orders  of  monks  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  The  Dominicans  and  Augustinians 
were  the  decided  advocates  of  predestination  and  grace  ;  while  the 
Franciscaas,  and  after  them  the  Jesuits,  took  different  ground. 
They  explained  these  doctrines  much  after  the  manner  of  the  semi- 
Pelagians. 

In  the  ninth  century,  we  have  the  beginning  of  controversy  in 
the  Church  respecting  the  manner  in  which  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  are  present  in  the  eucharist.  As  early  as  the  days  of  Justin 
Martyr  and  Irenseus,  there  was  a  departure  from  the  simple  teach- 
ings of  Christ  and  the  apostles  on  this  subject.  The  consecrated 
elements  were  regarded,  not  as  symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  but  somehoiv  as  Christ  himself.  The  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiatfon  was  not  yet  invented :  that  Avas  of  a  later  date.  The 
consecrated  bread  was  stiU  bread,  and  the  wine  was  wine :  but  yet 
Christ  was  somehow  jyresent  in  them;  so  that  those  who  received 
them  were  partakers  of  Christ.  This  view  of  the  matter  continued 
in  the  Church  for  several  hundred  years,  though  nothing  very 
decisive  had  been  decreed  respecting  it ;  but,  in  the  ninth  centiuy, 
an  advance  of  statement  was  made,  and  transubstantiation  was 
first  introduced.  It  was  introduced  by  Paschasius  Radbert,  abbot 
of  Corbey.  He  taught,  that  "  although  there  may  be  the  form 
of  bread  and  wine  after  consecration,  the  substance  is  entirely 
changed  into  flesh  and  blood ;  and  this  is  the  saine  flesh  which 
was  born  of  Mary,  which  suffered  on  the  cross,  and  which  was 
raised  from  the  sepulchre."  This  was  new  doctrine  in  the  ears  of 
the  Church  at  that  period :  or,  rather,  it  was  a  new  and  startling 
explanation  of  an  old  doctrine  ;  viz.,  that  of  the  real  preseiice.  It 
was  opposed  by  Robanus  Maurus  and  John  Scotus,  two  of  the 


DOCTRINES,   SUPERSTITIONS,   AND    CONTROVERSIES.        775 

greatest  men  of  the  age ;    and  nothing  decisive  was  determined 
respecting  it. 

The  controversy  slumbered  through  the  tenth  century,  biit  was 
revived  in  the  eleventh.  Berengar,  a  canon,  and  master  of  the 
school  at  Tours,  a  man  of  discriminating  mind,  learned,  and  vener- 
able for  the  sanctity  of  his  life,  openly  opposed  the  doctrine  of 
Radbert.  He  taught  that  the  bread  and  wine  are  7iot  converted 
into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  but  are  mere  symbols  or 
emblems  of  that  body.  For  this  opinion,  Berengar  was  persecuted 
both  by  the  pontiff  and  the  king  of  France.  Overcome  by  threats 
and  punishments,  more  than  by  arguments,  he  recanted  his  alleged 
errors,  and  became  reconciled  to  the  Church.  But  he  did  not  long 
stand  to  his  recantation.  His  real  sentiments  remained  as  before  ; 
and,  when  out  of  danger,  he  again  published  them.  Indeed,  under 
the  terrors  of  persecution,  he  repeatedly  recanted,  and  then  re- 
turned to  his  former  sentiments.  "  Outward  force,"  he  said,  "  may 
extort  from  human  weakness  a  different  confession ;  but  none  but 
God  Almighty  can  produce  conviction."  Unable  to  withstand  the 
blinded  and  depraved  spirit  of  his  age,  Berengar  died  an  exile,  on 
the  Island  St.  Comas,  in  the  year  1088. 

Yet  he  left  behind  him  able  defenders  of  the  truth ;  for,  as  yet, 
no  authoritative  decree  had  been  put  forth  by  the  Church  of  Rome 
on  the  subject.  But,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
that  most  imperious  of  the  pontiffs.  Innocent  HI.,  published  such  a- 
decree.  "  The  body  and  blood  of  Christ,"  he  said,  "  are  truly  con- 
tained, under  the  form  of  bread  and  wine,  in  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar ;  being  transubstantiated,  the  bread  into  the  body,  and  the 
wine  into  the  blood,  by  a  divine  power." 

.  From  this  period,  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  has  been 
regarded  as  fundamental  in  the  system  of  Romanism.  Whatever 
other  doctrine  is  called  in  question,  this  must  not  be.  Next  to  the 
supremacy  of  the  pontiff,  it  is  the  last  which  a  thorough  Romanist 
will  ever  relinquish.  The  power  of  the  priest  to  transmute,  by  a 
word,  the  wafer  and  the  wine  into  the  veritable  body,  blood,  soul, 
and  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  a  tremendous  power,  far  transcend- 
ing all  the  miraculous  gifts  of  the  primitive  age  ;  and  no  considera- 
tion will  induce  the  priest  to  relinquish  it,  or  relinquish  his  claim 
to  it,  so  long  as  he  can  find  human  beings  stupid  enough  to  admit 
such  a  claim,  and  to  be  gulled  and  fleeced  by  it. 

About  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  controversy  com- 
menced in  the  Romish  Church  respecting  what  is  called  the  im- 


776  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

maculate  conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary.*  It  was  insisted  by  some 
that  Mary  was  conceived  in  the  womb  of  her  mother  with  the 
same  purity  that  is  attributed  to  Christ's  conception.  A  festal  day 
had  been  appointed  in  honor  of  her  conception,  which  was  observed 
by  many  churches  in  England  and  France.  But,  when  St.  Bernard 
heard  of  the  practice,  he  sternly  opposed  it.  This  at  once  brought 
on  the  controversy ;  some  defending  the  doctrine  and  the  festival, 
and  others  supporting  the  opinion  of  Bernard.  At  a  later  period, 
the  Dominicans  argued  against  the  immaculate  conception,  while 
the  divines  of  the  University  of  Paris  contended  for  it.  Still  the 
question  has  been  an  open  one  in  'the  Chiu'ch  of  Rome  almost  to 
our  own  times.  ♦ 

I  shall  notice  but  another  controversy  of  this  period  ;  and  that  is 
more  metaphysical  than  theological :  I  refer  to  the  contests  between 
the  realists  and  nominalists.  The  subject  of  this  controversy  was 
general  ideas.  Are  there  any  such  ideas  ?  or  are  the  terms  denoting 
them  mere  names  ?  Both  parties  in  this  controversy  held  to  the 
old  doctrine  of  ideas,  —  that  they  are  forms,  models,  images,  of 
things  in  the  mind.  Assuming,  as  a  first  principle,  that  no  body 
can  act  but  where  it  is,  and  knowing  that  external  objects  do  not 
come  in  direct  contact  with  the  eye,  they  concluded  that  we  do 
not  see  the  objects  themselves,  but  only  their  images.  They  sup- 
posed (or  some  of  them  did)  that  every  external  object  is  continu- 
ally throwing  oif  images  of  itself ;  and  that  these  images  only  come 
in  contact  with  the  eye,  enter  through  it  to  the  mind,  and  consti- 
tute our  ideas  of  external  objects. 

Now,  both  parties  thought  they  could  conceive,  and  professed  to 
believe,  that  from  individual  external  objects  ideas  or  images  were 
thrown  off,  and  passed  through  the  visual  organ  to  the  mind. 
Hence  both  believed  that  the  names  of  individual  objects  were  not 
mere  names,  but  indicated  corresponding  particular  ideas.  But 
how  was  it  with  whole  genera,  or  classes,  of  objects  ?  Could  any 
general  ideas  or  images  be  thrown  off  from  them  ?  Or,  in  other 
words,  are  there  any  general  ideas  ?  This  simple  question  the  real- 
ist answered  in  the  affirmaifve,  and  the  nomiiialist  in  the  negative. 
Both  admitted  that  we  have  in  use  an  abundance  of  general  terms  : 
but  to  the  nominalist  these  were  mere  names,  having  no  ideas  cor- 

*  This  notion  of  the  immaculate  conception  of  Mary  is  said  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the 
Koran.  Tlius  Gibbon  says,  "  The  Latin  Church  has  not  disdained  to  copy  from  the  Koran  the 
immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin."  —  See  Hist,  of  Decline,  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
vol.  V.  p.  108,  Harper's  edition. 


DOCTRINES,    SUPERSTITIONS,   AND   CONTROVERSIES.         777 

responding  to  them ;    while  the  realist  insisted  that  there  were 
general  ideas  as  well  as  names. 

I  have  thus  set  before  the  reader  the  nature  of  this  long-contested 
controversy  respecting  general  ideas.  It  first  appeared  among  the 
dialecticians  of  the  Church,  in  the  eleventh  century.  And,  though 
the  subject-matter  of  it  ma}^  seem  trifling  to  us,  it  did  not  so  appear 
to  our  ancestors  in  the  middle  ages.  We  can  have  little  concep- 
tion of  the  fierceness  with  which  the  controversy  often  raged,  and 
of  the  extent  to  which  it  agitated  the  human  mind  for  the  long 
space  of  four  or  five  hundred  years.  Could  the  parties  have 
divested  themselves  of  the  theory  of  floating  images,  and  come  to 
regard  ideas  as  mere  tJioughts,  opinions,  impressions,  judgments,  the 
whole  ground  of  controversy  would  have  been  taken  away.  Men, 
in  that  case,  could  as  well  have  conceived  of  general  as  of  parti- 
cular ideas,  and  would  not  have  thought  it  possible  that  whole 
classes  of  terms  should  have  come  into  constant  use  with  no  ideas 
to  be  indicated  by  them. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

RELIGIOUS    OBSERVANCES    AND    SECTS. STATE    OF    LEARNING    AND 

RELIGION. 

IN  the  preceding  chapter,  we  spoke  of  the  theology  of  this  period, 
of  its  abounding  superstitions,  and  its  controversies.  It  remains 
that  we  treat  of  its  rehgious  rites  and  observances,  its  sects,  and 
of  the  state  of  learning  and  religion. 

Before  the  commencement  of  this  period,  the  rites  of  the  Church 
had  become  so  numerous,  that  a  class  of  men  were  officially  set 
apart  to  expound  them.  Hence  the  numerous  works  de  divinis 
officiis  which  were  written  for  this  purpose.  Still  the  church- 
leaders  were  not  satisfied  :  they  continued  to  add  new  festivals,  and 
other  religious  observances,  all  through  the  period  before  us.  In 
the  multitude  of  new  saints  that  were  created,  it  was  thought 
necessary  that  new  days  should  be  set  apart  to  their  honor ;  and, 
that  none  of  them  might  be  omitted,  a  festival  was  decreed  in  the 
ninth  century  for  all  saints.  In  the  following  century,  another 
was  added  in  memory  of  all  departed  souls.  Before  this  time,  it 
had  been  common  to  offer  prayers,  on  appointed  days,  for  particular 
souls  that  were  suffering  in  purgatory ;  but  at  this  time  it  was 
thought  advisable  to  extend  this  kindness  to  them  all.  Other  fes- 
tivals were  afterwards  decreed  in  honor  of  the  immaculate  concep- 
tion of  Mary,  and  in  honor  of  the  transubstantiated  body  of  Christ. 

The  worship  of  Mary,  which  had  before  been  excessive  and 
idolatrous,  was  in  this  period  much  increased.  In  the  tenth  cen- 
tury we  begin  to  hear  of  the  rosary  and  the  crown  of  St.  Mary, 
or  of  praying  according  to  a  numerical  arrangement.  The  rosary 
consists  of  fifteen  repetitions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  a  hundred 
and  fifty  salutations  of  Mary ;  and  the  crown  of  St.  Mary  consists 
of  about  half  the  number  of  each.  The  beads  are  used  to  tally 
each  repetition,  so  that  there  may  be  no  mistake  as  to  the  number. 

In  the  eleventh'  century,  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  to  enforce 

778 


RELIGIOUS    OBSERVANCES   AND    SECTS.  779 

the  Romisli  liturgy,  and  in  the  Latin  tongue,  upon  all  the  churches 
which  professed  subjection  to  the  see  of  Rome.  In  the  kingdom  of 
Castile,  in  Spain,  this  measure  met  with  strong  opposition.  The 
people  were  warmly  attached  to  their  old  Gothic  liturgy,  and  were 
unwilling  to  give  it  up.  At  length,  it  was  determined  to  submit 
the  question  to  the  decision  of  the  sword.  Accordingly,  two 
champions  were  chosen  to  contend  in  single  combat ;  the  'one  fight- 
ing for  the  Roman  liturgy,  and  the  other  for  the  Gothic.  The  Gotliic 
champion  conquered.  Still  the  advocates  for  the  Romish  liturgy 
and  Latin  praj-ers  were  not  satisfied.  They  wished  to  submit  the 
question  to  a  decision  by  fire.  Hence  the  two  liturgies  were  thrown 
together  into  the  fire  ;  when  the  Romish  was  consumed,  and  the 
Gothic  escaped.  Yet  this  double  victory  could  not  save  the  Gothic 
liturgy.  The  authority  of  the  pontiff,  and  the  pleasure  of  the 
queen,  who  was  very  much  under  his  influence,  prevailed ;  and  the 
Romish  liturgy  was  adopted. 

This  forcing  the  Romish  liturgy,  and  in  the  Latin  tongue,  upon 
all  the  Roman-Catholic  churches,  was  an  intolerable  hardship.  It 
should  have  been  enough,  one  would  think,  to  take  away  the  Bible 
from  the  people ;  but  now  they  were  shut  out,  at  least  in  their 
public  worship,  from  a  throne  of  grace.  They  could  only  hear 
prayers  in  an  unknown  tongue,  which  was  equivalent  to  their  not 
hearing  them  at  all.  •     • 

In  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  the'  splendor  of  public 
worship  in  the  churches  was  vastly  increased.  New  churches  were 
consecrated  with  sprinklings,  inscriptions,  anointings,  lighting  up 
of  candles,  and  prayers ;  while  not  only  the  walls,  but  the  very 
floors,  were  adorned  with  pictures  of  saints  and  angels.  The  altars 
were  ornamented  with  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones. 
Before  the  images  of  the  saints  expensive  lamps  were  kept  con- 
tinually burning.  After  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  had 
been  introduced,  the  elements,  as  soon  as  consecrated,  were  ele- 
vated, that  they  might  be  seen  and  worshipped  by  the  people. 
Splendid  caskets  also  were  introduced,  in  which  God,  in  the  form 
of  bread,  might  reside,  and  in  which  he  might  be  carried  in  solemn 
procession  from  one  place  to  another.  Many  of  the  facts  of  the 
sacred  history  were  not  only  presented  to  the  eye  in  paintings,  but 
they  were  dramatized  in  the  churches.  These  scenic  representa- 
tions, partly  tragic  and  partly  comic,  interested  the  people  for  a 
time  ;  but  the  effect,  in  the  end,  was  unhappy.  They  tended,  not 
so  much  to  impress  the  sacred  story  upon  the  mind  and  heart,  as  to 
turn  it  into  ridicule. 


780  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

At  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Boniface  VIII.  added 
to  the  pubhc  ceremonies  of  the  Church  the  year  of  jubilee.  He 
published  a  decree,  that,  in  every  centennial  year,  all  that  should 
devoutly  visit  the  temple  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome,  and  should  there 
make  confession  of  their  sins,  should  receive  plenary  indulgence 
for  the  next  hundred  years.  The  consequence  was,  that  not  less 
than  two  millions  of  people  visited  Rome  dimng  the  year  1300. 
The  public  roads  in  Italy  presented  an  almost  continuous  proces- 
sion from  one  end  to  the  other ;  and  the  crowd  at  Rome  was  so 
dense,  that  many  were  literally  trodden  to  death.  The  jubilee 
brought  so  much  honor  and  gain  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  that  sub- 
sequent pontiffs  limited  it  to  shorter  periods.  Clement  VI.  cele- 
brated another  jubilee,  in  the  year  1350 ;  and  Nicolaus  V.  decreed 
that  the  festival  should  be  held  once  in  twenty-five  years. 

The  Nestorians  and  Monophysites  who  were  living  in  the  East, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Mohammedans,  fared  well  for  a  time ; 
but,  as  years  rolled  on,  their  fields  of  labor  were  contracted,  their 
numbers  diminished,  and  they  were  persecuted  and  oppressed. 
Towards  the  close  of  this  period,  they  were  repeatedly  solicited  to 
connect  themselves  with  the  Roman-Catholic  Church ;  but  they 
had  the  firmness  to  maintain  their  independence,  as  they  continue 
to  do  to  the  present  time. 

Nearly  all  the  sects  Avith  which  the  Greek  and  Romish  churches 
were  called  to  contend  in  the  period  before  us  were  of  a  single 
class.  They  were  pious,  humble  Christians,  who  were  tired  of  the 
pomp  and  ceremony  which  they  witnessed  around  them,  and  of 
the  disgusting  superstitions  of  the  times ;  and  who  sought  earnestly, 
though  not  always  in  the  wisest  manner,  to  bring  back  religion  to 
the  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  apostolic  age.  They  were  called 
at  different  periods,  and  in  different  places,  by  several  names ;  but 
they  were  substantially  one  people. 

We  first  hear  of  them  in  the  East,  in  the  seventh  century,  under 
the  name  of  Paulicians.  They  wrote  no  books  ;  they  have  left  no 
history  of  themselves ;  and  the  little  we  know  of  them  is  chiefly 
from  their  enemies,  whose  testimony  is  to  be  received  with  a  good 
deal  of  allowance.  They  were  called,  by  the  Greeks,  Manicheans ; 
but  they  persistently  denied  havmg  any  connection  or  affinity  with 
the  old  heretics  of  that  name. 

They  sprang,  we  are  told,  from  a  man  by  the  name  of  Constan- 
tine,  who  lived  in  an  obscure  town  in  the  neighborhood  of  Samo- 
sate.      A  deacon,  who  was  returning  from  captivity  among  the 


RELIGIOUS   OBSERVANCES   AND   SECTS.  781 

Mohammedans,  lodged  with  Constantme,  and  at  parting  presented 
him  with  a  New  Testament  in  Greek.  Constantine  made  the  best 
use  of  the  deacon's  present.  He  carefully  studied  the  sacred 
oracles,  and  exercised  his  own  understanding  upon  them.  He 
formed  for  himself  a  system  of  theology  from  the  New  Testament, 
and  more  especially  from  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  To  show  his  regard 
for  Paul,  and  to  assimilate  himself  and  his  followers,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  the  companions  of  Paul,  he  changed  his  own  name  to 
that  of  Sylvanus,  and  called  his  disciples  by  Scripture  names  ;  such 
as  Timothy,  Titus,  Tychicus,  &c.  His  followers,  in  general,  took 
the  name  of  Paulicians.  They  were  simply  scriptural  in  the  use 
of  the  sacraments ;  detested  images ;  despised  relics  and  all  the 
fashionable  superstitions  of  the  times ;  and  knew  no  other  Media- 
tor than  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Sylvanus  preached  with  great  success.  Pontus  and  Caj)padocia, 
regions  once  renowned  for  Christian  piety,  were  again  enlighteneci 
through  his  labors.  His  congregations  were  diffused  over  most  of 
the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  an  insta'u- 
ment  in  the  hand  of  God  of  promoting  a  revival  of  pure  spiritual 
religion. 

Roused  by  the  groAving  importance  of  the  sect,  the  Greek  em- 
perors began  to  persecute  the  Paulicians  with  the  utmost  severity, 
and,  under  Christian  forms  and  names,  re-enacted  the  scenes  of 
Galerius  and  Maximin.  They  bore  their  persecutions  with  great 
firmness  ;  and,  having  some  seasons  of  repose,  they  rather  increased 
than  otherwise  under  the  hard  treatment  to  which  they  were  ex- 
posed.    "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  Church." 

The  most  bloody  persecutor  of  the  Paulicians  was  the  Empress 
Theodora,  —  the  same  who  finally  established  image-worship  among 
the  Greeks.  Her  inquisitors  ransacked  the  Lesser  Asia  in  search  of 
these  sectaries ;  and  she  is  computed  to  have  destroyed,  by  the 
gibbet,  by  fire,  and  by  the  sword,  not  less  than  a  hundred  thousand 
persons.  This  was  the  first  wholesale  butchery  of  Christians  by 
professed  Christians  of  which  we  have  an}^  account  in  the  history 
of  the  Church. 

During  a  period  of  not  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the 
Paulicians  endured  their  sufferings  with  Christian  fortitude  and 
patience.  But  at  length  they  were  led  to  form  an  alliance  with 
the  Mohammedans,  and  made  war  upon  their  persecutors.  At  first, 
they  were  successful ;  and  Michael,  the  son  of  Theodoi-a,  fled  before 
their  arms.     They  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Asia,  and  desolated 


782  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

some  of  the  fairest  provinces  of  the  Greeks.  In  the  issue,  how- 
ever, their  principal  fortress  was  taken,  their  power  in  the  East  was 
broken,  and  many  of  them  were  obliged  to  migrate  into  the  West. 
In  the  tenth  century,  we  hear  of  them  in  Thrace,  in  Bulgaria,  in 
Slavonia,  and  even  in  Italy.  They  were  still  persecuted  by  the 
Greek  bishops  and  priests,  and  sometimes  by  the  emperors,  Avho 
continued  to  harass  them  with  confiscation  of  property,  with  ban- 
ishment, and  other  vexations.  Wearied  out  with  this  kind  of  treat- 
ment, they  migrated  stiU  farther  west,  and  had  congregations  in 
Lombardy,  in  Germany,  and  the  southern  part  of  France.  With 
a  change  of  location,  they  changed  their  name,  or  became  asso- 
ciated with  a  like  people  of  another  name  ;  for  in  Europe  we  hear 
them  called  Cathari,  i.e.  Puritans,  Paterines,  and  Alhigenses.  Now, 
we  know  what  kind  of  people  the  Cathari  were.  They  were  called 
by  their  enemies  Manichees,  as  the  Paulicians  had  been  ;  but  they 
really  were,  like  the  Paulicians  in  their  best  estate,  simple,  devout, 
Bihie-Christians,  —  not  altogether  free  from  superstitious  notions 
and  practices,  but  yet  a  people  who  loved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  were  intent  upon  serving  him  according  to  the  light  they  had. 
Milner  says  of  them,  "  They  were  a  plain,  unassuming,  harmless, 
and  industrious  race  of  Christians,  condemning  by  their  doctrine 
and  manners  the  whole  apparatus  of  the  reigning  idolatry  and 
superstition,  placing  true  religion  in  the  faith  and  love  of  Christ, 
and  retaining  a  supreme  regard  for  the  word  of  God."  *  The  Pa- 
terines were  the  same  people,  under  another  name.  In  France 
they  were  called  Alhigenses,  from  Albi,  or  Albigia,  a  town  of 
Aquitaine. 

The  Cathari  were  very  numerous  in  the  twelfth  century.  One 
of  their  enemies  says,  "  They  are  increased  to  a  great  multitude 
through  all  countries ;  for  their  words  do  spread  like  a  cancer." 
At  the  same  time,  they  were  persecuted  with  the  utmost  severity. 
Galdinus,  Bishop  of  Milan,  is  said  to  have  died  of  an  illness  which 
he  contracted  through  the  excess  of  his  vehemence  in  preaching 
against  them. 

Of  the  number  of  the  people  called  Albigenses,  who  inhabited 
the  south  of  France,  we  may  form  some  idea  from  the  great  mul- 
titude of  them,  who,  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  were 
put  to  death.  It  was  to  hunt  and  destroy  them  that  the  infamous 
tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  was  first  established.  But,  as  this  was 
found  to  be  too  slow  in  its  operation,  the  pontiff  Innocent  III.  ex- 

*  Vol.  iii.  p.  366. 


RELIGIOUS   OBSERVANCES   AND   SECTS.  783 

horted  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  to  make  war  upon  the 
heretics,  promising  him  and  his  nobles  the  most  ample  indulgences 
as  their  reward.  At  length,  in  the  year  1209,  a  crusade  was 
preached  up  against  the  Albigenses  ;  and  a  large  army  of  cross-bear- 
ers entered  upon  the  bloody  work  of  destroying  them.  They  were 
headed  by  Simon,  earl  of  Montfort,  whose  cruelties  were  inde- 
scribable. At  the  capture  of  Minerbe,  a  hundred  and  forty  were 
burned  together  at  the  stake ;  at  Beziers,  six  thousand  persons 
were  slain ;  and  at  Toulouse,  twenty  thousand.  At  Carcasonne, 
the  priests  shouted  for  joy  at  the  sight  of  thousands  burning 
together.  When  the  crusaders  had  captured  the  Castle  of  Brom, 
where  they  found  about  a  hundred  persons,  Simon  ordered  all 
their  noses  to  be  amputated,  and  their  eyes  to  be  put  out,  except  a 
single  eye  of  one  individual,  who  might  serve  as  a  guide  to  the 
rest ;  and  then  they  were  sent  off  to  Cabrieres  to  terrify  others. 
After  the  death  of  Simon,  the  war  was  continued  by  Raymond, 
earl  of  Toulouse,  and  by  the  kings  of  France,  until  the  poor 
Albigenses  were  measurably  extirpated. 

Among  the  Albigenses  there  were  some  diversities  of  opinion, 
which  led  to  the  formation  of  different  sects.  Thus  there  were  the 
Petrobrussians  and  Henricians,  whose  peculiarity  was  that  they 
denied  infant-baptism.  They  had  seen  this  practice  so  perverted 
and  abused  among  the  Romanists,  besides  having  their  children 
often  torn  from  them  to  be  baptized  by  the  priests,  that  they  were 
led  to  reject  the  doctrine  altogether.  And  they  are  said,  on  pretty 
good  authority,  to  be  the  first  Christians  of  whom  we  have  any 
account  in  history  (unless  it  be  a  few  who  rejected  all  water-bap- 
tism) who  denied  the  right  of  infants  to  baptism.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  this  peculiarity,  the  Petrobrussians  and  Henricians  seem 
to  have  been,  like  the  other  Albigenses,  a  pious,  devoted.  Scripture- 
loving  people. 

The  Waldenses  were  a  people  of  like  spirit  and  character  with 
the  Paulicians,  the  Cathari,  and  the  Albigenses  ;  though  it  may  not 
be  easy  to  prove  any  historical  connection  between  them.  The 
Waldenses  lay  claim  to  a  very  high  antiquity,  running  back  almost 
to  the  apostoHc  age.  The  probability  is  that  many  pious  people 
were  driven  by  pagan  persecutors,  before  the  time  of  Constantine, 
from  the  plains  of  Italy  into  the  almost  inaccessible  valleys  of  the 
Alps ;  that  they  planted  themselves  there ;  and  that  there  their 
descendants  have  lived  through  long  ages  and  multiform  changes, 
holding  fast  the  faithful  word,  to  the  present  time.     In  their  early 


784  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

history  tliey  may  have  been  called  Vallenses,  from  the  circumstance 
of  their  living  in  the  valleys ;  but  from  the  twelfth  century  they 
have  taken  the  name  of  Waldenses,  from  their  great  leader  and 
patron,  Peter  Waldo  of  Lyons. 

In  the  ninth  century,  Claudius,  a  Spanish  priest,  was  appointed 
by  Lewis  the  Meek  to  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Turin.  The  val- 
leys of  the  Waldenses  were  within  his  diocese ;  and  we  may  well 
suppose  that  he  —  who  has  been  called,  not  inappropriately,  "  the 
reformer  of  the  ninth  century  "  —  would  do  all  in  his  power  to 
aid  and  encourage  the  poor  pious  people  whom  he  found  among 
the  fastnesses  of  the  Alps.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  (as  some  have 
thought)  that  he  oi'iginated  the  Waldenses  ;  but  that  he  found 
them  out,  encouraged,  and  strengthened  them,  is  in  the  highest 
degree  probable.  The  Waldenses  seem  not  to  have  been  much 
noticed  or  persecuted  by  the  Romanists  before  the  twelfth  century : 
but  their  connection  with  Waldo,  and  other  circumstances,  then 
brought  them  into  notice  ;  since  which  time  they  have  been  almost 
perpetually,  harassed  with  wars  and  persecutions. 

Peter  Waldo  was  born  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  or  DaUphiny. 
In  early  life  he  went  to  Lyons,  became  a  merchant,  and,  by  his  suc- 
cess in  business,  soon  rose  to  wealth  and  distinction.  On  a  certain 
occasion,  while  in  company  with  several  distinguished  citizens,  one 
of  the  company  fell  down  suddenly  dead.  The  event  produced  a 
great  effect  upon  the  mind  of  Peter,  and  changed  the  whole  course 
of  his  future  life.  He  did  not,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  age, 
shut  himself  up  in  a  monastery,  but  resolved  that  he  would  devote 
himself  henceforth  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  gospel  of  his  Son. 
He  soon  began  to  preach  the  gospel  himself.  He  caused  the  Scrip- 
tures to  be  translated  into  the  language  of  the  people,  and  circu- 
lated many  copies.  God  blessed  his  efforts ;  and  ere  long  he  was 
enabled  to  send  forth  a  band  of  missionaries,  two  by  two,  to  carry 
the  gospel  into  all  parts  of  France,  into  Flanders,  Germany,  Poland, 
Bohemia,  and  Austria.  These  missionaries  were  the  celebrated 
"  poor  men  of  Lyons  ;  "  and,  by  means  of  them,  the  truth,  in  a  few 
years,  gained  a  wonderful  extension. 

But  soon  the  pope  called  upon  the  archbishop  of  Lyons  to  put 
down  this  heresy ;  and  then  the  work  of  persecution  began.  The 
institution  at  Lyons  was  broken  Tip  ;  but  the  members  of  it,  like 
the  primitive  disciples,  "  went  forth  everj'where,  preaching  the 
word."  That  many  of  them  took  refuge  among  their  brethren  in 
the  valleys  of  Piedmont  and  Dauphiny,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 


RELIGIOUS    OBSERVANCES    AND    SECTS.  785 

When  Peter  Waldo  was  driven  from  Lyons,  he  went  into  Picar- 
dy,  where  he  obtained  many  followers.  Hence,  in  some  parts  of 
Eurojoe,  his  followers  were  called  Pickards.  He  passed  into  Bel- 
gium and  German}^,  and  finally  into  Bohemia,  where  he  died. 

Of  the  religious  character  of  the  Waldenses  it  is  not  necessary 
to  speak  at  length.  That  their  moral  and  Christian  character  was 
excellent,  is  admitted  even  by  their  enemies.  This  was  assigned 
as  the  reason  why  they  were  more  to  l)e  dreaded  than  any  other 
class  of  heretics,  —  they  were  so  good.  They  retained  for  a  long 
time  their  missionary  spirit.  They  were  all  missionaries.  Wher- 
ever they  went,  whether  as  teachers  or  preachers  or  laborers  or 
peddlers,  they  carried  the  Bible  and  the  gospel  with  them,  and  were 
sure  to  make  their  great  commission  known.* 

It  was  when  the  Waldenses  of  Lyons  took  refuge  in  the  valleys 
of  Piedmont,  and  when  the  persecuted  Albigenses  from  the  other 
side  of  the  Alps  fled  there  also,  that  they  began  to  be  hunted  after 
by  the  minions  of  Rome  ;  and  the  vengeance  of  the  Inquisition  was 
visited  upon  them.  Still  they  were  not  called  to  feel  the  severity 
of  persecution  until  the  following  centuries.  An  account  of  their 
long  and  terrible  trials  will  be  given  in  its  proper  place. 

In  resisting  the  burthensome  forms  and  superstitions  of  these 
times,  some  persons  went  over  to  the  other  extreme.  They  abjured 
all  outward  rites  and  moral  duties,  and  made  their  religion  to  con- 
sist in  mere  feelings  and  fancies.  Such  were  "  the  Brethren  and 
Sisters  of  the  Free  Spirit,"  who  spread  themselves  over  Italy, 
France,  and  Germany,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and,  by  a  great 
show  of  piety,  drew  many  people  after  them.  They  were  a  class 
of  Antinomian  mystics,  whose  extravagances  ran  them  almost  into 
Pantheism.  They  refused  to  labor,  because  labor  interfered  with 
the  intensity  of  their  contemplations.  They  held  that  a  man,  by 
turning  all  his  thoughts  inward,  might  become  in  such  sense  one 
with  God,  as  to  be  delivered  from  all  the  instincts  of  Nature :  he 
would  come  into  a  state  in  which  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  sin. 
They  said  that  prayers,  fastings,  baptism,  and  the  sacred  supper, 
might  do  for  children,  but  were  no  longer  of  any  service  for  those 
who  had  been  converted  into  God  himself,  and  were  thoroughly 
detached  from  the  visible  universe.  This  people  did  not  much 
attract  the  notice  of  the  hierarchy  in  this  centmy ;  but  in  the  next 
(the  fourteenth)  the  inquisitors  laid  their  hands  upon  them,  and 
many  of  them  were  burned  at  the  stake. 

*  See  Protestantism  in  Italy,  p.  339. 
50 


786  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

It  is  proposed  now  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  tlie  history  of  learn- 
ing and  pliilosophy,  so  far  as  they  stand  connected  with  the  Church 
of  Christ,  from  the  first  century  to  tlie  close  of  the  thirteenth,  — 
the  end  of  our  present  period ;  and  this  may  be  done  in  few  words. 
From  the  Augustan  age,  in  which  Christ  was  born,  down  to  the 
close  of  the  tenth  century,  there  was  a  gradual  decline  in  the  state 
of  learning,  until  the  lights  of  science  and  literature  seemed  almost 
ready  to  expire  ;  but,  from  the  commencement  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury to  the  cominencement  of  the  fourteenth,  there  was  a  gradual 
revival  of  learning,  more  especially  in  Europe,  which  has  continued 
to  the  present  time. 

The  first  philosophy  with  which  Christianity  came  in  contact, 
and  by  which  it  was  in  some  degree  corrupted,  was  the  Gnostic. 
The  influence  of  this  was  felt  during  the  latter  part  of  the  first 
century,  and  through  the  whole  of  the  second  ;  and  many  who  bore 
the  name  of  Christian  made  shipwreck  of  their  faith.  The  next 
philosophy,  by  which  Christianity  was  still  more  affected,  was  the 
Neo-Platonic.  This  supplanted  the  Gnostic  near  the  commence- 
ment of  the  third  century,  and  continued  to  prevail  for  tJie  next 
three  hundred  years.  It  was  taught  by  Ammonias  Saccas,  its 
founder,  and  by  Plotinus,  in  the  third  century,  by  Jamblichus  in 
the  fourth,  and  by  Proclus  in  the  fifth.  It  continued  to  be  almost 
the  only  philosophy  studied  until  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century, 
when  Aristotelianism  began  to  take  its  place.  The  dialectics  of 
Aristotle  were  thought  to  be  better  adapted  to  sharpen  the  wits 
of  the  theologians  of  that  period,  and  prepare  them  to  take  part  in 
the  controversies  of  the  times.  In  the  sixth  century,  Justinian 
broke  up  the  schools  of  the  Platonics  at  Athens  and  Alexandria, 
and  scattered  the  teachers ;  from  which  period  the  Aristotelian 
philosophy  prevailed  almost  exclusively  down  to  the  Reformation,  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  This  was  the  philosophy  of  the  schoolmen, 
and  of  all  who  aimed  at  metaphysical  acuteness ;  and  by  many 
theologians  the  dialectics  of  Aristotle  were  much  more  studied  than 
the  Bible. 

In  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  though  Christians  differed  as  to 
the  expediency  of  dipping  into  any  form  of  heathen  philosophy, 
they  were  all  in  favor  of  some  degree  of  learning,  and  maintained 
schools  for  the  education  of  their  children  and  of  those  intended 
for  the  ministry.  After  the  time  of  Constantine,  these  schools  were 
enlarged  ;  and  some  of  them  acquired  a  degree  of  notoriety.  This 
was  particularly  the  case  with  the  cathedral  schools,  and  with  some 


STATE    OF    LEARNING   AND    RELIGION,  787 

of  those  that  were  taught  by  the  monks.  The  course  of  study  in 
these  schools  was,  for  several  centuries,  very  uniform.  All  who 
aspired  to  a  thorough  education  must  make  themselves  acquainted 
with  the  seven  liberal  arts ;  viz.,  grammar,  rhetoric,  logic,  arith- 
metic, music,  geometry,  and  astronomy.  Some  satisfied  them- 
selves with  the  first  three  of  these,  which  were  called  the  Trivtum  ; 
while  others  went  on  through  the  remaining  four,  which  were 
called  the  Quadrivinm.  This  course  of  study  continued  unchanged 
until  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  when  logic  or 
dialectics  had  assumed  so  much  im]iortance,  that  it  threatened  to 
swallow  up  all  the  rest ;  for  the  impression  prevailed,  tliat  he  who 
was  master  of  dialectics  had  learning  enough,  and  would  lose 
nothing  b}"  l)eing  ignorant  of  the  other  branches.  In  the  twelfth 
century,  the  old  course  of  study  was  broken  up.  The  seven  liberal 
arts  were  included  together  under  the  term  philosophy ;  and  to 
this  was  added  theology^  jurisprudence,  and  medicine.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century,  universities  were  established,  —  first  at  Paris,  and 
afterwards  at  other  places,  —  in  which  these  four  great  depart- 
ments of  study  were  committed  to  four  distinct  facidties,  or  col- 
leges. In  the  5'ear  1260,  the  faculty  of  theology  at  Paris  was 
endowed  by  Robert  de  Sorbonne,  whose  name  it  has  borne  ever 
since.  The  study  of  jurisprudence  received  a  new  impulse  at  this 
period  from  the  discovery  of  the  "  Pandects  "  of  Justinian,  which 
had  long  been  lost. 

To  this  period  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  academical  degrees.- 
Those  who  aspired  to  be  teachers  in  either  of  the  faculties  of  the 
new  universities  must  go  through  a  long  process  of  study,  and  sub- 
mit to  several  examinations.  Those  who  satisfactorily  performed 
all  that  was  required  of  them  were  hailed  as  masters,  and  from 
that  time  were  eligible  as  teachers. 

I  have  said  that  learning,  in  the  general,  declined  from  the  first 
century  to  the  end  of  the  tenth.  There  were  some  intervals,  how- 
ever, of  apparent  reviving.  Such  ft,  one  occurred  during  the  reigns 
of  Charlemagne  and  his  sons.  Charlemagne,  while  he  lived,  cher- 
ished and  honored  all  kinds  of  learning ;  and  the  same  was  true  of 
Charles  the  Meek  and  Charles  the  Bald.  The  good  Alfred,  who 
reigned  in  England  in  the  ninth  century,  was  also  the  friend  and 
promoter  of  learning.  But  all  this  was  insufficient  to  stay  the 
downward  progress  of  things,  which  continued  until  about  the 
period  which  has  been  mentioned.  There  was  a  reviving,  as  I  have 
said,  in  the  eleventh  century ;  and  this  was  in  no  small  degree 


788  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

owing  to  the  influence  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  is  described 
as  the  great  j\Iacsenas  of  his  age. 

One  of  the  most  singular  events  in  the  whole  history  of  learning 
is  its  reviving  among  the  Saracens  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries. 
When  the  lamp  of  learning  was  burning  dimly  everywhere,  and 
threatening  to  go  out  in  total  night,  suddenly  it  blazed  up  at  the 
courts  of  the  caliphs  ;  and  for  several  centuries  the  Mohammedans 
were  the  best  teachers  in  the  world,  more  especially  in  the  exact 
sciences.  It  now  appears  that  the  Saracens  were  indebted  to  the 
Nestorians  for  their  translations  from  Aristotle  and  the  other  Greek 
philosophers,  and  that  their  first  advance  upon  the  field  of  science 
sprang  from  a  Christian  influence. 

There  were  two  great  centres  of  Arabic  learning  ;  the  one  at  the 
courts  of  the  caliphs  in  the  East,  the  other  among  the  Saracens 
in  Spain.  The  first  and  oldest  of  their  schools  was  in  the  East. 
The  more  celebrated  Eastern  teachers  were  Al-Kendi  in  the  ninth 
century,  and  Al-Farabi  and  the  more  celebrated  Avicenna  in  the 
eleventh.  Avicenna  was  a  physician  as  well  as  philosopher ;  and 
his  canon  of  medicine  was  for  centuries  a  text-book  in  Europe. 

As  these  Eastern  sages  were  accustomed  to  speculate  freely,  they 
came  in  conflict  often  with  the  Koran,  which  so  enraged  the  strict 
Mussulmans,  that  their  schools  were  suppressed.  Many  of  the  phi- 
losophers at  this  time  migrated  into  Spain,  and  set  up  their  institu- 
tions there.  What  Avicenna  had  been  in  the  East,  the  learned 
Averhoes  was  in  the  West.  He  was  born  at  Corduba,  in  Spain, 
about  the  year  1120.  He  died  in  1198.  He  is  said  to  have  written 
twenty-nine  treatises  on  philosophy,  five  on  theology,  nine  on 
jurisprudence,  three  on  astronomy,  seventeen  on  medicine,  and 
two  on  grammar.  Many  of  his  books  were  destroyed  by  the 
usurper  Al-Manzor  because  he  thought  them  contrary  to  the  Koran ; 
and  more  were  destroyed  by  the  Roman  Catholics  when  the  Sara- 
cens were  expelled  from  Spain :  so  that  but  few  of  them  now 
remain.  The  philosophy  of  Averhoes  was  pantheistical,  as  was 
that  of  Avicenna  before  him. 

The  state  of  religion  in  the  long  period  over  which  we  have 
passed  has  been  pretty  fully  exhibited  already.  In  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches,  we  discover  little  besides  debauchery,  avarice,  am- 
bition, dead  forms,  and  the  most  disgusting  superstitions.  With 
the  exception  of  Anselm,  Gottschalk,  Beranger,  Claudius  of 
Turin,  Bernard,  and  a  few  others,  we  find  no  prominent  men  who 
seemed  to  possess  the  spirit  of  religion,  or  to  understand  the  way 


STATE   OF   LEARNING   AND   RELIGION.  789 

of  life.  Hence,  in  searching  for  the  image  of  Clirist,  we  are  con- 
strained to  look  awaj  from  the  established  churches  to  the  poor, 
despised,  and  persecuted  heretics ;  and  here  a  brighter  prospect 
opens  before  ns  than  any  we  have  hitherto  witnessed.  The  whole 
country  swarms  with  those  in  humble  life  who  are  maligned, 
reproached,  and  persecuted  as  heretics,  but  who  seem  to  live  above 
the  world,  and  to  have  their  conversation  in  heaven.  First  of  all, 
there  were  the  Paulicians,  stigmatized  as  Manichees,  butchered  by 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  and  driven  from  their  homes  in 
the  East  to  the  utmost  boundaries  of  the  West,  but  carrying  with 
them  the  word  of  life,  keeping  the  fire  of  love  burning  in  their  own 
souls,  and  endeavoring  to  kindle  it  in  the  souls  of  others.  Then 
there  were  the  Cathari,  —  the  Puritans  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries,  —  a  people  of  the  same  spirit,  and  exposed  to  the  same 
hard  fate.  A  congregation  of  them  was  discovered  at  Orleans,  in 
France,  in  the  year  1017  ;  and  after  having  been  betrayed  by  spies, 
who  came  among  them  as  friends,  thirteen  of  them  were  brought 
to  the  stake  together.  When  led  out  to  the  fire  which  had  been 
kindled  to  consume  them,  they  exultingly  leaped  upon  it,  and  were 
burned  to  ashes. 

We  next  find  the  Albigenses,  a  branch  of  the  same  people, 
dwelling  for  a  time  securely  in  the  south  of  France.  But  the 
keen  eye  of  the  inquisitor  at  length  finds  them  out,  and  his  engine 
of-  torture  and  death  is  put  in  active  operation  to  consume  them  ; 
and,  because  this  was  too  slow  in  its  horrid  work  of  butchery,  the 
dogs  of  war  were  let  loose  upon  them,  and  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands fell  together  by  the  sword. 

In  close  proximity  to  these  there  are  the  Waldenses,  —  confess- 
edly the  best  people  of  their  age,  and  on  this  very  account 
esteemed  by  their  enemies  the  most  dangerous.  The  following  is 
the  testimony  of  one  of  their  persecutors :  "  They  live  a  life  of 
greater  purity  than  other  Christians.  They  do  not  take  an  oath 
unless  required  to  do  so,  and  seldom  take  the.  name  of  God  in  vain. 
They  fulfil  their  promises  in  good  faith,  and  msist  that  they  alone 
have  preserved  the  apostolical  life  and  doctrine.  On  this  account, 
they  affirm  that  the  authority  of  the  Church  is  with  them  as  inno- 
cent and  true  disciples  of  Christ ;  for  the  sake  of  whose  faith  and 
religion  they  consider  it  honorable  and  glorious  to  live  in  poverty, 
and  to  suffer  persecution  from  us."  *   Another  historian  speaks  thus 

*  See  Protestantism  in  Italy,  p.  402. 


790  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

0 

of  the  AValdenses :  "  I  do  not  believe  it  possible  to  find  another 
community,  of  the  same  extent,  which  is  equally  virtuous.  Drunk- 
enness, profane  swearing,  and  licentiousness  are  almost  wholly 
unknown  among  them.  What  difficulties  they  have  they  settle 
among  themselves ;  and,  in  general,  there  is  a  most  delightful  spirit 
of  harmony  and  kindness  among  them.  If  any  one  is  sick,  his 
neighbors  hasten  to  proffer  their  services.  They  bring  him  bread 
and  wine,  and  supply  his  lamp  with  oil  for  the  night.-  If  misfortune  , 
overtakes  a  fellow-citizen,  they  make  up  a  contribution  to  furnish 
the  needed  succor.  If  any  farmer  is  behind  in  his  work,  his  neigh- 
bors come  together  to  assist  him.  Children  of  misfortune  them- 
selves, they  have  learned  effectually  to  sympathize  with  the  miser- 
able." Such,  then,  were  the  people,  who,  for  three  hundred  years 
together,  suffered  from  the  Inquisition,  from  crusade  and  wars,  in 
which  thousands  upon  thousands  of  them  were  put  to  death. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  half  of  our  present  period  was 
signalized  by  the  labors  of  the  Culdees.  Issuing  forth  from  their 
schools  at  lona  and  in  other  places,  these  indefatigable  mission- 
aries spread  themselves  over,  not  only  Scotland,  but  the  greater 
part  of  England,  Ireland,  the  Netherlands,  and  Germany ;  holding 
up  the  light  of  life  to  be  a  witness  for  God  and  truth  in  the  midst 
of  the  surrounding  darkness. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  witnesses  for  God  and  truth.  There 
was  Arnold  of  Brescia,  in  the  twelfth  century,  who,  for  endeavor- 
ing to  reform  the  Romish  clergy,  and  bring  them  back  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  Christ,  was  seized,  hanged,  and  his  body  burned  to  ashes. 
There  were  the  BeguiuEe,  or  associations  of  praying  females,  which 
sprang  up  in  German}'^  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  spread  them- 
selves over  a  considerable  part  of  Western  Europe  ;  devoting  them- 
selves to  religious  exercises  and  to  manual  labor,  and  endeavoring 
to  preserve  themselves  from  the  corruptions  around  them.  We 
begin  also,  in  this  century,  to  hear  of  Lollards,  —  another  class  of 
poor  but  pious  men,  who  were  protestants  against  prevailing 
wickedness  in  every  thing' but  the  name. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  there  was  more  true  religion  in 
the  period  over  which  we  have  passed  than  has  been  commonly 
supposed.  God's  witnesses  were  testifying  in  sackcloth  and  ashes ; 
but  they  bore  a  noble  testimony,  and  scaled  it  nobly  with  their 
blood. 


PEEIOD    TIL 

FROM  THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE   FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 
TO  THE  REFORMATION. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

EXTERNAL    HISTORY.  POPERY    AND   THE    POPES.  TEACHERS. 

AT  the  commencement  of  this  period,  the  old  Eastern  Roman 
Empire  —  contracted  and  crippled  by  the  incursions  of  the 
Saracens,  and  more  by  those  of  the  Turks  —  was  dragging  out  a 
miserable  existence,  and  tottering  to  its  fall.  In  what  remains  of 
it,  we  shall  find  little  of  interest  to  the  ecclesiastical  historian.  But 
the  nations  of  Europe,  having  emerged  from  the  chaos  of  the 
middle  ages,  were  assuming,  in  general,  a  stable  position,  and  were 
governed  each  by  its  own  sovereign  and  laws.  To  be  sure,*  the 
Saracens  still  held  the  greater  part  of  Spain ;  Italy  was  in  a  state 
of  commotion  and  revolution,  as  it  has  been  for  the  last  thousand 
years ;  while  the  Turks  were  pressing  upon  South-eastern  Europe, 
and  threatening  a  subjugation,  which  they  afterwards  accomplished. 
Still  the  condition  of  Europe,  in  the  general,  was  as  before  stated. 
Bating  a  few  forced  conversions  among  Jews  and  others,  there 
were  no  attempts  worthy  of  notice  to  spread  the  gospel.  Several 
events  occurred,  however,  which  have  since  had  a  most  important 
influence  in  promoting  the  religion  of  Christ.  Such  were  the  dis- 
covery of  America  by  Columbus  in  the  year  1492,  and  of  the 
mariner's  compass  at  an  earlier  period.  The  art  of  printing  was 
discovered  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  These  all 
tended  to  give  a  spring  to  the  human  mind,  and  led  on  to  the  most 
important  results  in  not  only  the  civil,  but  the  religious  history  of 
mankind. 

791 


792  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

That  form  of  Christianity  which  had  been  so  industriously  proj)- 
agated  by  the  Nestorians  throughout  Siberia  and  Tartary  in  the 
middle  ages  received  a  severe  repulse  by  the  conquests  of  Genghis 
Khan  in  the  twelfth  century.  Still  it  survived  and  flourished  un- 
til the  appearance  of  Tamerlane  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Tam- 
erlane was  the  son  of  a  shepherd,  and  raised  himself  by  his  own 
courage  and  prudence.  He  was  one  of  the  most  successful  war- 
riors that  ever  hved.  He  boasted,  that,  in  consequence  of  his  vic- 
tories, he  had  the  three  parts  of  the  world  under  his  control.  Being 
persuaded  that  it  was  the  duty  of  every  Mussulman  to  make  war 
upon  the  Christians,  and  that  those  who  should  compel  many 
Christians  to  embrace  the  religion  of  the  Koran  might  expect  spe- 
cial honors  and  rewards  from  God,  he  inflicted  numberless  evils 
upon  the  Christians  of  this  age  ;  butchernig  some,  and  dooming 
others  to  perpetual  slavery.  By  him,  Christianity  was  subverted 
through  all  Central  Asia ;  and  Mohammedanism  or  Paganism  took 
its  place. 

Another  disastrous  event  which  occurred  about  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century  was  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Turks.  These  warhke  barbarians  had  been  encroaching  upon  the 
Eastern  Empire,  and  advancing  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  capital, 
for  a  long  period ;  but  in  the  3'ear  1453  the  city  was  taken,  and  the 
last  branch  of  the  great  Roman  Empire  came  to  an  end.  One  part 
of  the  city  the  Turks  took  by  storm  ;  but  the  other  part  surrendered 
upon  terms  of  capitulation.  In  the  former,  all  public  profession  of 
Christianity  was  at  once  suppressed ;  but,  in  the  latter,  the  Chris- 
tians retained  their  temples,  and  freely  worshipped  in  them  as 
before.  But  this  liberty  was  curtailed  in  the  next  century,  and 
Christian  worship  was  confined  within  very  narrow  limits.  The 
Christians  have  lived  among  the  Turks  from  that  day  to  this,  but 
always  as  a  subjugated  and  despised  people. 

Still  another  important  event  occurred  in  this  period.  The  king- 
dom of  the  Saracens  in  Spain,  which  had  stood  for  seven  hundred 
years,  was  entirely  subverted',  in  1492,  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
the  sovereigns  of  Castfle  and  Aragon.  The  ]\Ioors  resided  in  Spain 
for  more  than  a  century  after  this  time  ;  but  they  were  there  as  a 
subjugated  people.  They  were  finally  expelle'd  —  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  Romish  priests,  but  to  the  vast  detriment  of  Spain  — 
in  the  year  1610. 

During  the  two  centuries  before  us,  the  Roman  pontiffs  were  as 
grasping  and  as  ambitious  as  ever  ;  and  yet  several  events  occurred 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY.  —  TOPERY. —  TEACHERS.  793 

which  went  to  curtail  their  authority  and  their  power.  The  first 
was  the  quarrel  of  Boniface  VIII.,  who  governed  the  Latin  Church 
at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  was  one  of  the 
most  resolute  of  the  pontiifs,  with  Philip  the  Fair,  king  of  France. 
Boniface  had  asserted  that  the  king  of  France,  like  all  other  kings, 
owed  perfect  obedience  to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  this  not  merely 
in  religious  matters,  but  in  secular  and  civil  affairs.  The  king 
replied  with  great  severity.  The  pontiff  repeated  former  asser- 
tions, and  published  the  celebrated  bull,  called,  from  the  two  first 
words  of  it,  Unam  Sanctam^  in  which  he  affirmed  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  delegated  to  his  Church  a  twofold  power,  —  the  spiritual  and  the 
temporal ;  that  the  whole  human  race  was  subjected  to  the  pontiff; 
and  that  all  who  dissented  from  this  doctrine  were  heretics,  and 
could  not  be  saved.  The  king,  on  the  contrarj^,  in  an  assembly  of  his 
nobles,  publicly  accused  the  pontiff  of  heresy,  simony,  dishonesty, 
and  other  crimes ;  and  urged  the  calling  of  a  general  council  to 
depose  him  from  his  office.  The  pontiff,  in  return,  excommuni- 
cated the  king  and  all  his  adherents  the  same  year  (A.D.  1303). 
Philip  appealed  from  this  decision  to  a  general  council,  and  then 
despatched  an  agent  into  Italy  with  a  small  army,  which  took  the 
pontiff  prisoner,  and  inflicted  upon  him  other  indignities,  under 
the  influence  of  which  he  died.  He  is  said  to  have  died  from  mere 
mental  excitement,  —  the  violence  of  his  rage  and  anguish. 

Boniface  was  followed  by  Benedict  XI.,  who  died  the  following 
year ;  when  Philip  succeeded  in  having  the  bishop  of  Bordeaux,  a 
Frenchman,  created  pontiff,  and  in  persuading  him  to  remove  the 
seat  of  the  popedom  from  Italy  into  France.  It  was  removed, 
accordingly,  to  Avignon,  where  the  pontiffs  resided  for  the  next 
seventy  years,  —  a  period  which  the  Italians  call  their  Babylonian 
captivity. 

This  removal  of  the  popedom  from  Italy  into  France  was,  in 
many  ways,  an  injury  to  the  pontiffs.  Their  enemies  in  Italy,  the 
Ghibellines  and  others,  assumed  greater  boldness  than  before  ; 
assailing  their  authority,  laying  waste  their  territories,  and  thus 
cutting  off  their  pecuniary  resources.  Their  example  was  followed 
in  other  parts  of  Europe ;  the  people  in  general  attributing  far 
less  authority  to  the  decrees  which  were  issued  forth  from  France 
than  to  those  which  had  previously  come  from  Rome. 

The  first  pontiff  who  reigned  at  Avignon  took  the  name  of 
Clement  V.  He  was  governed  all  his  life  by  the  will  and  pleasure 
of  Philip  the  Fair.     He  was  succeeded  by  John  XXIL,  Avho  was 


794  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

remfirkablo  chiefly  for  his  bootless  quarrel  with  Lewis  of  Bavaria, 
emperor  of  Germany,  and  for  his  skill  in  getting  and  keeping 
money.  He  -was  charged  with  heresy  near  the  close  of  his  life : 
but  his  greatest  heresy  seems  to  have  been  a  practical  one ,  for 
there  were  found  in  his  coffers,  after  his  death,  not  less  than 
twenty-five  millions  of  florins  in  specie  and  plate,  which,  by  the 
sale  of  benefices  and  indulgences,  he  had  squeezed  out  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  inferior  clergy  during  his  pontificate. 

John  died  in  the  year  1334 ;  and,  after  him,  four  more  of  the 
pontiffs  remained  at  Avignon:  but,  in  1376,  Gregory  XL,  although 
a  Frenchman,  was  induced  to  remove  his  residence  to  Rome.  This 
was  deemed  a  necessity,  in  order  that  he  might  restore  tranquillity 
to  Italy,  and  recover  the  cities  and  territories  which  had  been 
wrested  from  the  domain  of  the  Church. 

Upon  the  death  of  Gregory  XL,  the  cardinals  hastily  elected  an 
Italian,  Urban  VL,  to  the  pontifical  chair.  But  they  soon  repented 
of  their  choice  ;  and,  retiring  to  Naples,  they  elevated  Clement  VII. 
to  the  same  office.  There  were  now  two  pontiffs  reigning  together, 
—  Urban  at  Rome,  and  Clement  at  Avignon  ;  and  thus  commenced 
what  has  been  called  "  the  great  schism  of  the  West,"  which  con- 
tinued for  the  next  forty  years. 

Here  was  another  event  which  tended  to  detract  from  the  power 
and  Aveaken  the  authority  of  the  pontiffs  ;  for  while  the  rival 
bishops  were  assailing  each  other  with  excommunications,  anathe- 
mas, and  other  hostile  measures,  it  was  impossible  that  either  of 
them  should  retain  that  reverence  and  fear  with  which  the  head 
of  the  Church  on  earth  had  been  before  regarded.  The  princes  of 
Europe,  who  had  been  so  often  told  that  they  were  servants  of  the 
l^ontiff,  now  became  their  judges  and  masters  ;  and  great  numbers 
of  people  thought  it  safer  to  commit  their  salvation  to  God  than 
longer  to  trust  to  warring  and  contentious  prelates. 

In  an  attempt  to  heal  this  lamentable  schism,  in  the  year  1409, 
a  third  pontiff  was  created,  who  took  the  name  of  Alexander  V. 
He  died  the  next  year ;  but  his  place  was  immediately  filled  by 
John  XXIII.  Instead  of  two  pontiffs,  there  were  now  three, 
stationed  at  different  places,  and  opposing  each  other  by  every 
method  in  their  power. 

To  prevent  the  intolerable  evil  growing  out  of  this  state  of 
things,  the  Emperor  Sigismund  prevailed  upon  one  of  the  pontiffs, 
John  XXIIIL,  to  call  a  general  council,  to  convene  at  Constance 
in  the  year  1414,      This  was  the  largest  council  ever  assembled  in 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY.  — POPERY. —TEACHERS.  795 

Christendom.  There  were  present  at  it,  besides  the  German 
emperor  and  one  pope,  twenty  princes,  a  hundred  and  forty  counts, 
more  than  twenty  cardinals,  seven  patriarchs,  twenty  archbishops, 
ninety-one  bishops,  six  hundred  other  clerical  dignitaries,  and 
about  four  thousand  priests.  The  principal  object  of  the  council 
was  to  put  an  end  to  the  discord  between  the  pontiffs :  and  this 
object  it  successfully  accomplished ;  for  having  substantiated  its 
own  authority,  and  published  a  decree  that  the  pontiff  is  subject 
to  the  control  of  the  whole  Church,  it  proceeded  to  set  aside  the 
three  existing  pontiffs,  and  to  appoint  a  new  one  in  their  place, 
who  took  the  name  of  Martin  V. 

But  this  was  not  all  that  was  done  by  the  council.  At  Prague, 
there  lived  and  taught  an  eloquent  and  learned  man,  John  Huss, 
who  was  both  a  professor  in  the  university,  and  a  preacher  in  the 
church.  Him  the  holy  fathers  summoned  .  to  their  bar  upon  a 
charge  of  heresy,  under  a  solemn  promise  from  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  that  no  evil  should  befall  him,  and  that  he  should  be 
returned  to  his  home  in  peace.  But,  when  they  had  got  him  in 
their  power,  they  persuaded  the  emperor  to  break  his  promise, 
assuring  him  that  he  was  under  no  obligation  to  keep  his  word 
with  a  heretic ;  and  then  committed  their  victim  to  the  flames. 
Huss  was  burned  on  the  sixth  day  of  July,  1415.  Full  of  faith  and 
the  love  of  God,  he  met  his  fate  with  admirable  constancy,  singing 
hymns  of  praise  with  a  loud  voice,  and  imploring  the  mercy  of  his 
Saviour. 

The  year  following,  the  same  punishment  was  inflicted  upon 
Jerome  of  Prague,  the  companion  of  Huss,  who  had  come  to 
Constance  to  aid  and  support  his  friend.  At  first,  the  courage  of 
Jerome  faltered ;  and  he  renounced  those  opinions  which  the 
council  had  condemned.  But,  being  still  retained  in  prison,  his  con- 
fidence returned  :  he  made  an  open  profession  of  his  faith,  and  was 
committed  to  the  flames.  He  met  his  punishment  with  great 
cheerfulness.  Observing  the  executioner  about  to  set  fire  to  the 
wood  behind  his  back,  he  called  out  to  him,  "  Bring  thy  torch 
hither.  Perform  thy  office  before  my  face.  Had  I  feared  death,  I 
might  have  avoided  it."  As  the  wood  began  to  blaze,  he  com- 
menced a  hymn,  and  continued  singing  till  his  voice  was  choked 
with  flame.  It  was  this  council  which  finally  took  the  cup  from 
the  laity  in  the  ordinance  of  the  supper ;  thus  violating  one  of  the 
positive  comnmnds  of  Christ. 

The  burning  of  Huss  and  Jerome  produced  an  intense  excite- 


796  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

ment  in  Boliemia  ;  and  their  followers  flew  to  arms  to  avenge  their 
death.  .  The  war  lasted  some  thirteen  years,  in  which  the  Hussites 
displayed  a  courage  and  bravery  which  have  never  been  surpassed. 
But  at  length  they  became  divided  among  themselves.  A  portion 
of  them,  the  Taborites,  were  a  sound  and  pious  people,  who  loved 
the  gospel,  and  wished  to  live  according  to  its  precepts.  But  the 
larger  portion,  the  Calixtines,  would  be  satisfied  with  the  religion 
of  Rome  if  the  priest  would  but  give  the  cup  to  the  laity  in 
the  sacrament.  This  part  obtained  the  cup,  and  fell  back  into 
the  Romish  Church  ;  while  the  true  Moravians  and  Bohemians,  the 
Taborites,  after  having  endured  incredible  persecutions,  lived 
through  this  dark  period,  and  rejoiced  in  the  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Their  successors  are  the  Moravians,  or  United 
Brethren,  of  the  present  day. 

It  was  expected  that  the  Council  of  Constance  would  proceed 
to  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  as  this  was  a  part  of  the  object 
for  which  it  had  been  called,  and  which  all  good  men  most 
ardently  desired ;  but,  after  continuing  its  sessions  for  more  than 
three  years,  the  council  was  dissolved,  and  nothing  was  attempted. 
There  was,  indeed,  a  promise  that  another  council  should  be  called 
for  this  i^urpose  at  the  end  of  five  years  ;  but  more  than  a  dozen 
years  elapsed  before  tlie  promise  was  fulfilled. 

The  Council  of  Constance  settled  some  things  in  regard  to  the 
Papacy  which  had  not  before  been  so  fully  determined.  In  tlie 
first  place,  it  settled  the  point,  which  some  of  the  previous  popes 
would  never  have  acknowledged,  that  a  general  council  is  of 
higher  authority  than  the  pontiff.  It  put  down  three  pontiffs, 
and  created  another ;  thus  showing  practically,  as  well  as  by  its 
decrees,  the  subjection  of  the  pontiffs  to  the  Church.  It  also 
settled  the  point,  and  that,  too,  by  the  highest  authority  in  the 
Church,  that  no  faith  is  to  be  kept  with  heretics  ;  that  it  is  right  for 
a  prince,  or  any  one  else,  when  dealing  with  heretics,  to  violate  his 
most  solemn  engagements.  It  thus  sanctioned,  by  the  consent  of 
the  whole  Church,  one  of  the  basest  principles  of  Jesuit  morality. 

The  promised  council  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church  con- 
vened at  Basil  in  January,  1431 ;  soon  after  which  Martin  V.  died. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Eugene  IV.,  who  sanctioned  all  that  Martin 
had  desired  respecting  .  the  council.  But,  when  the  council 
commenced  in  earnest  the  needed  AVork  of  reformation,  Eugene 
quarrelled  with  it,  and  attempted  to  dissolve  it ;  but,  failing  in 
this,  he  set  up  another  council,  in  opposition  to  it,  at  Ferrara,  in 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY.  —  POPERY. —TEACHERS.  797 

Italy.  The  fathers  at  Basil,  provoked  at  this  and  other  acts  of 
Eugene,  proceeded  to  deprive  him  of  his  office ;  while  he,,  on  the 
contrary,  anathematized  them,  and  rescinded  all  their  acts.  In 
the  month  of  September,  1439,  the  council  at  Basil  elected  a  new 
pontiff,  wh6  took  the  name  of  Felix  V.  Thus  another  schism 
commenced  in  place  of  that  which  had  been  healed  at  Constance : 
for  now  there  were  not  only  two  pontiffs,  wrangling  and  con- 
demning each  other,  but  two  opposing  councils ;  the  one  at 
Basil,  and  the  one  convened  at  Ferrara,  which  afterwards  had 
been  removed  to  Florence.  The  council  at  Basil  separated  in  the 
year  1443,  with  the  expectation,  that,  ere  long,  it  might  again  come 
together,  and  finish  its  work. 

■  The  council  at  Florence  was  engaged  chiefly  in  vain  attempts 
to  settle  the  old  controversy  between  the  Latins  and  Greeks.  A 
peace  was  at  length  concluded  upon  in  Italy ;  but,  when  the 
delegates  from  Constantinople  returned  home,  the  conditions  of  it 
were  rejected,  leaving  the  parties  as  much  at  variance  as  before. 

The  author  of  the  new  schism,  Eugene  IV.,  died  in  the  year 
1447,  and  was  succeeded  by  Nicolaus  V.,  a  man  of  learning  and 
moderation,  by  whose  influence  the  Church  was  again  brought 
together  under  one  head.  After  him,  there  reigned  six  pontiffs  in 
the  fifteenth  century ;  the  last  of  whom  was  the  infamous  Roderic 
Borgia,  who  took  the  name  of  Alexander  VI.  With  proj)riety  he 
has  been  called  "  the  Nero  of  the  pontiffs."  So  many  and  so  great 
villanies  and  enormities  are  recorded  of  him,  as  prove  him  to 
have  been  destitute,  not  only  of  all  religion,  but  of  all  decency  and 
shame.  He  had  four  sons  by  a  concubine,  among  whom  was  the 
notorious  Ccesar  Borgia ;  and  also  a  daughter  equally  infamous, 
whose  name  was  Lucretia.  The  whole  intent  of  the  father 
seemed  to  be  to  bring  forward,  to  gratify  and  enrich,  liis  children, 
without  any  regard  to  honesty,  or  even  decency.  Alexander  died, 
in  the  year  1503,  of  poison  Avhich  he  and  his  son  Caesar  had  pre- 
pared for  others. 

To  him  succeeded  Pius  III.,  whose  short  reign  of  less  than  a 
month  was  succeeded  by  that  of  Julius  II.  He  has  been  called, 
not  improperly,  "  the  mad  warrior  ; "  since  the  chief  aim  and 
purpose  of  his  reign  seem  to  have  been  to  involve  all  Europe  in 
war.  His  successor  was  Leo  X.,  of  the  Medicean  family, — a  friend 
of  learning  and  of  learned  men,  but  of  an  easy,  debauched,  and 
dissolute  character,  whom  some  have  charged  with  infidelity.  He 
is  reported  to  have  said  that  he  considered  Christianity  a  fable. 


798  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

though  to  him  a  gainful  one.  He  was  the  reigning  pontiff  when 
Luther  commenced  the  work  of  reformation  in  Germany. 

Among  the  distinguished  writers  in  the  period  before  us,  we  find 
none  in  the  Greek  Church  whose  names  require  to  be  mentioned. 
Of  Latin  teachers  and  writers  there  is  a  great  multitude,  from 
which  we  select  a  few  of  the  more  distinguished. 

John  Duns  Scotus  was  a  Franciscan  monk,  and  chiefest  among 
the  dialecticians  or  schoolmen  of  his  age.  He  was  educated  at 
Merton  College,  Oxford,  where  he  became  a  fellow,  and  professor 
of  theology.  He  was  the  great  antagonist  of  Thomas  Aquinas, 
but  an  admirer  of  Peter  Lombard.  His  lectures  at  Oxford,  on 
Lombard's  "  Sentences,"  are  said  to  have  been  attended  by  thirty 
thousand  students.  He  also  wrote  commentaries  on  Aristotle,  and 
numerous  small  treatises  and  tracts.  He  died  in  the  year  1308, 
at  the  age  of  forty-three.  His  works  are  published  in  twelve  folio 
volumes. 

Thomas  Bradwardine,  sometimes  called  the  Profound  Doctor, 
was  educated  (like  Scotus)  at  Merton  College,  Oxford.  He  was 
the  confessor  of  Edward  IIL,  and  attended  him  into  France.  In 
the  year  13-19  lie  was  made  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but  died 
soon  after  his  consecration.  He  was  greatly  lamented  on  account 
of  his  fervent  piety,  his  extensive  erudition,  and  his  humble  but 
earnest  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  the  people  committed  to  his  charge. 
He  wrote  against  the  Pelagians,  and  has  been  styled  a  second 
Augustine.  He  made  no  formal  opposition  to  Popery,  as  such, 
but  favored  the  Lollards ;  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  forerunner 
of  Wicldiffe,  as  Wickliffe  was  of  the  Reformation.  He  was  a 
Avitness  for  evangelical  truth  and  godliness  in  a  dark  and  barren 
age. 

William  Occam  ■  was  an  Englishman,  born  in  Surrey,  and  a 
disciple  of  Duns  Scotus  :  he  belonged  to  the  stricter  order  of  the 
Franciscans.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  he  was 
a  professor  of  theology  in  the  University  of  Paris.  He  espoused 
the  cause  of  Philip  the  Fair  in  his  controversy  with  Boniface 
VIII. ,  and  afterwards  the  cause  of  Lewis  of  Bavaria  in  his  con- 
troversy with  John  XXII.  He  maintained,  that,  in  temporal 
things,  monarchs  are  subject  to  none  but  God.  He  Avas  ex- 
communicated b}'  John  XXII.  in  the  year  1380,  and  fled  to  the 
Emperor  Lewis  of  Bavaria  for  protection.  The  emperor  received 
him  kindly ;  made  him  his  privy  counsellor ;  and  Occam  remained 
with  him  to  the  end  of  life.     His  works  are  very  numerous.    He 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY.  —  TOPERY.  —  TEACHERS.  799 

wrote  commentaries  on  the  "  Sentences "  of  Lombard ;  several 
works  on  logic,  metaphysics,  and  philosophy ;  and  a  great  number 
of  political  and  theological  tracts.  He  had  the  title  of  the  Singu- 
lar Doctor. 

John  Tanler  ^yas  a  German  Dominican  monk,  a  devout  man,  and 
a  popular  preacher.  He  died  at  Strasburg  in  the  year  loGO.  His 
writings  are  frequently  quoted  and  highly  commended  by  Luther. 
Tlie  titles  of  some  of  his  works,  such  as  "  Spiritual  Contemplations 
on  the  Life  and  Sufferings  of  Christ,"  "  The  Noble  Little  Book, 
or  the  Way  to  become  Earnest,  Spiritual,  and  Devout,"  show  the 
character  of  the  man.  He  was  an  earnest  follower  of  Christ  ac- 
cording to  the  light  he  had  and  the  spirit  of  his  age,  and  may  be 
profitably  studied  even  in  our  own  times. 

Nicolaus  Lyra  was  born  in  Normandy,  and,  some  say,  of  Jewish 
parentage.  He  was  a  Franciscan  monk,  and  a  teacher  of  theology 
at  Paris  in  1320.  He  was  the  best  Hebrew  scholar,  and  the  best 
interpreter  of  Scripture,  that  we  find  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
He  was  one  of  those  learned  biblical  teachers  who  contributed,  in 
no  small  degree,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Reformation.  So  the 
monks  thought ;  and  hence  their  pun  upon  his  name  :  "  Si  Lyra  non 
lyrasset,  Lntherus  non  saltasset "  ("  If  Lyra  had  not  played,  Luther 
had  not  danced  "). 

Raymond  Lully  of  INLijorca  is  represented  as  a  compound  of  folly 
and  reason,  who,  after  many  journeys  and  various  efforts  for  the 
advancement  of  religion,  was  put  to  death,  in  the  year  1315,  by 
the  Mohammedans  in  Africa,,  whom  he  was  trying  to  convert  to  the 
Christian  faith.  The  Franciscans,  to  whom  he  belonged,  extol  him 
as  a  martyr  and  a  saint ;  while  the  Dominicans  denounce  him  as  a 
magician,  a  heretic,  a  delirious  alchemist.  The  LiiUian  art,  so 
called,  which  he  invented,  is  the  art  of  acquiring  knowledge  me- 
chanicaUi/,  —  with  a  crank.  "  It  consists  in  collecting  a  large  num- 
ber of  general  terms  common  to  all  the  sciences,  of  which  an 
alphabetical  table  should  be  made.  Subjects  and  predicates  taken 
from  these  are  to  be  inscribed  in  angular  spaces  upon  circular 
papers.  The  essences,  qualities,  affections,  and  relations  of  things, 
being  thus  mechanicall}^  brought  together,  the  circular  papers  of 
subjects  SiVQ  fixed  in  a  frame  ;  and  tliose  of  j^i'^dicates  are  so  placed 
upon  them  as  to  move  round  freely,  and  in  their  revolutions  to 
produce  various  combinations  of  subjects  and  predicates :  Avhence 
will  arise  definitions,  axioms,  and  propositions,  varying  endlessly." 
Of  the  help  of  such  a  machine  the  literary  world  has  not  been 
forward  to  avail  itself. 


800  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

John  Gerson  had  more  influence,  perhaps,  than  any  other  church- 
man of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  was  chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  almost  an  oracle  at  the  Council  of  Constance.  He  was 
a  strenuous  advocate  for  the  authority  of  the  Church,  as  being  su- 
perior to  that  of  the  pontiffs.     He  died  at  Lyons  in  the  year  1-120. 

John  Wessel  was  born  at  Groningen,  A.D.  1100 ;  pursued  his 
studies  at  Cologne ;  and  became  a  very  pious  and  learned  man. 
He  studied  the  Scriptures  much  in  the  original  languages,  and 
built  his  faith  upon  them,  in  utter  disregard  of  all  human  authori- 
ties. His  works  were  published  at  Wittenberg  in  1522,  with  a 
preface  by  Martin  Luther.  Luther  describes  him  as  "  a  man  of 
admirable  talents,  of  great  and  rare  genius,  who  was  manifestly 
taught  of  God."  "  Had  I  previously  read  Wessel,"  he  goes  on  to 
say,  "  my  enemies  would  have  thought  that  I  borrowed  my  views 
from  him,  so  perfectly  accordant  are  the  two  in  spirit.  And  it 
increases  my  confidence  in  the  correctness  of  my  doctrines,  that  I 
find  such  a  uniform  agreement  with  him ;  though  he  wrote  at  a 
different  period,  in  another  clime  and  country,  and  with  other  re- 
sults." Wessel  escaped  persecution,  and  died  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-nine.  He  Avas  one  of  the  "  reformers  before  the  Refor- 
mation." 

Another  of  the  same  class  was  Jerome  Savonarola.  He  was  born 
at  Ferrara  in  1152 ;  was  religiously  educated,  and  early  distin- 
guished for  genius  and  learning.  Though  a  Dominican,  he  gave 
himself  almost  entirely  to  the  work  of  preaching,  in  which  he 
greatly  excelled.  In  1489  he  went  to  Florence,  Avhere  he  made  a 
great  impression,  and  produced  quite  a  reformation  of  morals.  He 
attacked  vice,  infidelity,  and  false  religion,  with  the  utmost  free- 
dom, sparing  no  age  or  sex,  and  no  condition  of  men,  —  monks, 
priests,  popes,  princes,  or  common  citizens.  His  influence,  for  the 
time,  was  almost  boundless.  He  erred  in  speaking  of  himself  as 
inspired ;  and  this,  with  other  things,  brought  him  into  trouble. 
His  enemies  seized  him,  put  him  to  the  rack,  extorted  from  him 
some  concessions,  and  then  strangled  him.  They  burned  his  body, 
and  threw  the  ashes  into  the  river.  He  was  the  most  zealous  and 
successful  preacher  of  the  age. 

The  real  name  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  the  reputed  author  of  the 
treatise  on  "  The  Imitation  of  Christ,"  was  Thomas  Hammerlein. 
He  was  born  at  Kempis,  in  Italy,  in  the  year  1380;  and  died  in  the 
year  1471.  He  was  an  Augustinian  monk,  and  a  very  religious 
man.     His  writings  are  all  on  the  subject  of  practical  and  experi- 


EXTERNAL   HISTORY.  — POPERY. —  TEACHERS.  801 

mental  religion.  They  have  been  often  printed  ;  and  some  of  them 
have  been  translated  into  nearly  all  the  languages  of  Europe. 

Of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  I  have  already  spoken. 

John  Reuchlin  (in  Latin,  Capnio)  was  born  in  1454,  and  educated 
at  Baden,  Basil,  Paris,  and  Orleans.  He  was  an  elegant  Latin  and 
Greek  scholar,  and  a  great  promoter  of  Hebrew  learning.  His  cen- 
sures of  the  ignorance  and  stupidity  of  the  clergy  drew  on  him 
their  hatred  and  persecution.  They  charged  him  with  Judaism, 
and  with  being  poisoned  by  the  Greek  and  Latin  poets.  He  op- 
posed them  with  ridicule  and  sarcasm,  particularly  in  his  "  Letters 
of  Obscure  Men."  The  quarrel  became  serious,  and  continued  till 
the  Reformation. 

The  most  distinguished  churchman  of  the  fifteenth  century  was 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  a  Spaniard,  nobly  born  at  Alcala  in  the  year 
1437.  He  was  a  Franciscan  monk,  confessor  to  Queen  Isabella, 
and  sustained  nearly  every  high  office,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  which 
it  was  in  the  power  of  his  king  or  the  pope  to  bestow.  For  the 
last  two  years  of  his  life,  he  ruled  all  Spain.  He  died  in  1517,  at 
the  age  of  eighty.  His  great  literary  work  was  the  Complutensian 
Polyglot  Bible,  in  six  volumes  folio,  on  which  he  expended  fifty 
thousand  crowns. 

I  conclude  this  notice  of  remarkable  men  with  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  celebrated  John  Wickliffe.  He  was  born  in  the  little  village 
of  Wickliffe,  Yorkshire,  England,  in  the  year  1324  ;  and  completed 
his  public  education  at  Merton  College,  Oxford.  He  is  represented 
as  a  hard  student,  a  profound  scholar,  a  sarcastic  writer,  and  a 
subtle  disputant.  About  the  year  1360,  he  engaged  in  his  first 
controversy  with  the  mendicant  monks,  who  infringed  the  laws  of 
the  university,  and  enticed  away  the  students  to  their  monasteries. 
Li  1361,  he  was  made  master  of  Baliol  College ;  and,  four  years 
later,  was  promoted  to  the  wardenship  of  Canterbury  Hall.  In 
1367,  Archbishop  Langham  ejected  him  from  his  wardenship ;  and 
Wickliffe  appealed  to  the  pope.  After  a  delay  of  three  years,  — 
during  which  time  Wickliffe  was  severely  lashing  the  monks  and 
clerg}^,  and  not  sparing  even  the  pontiff  himself,  —  the  case  was 
decided  against  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from  Oxford. 
He  was  now  presented  with  the  rectorship  of  Lutterworth,  in  the 
diocese  of  Lincoln,  which  he  held  till  his  death,  and  in  which  he 
was  an  active  and  faithful  pastor. 

In  the  year  1372,  Wickliffe  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity, 
and  read  lectures  at  Oxford  with  great  applause.     He  here  at- 

51 


802  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

tacked  anew,  not  only  the  monks,  but  also  the  pope  and  clergy, 
and  confuted  the  prevailing  errors  of  the  day. 

In  1374,  King  Edward  appointed  him  one  of  his  ambassadors  to 
Rome  to  remonstrate  against  the  Papal  reservatio7i  of  vacant 
churches  and  other  abuses.  At  Rome  he  saw  more  of  the  charac- 
ter and  workings  of  Popery  than  he  ever  knew  before.  Conse- 
quently, on  his  return,  he  inveighed  more  boldly  than  ever  against 
the  pope ;  calling  him  "  Babylon,  Antichrist,  tli.e  proud  and  worldly 
priest  of  Rome,  and  the  most  cursed  of  clippers  and  purse-cutters." 

In  1376,  the  monks  drew  up  nineteen  articles  of  charge  against 
him,  and  sent  them  to  the  pope.  Whereupon  the  pope  issued  five 
bulls  against  him,  requiring  that  he  should  be  delivered  up  to  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  bishop  of  London  for  trial. 
Before  the  trial  could  be  had,  Wicldiffe  committed  a  new  offence 
in  dissuading  the  Idng  and  parliament  from  sending  any  more 
money  out  of  the  kingdom  to  Rome.  He  now  appeared  before 
his  judges,  attended  by  his  friend  the  duke  of  Lancaster,  and 
the  lord-martial  the  earl  of  Percy.  A  vast  concourse  of  people 
Avas  assembled;  Some  altercation  took  place  between  the  bishops 
and  the  two  noblemep ;  the  assembly  became  excited ;  and  Wick- 
liffe  was  led  off  by  his  patrons,  without  any  trial.  He  afterwards 
appeared  at  Lambeth,  and  made  some  explanations,  which  the 
bishop  concluded  to  regard  as  satisfactory.  The  next  year  the 
pope  died,  and  of  course  his  commission  to  the  two  English  prelates 
to  try  the  case  of  Wickliffe  was  at  an  end. 

Wicldiffe  now  embraced  every  opportunity,  in  his  lectures,  ser- 
mons, and  writings,  to  expose  the  court  of  Rome,  and  detect  the 
vices  of  the  monks  and  clergy.  In  the  year  1381,  he  published 
sixteen  theses  against  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  lec- 
tured against  it  before  the  university.  By  so  doing,  he  displeased 
the  duke  of  Lancaster  and  other  noble  patrons.  They  were  will- 
ing to  uphold  him  in  exposing  the  civil  abuses  of  Popery,  but  would 
not  consent  that  he  should  touch  its.  sacred  absurdities. 

Another  process  was  now  commenced  agamst  Wicldiffe ;  and  he 
was  summoned  to  appear  at  London  before  commissioners  who  had 
been  appointed  to  try  him.  He  made  his  appearance,  but  was  not 
supported,  as  before,  by  the  powerful  patronage  of  the  duke  of 
Lancaster.  Still  a  great  multitude  of  the  populace  surrounded  the 
place  of  meeting ;  and,  when  the  trial  was  about  to  commence.  Sir 
Lewis  Clifford  came  in  with  a  message  from  the  queen-mother,  for- 
bidding the  bishops,  in  the  most  authoritative  manner,  to  pass  any 


EXTERNAL    HISTORY.  — POPERY. —  TEACHERS.  803 

definitive  sentence  upon  John  Wickliffe.  The  effect  of  this  was 
instantaneous.  The  bishops  were  overawed ;  and,  in  the  words  of 
a  Cathohc  historian,  "  their  speech  at  once  became  softer  than  oil, 
to  the  loss  of  their  own  dignity  and  the  damage  of  the  whole 
Church." 

Thus  was  the  reformer  once  more  set  free.  Before  he  left  Lon- 
don, however,  he  delivered  to  the  commissioners  a  solemn  protest 
against  the  charge  of  heresy,  and  a  written  statement  of  his  own 
opinions.  Shortly  after  this,  Wicldiffe  was  visited  with  a  slight 
shock  of  palsy,  from  which  he  soon  recovered,  and  continued  to 
preach  at  Lutterworth  as  before.  His  work,  however,  was  now 
almost  done  ;  for  on  the  29th  of  December,  1384,  while  standing  in 
his  pulpit,  he  was  smitten  down  again  with  palsy,  was  carried  home, 
and  soon  after  expired. 

The  writings  of  Wickliffe,  which  were  very  numerous,  may  be 
divided  into  five  classes :  1.  Those  of  a  political  cast,  in  which  he 
discusses  the  duties  and  rights  of  king  and  parliament,  more  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  2.  His  controversial  works  ; 
mostly  directed  against  the  pope,  the  clergy,  and  the  mendicant 
monks.  3.  Wm  biblical  works;  including  hot  only  his  translation 
of  the  Bible,  but  his  commentaries.  4.  His  theological  works  ;  the 
principal  of  which,  the  "  Trialogus,"  is  a  short  system  of  divinity. 
5.  His  practical  ivorks :  these  embrace  a  great  ^variety  of  topics, 
many  of  which  were  circulated  as  tracts  by  his  "  poor  preachers." 
But  the  great  work  which  Wickliffe  performed  for  the  English  na- 
tion was  his  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  into  English.  Parts 
of  the  Scriptures  had  been  translated  before  ;  but  he  was  the  first 
to  give  to  his  countrymen  the  entire  Bible,  translated,  not  from 
the  original  tongues,  but  from  the  Latin  Vulgate. 

In  addition  to  all  his  other  labors,  Wickliffe  set  on  foot  a  system 
of  itineracy,  which  continued  long  after  he  was  dead.  His  "  poor 
preachers,"  as  he  called  them,  went  forth  everywhere,  carrying  his 
tracts,  reading  and  expounding  his  Bible,  and  preaching,  as  they 
had  the  ability  and  opportunity,  from  house  to  house.  In  this  way 
they  accomplished  a  great  and  lasting  good.  The  Lollards  of 
England  were  all  of  them  the  followers  of  Wickliffe.  They  en- 
dured all  sorts  of  persecution  for  the  next  two  hundred  years,  but 
survived  it,  and  lived  to  welcome  the  glorious  Reformation  when 
it  came. 

Nor  was  the  influence  of  Wickliffe  confined  to  England :  it 
passed  over  to  the  Continent,  and  was  a  means  of  enlightenino-  mul- 


804  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

titudes  there.  It  was  charged  upon  Hiiss  that  he  was  a  follower 
of  Wickliffe ;  and  this  was  true.  The  queen  of  Richard  II.  of 
England  was  a  Bohemian  princess ;  and,  upon  her  decease,  her  at- 
tendants carried  Wickliffe's  writings  into  their  own  country.  The 
seeds  of  truth  here  found  a  prepared  soil,  where  they  sprang  up, 
and  brought  forth  an  abundance  of  fruit.  In  short,  considering  all 
the  disadvantages  under  which  Wicldiffe  labored,  —  in  the  midst 
of  persecution,  single-handed  and  alone,  and  with  no  printing-press 
to  scatter  his  publications, — we  are  astonished  that  he  accomplished 
so  much  as  he  did.  Most  eminently  is  he  entitled  to  the  award 
so  often  given  him,  of  being  the  morning-star  of  the  Protestant 
Reformation. 

When  the  Council  of  Constance  commenced  its  sessions,  Wick- 
liffe had  been  dead  some  thirty  years.  The  holy  fathers  could  burn 
Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague ;  but  Wicldiffe  was  beyond  their  power. 
Yet  they  contrived  to  vent  their  spite  upon  all  that  remained  of 
him.  They  burned  his  books,  or  so  many  of  them  as  they  could 
collect.  They  disinterred  his  lifeless  body,  and  burned  it,  and 
threw  the  ashes  into  a  neighboring  brook.  "  And  this  brook," 
says  Thomas  Fuller,  "  did  convey  his  ashes  into  the  Avon,  and  the 
Avon  into  the  Severn,  and  the  Severn  into  the  narrow  sea ;  and 
this  conveyed  them  into  the  main  ocean.  And  thus  the  ashes  of 
Wickliffe  are  an  emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  now  is  dispersed 
all  the  world  over." 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

DOCTRINES,    CONTROVERSIES,    AND    RITES. STATE    OF    LEARNING    AND 

RELIGION. 

rp  HE 'state  of  theology  in  the  period  before  us  was  as  low  as  it 
-J-  could  be.  Every  thing  was  deformed  and  corrupted.  '  The 
public  worship  of  God  consisted  almost  entirely  in  external  rites, 
the  most  of  which  were  puerile  and  silly.  Of  sermons  there  were 
not  many ;  and  those  which  were  occasionally  preached  were  des- 
titute, not  only  of  religion  and  piety,  but  of  taste  and  good 
sense,  being  stuffed  with  marvels  and  nauseous  fictions.  He  was 
accounted  a  well-instructed  and  pious  Christian  who  reverenced 
the  pontiff  and  the  clergy,  who  made  frequent  offerings  to  the 
saints,  who  attended  the  stated  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  who  had 
money  enough  to  pay  for  the  remission  of  his  sins.  If,  beyond  this, 
a  person  would  practise  some  degree  of  severity  towards  his  poor 
body,  he  was  considered  an  eminent  saint.  Very  few  were  able  or 
disposed  to  acquire  just  views  of  religion,  to  bring  their  hearts  to 
accord  with  the  precepts  of  Christ,  and  to  make  the  Holy  Scriptures 
their  guide ;  and  those  who  did  so  hardly  escaped  with  their  lives. 

The  old  divisions  among  theologians  prevailed  in  this  period. 
There  were  the  scholastics,  the  positives,  and  the  mystics  ;  of 
which  the  former  class  were  vastly  the  most  numerous  and  popular. 
Yet  there  were  some,  more  especially  in  the  universities,  who 
opposed  them,  and  who  endeavored  to  draw  the  attention  of 
students  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  ancient  fathers.  The 
leading  scholastics  were  mendicant  friars  ;  and  it  was  a  discredit  to 
them  that  they  were  perpetually  disputing  among  themselves. 
The  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  were  divided  into  Scotists  and 
Thomists :  the  former  following  Duns  Scotus ;  and  the  latter, 
Thomas  Aquinas.  The  Scotists  opposed  the  Augustinian  doctrines 
of  predestination  and  grace ;  while  the  Thomists  advocated  them. 
They  disputed  also  respecting  the  immaculate  conception  of  the 

805 


806  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Virgin  Mary ;  the  Scotists  insisting  upon  it,  while  the  Thomists 
denied  it. 

Whatever  of  piety  there  was  in  the  theologians  of  this  age  was 
found,  probably,  among  the  mystics.  Several  of  them,  such  as 
Tauler,  Thomas  a  Kempis,  and  the  author  of  the  "  Theologia  Ger- 
manica,"  seem  to  have  felt  the  power  of  religion  on  their  hearts, 
and  sought  to  awaken  it  in  the  hearts  of  others. 

The  interpreters  of  this  age  followed  servilely  in  the  steps  of 
those  who  had  gone  before  them  for  hundreds  of  years.  They 
either  contented  themselves  with  quotations  from  the  critical 
works  of  others,  or  they  exercised  their  ingenuity  in  drawing  out 
fanciful,  allegorical  meanings  from  the  sacred  text.  We  have 
almost  the  only  exception  to  this  statement  in  Nicolaus  de  Lyra, 
who  explained  the  whole  Bible,  and  particularly  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, in  a  satisfactory  manner.  This  he  was  the  better  enabled 
to  do  from  his  critical  acquaintance  with  the  Hebrew  language. 

At  different  times  in  the  period  before  us,  the  old  controversy 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  seemed  very  near  to  an 
adjustment.  Repeated  negotiations  were  opened  for  this  purpose ; 
and  at  the  Council  of  Florence,  in  1442,  terms  of  agreement  and 
union  were  actually  accepted  by  the  delegates  from  Constantinople. 
But  when  these  delegates  returned,  and  stated  the  terms  to  their 
constituents,  they  absolutely  refused  to  ratify  them  ;  and  thus  the 
difficulty  remained  as  before.  In  a  few  years  after  this,  Constan- 
tinople was  taken  by  the  Turks  ;  and  this  event,  so  far  from 
humbling  the  Greeks,  and  making  them  more  willing  to  come  to 
an 'accommodation,  made  them  more  untractable  than  ever.  They 
hated  the  Latins,  and  especially  the  pontiffs  ;  since  they  believed 
that  the  evils  which  came  upon  them  from  the  Turks  might  have 
been  prevented  if  the  Latin  kings  and  pontiffs  had  not  refused 
them  succor  in  the  time  of  their  distress.  Thus  the  separation 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  has  continued  to  the  pres- 
ent time ;  and  how  much  longer  it  is  to  continue,  and  what  is  to 
be  the  future  of  these  two  corrupt  churches,  God  only  knows. 

I  have  before  spoken  of  the  perpetual  controversies  between  the 
two  great  rival  orders  of  mendicants,  —  the  Dominicans  and  Fran- 
ciscans, -;-  and  also  of  a  controversy  of  the  Franciscans  within  their 
own  body.  This  latter  controversy  grew  out  of  a  difference  of 
opinion  among  the  Franciscans  as  to  the  purport  of  their  vow. 
Their  vow  bound  them  all  to  perpetual  poverty ;  but  a  part  of 
them  said  that  the  vow  did  not  apply  to  them  as  a  community, 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,   AND   RITES.  807 

but  only  as  -individuals.  As  individuals  they  must  be  poor,  and 
expected. to  be  ;  while  as  a  community  they  might  become  rich  to 
any  amount,  and  hold  property  to  their  hearts'  content.  Thus, 
reasoned  a  portion  of  the  Franciscans ;  but  the  better  portion  of 
them  scouted  all  such  conclusions.  They  said  they  were  no  better 
than  a  sham :  they  had  vowed  to  be  poor,  and  they  must  be  poor, 
both  as  a  community  and  as  individuals ;  and  for  themselves  they 
were  determined  to  be  poor.  These  stricter  Franciscans  were 
called  the  Spirituals ;  and  they  gave  a  vast  deal  of  trouble,  not 
only  to  their  laxer  brethren,  but  also  to  the  pontiffs  and  the  State. 
For  a  long  period,  they  were  cruelly  persecuted.  They  were  driven 
into  exile ;  they  were  confined  in  prisons ;  they  were  seized  by 
the  inquisitors ;  and  multitudes  of  them  were  put  to  death.  The 
Spirituals,  on  the  other  hand,  denounced  the  pope  in  the  strongest 
terms  ;  called  him  Antichrist ;  joined  hands  with  his  enemies  ;  and 
labored  for  his  overthrow.  This  controversy,  which  was  one  of 
the  fiercest  in  which  the  pontiffs  were  ever  called  to  engage,  lasted 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  and  terminated  in  a  permanent  division 
of  the  Franciscans  into  two  distinct  orders. 

We  have  before  heard  of  a  class  of  Antinomian  fanatics,  called 
Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit.  They  continued  to  trouble  the  Church 
through  all  this  period,  and  became  even  more  extravagant  in  their 
opinions  and  practices  than  ever  before.  One  of  their  leaders,  who 
was  burnt  at  Paris,  undertook  to  demonstrate  in  a  book  "that  the 
soul,  when  absorbed  in  the  love  of  God,  is  free  from  all  law,  and 
may  gratify  every  natural  propensity  without  guilt."  Some  of 
them  conceived  a  mighty  prejudice  against  clothes,  and  ordinaril^j 
went  to  their  religious  worship  in  a  state  of  nudity.  "  Those  are 
not  free,"  they  said,  "  who  wear  clothing,  and  especially  breeches." 
They  wished  to  set  forth  in  this  way  that  they  were  as  innocent  as 
our  first  parents  in  paradise,  who  "  were  both  naked,  and  were  not 
ashamed." 

These  poor  people,  who  seem  to  have  been  sincere  in  their  folly, 
were  dreadfully  persecuted.  They  were  driven  from  place  to 
place,  the  inquisitors  in  hot  pursuit  of  them ;  and  thousands  upon 
thousands  were  put  to  death. 

We  have  before  heard  also  of  the  Flagellants  and  their  peculiari- 
ties. They  re-appeared  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  were  as 
strange  in  their  doctrines  as  in  their  practices.  They  now  insisted 
that  flagellation  was  a  sacrament,  and  of  equal  efficacy  with  the 
other  sacraments ;  that  it  secured  the  forgiveness  of  sins  without 


808  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

regard  to  the  merits  of  Christ ;  that  the  old  laws  of  Christ  were 
to  be  abolished,  and  a  new  law  of  flagellation  to  be  substituted  in 
their  place.  These  fanatics  were  anathematized  by  the  pontiff; 
and  great  numbers  of  them  were  burned  by  the  inquisitors. 

Another  sect,  —  the  opposite  of  the  Flagellants,  —  called  the 
Dancers,  originated  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  spread  themselves  through  the  Belgic  provinces.  Persons  of 
both  sexes  would  suddenly  break  forth  into  a  dance,  and,  holding 
each  other  by  the  hand,  would  continue  to  dance  with  great  vio- 
lence until  they  fell  down,  nearly  suffocated.  In  this  state,  they 
pretended  to  be  favored  with  wonderful  visions.  These  persons 
wandered  from  place  to  place,  begging  their  bread,  and  berating 
the  public  worship  and  ordinances  of  the  Church.  They  were 
thought  by  the  priests  to  be  possessed  by  some  evil  spuit ;  and 
efforts  were  made,  by  fumigations  and  other  appliances,  to  cast 
him  out. 

Among  the  delirious  fanatics  of  this  age  may  be  reckoned  also 
the  White  Brethren,  or  the  Brethren  in  White.  Near  the  com- 
mencement of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  certain  priest  descended 
fi'om  the  Alps,  clothed  in  a  white  garment,  and  surrounded  by  a 
multitude  of  people  all  clothed  in  white  linen  like  himself.  They 
marched  through  various  provinces,  following  their  leader,  who 
bore  a  cross,  and  so  captivated  the  people,  that  vast  numbers  were 
induced  to  join  them.  He  exhorted  his  followers  to  appease 
the  wrath  of  God  by  voluntary  inflictions  ;  urged  a  war  against  the 
Turks  for  the  recovery  of  Palestine ;  and  pretended  to  be  guided 
by  divine  visions  and  revelations.  The  leader  of  this  host  was 
apprehended,  and  committed  to  the  flames ;  after  which  the  multi- 
tude gradually  dispersed. 

The  Quietists  were  a  class  of  monks  or  mystics  who  appeared 
among  the  Greeks  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Assuming,  with  all 
mystics,  that  there  is  a  divine  light  hid  in  the  soul,  they  took  the 
following  strange  method  to  draw  it  out.  They  used  to  seat  them- 
selves daily  in  some  retired  corner,  and,  bending  forward,  fix  their 
eyes  intently,  and  for  a  long  time  (if  necessary),  upon  the  middle 
of  their  bellies,  until  a  divine  light  began  to  stream  forth,  which 
diffused  through  their  souls  a  wonderful  delight.  They  called  this 
light  the  glory  of  God,  and  compared  it  to  the  light  which  shone 
upon  Mount  Tabor  at  the  transfiguration  of  Christ.  These  persons 
were  the  occasion  of  a  long  controversy  in  the  Greek  Church,  in  the 
issue  of  which  the  monks  were  justified. 


DOCTRINES,   CONTROVERSIES,   AND   RITES.  809 

These  different  classes  of  fanatics,  who  made  their  appearance 
one  after  another,  all  serve  to  teach  us  an  important  lesson.  The 
human  mind  cannot  long  be  satisfied  with  cold  rites  and  barren 
ceremonies.  It  needs  some  serious,  heart  religion ;  and,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  right  religious  instruction,  this  feeling  of  want  breaks  out 
in  all  sorts  of  vagaries  and  extravagances.  The  proper  remedy  for 
them  is,  not  fire  and  fagot,  but  an  open  Bible,  and  the  earnest, 
spiritual  religion  which  is  there  inculcated. 

But  the  sects  with  which  the  pontiffs  and  the  Inquisition  under- 
took to  deal  in  tins  period  were  not  all  of  them  like  those  which 
have  been  described.  Many  of  them  wej-e  pious,  excellent  people, 
—  the  very  salt  of  the  earth,  —  witnesses  for  God  and  his  truth 
in  an  age  of  darkness  and  ungodliness.  Such  were  the  Cellite 
Brethren  and  Sisters,  who  made  their  appearance  in  the  early  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  As  the  priests  paid  almost  no  attention 
to  the  sick  and  djdng,  and  wholly  forsook  those  who  were  infected 
with  contagious  diseases,  certain  pious  persons  at  Antwerp  formed 
themselves  into  an  association  for  the  performance  of  these  neces- 
sary duties.  They  visited  and  comforted  the  sick,  conversed  and 
prayed  with  them  in  their  last  hours,  attended  to  the  burying  of  , 
such  as  died  of  the  plague,  and  accompanied  their  remains  to  the 
grave  with  funeral  dirges  and  songs.  From  the  last  of  these  offices, 
they  acquired  among  the  people  the  name  of  Lollards  ;  for  Lollard 
means  singer,  or  one  who  sings  with  a  low  voice.  The  example  of 
these  good  people  was  followed  by  many  others ;  and,  in  a  short 
time,  similar  societies  were  formed  in  different  parts  of  Germany 
and  the  Netherlands.  By  the  people  where  they  lived,  these  breth- 
ren and  sisters  were  highly  esteemed  for  their  works'  sake :  but 
by  the  priests,  whose  reputation  tliey  injured,  .and  by  the  mendi- 
cant moiiks,  whose  resources  they  diminished,  they  were  hated  and 
persecuted ;  and  the  term  "  Lollard  "  became  one  of  reproach.  This 
term  was  used,  too,  with  considerable  breadth  of  signification.  The 
Wickliffites  in  England  were  called  Lollards ;  and  the  name  was 
sometimes  applied  to  all  fanatical  persons  who  dissented  from  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

The  proper  Beguinse,  like  the  Lollards,  seem  to  have  been  a 
pious,  devoted  people.  They  originated,  or  at  least  came  into  no- 
tice, in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  continued  down  into  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth.  They  were  societies  of  praying  females,  who 
lived  in  appropriate  houses,  and  supported  themselves  chiefly  by 
the  labor  of  their  hands.     They  reserved  to  themselves  the  right 


810  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

of  marrying,  and  of  withdrawing  from  the  association  at  pleasure. 
These  female  institutions  were  soon  imitated  by  unmarried  persons 
of  the  other  sex,  who  were  called  Beghards,  and  sometimes  Lol- 
lards. These  societies  were  at  first  tolerated  and  protected  by  the 
pontiffs ;  but,  in  process  of  time,  they  were  persecuted  and  dis- 
persed. This  was  owing,  in  part,  to  a  misuse  of  the  terms  "  Be- 
giiin?e  "  and  "  Beghard."  They  were  often  applied,  like  the  term 
"  Lollard,"  not  only  to  those  to  whom  they  properly  belonged,  but 
to  the  stricter  Franciscans,  and  to  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  Free 
Spirit. 

But  the  sect  with  which  the  Romanists  had  the  most  trouble, 
and  whom  they  persecuted  the  most  severely,  was  the  Waldenses. 
We  have  heard  of  these  people  before,  of  their  origin,  and  their 
excellent  character.  They  had  been  watched  and  hated  from  the 
first ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  fifteenth  century  that  any  open  and 
extended  efforts  were  made  to  destro}^  them.  But  at  length  the 
popes  prevailed  on  the  duke  of  Savoy  to  suffer  the  work  of  exter- 
minating heres}'"  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  to  commence ;  and  then 
the  storm  began  to  rise.  At  first,  it  was  a  kind  of  guerilla  warfare. 
The  Waldenses  were  seized  whenever  they  dared  to  issue  from 
their  native  fastnesses  and  descend  into  the  plain  below. .  The  pris- 
ons, at  times,  were  filled  with  them ;  while  the  inquisitors  were 
busy  in  carrying  forward  their  work  of  death. 

But,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Albigenses,  this  was  thought  to  be  too 
slow  a  process ;  and  it  was  aided  and  quickened  by  a  declaration 
of  war.  The  first  notable  onset  was  made  in  the  year  1400,  when 
an  armed  force  of  Roman  Catholics  invaded  the  Valley  of  Pragela, 
and  fell  unexpectedly  on  the  peaceable  inhabitants.  Many  were 
slain  on  the  spot ;  while  others  fled  to  the  Albergean,  a  high  moun- 
tain, which  separates  the  Valley  of  Pragela  from  that  of  St.  Martin. 
In  crossing  the  mountain,  multitudes  of  women  and  children  per- 
ished with  the  cold.  This  was  among  the  first  of  Rome's  efforts 
to  convert  these  poor  people,  by  force,  to  her  faith. 

In  the  year  1487,  a  regular  crusade  was  commenced  against  the 
Waldenses.  The  king  of  France,  the  duke  of  Savoy,  and  several 
other  princes,  formed  a  league  for  this  purpose,  and  sent  forth  an 
army  of  twenty-four  thousand  men,  intending  to  invade  the  country 
from  several  points  at  the  same  time.  The  principal  attack  was 
directed  against  the  Valley  of  Angrogna,  where  many  of  the  inhab- 
itants had  retired.  But,  in  marching  up  the  valley,  the  leader  of 
the  force  was  met  in  a  narrow  defile  by  the  Waldenses.     He  was 


DOCTRINES,  CONTROVERSIES,  AND   RITES.  811 

killed,  at  the  outset,  by  one  of  the  slingers ;  and  his  men  were 
driven  back  with  an  overwhelming  defeat.  Many  of  them  were 
crushed,  or  dashed  into  the  impetuous  torrent  below,  by  great 
stones  rolled  down  upon  them  from  the  mountains.  The  attacks 
on  the  other  valleys  were  also  unsuccessful ;  and  the  duke  of  Savoy 
was  glad  to  terminate  a  war  in  which  he  had  gained  nothing  but 
loss  and  disgrace.  He  made  peace  with  the  Waldenses,  confirming 
to  them  their  former  privileges,  and  declaring  that  they  were  the 
most  faithful  and  obedient  of  all  his  subjects.    • 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  the  above-mentioned  duke  of  Savoy,  < 
his  son  and  successor,  Charles,  was  induced  to  undertake  a  second 
crusade  against  the  Waldenses.  He  sent  against  them  fifteen 
hundred  chosen  men,  who  at  the  first  destroyed  every  thing  be- 
fore them,  and  committed  the  most  horrid  barbarities.  But  on  the 
second  day  of  the  campaign,  having  ventured  into  the  Valley  of 
Lucerne,  the  invaders  were  attacked  on  all  sides  by  the  Waldensian 
slingers.  They  made  good  their  retreat,  and  carried  away  much 
booty  and  many  prisoners.  But  Duke  Charles  found  the  war  an 
unprofitable  business,  and  was  glad  to  stop  it.  He  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  "  the  skin  of  a  Waldensian  always  cost  him  fifteen 
or  twenty  of  his  best  soldiers,  which  was  more  than  the  skin  was 
worth." 

But  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  Waldenses  were  yet  hardly  begun. 
They  extended  through  the  two  next  centuries,  and  will  be  de- 
scribed in  their  proper  place. 

Although  the  Jews  were  not  a  Christian  sect,  it  may  not  be  im- 
proper to  notice  the  persecutions  to  which  they  were  subjected-. 
The  custom  was,  to  accuse  them,  calumniously,  of  the  most  atro- 
cious crimes,  —  such  as  poisoning  wells  and  public  fountains,  mur- 
dering the  infants  of  Christians  and  drinking  their  blood,  or  treat- 
ing with  contempt  the  consecrated  wafer  in  the  eucharist,  —  and 
then  fall  upon  them,  and  punish  them  with  the  utmost  severity. 
In  many  cases,  they  were  permitted  to  choose  between  baptism  and 
exile  or  torture ;  and,  to  avoid  the  latter,  they  would  submit  to  the 
former.  In  Spain  and  Portugal,  this  method  of  converting  Jews 
was  very  prevalent  in  the  fifteenth  century  ;  and  for  a  long  time 
these  countries  were  full  of  Jews  who  pretended  to  be  Christians. 
They  would  observe  the  Christian  rites  in  public,  and  practise  their 
own  Jewish  ceremonies  in  concealment. 

To  the  sacred  rites  of  the  Church  —  already  multiplied  almost 
without  bounds  —  several  new  festal  days  were  added  in  the  period 


812  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

before  us.  Thus  Innocent  V.  commanded  all  Christians  to  observe 
festivals  in  memory  of  the  spear  which  pierced  our  Saviour's  side, 
of  the  nails  which  fastened  him  to  the  cross,  and  of  the  crown  of 
thorns  which  he  wore  at  his  death  ;  and,  as  though  this  were  not 
enough,.  Benedict  XII.  gave  his  sanction  to  the  senseless  story  of 
St.  Francis  having  impressed  upon  him  the  five  wounds  of  Christ, 
by  ordaining  a  festival  to  commemorate  that  event. 

Of  indulgences  —  their  nature,  origin,  and  abuses  —  I  have 
before  spoken.  They  had  never  been  popular  in  Roman-Catholic 
countries,  and  by  princes  and  councils  had  often  been  prohibited. 
Still  they  were  so  gainful  to  the  Popish  treasury,  that  the  sale  of 
them  was  continued  in  the  most  shameless  manner.  The  popes 
promised  to  apply  the  money  to  aid  in  a  Turkish  war  ;  but  they  more 
frequently  expended  it  in  crusades  against  heretics,  or  in  enrich- 
ing their  family  connections,  or  in  supporting  their  own  voluptuous 
extravagance. 

I  have  spoken  before  of  the  revival  of  learning,  which  com- 
menced about  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  and  continued  to  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth.  The  same  course  of  things  went  on, 
with  increased  effect  and  brightening  prospects,  through  the  two 
centuries  we  are  now  reviewing.  Universities  had  begun  to  take 
the  place  of  the  old  monastic  and  cathedral  schools  before  the  close 
of  our  last  period.  These  were  increased  in  number  and  in  ad- 
vantages through  the  whole  period  now  before  us.  In  them  the 
hberal  arts  and  sciences  were  taught,  and  were  distributed  to  sev- 
eral faculties,  as  at  the  present  day.  Many  of  them  were  endowed 
with  ample  revenues ;  so  that  young  men  of  narrow  circumstances 
might  be  liberally  educated.  Public  buildings  were  erected,  libra- 
ries were  formed  ;  and  men  of  learning  were  excited  by  honors  and 
rewards  to  aspire  after  distinction  and  eminence.  Some  of  the 
pontiffs,  and  more  of  the  princes,  made  commendable  efforts  to 
advance  the  cause  of  learning. 

Several  events  took  place  during  the  period  before  us,  which 
tended  to  promote  this  cause,  more  especially  in  Europe.  One  was 
the  fall  of  Constantinople  and  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  Greek 
learning  had  never  flourished  in  Europe  previous  to  this  event ; 
but  now  learned  Greeks,  in  great  numbers,  migrated  into  Europe. 
They  brought  their  language  and  their  learning  with  them,  and 
diffused  a  taste  for  Grecian  Hterature  and  science  all  over  the  Latin 
world. 

Another  event  of  inexpressible  importance  was  the  art  of  print- 


STATE   OF  LEARNING   AND   RELIGION.  813 

ing.  Tliis  was  invented  at  Mayence,  about  the  year  1440,  by  John 
Guttemberg.  In  consequence  of  this  invention,  the  best  Greek  and 
Latin  authors,  which  before  had  lain  concealed  in  the  libraries  of 
the  monks,  were  put  into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  not  only 
furnished  the  means  of  learning,  but  awakened  in  many  an  earnest 
desire  for  it.  Accordingly,  we  have  examples  in  this  period,  not 
only  of  learned  philosophers  and  theologians,  but  of  men  whose 
names  are  as  household  words  in  the  circles  of  literature.  Such 
were  Petrarch  and  Dante  in  Italy,  Erasmus  in  Holland,  and  Chau- 
cer among  the  poets  of  England. 

The  philosophy  studied  at  this  period  was  almost  exclusively 
that  of  Aristotle.  In  so  high  estimation  was  this  philosopher  held, 
that  kings  and  princes  ordered  the  works  of  Aristotle  to  be  trans- 
lated into  the  languages  of  their  people,  that  they  might  have  the 
opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  his  wisdom.  Yet,  with 
all  this  painstaking,  the  works  of  Aristotle  were  very  imperfectly 
understood,  and,  in  many  instances,  were  rather  travestied  than 
ti'anslated. 

The  old  disputes  between  the  Realists  and  Nominalists  were  re- 
vived in  this  age  ;  and  never  was  there  fiercer  war  between  Greeks 
and  Persians  than  between  these  two  sects  of  philosophers,  doAvn 
to  the  time  when  Luther  obliged  the  scholastic  doctors  to  put  an 
end  to  their  conflicts.  The  parties  had  resort,  not  only  to  reason 
and  argument,  but  to  accusations,  penal  laws,  and  the  force  of 
arms.  There  was  scarcely  a  university  in  Europe  that  was  not 
disturbed  by  this  war. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  revival  of  learning  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  were  still  deplorably  ignorant. 
Many  of  them  could  not  read  or  write,  or  express  their  thoughts 
with  clearness  on  any  subject.  They  were  able  to  go  through  with 
the  prescribed  ceremonies  of  the  Church ;  and  that  was  enough. 
When  the  Reformation  had  commenced,  and  had  made  some  prog- 
ress, not  an  individual  could  be  found,  even  in  the  University  of 
Paris,  who  was  able  to  dispute  with  Luther  out  of  the  Scriptures. 
Nor  was  this  strange  ;  for  many  doctors  of  theology  in  those  times 
had  never  seen  a  Bible.  If  any  one  freely  read  the  Bible,  he  was 
cried  out  against  as  making  innovations,  and  exposing  Christianity 
to  danger  by  making  the  Scriptures  known. 

Some  insisted  that  all  heresy  arose  from  the  study  of  the  Greek 
and  Hebrew  languages,  especially  the  former.  "  The  New  Testa- 
ment," said  one  of  them,  "  is  full  of  serpents  and  thorns.     Greek 


814  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

is  a  modern  language,  but  recently  invented ;  and  against  it  we 
must  be  on  our  guard.  As  to  Hebrew,  it  is  certain  that  whoever 
studies  that  becomes  immediately  a  Jew."  Even  the  school  of 
theology  in  Paris  did  not  scruple  to  declare  before  parliament, 
"  There  is  an  end  of  religion  if  the  study  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  is 
permitted." 

But  the  clergy  of  this  period  were  chargeable  with  something 
worse  than  ignorance.  They  were  rapacious,  warlike,  corrupt, 
debauched.  Dignitaries  of  the  Church,  following  the  example  of 
the  popes,  preferred  the  tumult  of  camps  to  the  service  of  the  altar. 
To  be  able,  lance  in  hand,  to  compel  his  neighbors  to  do  him  hom- 
age, was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  qualifications  for  a  bishop. 
The  morals  of  the  inferior  clergy  were  in  the  last  degree  corrupt. 
Priests  openly  consorted  with  abandoned  characters,  frequented 
taverns  and  houses  of  ill-fame,  picked  locks  and  broke  open  doors, 
played  cards  and  dice,  and  often  finished  their  nightly  orgies  with 
quarrels  and  blasphemy. 

And,  of  whatever  crimes  the  clergy  might  be  guilty,  they  were 
in  no  fear  or  danger  of  punishment.  The  civil  authorities  had  no 
jurisdiction  over  them ;  and,  from  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  im- 
munity could  always  be  secured  for  money.  The  officers  of  the 
Roman  chancery  actually  published  a  book  specifying  the  precise 
sums  to  be  demanded  for  the  absolution  of  crime.  A  deacon  guilty 
of  murder  was  absolved  for  twenty  crowns.  A  bishop  or  abbot 
might  do  the  same  for  three  hundred  livres.  A  priest  might  vio- 
late his  vows  of  chastity,  even  under  the  most  aggravating  circum- 
stances, for  one  hundred  livres.  In  this  shameful  book,  such  crimes 
as  seldom  occur  in  human  life,  and  exist,  perhaps,  only  in  the  im- 
pure imagination  of  a  casuist,  were  taxed  at  a  very  moderate  rate. 

Such  being  the  state  of  religion  and  morals  in  the  Romish  Church, 
of  course  very  little  having  the  appearance  of  piety  could  be  ex- 
pected there  ;  and  what  there  was,  was  either  concealed  in  the 
obscurity  of  humble  life,  or  inquisitorially  searched  out  and  extir- 
pated. Of  Bradwardine  and  Tauler  and  Wickliffe  and  Wessel  and 
Savonarola  and  Huss,  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  we  have  already  heard. 
They  were  burning  and  shining  lights  in  an  age  of  spiritual  desola- 
tion and  darkness.  There  were  some  jtoo,  among  the  mystics,  who, 
in  their  secluded  and  meditative  way,  enjoyed  communion  with 
God.  Such  were  Thomas  a  Kempis  and  the  author  of  "  Theologia 
Germanica."  But,  in  searching  for  true  piety  in  the  period  over 
which  we  have  passed,  we  must,  as  a  general  thing,  go  out  of  the 


STATE   OF  LEARNING   AND   RELIGION.  815 

pale  of  the  Established  Church,  and  seek  it  among  those  who 
were  hunted  and  destroyed  as  heretics.  The  Waldenses  were  not 
then,  as  now,  a  small  community  shut  up  among  the  fastnesses  of 
the  Alps  ;  but  they  were  spread  abroad  in  different  parts  of  Europe, 
and  their  number  was  great.  We  find  them,  not  only  in  Naples 
and  Italy,  but  in  France,  in  Spain,  in  Flanders,  in  England,  in  Ger- 
many, Poland,  and  Bohemia.  One  author  estimates  them  at  not 
less  than  eight  hundred  thousand.  And,  wherever  they  went,  they 
were  the  same  earnest,  self-sacrificing,  devoted  people.  Their  voca- 
tion was  to  labor  and  suffer  for  God,  and  bear  witness  to  his  holy 
truth ;  and  most  worthily  did  they  fulfil  it.  They  were  a  mission- 
ary people  at  the  first ;  and  so  they  continued  to  be  through  all 
the  dark  period  of  their  sufferings.  It  was  by  sending  out  mission- 
aries, two  and  two,  on  foot,  to  visit  theu'  brethren  dispersed  abroad, 
and  gather  in  converts  from  the  nations,  that  they  kept  alive  the 
little  piety  which  remained  in  the  world  at  that  day.  These  mis- 
sionaries always  knew  where  to  find  their  brethren.  They  went 
to  their  houses,  held  little  meetings,  administered  ordinances,  or- 
dained ministers  and  deacons,  and  sustained  the  faith  and  the  hopes 
of  those  who  were  tempted  and  persecuted.  It  is  said  that  these 
missionaries  could  go  at  one  period  from  one  end  of  Italy  to  the 
other,  and  stay  every  night  at  the  houses  of  brethren. 

And  not  only  did  preachers  go  out  from  the  valleys  to  proclaim 
the  glorious  gospel,  but  pious  peddlers  and  travelling  merchants 
(of  whom  there  were  many  in  the  middle  ages)  would  carry  some 
leaves  of  the  word  of  life,  or  some  manuscript  tracts,  in  their 
bundle  of  merchandise,  and  persuade  those,  whom  they  found  fa- 
vorably disposed,  to  receive  and  read  them.  A  description  of  the 
manner  in  which  this  was  done,  and  of  the  success  which  attended 
the  effort,  appeared  some  years  ago  in  verse.  A  venerable  Vau- 
dois  peddler  enters  the  palace  of  an  Italian  nobleman,  and  spreads 
out  his  silks  and  pearls,  which  a  young  lady  present  is  induced  to 
buy.    She  pays  him  his  price,  and  is  turning  away,  when  he  says,  — 

" '  O  lady  fair !  I  have  yet  a  gem 
Which  a  purer  lustre  flings 
Than  the  diamond  flash  of  the  jewelled  crown 
On  the  lofty  brow  of  kings,  — 

'  A  wonderful  pearl  of  exceeding  price, 

Whose  virtue  shall  not  decay ; 
Whose  light  shall  be  as  a  spell  to  thee, 

And  a  blessing  on  thy  way.' 


816  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  lady  turns  ba.ck,  and  says,  — 

" '  Bring  forth  thy  pearl  of  exceeding  worth, 
Thou  traveller  gray  and  old ; 
And  name  the'price  of  thy  precious  gem, 
And  my  pages  shall  count  the  gold.' 

The  cloud  went  off  from  the  pilgrim's  brow 

As  a  small  and  meagre  book, 
Unchased  with  gold  or  diamond  gem, 

From  his  folding  robe  he  took. 

'  Here,  lady  fair,  is  the  pearl  of  price : 

May  it  prove  as  such  to  thee ! 
Nay,  keep  thy  gold ;  I  ask  it  not ; 

For  the  word  of  God  is  free." 

The  lady  receives  the  gift,  and  the  traveller  goes  on  his  way ; 
and  it  proves  to  her  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

"  She  turns  her  feet  from  the  pride  of  sin 
To  the  lowliness  of  truth, 
And  gives  her  maiden  heart  to  God 
In  the  beautiful  hour  of  youth." 

But  the  Waldenses  were  not  alone  in  their  endeavors  to  serve 
God,  or  in  their  martyr  sufferings  and  death.  They  were  sur- 
rounded by  others  of  different  names,  and  of  some  distinctive  pe- 
culiarities, but  all  possessing  the  same  spirit,  and  aiming  at  the  same 
p-lorious  end.  There  were  the  Paulicians,  the  Paterines,  the  Lol- 
lards,  the  Leonists,  the  remains  of  the  Cathari  and  Albigenses,  the 
Beguins  and  Beghards,  and  the  Cellite  Brethren  and  Sisters,  asso- 
ciated together  to  perform  the  neglected  work  of  the  priests,  —  to 
care  for  the  sick,  and  bury  the  dead. 

When  we  read  of  the  ignorance  and  wickedness  which  prevailed 
among  the  clergy  generally  in  the  period  before  us,  from  the 
pontiff  on  his  throne  to  the  degraded  monk  or  the  starving  curate, 
we  are  ready  to  exclaim,  "  The  Lord  hath  forsaken  the  earth !  the 
Lord  hath  forgotten  to  be  gracious !  "  But  when  we  turn  away 
from  the  high  places  of  pride  and  sin,  and  come  down  among  the 
lowly  dwellers  in  the  vales  and  in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks,  we  find 
more  than  seven  thousand  men  in  Israel  —  yea,  more  than  seventy 
times  seven  —  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal ;  who  are 
toiling  and  suffering  for  God  and  truth;  who  are  preparing  for 
the  distinguished  rewards  of  those  who  have  come  out  of  great 
tribulation,  having  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb. 


PEEIOD    Till. 

THE     SIXTEENTH     CENTURY. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION. INTRODUCTORY. 

THE  Protestant  Reformation  was  one  of  those  great  and  sur- 
prising events  which  attract  the  notice  of  succeeding  genera- 
tions, and  mark  the  periods  in  which  they  occur  as  epochs  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  In  many  particulars,  this  event  resembled 
the  first  triumph  of  Christianity ;  and,  among  all  the  revolutions 
which  the  earth  has  witnessed,  was  second  only  to  that  in  point  of 
interest  and  importance.  It  sundered  the  chains  of  debasing  igno- 
rance and  inveterate  superstition.  It  broke  the  yoke  of  the  most 
grinding  moral  and  spiritual  despotism.  It  unlocked  the  long-sealed 
fountains  of  knowledge,  and  gave  the  Bible  to  the  nations.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years,  it  enlightened  and  emancipated  half  Europe. 

Nor  was  its  influence  confined  to  the  period  when  it  occurred. 
Its  blessed  results  have  rolled  down  the  tide  of  time  in  a  constant- 
ly widening  and  increasing  current,  from  generation  to  generation ; 
and  they  will  continue  thus  to  roll  till  time  shall  be  no  more. 

In  all  true  history,  the  hand  of  God  is  more  or  less  visible ;  but 
never  have  his  power  and  grace  been  more  strikingly  displayed 
than  in  the  series  of  events  connected  with  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation. By  a  succession  of  remarkable  though  often  mysterious 
providences,  he  prepared  the  way  for  the  purification  of  his  Church ; 
and,  before  entering  directly  on  a  history  of  the  Reformation,  it  may 
be  proper  to  notice  some  of  those  events  which  went  before  it,  and 
introduced  it,  —  which  rendered  the  world  so  eminently  ripe  for  it, 
•  and  so  ready  to  aid  in  promoting  its  triumphs. 

52  817 


818  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

Of  some  of  these  events  I  have  spoken  ah^eady ;  and  they  need 
not  be  dwelt  upon  again.  I  have  spoken  of  some  things  connected 
with  the  Papacy  in  the  preceding  centuries,  —  as  the  removal  of 
the  seat  of  the  Popedom  from  Rome  to  Avignon,  and  the  great 
"  schism  of  the  West,"  which  cut  the  sinews  of  Papal  usurpation, 
and  tended  directly  to  break  its  power.  I  have  spoken,  too,  of  the 
art  of  printing,  which  was  discovered  only  a  few  years  previous  to 
the  Reformation  ;  by  means  of  which  the  writings  of  the  reformers 
were  scattered  at  once  all  over  Europe.  Then  that  great  Council 
of  Constance,  by  deciding  that  the  power  of  the  popes  was  subject 
to  that  of  a  general  council,  put  a  weapon  of  defence  into  the  hands 
of  Luther,  which  he  was  ready,  on  all  occasions,  to  employ.  I  have 
spoken,  also,  of  the  revival  of  learning  in  Europe,  consequent  upon 
the  overthrow  of  the  Eastern  Empii-e  by  the  Turks,  which  went  to 
open  the  eyes  of  men  to  the  impositions  which  had  been  practised 
upon  them,  and  prepare  the  way  for  a  reformation.  It  was  a  great 
advantage  to  the  reformers  that  they  presented  themselves  before 
the  public  as  the  advocates,  not  only  of  a  pure  religion,  but  of 
sound  learning ;  whereas  their  adversaries  —  the  ignorant  monks 
—  opposed  Avith  all  their  strength  the  introduction  and  spread  of 
learning,  as  a  thing  of  evil  consequence.  I  have  spoken  of  several 
learned  and  pious  men  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
who  have  been  properly  called  "  reformers  before  the  Reformation." 
Such  were  Lyra  and  Tauler,  and  Thomas  a  Kempis,  and  John 
Wessel,  and  Savonarola,  and  Huss,  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  and 
more  especially  Wickliffe  and  his  followers.  The  followers  of 
Wickliffe  in  England,  and  the  Waldenses  in  Italy  and  France, 
though  terribly  persecuted,  coilld  not  be  subdued.  They  continued 
to  hold  up  the  light  of  truth,  and  to  keep  it  burning,  till  the 
brighter  light  of  the  Reformation  came. 

There  were  other  men  besides  those  whose  names  have  been 
mentioned,  who,  without  knowing  or  intending  it,  prepared  the 
way  for  a  reformation,  and  helped  it  forward.  Such  were  Dante 
and  Petrarch,  Italian  poets,  who  lived  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
Dante  peoples  his  hell  as  well  as  his  purgatory  with  Romish  clergy, 
from  popes  down  to  mendicant  monks.  In  his  treatise  on  monar- 
chy, he  is  even  more  severe  upon  the  Church  than  in  his  poems. 
He  would  deprive  the  popes  of  their  temporal  authority ;  and  at- 
tacks tradition,  which  has  justly  been  regarded  as  the  -main  pillar 
of  Popery. 

Nor  was  Petrarch,  though  himself  a  priest,  less  severe   upon 


THE    PROTESTANT   REFORMATION.  819 

Rome  and  its  hierarchy  than  Dante.  In  his  Latin  eclogues  and 
Italian  sonnets,  the  Papal  see  is  characterized  as  "  impious  Baby- 
lon, the  school  of  error,  the  temple  of  heresy,  the  forge  of  fraud, 
the  hell  of  the  living."  The  following  stanzas  are  a  good  illustra- 
tion of  the  freedom  and  pungency  with  which  he  occasionally 
wrote  respecting  the  see  of  Rome :  — 

"  The  fire  of  wratliful  heaven  alight, 
And  all  thy  harlot  tresses  smite, 
Base  city  !     Thou  from  humble  fare  — 
Thine  acorns  and  thy  water  —  rose 
To  greatness,  rich  with  others'  woes, 
Rejoicing  in  the  ruin  thou  didst  bear. 

"  Foul  nest  of  treason  !     Is  there  aught, 
Werewith  the  spacious  world  is  fraught, 
Of  bad  or  vile,  'tis  hatched  in  thee, 
Who  revellest  in  thy  costly  meats, 
Thy  precious  wines,  and  curious  seats, 
And  all  the  pride  of  luxury. 

"  The  while,  within  thy  secret  halls, 
Old  men  in  guilty  festivals 
With  buxom  girls  in  dance  are  goinw  ; 
And  in  the  midst  old  Beelzebub 
Eyes  through  his  glass  the  motley  club. 
The  fire  with  sturdy  bellows  blowinof. 

"  In  former  days,  thou  wast  not  laid 
On  down,  nor  under  cooling  shade. 
But  naked  to  the  winds  wast  given  ; 
And  through  the  strait  and  thorny  road, 
Thy  feet,  without  the  sandals,  trod  : 
But  now  thy  life  is  such,  it  smells  to  heaven." 

But,  if  Petrarch  is  severe  upon  the  popes  and  clergy  in  his  poems, 
he  is  far  more  so  in  his  letters.  In  his  day,  Avignon,  situated  on  the 
Rhone,  in  France,  was  the  seat  of  the  Papacy.  Writing  from  thence, 
Petrarch  says,  "  I  am  at  present  in  the  Western  Babylon,  than 
which  the  sun  never  beheld  any  thing  more  hideous.  Go  to  India, 
or  wherever  else  you  choose ;  but  avoid  this  Babylon  if  you  do 
not  wish  to  go  down  alive  into  hell.  Whatever  you  may  have 
heard  or  read  of  as  to  perfidy,  fraud,  pride,  incontinence,  and  un- 
bridled lust,  impiety,  and  wickedness  of  every  kind,  you  will  find 
here  collected  and  heaped  together.  O  Babylon  on  the  Rhone ! 
thou  art  the  enemy  of  the  good,  the  friend  of  the  bad,  the  asylum 


820  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

of  wild  beasts,  the  whore  that  has  committed  fornication  with  the 
kings  of  the  earth.  Thou  art  she  whom  the  evangelist  saw  in 
vision :  '  A  woman  clothed  in  purple  and  scarlet,  sitting  upon  many 
waters ;  mother  of  fornications  and  abominations  of  the  earth.'  " 

Thus  wrote  Petrarch,  —  a  priest,  a  poet,  and  a  diplomatist,  who  was 
well  acquainted  with  several  of  the  popes  who  reigned  at  Avignon, 
and  knew  well  whereof  he  affirmed.  Of  the  same  general  character 
were  the  writings  of  the  celebrated  Boccaccio.  It  was  the  princi- 
pal object  of  his  "  Decameron  "  — the  most  popular  and  entertain- 
ing of  all  his  works  —  to  expose  the  debauchery  of  the  religious 
orders,  and  bring  them  into  utter  contempt.  This  work  was  trans- 
lated into  various  languages,  and  circulated  all  over  Europe. 

Of  the  like  character  were  the  "  Facetiae  "  of  Poggio,  upwards 
of  ten  editions  of  which  were  issued  in  the  last  thirty  years  of  the 
fifteenth  century. 

As  we  draw  nearer  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  we  find  men 
of  learning  multiplied  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  whom  God  was 
employing  in  various  waj^s  preparatory  to  the  deliverance  of  his 
Church.  It  devolved  on  Reuchlin,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken, 
to  revive  in  Germany  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  their  original 
languages.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  he 
revised  the  Vulgate,  and  gave  to  the  world  the  first  Hebrew  and 
German  grammar  and  dictionary  that  had  ever  been  published. 
By  this  labor,  he  took  off  the  seals  from  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  made  it  easy  for  Luther  to  open  and  translate  these 
sacred  books  for  the  good  of  his  countrymen. 

Ulric  Von  Hutten,  an  orator  and  knight,  was  called,  not  improp- 
erly, the  Demosthenes  of  the  Reformation.  Among  his  various 
writings  was  one  which  he  called  "  The  Roman  Trinity."  "  There 
are  three  things,"  says  he,  "  which  we  commonly  bring  away  with 
us  from  Rome,  —  a  bad  conscience,  a  vitiated,  stomach,  and  an  empty 
purse.  There  are  three  things  which  Rome  has  no  faith  in,  —  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  hell. 
There  are  three  things  which  Rome  chiefly  trades  in,  —  the  grace 
of  Christ,  the  livings  of  the  Church,  and  women." 

To  Hutten  is  attributed  the  famous  satire  which  appeared  in 
1516,  entitled  "  Epistolse  Obscurorum  Virorum  "  ("  Letters  of  Ob- 
scure Men").  The  pretended  authors  of  these  letters  are  the 
monks ;  and  in  them  they  are  made  to  discourse  of  the  current  affairs 
of  the  day,  and  especially  of  theological  matters,  after  their  own 
fashion,  and  in  their  own  barbarous  Latm.    To  their  correspondent 


THE    PROTESTANT    REFORMATION.  821 

at  Cologne  tliey  address  the  silliest  and  most  unmeaning  questions. 
They  expose  in  this  way  their  own  gross  ignorance,  unbelief,  su- 
perstition, pride,  fanatical  zeal,  and  their  vulgar,  grovelling  spirit. 
The  mixture  of  silliness  and  hypocrisy  in  these  letters  renders 
them  exceedingly  comic ;  and  yet  so  natural  are  they,  that  the 
cheat  at  first  was  not  understood.  The  Dominicans  and  Francis- 
cans received  them  as  the  genuine  productions  of  brethren  of  their 
orders.  Great  was  the  indignation  of  the  monks  when  the  deceit 
was  exposed,  and  equally  great  was  the  rejoicing  of  their  enemies. 

But  the  most  remarkable  personage  among  the  learned  of  that 
age,  who,  while  he  stood  aloof  from  the  Reformation,  was  made 
use  of,  in  providence,  to  help  it  forward,  was  Erasmus  of  Rotter- 
dam. Being  destined  for  the  priesthood,  though  he  never  entered 
it,  and  trained  up  in  the  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical  literature,  he 
applied  himself  more  to  theological  studies  than  any  of  the  revi- 
vers of  learning  at  that  period.  Though  engaged,  after  a  time,  in 
controversy  with  the  reformers,  he  was,  nevertheless,  useful  to  them 
in  several  ways.  By  his  example  and  influence,  he  contributed  to 
diifuse  a  love  of  learning,  and  a  spirit  of  liberal  inquiry  and  dis- 
cussion. He  exposed  the  errors  and  corruptions  of  the  monks  and 
the  Church,  and  assailed  them  with  the  most  pungent  satire.  But 
more  especially  did  he  labor  to  recall  the  public  mind  from  scho- 
lastic quibbles,  and  direct  it  to  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
"  I  am  resolved,"  said  he,  "  to  die  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures. 
In  that  is  my  joy  and  peace." 

In  the  year  1516,  he  published  his  New  Testament  in  Greek ; 
the  first,  and  for  a  long  time  the  only,  critical  edition  extant.  This 
he  accompanied  Avith  a  Latin  translation,  in  which  he  boldly  cor- 
rected the  Vulgate,  and  gave  a  reason  for  his  corrections.  It  was 
in  vain  that  the  monks  clamored  against  this  most  important  Avork, 
charging  Erasmus  w^ith  undertaking  to  correct  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  knew  the  ground  on  which  he  stood,  and  was  well  able  to  re- 
fute their  clamors,  if  not  to  silence  them.  Erasmus  did  for  the 
New  Testament  what  Reuchlin  had  before  done  for  the  Old.  These 
men  gave  the  Scriptures  to  the  learned  of  Europe ;  but  Luther 
gave  them  to  the  common  people. 

Among  the  arrangements  of  Providence  calculated  to  favor  the 
Reformation  may  be  reckoned  the  particular  forms  of  government 
at  that  time  established  in  the  countries  where  it  first  prevailed. 
The  German  Empire  was  a  confederacy  of  different  States,  with 
the  emperor  at  its  head.     Each  of  these  States  possessed  the  sov- 


822  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

ereignty  over  its  own  territories.  The  imperial  diet,  or  congress, 
was  composed  of  the  princes  of  the  sovereign  States,  and  exercised 
the  legislative  power  for  the  whole  Germanic  body.  The  emperor 
ratified  the  laws,  decrees,  or  resolutions  of  this  assembly :  it  be- 
longed to  him,  also,  to  publish  and  execute  them.  The  emperor 
was  chosen  for  life ;  and  it  devolved  on  seven  of  the  more  power- 
ful princes,  under  the  title  of  "  electors,"  to  award  the  imperial 
crown. 

This  particular  form  of  constitution,  which,  by  the  ordering  of 
Providence,  the  empire  had  received,  was  manifestly  favorable  to 
the  promulgation  of  the  new  doctrines.  The  truth,  opposed  in  one 
State,  might  be  favorably  received  in  another ;  important  centres 
of  light,  which  should  gradually  penetrate  the  surrounding  dark- 
ness, might  be  formed  and  protected  in  different  parts  of  the  em- 
pne :  whereas,  if  the  government  had  been  a  simple  monarchy 
like  those  of  France  and  England,  the  arbitrar}^  will  of  the  sover- 
eign might  have  arrested  and  prevented  the  spread  of  the  gospel. 

The  same  remark  may  also  be  made  in  regard  to  Switzerland, 
where  the  Reformation  commenced  even  sooner  than  it  did  in  Ger- 
many. Switzerland  was  a  confederacy,  and  not  a  simple  monarchy. 
Each  of  the  cantons  was  an  independent  repubhc,  all  of  which 
were  corffederated  together,  and  governed  by  a  general  diet,  or 
congress. 

Tlie  arrangements  of  Providence  in  regard  to  some  of  the  reign- 
ing powers  in  Germany  were  also  favorable  to  the  Reformation. 
But  for  the  death  of  Maximilian,  almost  at  its  commencement,  it 
is  hard  to  see  how  the  life  of  Luther  could  have  been  preserved. 
This  monarch  was  deeply  interested,  from  considerations  of  policy 
as  well  as  principle,  to  concihate  the  pontiff;  and  he  wrote  to  him 
to  take  vigorous  measures  in  opposition  to  Luther.  "  We  will  be 
careful,"  said  he,  "  to  enforce  throughout  our  empire  whatever  your 
Holiness  shall  decree  on  this  subject."  But,  before  any  measures 
could  be  matured  by  the 'pontiff,  the  emperor  was  removed  by 
death. 

The  raising-up  of  such  a  man  as  Frederic  the  Wise,  the  renowned 
elector  of  Saxony,  to  be  the  sovereign  and  protector  of  Luther,  is 
another  interposition  of  Providence  that  must  not  be  overlooked. 
During  the  period  wliich  intervened  between  the  death  of  Maximil- 
ian and  the  elevation  of  Charles  V.  to  the  throne  of  the  empire, 
Frederic  was  sole  monarch  in  his  own  dominions ;  and,  after  the 
election  of  Charles,  he  was  under  so  great  obligations  to  Frederic 


THE    PROTESTANT    REFORMATION.  823 

for  the  influence  which  he  had  exerted  in  his  favor,  that  he  was 
unwilling  to  displease  him.*  Yet  Frederic,  to  use  the  language  of 
another,  "  was  precisely  the  prince  that  was  needed  for  the  cradle 
of  the  Reformation.  Too  much  weakness  on  the  part  of  those 
friendly  to  the  work  might  have  allowed  it  to  be  crushed :  too 
much  haste  would  have  caused  a  premature  explosion  of  tlie  storm 
that  was  gathering  against  it."  Frederic  was  cautious  and  mode- 
rate, but  firm.  He  possessed  in  large  measure  that  grace,  which,  of 
all  others,  is  most  necessary  in  difficult  times :  he  waited  upon  G-od. 
He  put  in  practice  the  wise  counsel  of  Gamaliel :  "  If  this  work  be 
of  man,  it  will  come  to  nought ;  but,  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot 
overthrow  it."  "  Things  have  come  to  such  a  pass,"  said  he,  "  that 
man  can  do  no  more :  God  alone  can  effect  any  thing.  We  must 
therefore  leave  to  his  power  those  great  events  which  are  too  hard 
for  us."  We  may  well  admire  the  wisdom  of  Providence  in  the 
choice  of  such  a  prince  to  guard  the  beginnings  of  the  Reformation. 

Another  thing  to  be  admired,  and  which  we  shall  have  frecj^uent 
occasion  to  notice  in  the  progress  of  this  history,  is  the  manner  in 
which  Divine  Providence  kept  the  thoughts  and  hands  of  the  Em- 
peror Charles  occupied,  so  that  he  had  no  time  or  opportunity  to 
exert  his  power  in  crushing  the  Reformation.  Governing  as  he 
did  not  only  Germany,  but  Spain,  Sicily,  Naples,  the  Netherlands, 
and  Austria,  —  with  the  Turks  on  one  side  of  him,  and  his  great 
rival,  Francis  I.  of  France,  on  another,  and  the  aspiring,  intriguing 
court  of  Rome  on  another,  —  he  was  so  continually  and  intently 
busied  with  wars,  reprisals,  negotiations,  and  other  affairs  of  state, 
that  he  could  give  but  little  attention  to  what  he  considered  as  a 
mere  ecclesiastical,  theological  controversy ;  and  thus  the  Reforma- 
tion was  left  to  take  root,  and  spring  up,  and  extend  itself  on  every 
side,  till  it  was  able  to  put  him  at  defiance.  When,  at  length,  he 
set  himself  to  crush  it,  it  could  not  be  subverted  or  overthrown. 

In  the  remarks  which  have  been  made,  we  see  the  providence  of 
God  exerting  itself  in  various  ways  preparatory  to  the  reformation 
of  his  Church.  But  that  which  tended  more  than  every  thing  else 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  coming  reformation  was  the  felt  neces- 
sity for  it,  —  a  necessity  deeply,  universally  felt,  —  growing  out  of 
the  corruptions  of  the  Church  itself.  The  language  of  Jeremiah 
was  truly  applicable  to  the  Romish  Church  at  this  period :  "  Her 

*  Frederic  had  himself  the  o(Ter  of  the  imperial  crown ;  but  he  declined  it,  and  recommended 
to  his  brother  electors  to  unite  with  him  in  the  elevation  of  Charles. 


824  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

own  wickedness  corrected  her,  and  her  backslidings  reproved  her." 
Having  long  persisted  in  sHghting  the  reproofs  and  despising  the 
solemn  warnings  of.  Heaven,  she  was  permitted  to  run  down  from 
one  degree  of  corruption  to  another,  till  the  earth  could  no  longer 
endure  her,  and  was  prepared  to  welcome  any  thing  that  promised 
a  reformation. 

I  spoke  at  length,  in  the  last  chapter,  of  the  incurable  corrup- 
tions of  the  Church  of  Rome,  —  the  pontiffs,  the  bishops,  the 
monks,  and  the  inferior  clergy,  —  and  need  not  repeat  the  disgust- 
ing statement  here.  They  were  not  only  selfish  and  ambitious,  but 
ignorant,  fraudulent,  debauched,  and  cruel  to  the  last  degree. 
Hating  and  persecuting  the  true  people  of  God,  "  drunk  with 
the  blood  of  saints  and  mart3-rs,"  they  were  tolerant  of  nothing 
but  their  own  vices  and  abominations. 

The  wealth  of  the  clergy  at  this  period  was  enormous.  In  Ger- 
many, it  was  computed  that  the  ecclesiastics  held  more  than  half 
of  the  national  property.  All  this,  of  course,  was  exempt  from 
taxation ;  so  that  the  laity  had  the  mortification  of  finding  them- 
selves loaded  with  excessive  burthens,  while  those  who  possessed 
the  greatest  share  of  wealth  were  free.  And  what  increased  the 
mortification  was,  that  the  higher  German  ecclesiastics  were,  in 
most  instances,  foreigners.  They  were  not  native  subjects,  who 
might  be  expected  to  sympathize  with  the  princes  and  people,  but 
lazy,  voluptuous  Italians,  who  sometimes  could  not  speak  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  —  mere  creatures  of  the  pope,  whom,  in 
consequence  of  his  usurped  right  of  conferring  benefices,  he  had 
forced  upon  the  people  against  their  will.  The  practice  of  selling 
benefices  was  at  this  time  so  notorious,  that  no  pains  were  taken  to 
conceal  it.  Companies  of  merchants,  in  some  instances,  openly 
purchased  the  benefices  of  different  districts  from  the  pope's  legates, 
and  retailed  them  at  an  advanced  price. 

Such,  in  short,  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  that  the  world  had  become  weary  of  existing 
abominations,  and  was  looking  with  anxious  eyes  in  all  directions 
for  deliverance.  No  subject  was  more  freely  talked  of  among 
princes  and  people  than  the  necessity  of  a  reformation  in  the 
Church,  —  a  reformation  that  should  be  thorough  and  universal,  — 
a  reformation,  as  the  saying  was,  "in  both  the  head  and  its 
members." 

But  where  was  this  reformation  to  come  from  ?     How,  and  by 


THE    PROTESTANT    REFORMATION.  825 

whom,  was  it  to  be  achieved  ?  Various  expedients  had  been  resort- 
ed to  for  this  purpose,  but  all  in  vain.  Kings  and  princes  had 
repeatedly  attempted  a  reformation.  This  did  Henry  II.  of  Eng- 
land, and  the  brave  Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  as  early  as  the  twelfth 
century.  The  kings  of  France,  in  repeated  instances,  exerted  all 
their  power  with  a  view  to  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  but 
with  no  better  success.  Philip  the  Fair  removed  the  seat  of  the 
Popedom  from  Rome  to  Avignon ;  but  Avignon  soon  became  as 
corrupt  as  Italy  itself.  In  the  very  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  Louis  XII.  of  France  issued  a  threat,  and  stamped  it  upon 
his  coins,  that  he  would  overthrow  the  Romish  power ;  but  he  died, 
and  guilty  Rome  remained. 

The  same  object  had  also  been  attempted  by  the  literati  of  the 
age.  The  poets  and  satirists  of  Germany  and  Italy  undertook  to 
laugh,  —  to  shame  the  Church  out  of  its  corruptions  ;  but,  although 
the  way  was  thus  prepared  for  reformation,  it  was  soon  found  that 
neither  learning  nor  ridicule  could  effect  the  object.  The  great 
leviathan  could  not  thus  be  tamed. 

Repeated  attempts  were  made  to  reform  the  Church  by  means 
of  councils.  This  was  the  avowed  and  leading  object  of  the  great 
Council  of  Constance.  The  Church  was  corrupt,  and  must  be 
reformed ;  and  a  body,  consisting  of  cardinals,  archbishops,  and 
bishops,  Avith  eighteen  hundred  priests  and  doctors  of  divinity,  was 
drawn  together  to  reform  it.  But,  instead  of  reforming  the  Church, 
they  deformed  it  the  more.  How  should  it  be  otherwise,  when  we 
are  assured  that  the  holy  fathers  brought  with  them  to  the  council 
"  a  great  number  of  buffoons,  prostitutes,  and  virgines  puhlicoe  "  ? 
(public  girls.)  *  They  could  persuade  the  emperor  to  break  his 
solemn  promise  to  Huss,  and  commit  him  and  Jerome  to  the  flames ; 
but  they  separated,  leaving  a  confessedly  polluted  Church  as  far 
from  reformation  as  ever. 

By  efforts  at  reformation  such  as  these,  the  wisdom  of  man  had 
exhausted  itself;  and  nought  was  now  left  to  be  relied  upon  but 
the  poioer  of  God.  And  the  day  in  \yhich  God  was  to  display  his 
jDower  and  glorify  his  name  in  the  deliverance  of  his  afflicted,  down- 
trodden people,  at  length  arrived.  By  a  series  of  providential  oc- 
currences, as  we  have  seen,  God  had  long  been  preparing  the  way 
for  this  desired  event ;  and,  in  the  mode  and  at  the  moment  of  his 
own  appointment,  it  was  ushered  in.    The  outward  means  were,  at 

*  See  Mosheim's  Hist.,  vol.  ii.  p.  492. 


326  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  first,  feeble  and  unpromising ;  but  tlie  success  was  sure.  The 
human  instruments  employed  were  weak  in  themselves,  and  were 
fully  sensible  of  their  own  weakness ;  but,  on  this  very  account, 
it  is  the  more  gloriously  apparent  to  all  who  examine  the  history 
of  those  times,  that  the  exceUency  of  the  power  was  indeed  of 
God,  and  not  of  man. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. LIFE    OF    LUTHER. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  we  noticed  some  of  those  providential  occur- 
rences which  preceded  the  Protestant  Reformation,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  its  introduction  and  triumph.  The  precise 
month  or  year  when  the  Reformation  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced, it  may  not  be  easy  to  determine.  The  progress  of  light 
and  truth  in  the  minds  of  those  who  were  chiefly  instrumental  in 
promoting  it  was  gradual ;  and  the  incipient  steps  were  taken  by 
them  when  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  known  what  they  did, 
or  what  was  likely  to  be  the  result  of  their  labors.  They  were  led 
along  in  a  way  which  they  knew  not,  and  were  often  as  much  sur- 
prised at  the  effects  which  were  produced  as  were  the  most  indif- 
ferent of  those  who  witnessed  their  actions. 

Thus  much,  however,  may  be  said,  that  the  Reformation  com- 
menced in  two  different  countries,  —  Germany  and  Switzerland,  — 
and  under  the  direction  of  two  different  leaders,  —  Martin  Luther 
and  Ulric  Zwingle, — at  about  the  same  period.  As  Germany  was 
the  field  in  which  it  spread  most  rapidly  and  triumphed  most  glori- 
ously, and  from  which  it  was  diffused  through  many  kingdoms,  we 
shall  commence  with  a  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany ; 
reserving  the  account  of  its  progress  in  Switzerland  and  the  other 
countries  of  Protestant  Europe  to  a  later  period  in  our  inquiry. 
We  begin  with  the  life  of  Luther. 

Martin  Luther  was  born  of  poor  but  industrious  and  pious  par- 
ents, at  Eisleben,  in  Saxony,  Nov.  10, 1483.  This  was  St.  Martin's 
Day  ;  and,  in  honor  of  the  saint,  the  babe  received  the  name  of 
Martin.  His  parents  soon  after  removed  from  Eisleben  to  the 
mining,  town  of  Mansfield.  Here  their  circumstances  improved ; 
and  the  father  was  promoted  to  be  one  of  the  town  council  of 
Mansfield. 

Young  Martin  was  early  placed  at  school,  where  he  was  treated 

827 


828  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

with  great  severity,  but  where,  nevertheless,  he  learned  something. 
He  was  taught  the  Catechism,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  together  with  some  hymns, 
and  forms  of  prayer  ;  but  he  was  under  the  influence  of  no  religious 
feelmg,  he  tells  us,  except  that  of  fear.  He  knew  Christ  only  as 
an  angry  Judge,  the  bare  mention  of  whose  name  was  enough  to 
make  him  turn  pale  with  fear. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  was  sent  to  a  school  of  the  Francis- 
cans at  Magdeburg,  and  then  to  a  more  celebrated  school  at  Eise- 
nach. He  was  at  this  time  very  poor,  and  was  obliged,  with  several 
others,  to  beg  his  bread.  One  day,  when  he  had  been  repulsed 
from  several  houses,  and  was  about  to  ret.urn  fasting  to  his  lodg- 
ings, a  lady  by  the  name  of  Cotta  opened  her  door  to  him,  and 
invited  him  to  come  and  live  at  her  house.  In  after-life,  Luther 
used  to  speak  of  this  woman  as  "  the  Christian  Shunamite  ;  "  and 
it  was  with  reference  to  her  that  he  said,  "  There  is  nothing  sweeter 
than  the  heart  of  a  pious  woman." 

Luther  remained  in  the  family  of  Cotta  two  or  three  years  ;  and 
they  were  among  the  happiest  years  of  his  life.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen,  he  entered  the  university  at  Erfurt.  The  studies  then 
held  in  the  highest  estimation  at  Erfurt  were  the  scholastic  phi- 
losophy and  logic ;  and  so,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  his 
instructors,  he  grappled  at  once  with  the  subtilties  of  Occam,  Duns 
Scotus,  and  Thomas  Aquinas.  But  he  could  not  be  satisfied  with 
pursuits  such  as  these  ;  and  he  applied  himself  chiefly  to  the  study 
of  the  Latin  classics.  He  was  at  this  period  a  thoughtful  young 
man,  and  continually  invoked  the  divine  blessing  on  his  labors. 
It  had  become  a  proverb  with  him,  when  not  more  than  eighteen 
years  old,  '•'■Bene  precasse  est  bene  studuisse  "  ("  To  pray  well  is  the 
better  half  of  study  "). 

When  Luther  had  been  two  years  at  Erfurt,  as  he  was  one  day 
in  the  library,  turning  over  books,  and  reading  the  titlepages  of 
different  authors,  he  accidentally  came  upon  a  Latin  Bible.  It  was 
a  rare  book.  He  had  never  seen  one  before  in  his  life.  He  was 
astonished  to  find  that  the  Bible  contained  so  many  more  books 
and  chapters  than  he  had  before  heard  of.  With  feelings  unuttera- 
ble he  turned  over  its  pages,  and  exclaimed,  "  Oh  that  I  might 
have  such  a  book  for  my  own  !  " 

The  same  year  in  which  Luther  found  the  Bible,  he  took  his  first 
academical  degree.  Tavo  years  later,  he  became  master  of  arts,  and 
doctor  in  philosophy.  The  occasion  was  one  of  high  honor,  and 
of  general  rejoicing  among  his  friends. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  829 

In  accordance  with  what  he  knew  to  be  the  wishes  of  his  father, 
he  now  entered  upon  the  study  of  law.  But  God  had  a  different 
purpose  respecting  him ;  and  this  purpose  he  began  early  to  mani- 
fest. The  conscience  of  Luther  was  not  at  ease.  He  knew  that 
religion  was  the  one  thing  needful,  and  that  his  first  care  should  be 
for  the  salvation  of  his  soul ;  and  he  was  led  to  resolve  that  he 
would  do  all  in  his  power  to  secure  a  well-grounded  hope  of  heaven. 
The  providences  of  God  occurring  around  him  went  to  confirm  him 
in  this  resolution.  He  was  deeply  affected  by  the  sudden  death  of 
one  of  his  college  friends,  but  more  so  by  a  terrible  storm  of  thun- 
der, which  had  well-nigh  proved  fatal  to  himself.  As  the  winds 
roared,  and  the  lightnings  flashed,  and  the  bolt  of  heaven  struck 
close  by  his  side,  he  fell  on  his  knees,  thinking  that  his  hour  had 
come.  And  here  he  made  a  solemn  vow,  that,  if  God  would  appear 
for  his  deliverance,  he  would  forsake  the  world,  and  devote  himself 
entirely  to  his  service.  God  did  appear  for  his  deliverance  ;  and 
Luther,  in  his  present  ignorance,  knew  no  way  in  which  his  vow 
could  be  performed,  and  that  holiness  which  he  sought  could  be 
secured,  but  by  entering  a  cloister.  He  must  literally  forsake  the 
world,  and  bury  himself  in  the  seclusion  of  some  one  of  the  mo- 
nastic orders. 

The  next  we  hear  of  him,  he  is  in  the  convent  of  the  Augustin- 
ian  friars  at  Erfurt.  The  friends  of  Luther  were  greatly  surprised 
at  what  he  had  done  ;  and  more  especially  was  this  the  case  with 
his  honored  father.  He  had  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  sup- 
port his  son  at  the  university,  hoping  to  see  him  a  barrister,  a  states- 
man, allied  in  marriage  with  the  rich  and  the  noble,  and  filling  a 
large  space  in  the  eyes  of  the  world ;  and  now,  by  one  fatal  step, 
all  his  ambitious  projects  were  overthrown.  He  wrote  an  angry 
letter  to  his  son,  in  which  he  threatened  him,  if  he  persisted,  with 
the  entire  loss  of  his  favor,  and  with  being  utterly  disinherited  from 
a  father's  love.  After  a  while,  however,  the  feelings  of  the  father 
softened,  and  he  reluctantly  submitted  to  that  which  he  had  no 
power  to  avert. 

The  monks,  at  the  first,  were  exceedingly  complaisant  to  the 
new-comer,  applauding  his  decision,  and  his  renunciation  of  the 
world.  Ere  long,  however,  they  began  to  treat  him  harshly,  and 
to  impose  upon  him  the  most  menial  services.  He  must  open  and 
shut  the  gates,  wind  up  the  clock,  sweep  the  church,  and  clean 
the  rooms ;  and,  when  this  work  was  done,  he  must  take  his  bag, 
and  go  through  the  streets  of  Erfurt,  begging  meat  and  bread  from 


830  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

door  to  door.  But  Luther  bore  it  all  witli  patience  ;  and  the  more 
so,  as  he  hoped,  by  self-mortification,  to  acqaiire  that  humility  and 
holiness  in  pursuit  of  which  he  had  become  an  inmate  of  the  clois- 
ter. ■  His  friends  in  the  university,  however,  took  pit}^  upon  him ; 
and,  at  their  intercession,  the  severity  of  his  treatment  in  the  con- 
vent was  relaxed.  Servile  employments  were  no  longer  exacted  of 
him,  and  he  was  permitted  to  engage  in  liis  favorite  studies. 

It  was  now  that  he  began  to  read  the  works  of  Augustine  and 
the  other  fathers  of  the  Church.  He  found  also  in  the  cloister  a 
Bible  fastened  with  a  chain ;  and  to  this  chained  Bible  he  had  re- 
course daily.  Sometimes  he  would  occupy  himself  in  committing 
to  memory  select  portions  of  Scripture ;  and  then  he  would  medi- 
tate all  day  upon  a  single  verse.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  began 
to  study  the  sacred  books  in  their  original  tongues,  and  thus  pre- 
pare himself  (without  knowing  it)  for  the  most  perfect  and  useful 
of  all  his  works,  —  his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  German. 

But  it  was  not  so  much  fot  study  that  Luther  had  abandoned 
the  university,  and  immured  himself  in  the  recesses  of  the  cloister : 
it  was  rather  that  he  might  crucify  the  flesh,  secure  the  remission 
of  sins,  and  be  made  holy.  He  was  very  punctual,  therefore,  in 
the  observance  of  all  the  prescribed  penances  and  rules.  He  spared 
neither  fastings,  macerations,  nor  vigils.  On  one  occasion,  he  passed 
seven  whole  weeks  almost  entirely  without  sleep.  A  little  bread 
and  a  single  herring  were  often  his  only  food.  But  the  more  he 
tortured  himself,  the  more  anxious  he  became.  He  had  formed 
some  conception  now  of  what  it  is  to  be  holy ;  and  he  was  distressed 
at  finding  neither  in  his  heart  nor  his  hfe  any  appearance  of  that 
holiness  which  he  saw  to  be  needful.  Those  around  him  directed 
him  to  perform  good  works,  and  in  this  way  to  satisfy  the  divine 
justice  ;  but  "what  good  works,"  said  he,  "  can  proceed  out  of  a 
heart  like  mine  ?  How  can  I,  with  works  polluted  even  m  their 
source  and  motive,  stand  before  a  holy  Judge  ?  " 

Luther  at  this  period  was  greatly  agitated  and  distressed.  He 
moved  like  a  spectre  through  the  long  aisles  of  his  cloister,  utter- 
ing only  sighs  and  groans.  He  found,  to  his  sorrow,  that  although, 
by  entering  the  convent,  he  had  procured  a  change  of  raiment,  he 
had  experienced  no  change  of  heart.  He  performed  penances,  re- 
peated prayers,  and  confessed  daily ;  but  all  was  of  no  use.  The 
burden  was  still  upon  his  spirit ;  and  nought  that  he  had  power  to 
do  could  remove  it.  Under  the  anguish  of  his  mind,  his  bodily 
powers  failed,  his  strength  forsook  him;  and  he  was  rapidly  drawing 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  831 

to  the  gates  of  death.  On  one  occasion,  he  was  found  on  the  floor 
in  a  state  of  entire  unconsciousness ;  and  it  was  a  long  time  before 
he  could  be  restored. 

But  the  day  of  his  deliverance  was  at  hand.  John  Staupitz,  the 
vicar-general  of  all  tlie  Augustinians  in  Germany,  made  a  visit  to 
Erfurt.  He  had  passed  through  troubles  very  similar  to  those  of 
Luther,  and  had  found  joy  and  peace  in  Christ.  He  was  the  very 
person,  therefore,  to  deal  with  Luther ;  and  he  instructed  him  in 
the  most  prudent  and  faithful  manner.  He  directed  his  thoughts 
away  from  himself,  and  led  them  up  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  "  In- 
stead of  torturing  j^ourself  for  your  faults,  cast  yourself  into  the 
arms  of  the  Redeemer.  Trust  in  him,  —  in  the  spotless  righteous- 
ness of  his  life,  in  the  expiatory  sacrifice  of  his  death.  Do  not 
shrink  away  from  God.  He  is  not  against  you  :  it  is  you,  rather, 
who  are  estranged  and  averse  from  him." 

These  were  strange  words  to  the  ears  of  Luther.  He  listened 
and  pondered,  and  listened  again.  He  flew  to  the  Scriptures,  and 
consulted  all  the  passages  relating  to  the  subjects  of  conversion  and 
justification ;  and  he  found  that  it  was  even  so  as  his  friend  had 
said.  A  new  light  now  began  to  enter  his  mind,  and  new  consola- 
tions sprang  up  in  his  soul.  "Yes,"  he  exclaimed,  "it  is  Christ 
himself  that  comforts  me  by  these  sweet  and  precious  words.  Be- 
fore, there  was  nought  in  the  Bible  more  bitter  .to  me  than  the 
thought  of  repentance  ;  but  now  there  is  nothing  more  pleasant  and 
sweet.  All  those  Scriptures  which  once  alarmed  me  seem  now  to 
flow  together,  and  smile  and  play  around  my  heart.  Oh,  how  blessed 
are  all  God's  precepts  when  we  read  them,  not  in  books  alone,  but 
m  the  faith  of  Christ !  " 

But  these  consolations  of  Luther  were  not  without  seasons  of 
interruption.  Sin  was  again  felt  upon  his  tender  conscience  ;  and 
then  he  relapsed  into  his  former  troubles.  "  Oh,  my  sin,  my  sin  !  " 
he  one  day  exclaimed  in  the  presence  of  Staupitz,  and  in  a  tone 
of  the  bitterest  grief.  "  Well,"  replied  the  latter,  "  would  you  be 
only  the  semblance  of  a  sinner,  and  have  only  the  semblance  of  a 
Saviour  ?  Know  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  those  who  are 
real  and  great  sinners  and  deserving  of  utter  condemnation." 

Luther  had  trouble  at  this  time,  not  only  with  the  -state  of  his 
heart,  but  with  some  of  the  higher  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  He 
wished  to  penetrate  into  the  deep  'things  of  God ;  to  unveil  his 
mysteries,  and  comprehend  the  incomprehensible.  But  his  friend 
Staupitz  checked  him.    He  told  him  he  must  not  attempt  to  fathom 


832  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

God,  but  confine  himself  to  what  he  has  revealed  of  his  character 
in  Christ.  It  is  impossible  to  understand  God  except  through 
Christ. 

Before  leaving  the  convent,  the  vicar-general  gave  Luther  a 
Bible,  and  directed  him  to  the  diligent  and  persevering  study  of  il. 
Better  advice  than  this  was  never  given ;  nor  was  any  advice  ever 
more  faithfully  followed.  The  mind  of  Luther  was  now  in  a  state 
to  receive  and  love  the  truth.  It  was  to  him  as  cold  water  to  a 
fainting  soul.  The  soil  of  his  heart  had  been  thoroughly  ploughed ; 
and  in  it  the  incorruptible  seed  took  deep  root.  When  Staupitz 
left  Erfurt,  a  new  and  glorious  light  had  risen  upon  the  mind  of 
Luther. 

Shortly  after  this,  Luther  was  ordained  priest,  and  began  to 
preach  in  the  neighboring  parishes  and  convents.  At  this  time  his 
father  became  reconciled  to  him,  and  made  liim  a  present  of 
twenty  florins. 

But  the  time  had  come  when  he  was  to  be  transferred  to  a  wider 
sphere  of  usefulness  than  any  he  had  ever  thought  of.  On  the 
recommendation  of  Staupitz,  Frederic  the  Wise,  elector  of  Saxony, 
appointed  him  to  a  professorship  in  his  recently-established  univer- 
sity at  Wittenberg.  Luther  thought  it  his  duty  to  accept  the  ap- 
pointment, and  left  the  cloister  at  Erfurt  in  1508,  when  he  had 
been  there  about  three  years. 

Arrived  at  Wittenberg,  Luther  took  up  his  abode  in  the  con- 
vent of  the  Augustinians  ;  for,  though  now  a  professor,  he  ceased 
not  to  be  a  monk.  It  devolved  on  him  to  teach  physics  and  dia- 
lectics, and,  of  course,  to  engage  renewedly  in  the  study  of  these 
branches.  In  his  present  state  of  mind,  this  was  to  him  a  hard 
necessity ;  but  he  submitted  to  it.  He  improved  every  opportunity, 
however,  to  increase  his  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  more  especially 
in  its  original  language  ;  and  such  was  his  success  in  studies  of  this 
nature,  that  he  was  soon  honored  with  the  degree  of  bachelor  of 
divinity,  and  directed  to  deliver  a  lecture  every  day  on  the  Bible. 
He  commenced  with  the  Psalms  and  the  Ej)istle  to  the  Romans, 
and  found  the  exercise  a  profitable  one,  not  only  to  his  pupils,  but 
also  to  himself.  He  gained  a  deeper  insight  into  the  method  of  a 
sinner's  justification,  and  into  the  springs  and  motives  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  The  fame  of  his  teaching  soon  began  to  spread ;  and 
students,  in  great  numbers,  were  drawn  together  to  enjoy  it.  It 
was  predicted  at  this  time  by  one  of  his  hearers,  "  This  monk  will 
put  all  the  doctors  to  the  rout.  He  will  introduce  a  new  style  of 
doctrine,  and  reform  the  whole  Church." 


THE    REFORMATION    IN   GERMANY. —  LUTHER.  833 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  his  friend  Staupitz,  Luther  com- 
menced preaching  at  Wittenberg,  —  first  in  the  little  old  church 
of  the  Augustinians,  and  then  in  the  great  church  of  the  city. 
His  labors  here  were  equally  commanding  and  attractive.  "  Pos- 
sessing," says  one  of  his  adversaries,  "  a  lively  intelligence  and  a 
retentive  memory,  and  speaking' his  mother-tongue  with  remarka- 
ble fluency,  Luther  is  surpassed  in  eloquence  by  none  of  his  con- 
temporaries. He  affects  the  minds  of  his  hearers  in  a  surprising 
manner,  and  carries  them  away  whithersoever  he  pleases." 

It  was  while  he  was  thus  diligent!}^  pursuing  his  labors,  both  in 
the  university  and  in  the  church,  that  Luther  was  interrupted  by 
an  appointment  to  go  on  an  embassy  to  Rome.  A  difference  had 
arisen  between  several  of  the  Augustinian  convents  and  the  vicar- 
general  Staupitz ;  and  he  was  commissioned  to  go  and  lay  the  mat- 
ter before  the  pontiff,  and  effect,  if  possible,  a  reconciliation.  He 
commenced  his  journey,  and  crossed  the  Alps  ;  but  no  sooner  had 
lie  arrived  in  Italy  than  he  found  matter  of  surprise  and  scandal  at 
every  step.  He  lodged  at  a  convent  of  the  Benedictines  in  Lom- 
bardy.  Here  he  found  the  buildings,  the  furniture,  the  provisions 
of  the  table,  and  the  style  of  living,  all  on  a  scale  of  the  utmost 
extravagance.  Even  on  Friday,  the  table  was  loaded  with  an 
abundance  of  meats.  "  The  pope  and  the  Church  forbid  such 
things,"  said  he ;  and  threatened  the  monks,  in  case  they  persisted, 
to  report  their  irregularities  at  Rome.  They  were  offended  at  his 
rebuke,  and  intended  privately  to  put  him  out  of  the  way ;  but  he 
left  them,  and  pursued  his  journey. 

His  feelings,  as  he  approached  the  Eternal  City,  were  raised  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm.  Here  had  been  the  home  of 
Plautus  and  Virgil,  and  all  those  renowned  scholars  of  antiquity 
whose  works  and  whose  history  had  so  often  stirred  his  heart ; 
here,  too,  were  the  scene  of  Paul's  labors  and  sufferings,  the  Church 
to  which  he  had  addressed  his  most  labored  epistle,  the  earth 
which  drank  his  blood,  and  with  which  had  been  mingled  the 
ashes  of  a  thousand  martyrs ;  and  here  was  the  queen  of  all  the 
churches,  the  seat  of  the  holy  vicar  of  Christ,  the  metropolis  of 
the  whole  Christian  world.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that  Luther 
was  at  this  time  a  most  sincere  and  devout  Romanist ;  and  he 
had  supposed  that  Rome  must  exceed  all  other  churches  as  much 
in  sanctity  as  in  dignity ;  that,  as  it  was  the  most  sacred  of  all 
places  under  heaven,  so  it  must  be  proportionally  the  most  holy. 

The  impressions  of  Luther  as  to  the  superior  sanctity  of  Rome 

53 


834  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

continued,  for  a  time,  after  his  entrance  into  the  city ;  but  as  he 
prolonged  his  stay,  and  mingled  more  freely  with  the  priests  and 
people,  his  faith  as  to  its  transcendent  holiness  was  sorely  shaken. 
He  was  shocked  at  the  terrible  state  of  morals  in  the  city,  exceed- 
ing in  depravity  all  that  he  had  ever  heard  or  dreamed  of.  He  was 
shocked  at  the  profane  and  heartless  formality  with  which  the 
clergy  celebrated  the  sacraments.  As  he  mingled  with  the  higher 
ecclesiastics,  he  noticed  the  same  heartless  mockery  of  sacred 
things  which  he  had  before  observed  in  the  inferior  clergy ;  and, 
when  he  approached  the  pontifical  throne,  he  saw  nothing  better. 
The  bloodthirsty  Julius  H.  was  seated  there,  filling  Italy  with 
carnage  and  desolation,  and  hurling  the  firebrands  of  war  and  de- 
struction throughout  the  earth. 

It  was  the  least  of  the  advantages  of  this  embassy  to  Rome,  that 
Luther  accomplished  successfully  the  immediate  object  of  his  mis- 
sion. The  veil  of  reputed  sanctity  was  torn  away  from  the  holy 
city,  and  he  was  enabled  to  discover  its  real  character.  Instead 
of  superior  hohness,  as  he  had  before  imagined,  he  saw  it  all  pu- 
trid in  its  own  corruptions  ;  and  he  turned  away  from  it  with  loath- 
ing and  disgust.  Luther  was  fully  sensible  of  the*  benefit  he  had 
received  from  this  visit,  and  said  at  a  later  period,  "  Not  for  a  hun- 
dred thousand  florins  would  I  have  missed  the  opportunity  of  see- 
ing Rome." 

On  his  return  to  Wittenberg,  Luther  took  the  degree  of  doctor 
in  divinity,  and  with  special  reference  to  his  vocation  as  a  teacher 
of  the  Bible.  By  a  public  and  solemn  oath,  he  now  bound  and 
engaged  himself  "  to  teach  the  Scriptures  faithfully,  to  preach 
them  in  purity,  to  study  them  all  his  days,  and  to  defend  them, 
so  far  as  God  should  enable  him,  by  disputation  and  writing,  against 
false  teachers."  To  this  solemn  engagement  he  often  referred  in 
subsequent  life  in  justification  of  his  resistance  to  the  superstitions 
of  Rome. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Luther  commenced  his  attack  upon  the 
philosophers  and  schoolmen  Avhom  lie  had  studied  so  deeply,  and 
who  reigned  supreme  in  all  the  universities.  He  also  united  with 
Reuchlin,  Erasmus,  Hutten,  and  other  men  of  distinction,  in  their 
controversy  with  the  monks.  He  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  Spalatin,  who  was  chaplain  and  private  secretary  to  the  elec- 
tor, and  was  the  only  medium  through  which  Luther  could  have 
access  to  his  sovereign's  ear. 

The  preaching  of  Luther  at  this  time  was  "  in  demonstration  of 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  835 

the  Spirit  and  of  power."  He  preached  against  the  multiform 
superstitions  of  the  age,  endeavoring  with  a  strong  hand  to  cast 
down  these  false  gods,  one  after  another,  to  the  ground.  He  la- 
bored to  show  the  difference  between  the  law  and  the  gospel,  and 
to  refute  the  error,  so  predominant  in  that  age,  that  men  by  their 
own  works  can  obtain  forgiveness,  and  stand  accepted  before  God. 
"■  The  desire  to  justify  ourselves,"  said  he,  "  is  the  spring  of  all  our 
distress  of  heart :  but  he  who  receives  Christ  by  faith  hath  peace 
with  God  ;  and  not  only  peace,  but  purity  and  sanctification.  All 
sanctification  is  the  fruit  of  faith.  It  gives  us  a  new  heart,  and 
makes  us  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus." 

In  the  3-ear  1  ")1G,  during  the  temporary  absence  of  Vicar-General 
Staupitz,  Luther  was  appointed  to  take  his  place,  and  visit  the 
monasteries  in  that  part  of  Germany.  In  the  course  of  this  visita- 
tion, he  came  to  Erfurt,  —  the  place  where,  eleven  years  before, 
he  had  wound  up  the  clock,  opened  the  gates,  and  swept  the  floor, 
of  the  church.  His  advice  to  the  monks,  here  and  everywhere, 
was  judicious  and  scriptural,  and  left  a  most  favorable  impression. 
"Do  not,"  said  he,  "join  yourselves  to  Aristotle,  or  to  the  other 
teachers  of  a  misleading  philosophy ;  but  apply  yourselves  to  the 
study  of  the  divine  Word.  Seek  not  salvation  in  your  own  strength 
and  good  works,  but  in  the  grace  of  God  and  the  merits  of  Jesus." 
This  tour  among  the  monks  was  a  very  fruitful  one.  Some  of  the 
most  strenuous  defenders  of  the  Reformation  eame  forth,  subse- 
quently, from  the  Augustinian  convents. 

The  plague,  at  this  time,  broke  out  at  Wittenberg  ;  and  many  of 
the  teachers  and  students  left  the  toAvn.  Luther  was  urged  to  flee  ; 
but  he  refused.  "  If  the  plague  spreads,"  says  he,  "  I  will  send 
the  brethren  away  ;  but,  for  my  own  part,  I  am  placed  here :  nor 
does  obedience  allow  me  to  leave  my  post  until  He  who  called  me 
hither  shall  please  to  call  me  away.  Not  that  I  am  above  the  fear 
of  death ;  for  I  am  not :  but  I  trust  the  Lord  will  deliver  me  from 
the  fear  of  it  when  it  comes."  Such  were  the  courage  and  resolu- 
tion of  Luther  before  he  commenced  his  assault  upon  Rome.  No 
wonder  he  did  not  shrink  through  fear  of  death  at  a  later  period. 

It  was  a  custom  of  the  philosophers  and  theologians  in  these 
times  to  awaken  interest  and  provoke  discussion  by  publishing 
theses  on  controverted  topics.  Luther's  first  theses  of  which  we 
have  any  account  were  put  forth  in  the  year  1516,  and  led  to  a 
very  earnest  discussion  of  the  doctrines  of  depravity,  grace,  and 
salvation  by  Christ  alone. 


536  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

In  the  summer  of  1517,  he  published  ninety-nine  propositions  on 
the  kindred  subjects  of  free  tvill  and  grace  ;  in  which  it  was  his 
object,  not  to  deny  the  free  agency  of  man,  but  to  insist  that  man, 
in  his  natural  state,  is  under  what  the  Scriptures  call  the  bondage 
of  corruption,  and  needs  the  grace  of  God  to  set  him  free.  These 
propositions  were  sent  to  several  of  the  universities ;  but  they 
aAvakened  little  interest,  and  led  to  no  controversy,  —  a  plain 
proof  that  the  Romish  Church  at  this  period  was  not  so  much 
concerned  about  the  doctrines  of  its  members  as  about  its  own 
revenues  and  supremacy.  A  person  might  hold  and  teach  almost 
any  thing  in  the  way  of  doctrine ;  and  if  he  was  careful  not  to 
touch,  as  Erasmus  said,  either  "  the  pope's  crown  or  the  monks' 
bellies,"  he  was  pretty  likely  to  escape  unhurt. 

But  the  time  had  come  when  Luther  regarded  himself  as  called 
upon  to  touch  these  tender  points.  For  several  centuries,  the  sale 
of  indulgences  had  been  carried  on,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
in  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  common  method  was  to  "  farm  out" 
the  indulgences ;  for  the  Papal  court  could  not  wait  to  have  the 
money  collected  and  conveyed  from  different  countries  :  and  there 
were  wealthy  merchants  who  stood  ready  to  purchase  the  indul- 
gences for  particular  provinces,  and  would  be  sure  to  sell  again  so 
as  to  secure  a  profit  to  themselves.  Leo  X.  was  advanced  to  the 
pontifical  chair  in  the  year  1513,  and  by  his  extravagance,  and  love 
of  show,  soon  emptied  liis  coffers,  and  reduced  himself  to  pecu- 
niary straits.  In  these  circumstances,  and  under  jDretence  of  raising 
money  to  complete  St.  Peter's  Church,  he  commenced,  on  a  large 
scale,  the  dispensing  of  indulgences.  The  promulgation  of  them 
throughout  Germany  was  intrusted  to  Albert,  archbishop  of  Mentz, 
who  was  himself  to  receive  a  share  of  the  profits.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  find  some  one  of  sufficient  address  and  impudence  to  hawk 
and  sell  the  indulgences  ;  and  John  Tetzel,  a  Dominican  friar  Avho 
had  had  some  experience  in  such  matters,  hastened  to  Mentz,  and 
tendered  his  services  to  the  archbishop.  He  was  accepted  ;  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  office  is  thus  described  by  a 
recent  historian :  — 

Tetzel  "  drove  through  the  country  in  a  gay  carriage,  escorted 
by  three  horsemen  in  great  state,  and  spending  freely.  When  he 
approached  a  town,  a  messenger  was  sent  forward  to  the  chief 
magistrate,  announcing,  '  The  grace  of  God  and  of  the  holy  father 
is  at  your  gates ! '  Instantly,  every  person  in  the  place  was  in 
motion.    The  priests,  the  monks,  the  nuns,  the  council,  the  school- 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  837 

masters,  persons  of  the  different  trades  with  their  flags  flying,  men 
and  women,  young  and  old,  went  forth  to  meet  the  holy  peddlers, 
with  lighted  tapers  in  their  hands.  Salutations  being  exchanged, 
the  whole  procession  moved  towards  the  church.  The  pontiff's 
bull  of  grace  was  borne  in  front  on  a  velvet  cushion  or  a  cloth  of 
gold.  The  vender  of  indulgences  followed,  supporting  a  large 
red  wooden  cross.  With  the  sound  of  organs  and  other  musical 
instruments,  the  whole  company  was  received  into  the  church. 
The  red  cross  was  erected  in  front  of  the  altar,  on  which  was 
hung  the  pope's  arms,  and  before  which  multitudes  came  every 
day  to  present  their  homage."  * 

Tetzel  at  this  time  was  somewhat  advanced  in  life  ;  but  his  voice 
was  sonorous,  and  he  seemed  to  be  yet  in  the  prime  of  his  strength. 
His  port  and  equipage  were  imposing ;  but  his  moral  character 
was  notoriously  bad.  He  had  been  convicted  at  Innspruck  of  such 
abominable  profligacy,  that  he  came  near  paying  the  forfeit  of  his 
life.  The  Emperor  Maximilian  ordered  that  he  should  be  sewed 
up  in  a  sack,  and  thrown  into  the  river ;  but  the  elector  of  Saxony 
interceded  for  him,  and  procured  his  pardon.  There  could  hardly 
have  been  found  in  all  Germany  a  man  better  fitted  for  the  trafiic 
in  which  he  was  engaged.  He  had  the  greatest  effrontery ;  no 
means  came  amiss  to  him ;  and  he  had  an  admirable  tact  in  the 
invention  of  stories  with  which  to  amuse  the  common  people. 

As  soon  as  the  red  cross  was  elevated,  Tetzel  mounted  the 
pulpit,  and  began  to  exalt  the  efficacy  of  indulgences.  "  Indul- 
gences," said  he,  "  are  the  most  precious  and  sublime  of  God's 
gifts.  This  cross  (pointing  to  the  red  cross)  has  as  much  efficacy 
as  the  cross  of  Christ.  Draw  near,  and  I  will  give  letters,  duly 
sealed,  by  which  even  the  sins  which  you  shall  hereafter  desire  to 
commit  shall  be  forgiven  you.  I  would  not  exchange  my  privilege 
for  that  of  St.  Peter  in  heaven ;  for  I  have  saved  more  souls  by 
my  indulgences  than  he  ever  did  by  his  sermons.  There  is  no  sin 
so  great  but  that  the  indulgence  can  remit  it.  Even  if  any  one 
(which  is  doubtless  impossible)  should  ravish  the  Holy  Virgin, 
mother  of  God,  let  him  pay  largely,  a«d  it  shall  be  forgiven  him. 

"But  more  than  this :  indulgences  save  not  only  the  living,  but 
the  dead.  The  very  moment  that  the  money  tinkles  in  the  chest, 
the  soul  leaps  up  from  purgatory,  and  rises  to  heaven.  Hearken, 
all  ye  who  hear  me,  to  the  cry  of  your  departed  friends,  coming 
up  to  you  from  the  bottomless  pit :  '  We  are  enduring  the  most 

*  D'Aubigne's  Hist.,  vol.  i.  p.  209. 


838  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

horrible  torments  !  A  small  alms  would  deliver  us  !  You  can  give 
it,  and  yet  you  will  not ! '  O  senseless  people,  and  almost  like 
beasts !  This  day,  heaven  is  on  all  sides  open.  Do  you  now  refuse 
to  enter?  This  day  you  may  redeem  many  souls.  With  ten 
groschen,  you  can  deliver  your  father  from  purgatory ;  and  yet  you 
will  not  do  it !  " 

Having  exhausted  the  subject  in  this  direction,  the  preacher  then 
turned  to  another  topic.  "  Do  you  know  why  our  lord  the  pope 
distributes  so  rich  a  grace  ?  The  dilapidated  Church  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul  is  to  be  restored.  That  church  contains  the  bodies  of 
the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  also  of  the  martyrs.  In  the 
present  condition  of  the  edifice,  those  sacred  bodies,  alas  !  are  con- 
tinually trodden  down,  flooded,  polluted,  and  rotting  in  hail  and 
rain.  Ah !  shall  those  holy  ashes  be  suffered  any  longer  to  remain 
thus  degraded?  " 

The  motive  here  presented  never  failed  to  produce  an  impression. 
Every  one  was  desirous  of  aiding  the  impoverished  pontiff  in 
sheltering  the  exposed  bodies  of  Peter  and  Paul.  The  preacher 
closed  by  impiously  perverting  a  passage  from  our  Saviour: 
"  Blessed  are  the  eyes  which  see  the  things  that  ye  see :  for  I  tell 
you  that  many  prophets  and  kings  have  desired  to  see  those  things 
which  ye  see,  and  have  not  seen  them ;  and  to  hear  those  things 
which  ye  hear,  and  have  not  heard  them  "  (Luke  x.  23,  24). 

When  the  sermon  was  finished,  Tetzel  would  point  to  his  strong 
box,  and  cry  out  to  the  people,  "  Now  bring  on  your  money  !  bring 
money,  money!"  —  "He  uttered  this  cry,"  says  Luther,  "with 
such  a  dreadful  •  bellowing,  that  one  might  have  thought  it  pro- 
ceeded from  a  wild  bull." 

The  people  now  flocked  in  crowds  to  the  assistant  confessors. 
They  came,  not  with  contrite  hearts,  but  with  money  in  their 
hands. 

When  the  people  had  confessed,  they  hastened  to  the  vender. 
He  carefully  scrutinized  those  who  came,  examining  their  step,  their 
manner,  their  attire ;  and  demanded  a  sum  in  proportion  to  their 
apparent  circumstances.  Kings,  queens,  princes,  archbishops,  and 
bishops  were  charged,  for  an  ordinary  indulgence,  twenty -five  duc- 
ats ;  abbots,  counts,  and  barons,  ten  qUicats ;  other  nobles,  and  all 
who  had  an  annual  income  of  five  hundred  florins,  six  ducats.  For 
particular  sins,  Tetzel  had  a  private  scale.  Polygamy  was  charged 
six  ducats ;  sacrilege  and  perjury,  nine  ;  murder,  eight ;  and  witch- 
craft, two. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  839 

With  all  his  effrontery,  Tetzel  found  some  dealers  who  were  too 
cunning  for  him.  When  he  was  at  Leipsic,  a  Saxon  gentleman 
inquired  if  he  was  authorized  to  pardon  sins  of  intention,  or  such 
as  the  applicant  intended  to  commit.  "  Assuredly,"  answered  Tet- 
zel :  "  full  power  is  given  me  by  the  pope  to  do  so."  —  "  Well,  then," 
replied  the  gentleman,  "•  I  wish  to  be  revenged  on  one  of  my  ene- 
mies, without  attempting  his  life.  I  will  pay  you  ten  crowns  for  a 
letter  of  indulgence  that  shall  bear  me  harmless."  Tetzel  de- 
murred ;  but  at  length  a  bargain  was  concluded  for  thirty  crowns. 
Shortly  after,  Tetzel  departed  from  Leipsic  on  his  way  to  Juter- 
boch.  The  gentleman,  with  his  servants,  waylaid  him  in  a  wood, 
gave  him  a  sound  drubbing,  and  carried  off  his  chest  of  money. 
Tetzel  clamored  against  this  act  of  violence,  and  brought  an  action 
before  the  judges.  But  the  gentleman  produced  his  indulgence, 
signed  by  Tetzel  himself,  which  exempted  him  beforehand  from  all 
responsibility;  and  by  this  means  he  was  acquitted. 

By  this  abominable  traffic,  the  minds  of  the  people  were  greatly 
agitated;  and  the  subject  was  everywhere  discussed.  Opinions 
were  divided,  —  some  believing,  and  others  disbelieving ;  but,  by  the 
sober  part  of  the  German  people,  the  Avhole  system  of  indulgences 
was  rejected  with  abhorrence.  Some  turned  it  into  an  invincible 
argument  against  the  benevolence  of  the  pontiff.  "  Why,"  said 
they,  "  does  not  his  Holiness  deliver  at  once  all  the  souls  from 
purgatory  by  a  holy  charity,  since  he  is  able  to  do  it  for  the  sake 
of  perishable  gain?  "  Yet  no  bishop  or  divine  dared  to  lift  a  finger 
in  opposition  to  all  this  quackery  and  deceit.  The  people  were  in 
suspense  and  trouble,  and  waiting  to  see  if  God  would  not  raise  up 
some  powerful  instrument  for  a  work  which  all  saw  was  needed  to 
be  done.  We  shall  see  how  Luther  regarded  and  treated  the  sub- 
ject in  our  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

THE    REFORMATION   IN    GERMANY.  LIFE    OF    LUTHER    CONTINUED. 

LUTHER  first  heard  of  the  traffic  of  Tetzel  in  the  year  1516, 
while  he  was  on  liis  tour  of  visitation  to  the  convents.  Some 
of  the  extravagant  expressions  of  Tetzel  being  reported  to  him,  he 
exclaimed,  "  God  willing,  I  will  make  a  hole  in  that  drum." 

Tetzel  was  forbidden  by  the  elector  to  preach  up  liis  indulgences 
in  Saxony ;  but  he  approached  as  near  to  the  boundary  as  he  could. 
He  set  up  his  red  cross  at  Juterboch,  which  was  onl}^  four  miles 
from  Wittenberg,  and  proclaimed  in  the  strongest  terms  the  value 
of  his  merchandise.  The  people  flocked  in  crowds  from  Witten- 
berg to  hear  him. 

Shortly  after  this,  several  people  who  had  procured  indulgences 
presented  themselves  before  Luther  for  absolution.  They  confessed 
themselves  guilty  of  great  irregularities,  such  as  adultery,  drunken- 
ness, fraud,  &c. ;  and  declared  their  purpose  of  persisting  in  these 
practices.  Still  they  demanded  absolution  ;  and,  when  questioned 
as  to  the  ground  of  such  a  claim,  they  produced  their  letters  of 
indulgence.  But  Luther  told  them  that  he  should  pay  no  regard 
to  such  letters ;  and  assured  them,  that,  unless  they  turned  from  their 
evil  ways,  they  must  all  perish.  They  professed  to  be  greatly  sur- 
prised at  this,  and  renewed  their  application.  But  Luther  was  im- 
movable. They  must  "  cease  to  do  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well," 
or  no  absolution.  These  people  now  returned  to  Tetzel,  and  told 
him  that  a  monk  at  Wittenberg  treated  his  letters  Avith  contempt. 
At  this,  Tetzel  literally  bellowed  with  anger.  He  preached  on  the 
subject,  using  the  most  insulting  expressions  and  the  most  terrific 
anathemas.  He  even  kindled  a  fire  in  the  grand  square,  as  if  to 
burn  the  heretics  who  presumed  to  oppose  his  holy  indulgences. 

Luther  also  preached  on  the  subject,  setting  forth  the  freeness 
of  the  gospel  salvation,  and  the  utter  inefficacy  of  all  human  en- 
deavors to  purchase  or  merit  the  forgiveness  of  sins.    He  earnestly 

840 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  841 

dissuaded  his  hearers  from  having  any  thing  to  do  with  Papal  in- 
dulgences, or  placing  the  least  reliance  upon  them.  His  sermon 
Avas  printed,  and  made  a  deep  impression  upon  all  who  read  it. 

Still  Tetzel  continued  his  odious  traffic  and  his  blasphemous  ad- 
dresses to  the  people.  And  now  what  shall  Luther  do  ?  Shall  he 
submit,  and  keep  silence  ?  or  shall  he  speak  out  in  a  more  public 
and  solemn  manner  than  before  ?  His  resolution  was  soon  formed. 
The  Feast  of  All  Saints  was  at  hand,  when  many  people  would  be 
collected  at  Wittenberg.  On  the  evening  before  the  festival,  — 
the  evening  of  the  31st  of  October,  1517,  —  without  giving  to  any 
of  his  friends  the  slightest  intimation  of  his  plan,  Luther  went 
boldly  to  the  church,  towards  which  crowds  of  pilgrims  were  al- 
ready flocking,  and  affixed  to  the  door  ninety-five  theses,  or  prop- 
ositions, in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  indulgences.  He  also 
announced  that  he  would  be  prepared  the  next  day  to  defend  them 
at  the  university  against  all  opposers.  Luther,  at  this  time,  had  no 
thought  of  attacking  the  pope  or  the  church ;  for  he  had  firm  faith 
in  both :  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  he  should  have  both  in  his 
favor  in  his  attempts  to  restrain  the  effrontery  of  such  men  as 
Tetzel. 

On  the  night  previous  to  the  posting  of  the  theses  on  the  door  of 
the  church,  the  elector  of  Saxony  had  a  remarkable  dream.  He 
dreamed  that  God  sent  a  monk  to  him  with  a  request  that  he 
would  allow  him  to  write  something  on  the  church-door  at  Witten- 
berg. The  request  was,  of  course,  granted:  whereupon  the  monk 
began  to  write.  But  his  pen  was  so  long,  that  the  upper  end  of  it 
reached  even  unto  Rome,  and  wounded  the  ears  of  a  lion  (?eo) 
that  was  couched  there,  and  shook  the  triple  crown  on  the  pope's 
head.  Whereupon  the  lion  began  to  roar  so  terribly,  that  the 
whole  city  of  Rome,  and  all  the  states  of  the  empire,  ran  together 
to  inquire  what  was  the  matter.  The  pope  called  upon  all  the 
cardinals  and  princes  to  restrain  the.  writing  of  the  monk,  and  to 
break  his  pen ;  but  the  more  they  tread  to  break  it,  the  stiffer  it 
became.  It  resisted  as  if  it  were  made  of  iron.  Upon  being  asked 
where  he  had  obtained  that  pen,  the  monk  replied,  "  It  is  from  the 
wing  of  a  goose  in  Bohemia.*  Its  strength  lies  in  its  pith,  which 
no  one  can  take  out  of  it."  "  Suddenly,"  says  the  elector,  "  I 
heard  a  great  cry ;  for  from  the  monk's  long  pen'  had  issued  a  great 
many  other  pens.     At  this  I  awoke,  and  it  was  morning." 

*  In  the  Bohemian  dialect,  Huss  means  goose. 


842  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Thus  much  for  the  dream.  The  fact  is  well  attested  that  the 
elector  actually  had  such  a  cb'eam ;  and  events  began  immediately 
to  show  the  interpretation.  And  who  shall  presume  to  say  that 
God  did  not  design  at  this  critical  juncture  to  instruct  the  good 
elector  in  the  visions  of  the  night  ?  and  who  can  tell  how  much 
influence  the  dream  may  have  had  upon  him  to  prevent  him  from 
prematurely  opposing  and  crushing  the  Reformation  ? 

But  the  Reformation  had  something  to  rest  upon  more  substan- 
tial than  dreams  and  visions,  —  even  the  ivord  and  the  providence 
of  God.  The  day  following  the  placarding  of  the  theses,  no  one 
appeared  at  the  university  to  impugn  them.  The  traffic  of  Tetzel 
was  so  utterly  disreputable,  that  no  one  except  himself,  or  some  of 
his  immediate  followers,  could  be  expected  to  accept  the  challenge. 
Meanwhile,  the  theses  spread  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning.  In 
the  space  of  a  fortnight,  they  were  read  all  over  Germany,  and  had 
penetrated  even  to  Rome.  They  were  translated  into  Dutch  and 
Spanish ;  and  some  of  them  were  carried  as  far  as  Jerusalem.  They 
were  received  by  some  with  apprehension,  but  by  more  with  rejoi- 
cing ;  and  the  elector  of  Saxony  received  letters  from  church  digni- 
taries and  princes,  exhorting  him  to  retain  and  protect  Luther. 

Luther  himself,  after  the  first  acclamations  were  over,  was  not 
a  little  dismayed  at  the  prospect  before  him.  No  subsequent  step 
ever  cost  him  so  much  anxiety  as  this ;  but  it  was  this  which 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Reformation.  God  raised  him  up  some 
powerful  friends  in  the  time  of  his  trial,  by  whom  he  was  comforted 
and  encouraged.  Chief  among  these  was  Spalatin,  whom  we  have 
before  mentioned  as  private  secretary  and  chaplain  to  the  elector. 

About  a  month  after  the  publication  of  Luther's  theses,  Tetzel 
presented  two  series  of  anti-theses  at  the  University  of  Frankfort 
on  the  Oder,  and  appointed  a  day  for  a  public  disputation.  For  a 
time,  he  had  the  discussion  entirely  to  himself:  but  at  length  a 
student,  less  than  twenty  years  of  age,  —  indignant  at  seeing  the 
truth  thus  trampled  underfoot,  ajid  no  one  offering  to  defend  it, — 
raised  his  voice  on  the  other  side ;  and  so  earnestly  and  effectively 
did  he  press  his  arguments,  that  Tetzel  retreated  from  the  contest ; 
and  the  only  resort  of  his  friends  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  discus- 
sion. 

Tetzel  next  erected  a  scaffold  outside  of  Frankfort,  from  Avhich 
he  inveighed  in  the  most  furious  manner  against  Luther,  declaring 
that  he  ought  to  be  burned  alive.  Then,  placing  Luther's  sermon 
against  indulgences,  and  also  his  theses,  on  the  scaffold,  he  set  fire 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  843 

to  tliem,  and  consumed  them.  He  showed  greater  dexterity  in  this 
operation  than  he  did  in  the  dispute.  There  was  none  here  to 
oj^pose  him,  and  his  victory  was  complete. 

These  proceedings  at  Frankfort  were  but  a  signal  to  the  whole 
company  of  Romish  preachers.  A  general  shout  was  raised  against 
Luther  by  the  monks ;  and  reproaches  upon  him  were  sounded  forth 
from  all  the  Dominican  pulpits.  They  called  him  a  madman,  a 
seducer,  a  wretch,  a  demoniac,  who  was  promulgating  the  most 
horrible  of  all  heresies.  "Wait  only  a  fortnight,"  they  said,  "or 
at  most  a  month,  and  you  shall  see  him  roasting  in  the  fire." 

This  kind  of  opposition  was  the  very  thing  to  arouse  the  courage 
of  Luther.  He  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  face  such  adversaries 
boldly ;  and  his  intrepid  spirit  determined  to  do  it.  "  Let  them 
hear  and  tell  and  preach  what  they  please.  I  will  go  on  so  long 
as  God  shall  give  me  strength ;  and  with  his  help  I  will  fear 
nothing." 

Leo  X.  affected  to  treat  the  whole  matter  with  contempt.  "  A 
squabble  among  the  monks,"  said  he :  "  the  best  way  is  to  take 
no  notice  of  it."  But  some  of  the  pope's  friends  in  Italy  thought 
differently.  Sylvester  Prierias,  master  of  the  pontifical  palace,  and 
j)rior-general  of  the  Dominicans,  wrote  a  book  against  Luther. 
Amidst  a  great  deal  of  ribaldry  and  abuse,  he  undertook  to  discuss 
—  what  is  still  the  vital  question  between  Romanists  and  Protes- 
tants —  the  rule  of  faith  and  life  to  the  Christia7i.  Prierias 
declared  it  to  be  the  2yope  and  the  Church :  but  Luther,  in  his 
reply,  insisted  that  both  popes  and  councils  might  err,  and  often 
had  erred ;  and  that  the  only  rule  of  faith  to  the  Christian  is  the  -. 
word  of  God. 

Others  who  wrote  against  Luther  at  this  time  were  James  Hoch- 
straten,  inquisitor  of  Cologne,  and  Dr.  Eck,  a  celebrated  professor 
at  Ingolstadt.  To  these  and  all  other  opponents,  Luther  replied 
with  great  spirit,  —  using  sometimes  intemperate  language,  but  not 
so  intemperate  as  that  which  was  used  against  him,  —  and  pressed 
onward  from  one  topic  to  another  as  the  Lord  gave  him  light  and 
utterance.  To  those  who  threatened  him  with  persecution,  he 
said,  "  Do  you  thirst  for  my  blood,  then  ?  I  protest  to  you  that 
this  bluster  and  menace  of  yours  give  me  not  the  slightest  alarm. 
For  what  if  I  were  to  lose  my  life  ?  Christ  still  Hves,  —  mt/  Lord, 
and  the  Lord  of  all." 

While  engaged  in  these  various  controversies,  —  sufficient,  one 
would  think,  to  engross  the  heart,  and  occupy  the  whole  time,  of 


844  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Luther,  —  he  was  still  busy  as  ever  in  imparting  instruction  to  his 
pupils,  and  preaching  and  publishing  for  the  benefit  of  the  common 
people.  The  crowds  which  hung  upon  his  lips  in  the  Church  were 
greater  than  ever.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  preached  his  cele- 
brated sermon  on  forgiveness ;  in  which  he  distinguishes  between 
that  absolution  from  church  censures  which  the  priest  may  pro- 
nounce, and  that  inward  pardon  which  can  come  only  from  the 
Lord.  "  The-  first  reconciles  the  offender  with  the  Church ;  but 
the  second  is  the  heavenly  grace  which  reconciles  the  soul  to  God. 
The  bestowment  of  this  is  out  of  the  power  of  pope,  bishop,  priest, 
or  any  man  living,  and  rests  solely  on  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ 
and  the  sincerity  of  one's  own  faith."  This  truth  seems  plain  and 
familiar  to  us  now ;  but,  when  Luther  first  announced  it  in  Germany, 
it  was  not  so.  The  people  had  so  long  been  taught  to  regard  the 
priest  as  standing  between  themselves  and  God,  that  when  his 
mediation  was  removed,  and  they  were  directed  to  look  to  God 
alone  for  forgiveness  in  the  exercise  of  repentance  and  faith,  the 
preacher  was  thought  to  bring  strange  things  to  their  ears. 

In  the  spring  of  1518,  the  Augustinians  held  a  general  meeting 
at  Heidelberg ;  and  Luther  was  summoned  to  attend.  His  friends, 
sensible  of  the  extreme  danger  to  which  the  journey  must  expose 
him,  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  undertaking  it ;  but  in  vain. 
Luther  never  suffered  himself  to  be  stopped  in  the  performance  of 
what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty  by  the  fear  of  danger.  Accord- 
ingly, having  made  the  necessary  preparation,  he  set  out  on  foot 
about  the  middle  of  April.  He  proceeded  on  foot  as  far  as  Wur- 
temberg,  where  he  met  his  friend  Staupitz,  and  had  a  seat  in  his 
carriage  for  the  remainder  of  the  journey. 

During  his  stay  at  Heidelberg,  Luther  received  all  the  attention 
and  kindness  he  could  desire.  He  was  invited  repeatedly  to  the 
castle  and  table  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  who  had  his  residence  in 
the  city.  But  he  was  not  satisfied  with  mere  personal  attention 
and  enjoyment :  he  desired  that  his  visit  might  be  one  of  useful- 
ness. Accordingly,  he  drew  up  theses,  and  proposed  a  public 
disputation,  on  his  favorite  topics  of  law  and  grace.  The  discus- 
sion excited  great  attention.  Attracted  by  the  reputation  of  Lu- 
ther, professors,  courtiers,  burghers,  students,  all  flocked  together  to 
hear  him.  The  theses  were  opposed,  courteously  but  earnestly,  by 
five  doctors  of  divinity.  Luther,  on  his  part,  exhibited  unusual 
mildness  and  patience,  kindly  listened  to  all  the  objections  of  his 
opponents,  and  by  his   explanations   and   arguments  was   liighly 


THE    REFORMATION    IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  845 

successful  in  removing  tliem.  The  discussion  was  productive  of 
much  good.  Several  young  men,  among  whom  was  the  celebrated 
Martin  Bucer,  afterwards  a  burning  and  shining  light  in  the  Refor- 
mation, were  brought  at  this  time  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
Indeed,  a  work  was  begun  at  Heidelberg  wliich  did  not  stop  until 
it  had  pervaded  the  city. 

The  object  of  his  visit  being  accomplished,  Luther  returned  to 
Wittenberg,  with  health  and  spirits  much  improved  by  the  jour- 
ney. The  following  summer,  he  took  up  afresh  his  theses  on 
indulgences.  In  his  own  judgment,  some  parts  of  them  needed 
explaining  and  softening.  They  had  excited  needless  opposition 
by  being  imperfectly  understood.  He  published,  therefore,  what 
he  called  his  "  Solutions ; "  a  work  prepared  with  great  care  and 
moderation,  but  in  which  he  courageously  defended  every  proposi- 
tion which  truth  obliged  him  to  maintain.  He  sent  copies  of  this 
work,  with  courteous  and  submissive  letters,  to  his  bishop,  and  also 
to  Leo  X.  In  his  letter  to  the  pope,  he  explains  fully  how  he 
became  involved  in  this  dispute  about  indulgences,  and  why  he 
felt  constrained  to  continue  it.  "  I  call  all  Germany  to  witness," 
says  he,  "  that  nothing  was  heard  in  all  the  taverns  but  com- 
plaints of  the  avarice  of  priests,  and  attacks  on  the  power  of  the 
keys  and  of  the  supreme  bishop.  Such  was  the  effect  of  preach- 
ing indulgences.  When  I  heard  these  things,  my  zeal  was  aroused 
for  the  glory  of  Christ  and  his  Church.  I  spoke  of  the  matter  to  / 
certain  rulers  of  the  Church  ;  but  some  laughed  at  me,  while  others  / 
turned  a  deaf  ear.  The  awe  of  your  name  seemed  to  have  made  ' 
all  motionless.  Thereupon  I  entered  upon  this  dispute.  And  now 
what  am  I  to  do  ?  I  cannot  retract  what  I  have  published ;  and 
yet  the  publication  draws  down  upon  me  on  all  sides  an  inexpres- 
sible hatred." 

But  while  Luther  was  endeavoring,  if  possible,  to  win  back  the 
confidence  of  Rome,  Rome  had  no  other  thoughts  than  those  of  ven- 
geance against  him.  Already  one  of  the  cardinals  had  written  to 
the  elector  of  Saxony,  exhorting  him  to  withdraw  his  protection 
from  Luther ;  but  to  this  request  the  elector  refused  to  yield.  The 
Emperor  Maximilian  had  also  written  a  letter  to  the  pope,  exhort- 
ing him  to  take  measures  against  Luther,  and  pledging  himself  to 
enforce  throughout  the  empire  whatever  his  Holiness  should 
decree  on  the  subject. 

On  the  reception  of  this  letter,  the  pope  at  once  instituted  an 
ecclesiastical  court  at  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  trying  Luther,  and 


846  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

summoned  him  to  appear  there  in  person  within  sixty  days. 
Luther  was  at  Wittenberg,  awaiting  the  good  effects  which  he 
imagined  his  submissive  letter  to  the  pope  was  calculated  to  pro- 
duce, when  the  summons  reached  him.  "At  the  moment,"  says  he, 
"  that  I  looked  for  benediction,  I  saw  the  thunderbolt  descend 
upon  me.  I  was  like  the  lamb  that  troubled  the  stream  at  which 
the  wolf  was  drinking.  Tetzel  escaped ;  and  I  was  to  be  de- 
voured."   . 

This  summons  threw  all  Wittenberg  into  consternation,  because, 
whatever  course  Luther  might  take,  his  destruction  seemed  inevita- 
ble. If  he  obeyed  the  summons,  and  went  to  Rome,  he  would 
assuredly  be  destroyed ;  or,  if  he  refused  to  obey,  he  would  be 
condemned  for  contumacy,  and  the  German  princes  would  not 
protect  him.  Great  influence  was  exerted,  both  by  the  university 
and  the  elector,  to  have  the  trial  transferred  from  Rome  to  Ger- 
many ;  and  at  length  this  point  was  gained.  The  pope  had  already 
a  legate  in  Germany,  —  Cardinal  Cajetan ;  and  it  was  arranged  that 
Luther  was  to  have  his  trial  before  him,  in  the  city  of  Augsburg. 

In  his  commission  to  Cajetan,  the  pope  had  put  all  power  and 
authority  into  his  hands,  and  made  every  necessarj^  preparation  to 
exterminate  the  heretic.  He  had  set  every  engine  at  work,  so  that 
his  ruin  seemed  inevitable.  At  the  same  time,  he  had  written  a 
most  flattering  letter  to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  with  a  view  to 
cajole  him,  if  possible,  into  his  own  designs  against  the  life  and 
liberty  of  the  reformer. 

The  elector  received  the  pope's  letter  at  Augsburg,  where  he 
had  been  attending  a  diet  of  the  empire.  He  pledged  himself  to 
Cajetan  that  Luther  should  appear  before  him,  and  directed  Spala- 
tin  to  write  to  Luther  that  he  must  prepare  immediately  for  his 
journey  to  Augsburg. 

On  receiving  this  notice,  Luther  resolved  at  once,  and  at  all 
hazards,  to  obey.  His  friends,  with  one  voice,  endeavored  to  dis- 
suade him.  They  feared  that  a  snare  might  be  laid  for  him  on 
the  journey.  They  were  sure  that  some  design  was  formed  against 
his  life.  But  nothing  could  shake  the  resolution  of  Luther.  The 
elector  sent  him  letters  of  introduction  to  certain  individuals  at 
Augsburg,  and  also  some  money  for  the  journey ;  and,  thus 
equipped,  he  set  forward  on  foot,  to  place  himself  in  the  power 
of  his  adversaries.  He  found  faithful  friends  at  Weimar  and  at 
Nuremberg.  On  the  8th  of  October,  he  arrived  at  Augsburg, 
and  took  lodgings  in  the  convent  of  the  Augustinians.    Here  also  he 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  847 

found  faithful  friends,  to  whom  he  had  brought  letters  of  introduc- 
tion. They  all  manifested  the  most  lively  interest  in  his  welfare, 
and  insisted  that  he  should  not  appear  before  Cajetan  till  they 
had  obtained  for  him  a  "safe  conduct"  from  the  emperor.  "We 
must  not  trust  these  Italians,"  said  they.  "  Whatever  fair  appear- 
ances the  cardinal  may  put  on,  we  know  that  he  hates  you,  and  is 
enraged  against  you  in  the  highest  degree."  They  said  so  much  on 
this  point,  that  Luther  consented  to  wait  for  a  "  safe  conduct ; " 
Avhich,  as  the  emperor  was  in  the  neighborhood,  could  be  obtained 
in  a  little  time. 

Luther  had  repeated  interviews  with  Cajetan,  varying  considera- 
bly in  their  character,  but  all  having  the  same  object  in  view ;  viz., 
a  confessio7i,  a  retraction,  on  the  part  of  Luther.  Sometimes  the 
cardinal  spoke  kindly  to  him,  and  sometimes  scolded  him ;  but, 
whether  he  entreated  or  scolded,  his  constant  aim  was  to  induce 
him  to  retract  his  errors,  and  hold  his  peace.  "  The  whole  ques- 
tion," said  he,  "is  summed  up  in  six  letters,  —  revoco"  {retract'). 
Luther  was  willing  to  retract  so  soon  as  he  could  be  convinced  of 
his  error ;  but  the  cardinal  had  come,  not  to  argue  with  him,  but 
rather  to  subdue,  him  by  the  simple  weight  of  Papal  authority ; 
and,  when  he  found  that  he  could  not  be  subdued  in  this  way,  he 
broke  out  upon  him  in  great  wrath,  saying  with  a  haughty  and 
angry  look,  "  Recant,  or  see  my  face  no  more."  Accordingly,  they 
never  met  again.  On  the  18th  of  October,  before  daylight,  Luther 
took  his  leave  of  Augsburg.  He  returned  on  horseback,  and  rode 
near  fifty  miles  the  first  day ;  singing,  as  he  passed  along,  "  Our 
soul  is  escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  the  fowler.  The  snare 
is  broken,  and  we  are  delivered." 

When  the  cardinal  heard  of  Luther's  departure,  he  was  greatly 
vexed.  He  had  been  ambitious  of  the  honor  of  healing  the  wounds 
of  the  Church,  and  of  re-establishing  the  declining  influence  of  the 
pope  in  Germany ;  but  the  heretic  Avas  gone  without  his  "having  so 
much  as  humbled  him.  He  immediately  wrote  an  angry  letter  to  the 
Elector  Frederic,  demanding  that  Luther  should  be  sent  to  Rome ; 
or,  at  least,  that  he  should  be  banished  out  of  his  territories.  "  Be 
assured,"  said  he,  "  that  this  mischievous  affair  cannot  be  long 
protracted.  As  soon  as  I  shall  have  informed  the  pope  of  all  this 
malice,  he  will  bring  it  to  a  speedy  end."  To  this  the  elector 
replied,  expressing  strong  disapprobation  of  the  manner  in  which 
Luther  had  been  treated  at  Augsburg,  and  declining  either  to  send 
him  to  Rome,  or,  for  the  present  at  least,  to  drive  him  from  his 


848  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

territories.  This  decision  of  the  elector  was  a  great  comfort  to 
Luther,  as  it  afforded  him,  if  no  more,  a  little  respite ;  and  it  was 
by  such  respites  that  the  Reformation,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  it, 
,was  carried  forward. 

When  the  ill  success  of  Cajetan  was  known  at  Rome,  it  occa- 
sioned great  dissatisfaction;  and  the  blame  of  the  failure  fell 
chiefly  upon  him.  He  had  been  deficient,  it  was  thought,  in 
prudence  and  address.  His  superciliousness  and  pedantry  had 
spoiled  all.  Why  did  he  provoke  Luther  by  threats  and  insults, 
instead  of  alluring  him  by  the  promise  of  a,  bishopric,  or  even,  if 
necessary,  of  a  cardinal's  hat  ? 

Under  the  infl.uence  of  such  impressions,  it  was  determined  to 
send  another  envoy  into  Germany,  and  see  if  a  second  effort  at 
negotiation  might  not  be  more  successful.  The  person  selected  for 
this  important  service  was  Charles  Miltitz,  a  Saxon  by  birth,  but 
who  had  loDg  resided  at  Rome,  and  was  now  in  office  as  the  pope's 
chamberlain.  He  was  a  vain,  garrulous,  pretentious  man,  with 
considerable  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  much  skill  in 
moulding  and  shaping  it  to  suit  his  purposes.  The  pope  and  his 
cardinals  placed  great  reliance  upon  him,  trusting  that,  by  prudent 
management,  he  might  arrest  the  progress  of  a  revolution  which 
now  threatened  the  peace  of  the  world. 

The  real  object  of  ]\Iiltitz's  mission  into  Germany  was,  in  part, 
concealed :  the  ostensible  object  was,  that  he  might  present  to 
the  Elector  Frederic  the  consecrated  golden  rose.  •  This  rose  was 
consecrated  every  year  by  the  pontiff,  and  presented  to  some  one 
of  the  leading  princes  of  Europe.  It  was  resolved  at  this  time  to 
present  it  to  the  elector  in  the  hope  of  conciliating  him  and  his 
counsellors,  and  inducing  them  to  withdraw  their  protection  from 
Luther. 

The  new  legate  arrived  in  Germany  in  the  month  of  December, 
1518.  He  first  sought  an  interview  with  Spalatin ;  but  scarcely 
had  he  begun  to  open  his  charges  against  Luther,  when  the  chap- 
lain broke  out  in  the  most  vehement  charges  against  Tetzel.  He 
told  the  legate  of  the  falsehoods  and  blasj)hemies  of  this  old 
vender  of  indulgences,  and  declared  that  all  Germany  ascribed 
to  his  audacious  proceedings  the  dissensions  which  now  distressed 
the  Church.  Miltitz  affected  great  astonishment.  Instead  of 
being  the  accuser,  he  found  himself  in  the  place  of  one  accused. 
His  wrath  was  instantly  turned  against  Tetzel;  and  he  sum- 
moned him  to  appear  before  liim,  and  answer  for  his  conduct. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  849 

Tetzel,  who  was  now  living  in  retirement  at  Leipsic,  was  greatly 
terrified  at  the  receipt  of  the  summons.  He  foresaw  that  Rome 
was  about  to  abandon  him ;  and  whither  should  he  flee  ?  He 
excused  himself  from  obeying  the  summons  on  the  ground  of  ill 
health,  and  of  the  dangerous  prejudices  which  Luther  had  excited 
against  him,  but  promised  to  meet  the  legate  at  some  convenient 
time  in  Leipsic. 

Meltitz  met  Luther  for  the  first  time  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1519.  The  interview  was  most  flattering  and  conciliatory  on  his 
part,  and  resulted  in  a  promise  on  the  part  of  Luther  that  he 
would  keep  silence  in  future,  and  suffer  the  matter  to  die  away, 
provided  his  enemies  would  do  the  same.  Luther  also  promised 
that  he  would  write  an  explanatory  and  conciliatory  letter  to  the 
pope,  and  do  all  that  he  could  consistently  to  bring  about  a  rec- 
onciliation. They  met  again ;  when  a  truce  on  the  foregoing 
principles  was  agreed  upon,  and  the  conditions  of  it  were  com- 
mitted to  writing. 

When  the  agreement  had  been  concluded,  the  joy  of  Miltitz 
was  uncontrollable.  At  one  moment  he  exulted,  and  then  he 
wept.  "  For  a  century,"  said  he,  "  no  question  has  caused "  so 
much  anxiety  to  the  court  of  Rome  as  this.  Rather  would  it 
have  given  ten  thousand  ducats  than  that  the  controversy  should 
be  prolonged." 

In  the  flush  of  his  joy  at  what  had  been  accomplished,  Miltitz 
hied  away  to  Leipsic  that  he  might  deal  with  Tetzel.  He  over- 
whelmed him  with  reproaches,  accusing  him  of  being  the  cause 
of  all  the  difficulty,  and  threatening  him  with  the  pope's  intensest 
anger.  He  charged  upon  him,  not  only  the  blasphemous  expressions 
he  had  used  in  selling  indulgences,  but  the  sin  of  appropriating  to 
his  own  purposes  a  part  of  the  money  which  he  had  received. 
The  miserable  wretch  was  struck  dumb  and  motionless  by  these 
well-founded  charges.  He  would  gladly  have  buried  himself  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Distressed  in  conscience,  alarmed  by  the 
reproaches  of  those  whom  he  had  thought  his  friends,  and  dreading 
the  anger  of  the  pope,  the  health  of  Tetzel  failed  rapidly ;  and 
he  died  most  miserably.  Literally  was  he  driven  away  in  his 
wickedness. 

Luther  was  never  more  popular  or  useful  as  a  teacher,  nor  was 
the  Reformation  ever  in  more  rapid  progress,  than  in  the  first  half 
of  the  year  1519.  The  number  of  students  at  the  university 
constantly  increased ;  and  among  them  were  some  of  the   more 

54 


850  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

distinguished  youth  of  Germany.  In  one  of  his  letters,  Luther 
says,  "  The  students  increase  upon  us  like  an  overflowing  tide. 
Our  city  can  scarce  hold  the  numbers  that  are  arriving."  It  was 
at  this  time  that  Frobenius,  a  celebrated  printer  of  Basle,  collected 
the  writings  of  Luther  together,  and  published  them  in  one  uni- 
form edition.  They  circulated  rapidly,  not  only  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  but  in  France,  Spain,  England,  Italy,  and  in  nearly 
every  country  of  Europe.  At  the  moment  when  the  Roman  pontiff 
thought  to  stifle  the  work  in  Germany,  we  find  it  spreading  into 
other  lands :  so  that,  should  the  power  of  Rome  succeed  in  felling 
the  parent  stock,  the  seeds  were  scattered  everywhere  to  spring 
up  and  bring  forth  fruit. 

But  it  is  time  that  we  return  to  Miltitz.  The  object  of  his 
embassy,  sufficiently  delicate  and  difficult  at  any  time,  became 
the  more  so  at  this  on  account  of  several  unanticipated  changes  in 
providence.  One  was  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  which 
occurred  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  legate  in  Germany.  In 
consequence  of  this  event,  the  Elector  Frederic  became,  for  the 
time,  the  administrator  of  the  empire  ;  and,  as  such,  had  little  to 
fear  from  the  frowns  or  the  flatteries  of  any  legate.  Then  the  pope 
and  his  minions  had  enough  to  do  in  their  intrigues  respecting  a 
successor  in  the  empire,  without  troubling  themselves  deeply  with 
the  affairs  of  Luther.  But  what  more  than  all  embarrassed  Miltitz 
was,  that  the  mutual  silence  agreed  upon  between  him  and  Luther 
had  been  broken,  and  that  by  one  of  the  Popish  doctors.  Eck,  the 
celebrated  professor  at  Ingolstadt,  had  challenged  Carlstadt,  one  of 
Luther's  colleagues  at  Wittenberg,  to  a  public  disputation ;  and 
the  theses  which  he  had  put  forth  as  the  ground  of  the  discussion 
were  so  framed  as  to  bear  directly  on  the  doctrines  of  Luther.  The 
dispute  was  to  take  place  at  Leipsic,  under  the  patronage  of  Duke 
George  of  Saxony  ;  and  Luther  earnestly  sought  permission  to  par- 
ticipate in  it ;  but  the  duke  refused  to  give  his  consent.  He  might 
come  as  a  spectator ;  but  he  must  not  speak.  The  duke  feared  the 
power  and  the  influence  of  the  great  reformer. 

It  was  in  June,  1519,  that  the  parties  came  together  at  Leipsic. 
A  large  company  went  up  from  Wittenberg,  —  preachers,  professors, 
citizens,  and  students,  —  among  whom  was  Luther.  When  Eck 
heard  of  the  arrival  of  Luther,  he  came  directly  to  his  lodging. 
"  What  is  this  ?  "  said  he  :  "  I  am  told  that  you  object  to  disputing 
with  me."  —  "  How  can  I  dispute  ?"  replied  Luther,  "  when  the  duke 
positively  forbids  me  to  do  so  ?  "  —  "  But,  if  I  obtain  the  duke's  per- 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  851 

mission,"  answered  Eck,  "  will  you  take  the  field?  "  Luther  readily- 
answered  that  he  would.  "  Only  obtain  permission,  and  I  will 
gladly  meet  you." 

Eck  instantly  waited  on  the  duke,  and  urged  the  matter  with 
so  much  importunity,  that  the  request  was  granted.  The  discus- 
sion was  held  in  a  large  apartment  in  the  duke's  palace  called 
the  "  Pleissenberg."  It  commenced  on  the  27th  of  June,  and  con- 
tinued twenty  days.  During  the  first  week,  the  dispute  was 
between  Eck  and  Carlstadt,  and  related  entirely  to  the  subjects 
of  free-will  and  grace.  During  the  remainder  of  the  time,  the 
contest  was  between  Eck  and  Lather  ;  and  the  subjects  discussed 
were  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  purgatory,  indulgences,  penance, 
absolution,  &c. 

These  theological  discussions,  which  in  our  times  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  excite  much  interest,  were  listened  to  with  the 
profoundest  attention  during  the  whole  twenty  days,  not  only  by 
ecclesiastics  and  students,  but  by  laymen,  burghers,  knights,  and 
princes.  The  dukes  of  Pomerania  and  of  Saxony  were  in  constant 
attendance.  In  his  private  letters,  Eck  acknowledged  that  he  had 
been  defeated  on  many  points  ;  but  in  public  he  boasted  loudly 
of  his  victory.  The  following  opinion  on  the  question  of  victory 
was  given  by  one  of  the  Leipsic  professors,  who  had  been  an  im- 
partial spectator  of  all  that  took  place :  "  Eck  has  obtained  the 
victory  in  the  opinion  of  those  who  do  not  understand  the  subjects 
in  dispute,  and  Avho  have  grown  gray  in  scholastic  studies ;  but 
Luther  and  Carlstadt  remain  masters  of  the  field  in  the  judgment 
of  all  those  who  have  learning,  intelligence,  and  modesty." 

Some  of  the  results  of  this  discussion  were  of  more  value  than 
mere  popular  applause.  Several  individuals  were  brought  hope- 
fully to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Among  these  were  Polian- 
der,  private  secretary  to  Dr.  Eck  ;  John  Cellarius,  professor  of 
Hebrew  at  Leipsic ;  and  George,  prince  of  Anhalt,  who  became 
afterwards  a  powerful  and  consistent  friend  of  the  Reformation. 
But  the  noblest  result  of  the  discussion  at  Leipsic  reihains  yet  to 
be  mentioned.  It  was  here  that  the  great  Melancthon,  the  theo- 
logian of  the  Reformation,  and  the  most  valued  friend  of  Luther, 
received  his  call  and  anointing  to  the  work. 

Melancthon  was  a  nephew  of  the  great  Hebrew  scholar  Reuch- 
lin.  He  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  young  men  of  his  age, 
and  perhaps  of  any  age.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  was  made 
doctor  of  philosophy,  and  began  to  deliver  lectures  in  public.     At 


852  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  was  appointed  to  the  professorship  of 
Greek  at  Wittenberg.  He  was,  from  the  first,  a  devoted  friend 
to  Luther,  and  accompanied  him  to  the  disputation  at  Leipsic  ; 
but  he  was  there  as  a  mere  spectator  and  hstener,  having  hitherto 
appHed  himself  ahnost  exchisively  to  Hterature.  These  discussions, 
however,  opened  his  eyes,  and  hiunched  liim  at  once  into  the  deeps 
of  theology.  They  affected  his  heart  as  well  as  his  intellect ;  and 
from  that  hour  he  embraced  the  evangelical  doctrine  with  the  sim- 
plicity of  a  little  child.  From  ^that  hour,  himself  and  Luther 
found  themselves  united  in  sympathies  and  labors  in  a  manner 
and  to  a  degree  unknown  before.  They  were  almost  always  to- 
gether ;  and  were  the  more  necessary  to  each  other  on  account  of 
the  great  difference  in  their  constitutional  temperaments  and  dis- 
positions. Melancthon  was  as  remarkable  for  his  prudence  and 
gentleness  as  Luther  was  for  his  impetuosity  and  energy.  Luther 
commmiicated  vigor  to  Melancthon  ;  while  Melancthon  moderated 
Luther.  "  They  were,"  says  one,  "  like  positive  and  negative 
agents  in  electricity,  by  whose  reciprocal  action  an  equilibrium  is 
maintained."  In  this  light  the  two  friends  seem  to  have  regarded 
each  other.  "  I  was  born,"  says  Luther,  "  for  struggling  on  the 
field  of  battle  with  parties  and  devils.  Thus  it  is  that  my  writ- 
ings breathe  war  and  tempest.  I  must  root  up  stock  and  stem, 
clear  away  thorns  and  brambles,  and  fill  up  swamps  and  sloughs; 
while  Melancthon  follows  after  quietly  and  gently,  cultivating  and 
planting,  sowing  and  watering,  according  as  God  has  dealt  to  him 
so  liberally  of  his  gifts." 

The  discussions  at  Leipsic  had  a  powerful  influence,  not  only  on 
those  who  listened  to  them,  but  on  the  speakers  themselves.  The 
inquiries  into  which  Luther  was  driven  discovered  to  him  more 
clearly  than  before  the  rottenness  of  the  whole  Papal  system. 
Searching,  as  he  was  now  compelled  to  do,  into  the  annals  of 
the  Church,  he  found  that  the  boasted  supremacy  of  Rome  had  no 
other  foundation  than  the  ambition  of  one  party,  and  the  credu- 
lous ignorance  of  the  other. 

The  principal  influence  of  the  discussion  upon  Dr.  Eck  was  to 
irritate  and  inflame  him.  While  he  boasted  of  victory,  he  evi- 
dently felt  the  sting  and  the  malice  of  conscious  defeat.  Finding 
that  his  influence  was  on  the  wane  in  Germany,  he  hastened  to 
cross  the  Alps,  that  he  might  effect  the  destruction  of  those,  by 
the  power  of  Rome,  whom  he  could  not  overcome  by  discussion 
and  argument.  We  shall  hear  of  his  operations  at  Rome  in  the 
following  chapter. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. LIFE    OF    LUTHER    CONTINUED. 

TTTE  have  already  heard- of  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
V  V  milian,  which  took  place  early  in  the  year  1519.  In  the 
following  year,  the  electors  of  Germany  assembled  at  Frankfort 
to  choose  a  successor.  They  first  offered  the  crown  to  the  elector 
of  Saxony;  but  he,  through  perhaps  an  excess  of  prudence, 
thought  proper  to  decUne  it.  He  proposed  to  the  electors  that 
they  should  confer  the  imperial  authority  upon  Charles  V.,  who 
was  already  king  of  Spain,  of  the  Netherlands,  and  of  Austria  ; 
and  he  was  crowned  emperor  of  Germany  on  the  22d  of  October, 
1520. 

Before  his  coronation,  Luther  took  the  precaution  to  write  to 
Charles  a  humble  and  submissive  letter.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  the 
cause  I  defend  is  worthy  of  appearing  before  the  throne  of  the 
Majesty  of  heaven,  it  surely  is  not  unworthy  of  engaging  the  at- 
tention of  a  prince  of  this  world.  O  Charles  !  thou  prince  among 
the  kings  of  the  earth,  I  throw  myself  as  a  suppliant  at  the  feet 
of  your  most  serene  Majesty,  and  conjure  you  to  deign  to  receive 
under  the  shadow  of  your  Avings,  not  me,  but  the  cause  of  that 
eternal  truth  for  the  defence  of  which  God  has  intrusted  you 
with  the  sword."  The  letter  of  the  reformer  was  throughout 
most  loyal  and  respectful ;  but  Charles  gave  no  heed  to  it.  He 
threw  it  aside,  probably,  as  unworthy  of  his  notice. 

While  Luther  was  in  vain  supplicating  the  favor  of  the  new 
emperor,  the  storm  seemed  to  thicken  around  him  in  Germany. 
He  had  been  pronounced  a  heretic  by  the  universities  of  Cologne 
and  Louvain ;  and  the  most  urgent  requests  had  been  forwarded 
to  the  elector  of  Saxony  that  he  would  no  longer  protect  him, 
but  give  him  over  to  the  power  of  his  enemies.  But  the  elector 
had  no  thought  of  abandoning  Luther  ;  or,  if  he  had  abandoned 
him,  others  stood  ready  to  take  him  up.     Several  powerful  German 

853 


854  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

knights  wrote  to  liim  of  their  own  accord,  inviting  him  to  repair 
to  their  castles,  and  take  refuge  under  their  arms. 

Being  thus  protected,  Luther  kept  diligently  at  his  appropriate, 
■^ork,  —  teaching,  preaching,  publishing  books,  and  scattering  abroad, 
the  word  of  life ;  on  which  alone  he  relied  for  success  in  his  perilous 
undertaking.  He  published  a  discourse  on  "  Good  Works,"  which 
was  dedicated  to  Duke  John,  the  elector's  brother;  in  which  he 
opened  most  successfully  the  great  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith.  He  published  a  stirring  "  Appeal  to  his  Imperial  Majesty 
and  the  Nobility  of  the  German  Nation  concerning  the  Reformation 
of  Christianity."  In  it  he  exposed  and  attacked,  as  no  one  else 
could,  most  of  the  errors  and  abuses  of  Popery,  under  which,  not 
only  Germany,  but  all  Christendom,  was  groaning  together.  This 
appeal  soon  reached  all  those  for  whom  it  was  intended.  It  was 
read  in  every  palace,  in  every  castle,  and  we  had  almost  said  in 
every  hovel,  -of  Germany ;  and  while  the  friends  of  the  reformer 
trembled,  and  his  enemies  raved,  the  writing  was  producing  its 
appropriate  effect.  Nearly  at  the  same  time,  he  hurled  another 
thunderbolt  at  the  head  of  the  beast  in  the  form  of  a  tract  "  On 
the  Babylonian  Captivity  of  the  Church."  In  it  he  denounces  the 
Papacy  as  "  Babylon,  the  mother  of  harlots,  who  lives  only  for 
the  snaring  and  ruining  of  captured  souls."  He  concludes  his  tract 
with  these  memorable  words :  "  I  hear  that  new  Papal  bulls  and 
anathemas  have  been  concocted  against  me.  If  so,  let-  this  book 
be  regarded  as  a  part  of  my  future  recantation.  The  rest  will  eoon 
follow ;  and  the  whole  will  constitute  such  a  recantation  as  Rome 
has  never  yet  seen  or  heard  of." 

While  these  events  were  passing  in  Germany,  Dr.  Eck  had 
repaired  to  Rome,  that,  by  his  influence  there,  he  might  hasten  the 
destruction  of  his  indomitable  adversary.  He  found  Leo  X.  rather 
indisposed,  at  first,  to  listen  to  his  counsels ;  wishing  to  try  stiU 
further  the  effect  of  milder  methods.  "  May  not  this  intrepid  monk, 
after  all,  be  gained  over  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the  Church's  power, 
aided  by  Italian  artifice,  should  be  defeated  ?  Miltitz  is  stiU  in  Ger- 
many ;  and  further  negotiation  must  be  attempted."  Thus  reasoned 
the  more  politic  counsellors  at  Rome.  But  Eck  and  his  party  were 
resolved  not  to  be  foiled.  They  besieged  the  pope  and  the  cardinals 
night  and  day.  All  attempts  at  conciliation,  they  insisted,  were 
useless :  the  gangrened  member  must  be  cut  off.  They  aroused  the 
court  and  the  convents.  In  their  daily  walks  through  the  streets 
they  vented  their  anger,  and  called  aloud  for  vengeance.     "Eck  is 


THE  REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  855 

moving  against  nic,"  says  Lutlier,  "  not  onlj'  earth,  but  hell ;  "  and 
at  length  he  succeeded  in  his  bloody  object.  The  pontiff  began  to 
yield ;  the  condemnation  was  determined  on ;  and  Eck  breathed 
more  freely.  The  doctrines  of  Luther  were  abjured  at  once,  and 
his  books  condemned  to  be  burnt ;  but  to  him  personally  a  respite 
of  sixty  days  was  given  in  which  to  forward  his  recantation.  If  it 
did  not  come  in  that  time,  he  and  his  adherents  were  sentenced  as 
contumacious  heretics.  The  bull  concludes  with  a  long  train  of 
excommunications,  maledictions,  and  interdicts  against  Luther  and 
his  partisans,  with  orders  to  seize  their  persons  and  send  them  to 
Rome. 

After  the  publication  of  this  bull,  but  before  it  was  received  or 
known  in  Germany,  Miltitz  set  on  foot  another  negotiation,  with  a 
view  to  the  reconciliation  of  Luther  to  Rome.  All  he  required 
now  was,  that  Luther  should  write  a  letter  to  the  pope,  assuring 
him  that  he  had  never  laid  any  plots  against  his  person.  "  That 
will  suffice,"  said  he,  "to  terminate  the  whole  affair."  Luther  had 
no  kind  of  objection  to  writing  such  a  letter,  though  he  seems  to 
have  had  little  confidence  in  its  efficacy.  After  the  news  of  the 
bull  had  been  received  in  Germany,  he  was  quite  discouraged,  and 
declined  writing  altogether ,  but  Miltitz  persuaded  him  to  make 
another  effort.  The  principal  object  of  Miltitz  at  this- time  was  to 
disappoint  and  humble  Eck. 

As  this  blustering  agitator  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  pro- 
curing the  bull  of  excommunication,  so  he  Avas  the  appointed 
messenger  to  introduce  it  into  Saxony.  He  hoped  to  stop  the 
Reformation  by  destroying  Luther.  Miltitz  wished,  if  possible,  to 
disappoint  him,  and  bring  it  to  an  end  in  a  different  way.  He 
urged  Luther  to  write  the  proposed  letter  to  the  pope,  and  to 
renew  his  former  agreement  as  to  desisting  from  the  controversy ; 
to  all  which  Luther  at  length  consented.  "  I  promise  to  keep 
silence,"  said  he,  "  if  my  adversaries  will  do  the  same."  Miltitz 
was  again  overjoyed  at  his  success.  He  heaped  attentions  and 
flatteries  upon  Luther,  and  wrote  at  once  to  the  elector  that  the 
difficulties  would  soon  be  healed. 

In  fulfilment  of  his  promise,  Luther  sat  down  to  write  once 
more  to  the  pontiff.  It  Avas  the  last  effort  of  this  kind  that  he 
was  ever  to  make.  His  letter  has  been  differently  characterized 
by  different  persons ;  some  regarding  it  as  a  bitter  and  insulting 
satire,  and  others  as  made  up  of  forced  and  hypocritical  conces- 
sions.    But  in  truth  it  Avas  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  but 


856    ,  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

rather  a  message  of  solemn  warning,  designed  and  adapted  to  stir 
up  the  mind  of  the  pontiff  to  a  serious  investigation  and  correction 
of  abuses.  He  begins  by  saying,  that,  so  far  from  harboring  the 
least  ill-will  towards  him,  his  daily  prayer  is  that  God  would 
bestow  upon  him  every  kind  of  blessing.  He  apologizes  for  his 
attacks  upon  the  Church  of  Rome  by  exposing  its  manifold  abuses 
and  corruptions.  "  It  has  become  a  den  of  thieves,  a  scene  of 
open  prostitution,  a  kingdom  of  death  and  hell ;  and  you,  O  Leo  ! 
you  are  the  most  unfortunate  of  men  to  preside  over  such  a 
church,  to  sit  upon  such  a  throne  !  I  tell  you  the  truth,  Leo, 
not  because  I  hate  you,  but  because  I  wish  you  well." 

Luther  represents  to  his  Holiness  the  treatment  he  had  received 
from  Cardinal  Cajetan,  and  how  the  endeavors  of  Miltitz  to  bring 
about  a  reconciliation  had  been  defeated  by  the  vainglorious  inter- 
ference of  Dr.  Eck.  "  Upon  him,"  says  he,  "  must  lie  the  blame  of 
that  defeat  which  has  covered  Rome  with  shame." 

While  the  bold  reformer  was  thus  addressing  himself  for  the 
last  time  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  the  terrible  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  German 
Church,  and  at  the  doors  of  Luther's  dwelling.  Dr.  Eck,  the 
bearer  of  it,  was  advancing  with  great  pomp  and  pride  for 
the  execution  of  his  dread  commission ;  but  his  pride  was  des- 
tined to  be  again  humbled.  His  appointment  to  the  office  of 
nuncio  created  an  almost  universal  dissatisfaction  in  Germany. 
Many  disregarded  the  bull  altogether,  affirming  it  to  be  the 
production  of  Eck,  and  not  of  the  pontiff ,  and,  where  its  author- 
ity was  acknowledged,  the  work  of  publishing  it  was  attended 
with  much  difficulty  and  delay.  At  Leipsic,  Eck  was  publicly 
insulted,  and  so  much  affi'ighted,  that  he  trembled  in  every  limb. 
At  Erfurt,  the  students  seized  the  copies  of  his  bull,  tore  them 
in  pieces,  and  threw  them  into  the  river.  He  did  not  dare  to 
show  himself  at  Wittenberg,  but  sent  the  bull  to  the  prior  of  the 
convent,  who  refused  to  publish  it.  Luther  treated  the  whole 
matter  with  ridicule  and  contempt.  "  I  know  nothing  of  Eck's 
movements,"  said  he,  "  except  that  he  has  arrived  with  a  long  bull, 
a  long  beard,  and  a  long  purse  ;  but  I  laugh  at  the  whole  of  them." 
Meanwhile  he  comforted  himself  with  the  consideration  that  the 
Lord  reigned,  and  that  he  had  the  whole  affair  under  his  all-wise 
and  supreme  control.  Not  a  sparrow  or  a  leaf  falls  without  'our 
Father  ;  and  will  he  not  much  rather  care  for  us  ? 

It  was  on  the  3d  of  October  that  the  Papal  rescript  came  into 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY. —  LUTHER.  857 

the  hands  of  Luther.  "  I  despise  it,"  said  he,  "  and  resist  it  as 
impious  and  false,  and  every  way  worthy  of  Eck.  It  is  Christ 
himself  who  is  therein  condemned.  No  reasons  are  given  for  it. 
I  will  treat  it  as  a  forgery,  although  I  believe  it  to  be  genuine. 
Already  I  feel  in  my  heart  more  liberty ;  for  I  now  know  that  the 
pope  is  Antichrist,  and  that  his  chair  is  that  of  Satan  himself." 

The  eyes  of  all  Germany  Avere  now  turned  anxiously  towards 
the  reformer.  "  AVhat  will  he  do  ?  Will  he  succumb  and  recant  ? 
or  will  he  stand  firm  ?  "  Nor  did  he  keep  the  public  long  in  sus- 
pense. By  the  decrees  and  acts  of  the  great  Council  of  Constance, 
a  general  council  is  superior  to  the  pope  ;  and,  standing  on  this 
fundamental  principle,  Luther  made  his  appeal  in  the  most  solemn 
terms  to  a  general  council ;  or,  rather,  he  renewed  the  appeal  which 
he  had  once  made  on  a  former  occasion :  "  I,  Martin  Luther,  doctor 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  at  Wittenberg,  on  my  own  behalf,  and  on 
behalf  of  such  as  stand,  or  shall  stand,  on  my  side,  do,  by  this 
instrument,  appeal  from  his  Holiness  Pope  Leo  to  a  general 
Christian  council  hereafter  to  be  held.  I  appeal  from  the  afore- 
said Leo,  first,  as  an  unjust  judge,  who  condemns  me  without 
having  heard  me,  and  without  declaring  the  grounds  of  his 
judgment ;  secondl}^  as  a  heretic  and  apostate,  misguided,  hard- 
ened, and  condemned  by  Holy  Writ,  who  requires  me  to  deny 
the  necessity  of  Christian  faith  in  the  use  of  the  sacraments  ; 
thirdly,  as  an  enemy,  an  antichrist,  an  adversary  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  a  usurper  of  their  authority,  who  sets  up  his  own  decrees 
against  the  declarations  of  the  divine  word;  and,  fourthly,  as  a 
contemner,  calumniator,  and  blasphemer  of  the  holy  Christian 
Church  and  of  every  free  council,  —  who  asserts  that  a  council  is 
nothhig  of  itself."  He  concludes  with  calling  upon  "  the  emperor, 
the  electors,  princes,  counts,  barons,  knights,  gentlemen,  cities, 
and  municipalities  of  the  whole  German  nation,"  to  adhere  to  his 
protest,  and  unite  Avith  him  to  resist  the  anti-Christian  proceedings 
of  the  pope.  "  But  if  there  be  any,"  says  he,  "  who  set  at  nought 
my  entreaties,  and  prefer  to  obey  the  pope  rather  than  God,  I  do 
hereby  disavow  all  responsibility  on  their  account,  and  leave  them, 
together  with  the  pope  and  all  his  adherents,  to  the  final  judgment 
of  the  Almighty." 

One  would  have  thought  that  a  protest  such  as  this,  which  was 
speedily  circulated  throughout  Christendom,  was  an  act  sufficiently 
bold  and  decisive  ;  but  it  did  not  satisfy  the  mind  of  Luther.  He 
determined  that  in  nothing  would  he   fall  behind   Rome.     The 


858  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

pontiff  was  burning  his  books  ;  and  he  resolved  that  he  would  have 
a  bonfire  also.  Accordingly,  on  the  lOtli  of  December,  at  early- 
dawn,  a  placard  was  affixed  to  the  walls  of  the  university,  inviting 
the  professors  and  students  to  meet  at  nine  in  the  morning,  at  the 
east  gate,  beside  the  holy  cross.  A  vast  number  of  doctors  and 
students  assembled  ;  and  Luther,  putting  himself  at  their  head,  led 
the  procession  to  the  appointed  spot.  A  scaffold  had  been  erected, 
the  wood  prepared ;  and  fire  was  set  to  it.  As  the  flames  arose, 
Luther  drew  nigh,  and  cast  into  the  midst  of  them  the  canon  law, 
the  decretals  of  the  popes,  and  a  portion  of  the  works  of  Dr.  Eck. 
When  these  had  been  consumed,  he  took  in  his  hand  the  pope's 
bull,  held  it  up,  and  said  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Since  thou  hast 
afflicted  the  Lord's  Holy  One  (Christ),  may  fire  unquenchable 
afflict  and  consume  thee  !  "  Whereupon  he  threw  it  into  the  flames. 
He  then,  with  perfect  composure,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
procession ;  and  all  marched  back  again  to  the  city. 

By  this  act,  Luther  distinctly  proclaimed  his  separation  from 
the  Papal  Church.  He  accepted  the  excommunication  which 
Rome  had  pronounced.  He  declared  in  the  face  of  all  Christen- 
dom, that  henceforth  there  was  to  be  war  between  him  and  the 
pope,  even  to  the  death.  "  Hitherto,"  said  he,  "  I  have  been  only 
jesting  with  the  pope.  The  mighty  struggle  is  but  just  begun.  I 
entered  upon  this  work  in  the  name  of  God ;  and  God  will  bring 
it  to  a  successful  issue.  If  they  dare  to  burn  my  books,  of  which 
it  is  no  vain  boast  to  say  that  they  contain  more  of  the  gospel 
than  all  the  pope's  books  put  together,  I  may,  with  far  better 
reason,  burn  theirs,  which  are  entirely  worthless." 

On  the  morning  after  the  burning  above  described,  Luther 
lectured  as  usual  in  the  great  hall  of  the  university,  which  was 
excessively  crowded.  At  the  close  of  his  lecture,  he  warned  his 
hearers  in  the  most  solemn  manner  to  be  on  their  guard  against 
the  laws,  the  doctrines,  and  the  machinations  of  Rome.  "  If  you 
do  not,"  said  he,  "  with  your  whole  heart,  resist  the  impious  usur- 
pations of  the  pope,  you  cannot  be  saved.  Whosoever  takes 
pleasure  in  Romish  superstition  and  worship  will  assuredly  be  lost 
to  all  eternity.  True,  if  we  reject  that  false  creed,  we  must 
expect  to  encounter  every  kind  of  danger  ;  but  far  better  expose 
ourselves  to  danger  here  than  to  destruction  hereafter.  For  my 
own  part,  I  will  never  cease  to  warn  my  brethren  of  their  danger, 
lest  any  of  those  who  now  walk  with  us  should  l:)ackslide  into  the 
pit  of  hell." 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  859 

This  was  new  and  solemn  doctrine  to  those  who  heard  it.  They 
had  been  told  often  that  there  was  no  salvation  out  of  the  Romish 
Church :  they  were  now  led  to  fear  that  there  was  none  in  it. 
Especially  were  they  led  to  fear  that  their  fall  would  be  irretriev- 
able and  eternal,  if,  after  having  been  once  enlightened,  they  fell 
back  again  into  the  delusions  of  Rome. 

The  proceedings  above  detailed  mark  an  important  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  Reformation,  At  the  east  gate  of  Wittenberg,  Luther 
kindled  a  flame  which  three  centuries  have  not  been  able  to  extin- 
guish. His  undaunted  spirit  was  speedily  communicated  to  his 
friends ;  and  lips  were  opened  to  plead  this  great  cause,  which,  up 
to  this  time,  had  been  closed  in  silence. 

Melancthon  addressed  a  discourse  to  the  states  of  the  empire, 
which  for  elegance  of  style,  and  strength  of  reasoning,  has  rarely 
been  excelled.  After  having  proved  from  Scripture  that  the  pope 
is  not  superior  to  other  bishops,  he  inquires  of  .the  States,  "  What 
hinders  us  from  depriving  the  pontiff  of  that  authority  with  which 
we  have  ourselves  invested  him  ?  Recollect  that  you  are  Chris- 
tians, princes  of  a  Christian  nation  ;  and  hasten,  I  beseech  you,  to 
rescue  the  piteous  wreck  of  Christianity  from  the  tyrannous  hands 
of  Antichrist.  They  who  persuade  you  that  you  have  no  juris- 
diction over  these  priests  are  deceiving  you  grossly.  Let  the  same 
spirit  which  animated  Jehu  against  the  priests  of  Baal  urge  you, 
by  that  memorable  example,  to  crush  the  Romish  superstition,  — a 
superstition  more  detestable  than  that  of  Baal  itself." 

Some  of  the  friends  of  the  Reformation  were  alarmed  at  the 
steps  which  had  been  taken,  and  gave  utterance  to  their  feelings 
of  concern  and  terror.  Among  these  was  Luther's  earliest  religious 
friend  and  spiritual  father,  Staupitz.  But,  in  writing  to  him, 
Luther  gave  no  intimation  of  concession  or  conciliation.  "  All 
that  has  been  done  as  yet,"  said  he,  "is  mere  play.  The  tumult 
is  continually  becoming  more  tumultuous.  The  Papacy  has  ceased 
to  be  what  it  was  yesterday  and  the  day  before.  It  may  burn  my 
writings,  and  put  me  to  death  ;  but  the  Reformation,  which  is  now 
in  progress,  it  can  never  stop." 

As  Luther  had  long  and  often  been  urged  to  retract,  he  pub- 
lished at  this  time  what  he  called  his  "  Retractations."  They 
were  his  regrets,  that,  in  regard  to  many  points  Avhich  had  been 
up  for  discussion,  lie  had  not  gone  far  enough,  or  spoken  with  suf- 
ficient energy  and  decision :  he  had  not  spoken  out  as  he  ought 
against  indulgences,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  and  purgatory, 


860  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  priestly  absolution.  "  I  once  said  that  some  of  the  articles 
propounded  by  John  Huss  were  orthodox  ;  but  I  now  say  they  are 
all  so.  In  condemning  Huss,  the  pope  condemned  the  gospel.  I 
have  gone  five  times  as  far  as  he  ;  and  yet  I  greatly  fear  that  I  have 
not  gone  far  enough." 

The  elector  was  not  in  Saxony  at  the  time  when  the  excom- 
munication of  Luther  was  received  there,  but  at  Aix  la  Chapelle, 
where  he  had  gone  to  attend  the  coronation  of  Charles  V.  Dur- 
ing his  absence,  the  question  was  often  and  anxiously  revolved, 
"  What  course  will  the  elector  take  in  regard  to  this  bull  of  excom- 
munication ?  Will  he  concur  in  the  execution  of  it  ?  or  will  he 
disregard  it  ?  Will  he  protect  the  reformer  ?  or  will  he  abandon 
him  ?'"" 

These  questions  were  more  easily  asked  than  answered.  The 
cautious  Frederic  had  not  yet  committed  himself  to  the  cause  of 
the  Reformation  ;  and  the  pope  had  two  powerful  legates  in  attend- 
ance at  the  coronation,  who  would  exert  all  their  influence  with 
the  new  emperor,  the  German  princes,  and  especially  with  Frederic, 
to  effect  the  destruction  of  the  doomed  heretic.  One  of  these, 
Aleander,  was  peculiarly  violent,  and  would  listen  to  no  remedy 
for  existing  difficulties  but  that  of  fire.  Said  he  to  Frederic, 
"  Either  inflict  yourself  upon  the  heretic  the  punishment  he 
deserves,  or  consent  to  send  him  a  prisoner  to  Rome."  But  the 
elector  replied,  "  This  is  a  matter  of  too  much  importance  to  be 
decided  hastily.  Our  determination  in  regard  to  it  Avill  be  com- 
municated in  due  time." 

With  the  elector,  there  were  some  powerful  intercessors  on  the 
side  of  Luther  as  well  as  against  him.  Such,  in  particular,  were 
Spalatin  the  chaplain,  and  John  Frederic  his  nephew,  who  had 
fully  embraced  the  reformer's  doctrines.  But  that  which  pleaded 
more  powerfully  than  any  thing  in  behalf  of  Luther  was  the  mani- 
fest justice  of  his  cause.  The  elector  shuddered  at  the  thought 
of  delivering  up  such  a  man  as  he  knew  him  to  be  into  the  hands 
of  his  implacable  enemies.  He  therefore  notified  the  legates  that 
at  present  Luther  could  not  be  delivered  up  to  them,  and  requested 
that  he  might  first  be  permitted  to  answer  for  himself  before  a 
learned,  pious,  and  impartial  tribunal. 

This  decision  threw  Aleander  into  a  great  passion,  but  was 
received  by  the  friends  of  Luther  at  Wittenberg  with  transports 
of  joy.  The  elector  was  much  strengthened  in  it  by  an  interview 
which  he  had  just  at  this  time  with  the  learned  Erasmus.     The  first 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  861 

question  which  he  put  to  Erasmus  was,  "  What  do  you  think  of 
Luther  ?  "  The  cautious  Erasmus  endeavored  to  evade  an  answer  ; 
but  Frederic  insisted  uj^on  an  expKcit  reply.  "  I  think,  then,"  said 
Erasmus  in  a  jocuhir  tone,  "  that  Luther  has  committed  two  great 
faults,  —  he  has  attacked  the  pope's  crown  and  the  monks'  bellies." 
The  elector  smiled,  but  intimated  that  his  question  was  a  serious 
one,  and  that  he  expected  a  serious  answer.  Erasmus  then  went 
on  to  say,  "  The  origin  of  all  these  dissensions  is  the  hatred,  am- 
bition, and  vulgarity  of  the  monks.  What  are  the  weapons  of 
their  warfare  against  Luther  ?  —  clamor,  cabal,  malice,  and  slander. 
The  more  virtuous  a  man  is,  and  the  more  strongly  attached  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  the  less  does  he  find  to  censure  in 
Luther's  proceedings.  The  severity  of  the  bull,  for  which  we  are 
indebted  to  the  monks,  has  roused  the  indignation  of  all  good  men. 
The  danger  of  executing  such  a  bull  is  far  greater  than  some 
persons  imagine.  To  begin  the  reign  of  Charles  with  so  unpopular 
an  act  as  the  imprisonment  of  Luther  would  be  an  ill  omen  for 
the  future.  The  whole  question  should  be  examined  by  dispas- 
sionate and  competent  judges.  This  is  the  only  course  that  can 
be  followed  consistently  with  the  dignity  of  the  pope  himself." 

This  was  an  honest  hour  with  Erasmus.  The  presence  of  the 
elector  and  of  Spalatin  threw  him  off  his  guard ;  and  he  spoke 
with  a  frankness  to  which  he  was  not  accustomed.  He  even  con- 
sented to  reduce  his  opinion  to  writing,  and  left  it  with  S]3alatin, 
though  he  afterwards  requested  to  withdraw  the  paper. 

Defeated  in  their  pulilic  attempts  to  effect  the  destruction  of 
Luther,  the  priests  next  had  recourse  to  the  confessional.  They 
pressed  upon  the  consciences  of  those  who  sought  absolution 
inquiries  such  as  these  :  "  Have  you  read  the  writings  of  Luther  ? 
Have  you  any  of  them  in  your  possession  ?  Do  you  regard  them 
as  true,  or  as  heretical  ?  "  If  the  penitent  hesitated  to  pronounce 
the  prescribed  anathema,  the  priest  refused  him  absolution.  In 
this  way,  the  consciences  of  many  were  distressed  ;  and  some  who 
had  embraced  the  gospel  seemed  likely  to  be  brought  again  under 
the  Papal  yoke.  Luther  was  soon  informed  of  what  was  going  on, 
and  at  once  lifted  up  his  indignant  voice  against  it.  He  published 
an  address  to  penitents,  calculated  to  relieve  their  fears,  and  inspire 
them  with  courage  and  resolution :  "  When  you  are  asked  whether 
or  not  you  approve  of  my  books,  say  to  the  priest,  '  Sir,  you  are  a 
confessor,  but  not  an  inquisitor  or  jailer.  It  is  my  duty  to  confess 
whatever  my,  conscience  prompts  me  to  disclose  :  it  is  yours  to 


862  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

^abstain  from  prying  into  my  private  opinions  and  feelings.  Give 
me  absolution  first,  and  then  dispute  with  Luther  or  the  pope,  or 
whomsoever  you  please  ;  but  beware  of  turning  the  sacrament  of 
penance  into  an  instrument  of  strife  and  debate.'  And,  if  the  con- 
fessor refuses  to  yield,  dispense  altogether  with  his  absolution.  If 
man  will  not  absolve  you,  God  will ;  and,  being  absolved  by  God 
himself,  come  forward  fearlessly  to  the  sacrament  of  the  altar." 
This  stirring  exhortation  was  read  in  many  a  private  dwelling,  and 
awakened  courage  and  faith  in  many  a  troubled  and  desponding 
heart. 

But  it  was  not  enough  for  Luther  to  stand  on  the  defensive. 
He  felt  that  he  must  become  the  assailant,  and  return  (as  his  cus- 
tom was)  blow  for  blow.  "•  I  will  raise  the  choler  of  that  Italian 
beast,"  he  said ;  and  he  kept  his  word.  He  published  a  work,  in 
which  he  proved  from  the  prophecies  of  Daniel  and  John,  and 
from  the  epistles  of  Paul,  Peter,  and  Jude,  that  the  kingdom  of 
Antichrist  described  in  the  Bible  was  no  other  than  the  Papacy. 
Perhaps  none  of  the  works  of  Luther  had  a  more  powerful  influ- 
ence on  the  general  mind  than  this.  The  fearful  image  of  Anti- 
christ, seated  on  the  pontifical  throne,  was  present  to  every 
imagination,  and  filled  it  with  a  sacred  dread. 

Notwithstanding  the  anathemas  of  the  Papal  bull,  the  popular- 
ity of  the  reformer  at  Wittenberg  had  never  been  so  great  at 
any  time  as  now.  The  university  was  thronged  with  students  ; 
and  the  largest  church  in  the  city  was  too  small  for  the  eager 
crowds  that  hung  on  the  lips  of  Luther.  From  all  parts  of  Ger- 
many,—  from  princes,  nobles,  scholars,  and  persons  of  every  grade 
in  life, — letters  poured  in  upon  the  reformer,  speaking  the  lan- 
guage of  encouragement  and  faith.  Three  printing-presses  were 
constantly  employed  in  multiplying  copies  of  his  various  writings. 
His  discourses,  like  so  many  winged  messengers  of  truth,  passed 
rapidly  from  hand  to  hand,  diffusing  light  and  consolation  in  the 
cottage,  the  cloister,  and  in  the  abodes  of  kings. 

But,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  encouragements,  the  great  reformer 
had  some  trials.  He  had  the  mortification  to  see  some  of  his 
early  friends  inclined  to  waver,  and  retrace  their  steps.  In  partic- 
ular, this  was  the  case  with  his  old  friend  Staupitz.  He  had  been 
■suspected  and  accused,  but  had  weakly  consented  to  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  his  Holiness:  whereupon  Luther  wrote  to  him  with 
much  affection,  but  with  great  plainness,  warning  him  of  the  ter- 
rible consequences  of  the  course  he  was  taking. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. —LUTHER.  863 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1521,  the  first  diet  of  the  German 
States  held  since  the  accession  of  Charles  to  the  empire  convened 
at  Worms.  The  occasion  was  one  of  great  interest.  The  exj^ected 
presence  of  the  emperor,  as  well  as  the  certainty  that  many  diffi- 
cult and  important  questions  were  to  be  decided,  drew  most  of  the 
German  princes  together.  But  the  question  of  all  others  the  most 
interesting  and  perplexing  to  the  diet  was  that  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Luther  was  an  excommunicated  man ;  and  were  the  anath- 
emas of  the  pope  to  be  executed  upon  him?  or  was  he  to  be 
sheltered  and  protected,  at  least  until  he  could  have  a  hearing  ? 

Before  the  assembling  of  the  diet,  Charles  had  written  to.  Fred- 
eric, requesting  that  he  would  bring  Luther  along  with  him  ;  and 
Luther  had  determined  at  all  hazards  to  go.  But,  as  the  time 
approached,  the  courage  of  the  elector  failed  him.  He  feared  that 
to  take  Luther  to  Worms  would  be  to  conduct  him  to  a  scaffold. 
And,  as  Providence  would  have  it,  the  emperor  himself  (influenced 
chiefly  by  Aleander,  tlie  pope's  legate)  gave  orders  that  Luther 
should  be  left  at  Wittenberg.  In  the  absence  of  Luther,  Aleander 
used  every  means  with  the  members  of  the  diet  to  effect  his 
destruction.  He  accused  him,  not  only  of  disobedience  and 
heresy,  but  of  sedition,  rebellion,  impiety,  and  blasphemy ;  and, 
when  these  failed  to  arouse  the  members,  he  resorted  to  the  distri- 
bution of  bribes.  He  wrote  to  Rome  in  the  most  pressing  lan- 
guage for  money ;  and,  when  it  came,  he  freely  gave  it  to  all  who 
would  submit  to  receive  it.  He  had  liberty  to  address  the  diet, 
and  furiously  harangued  them  for  three  long  hours.  Still  the 
princes  could  not  be  brought  to  accede  to  his  wishes.  Instead  of 
formally  condemning  Luther,  they  brought  forward  a  long  list 
of  grievances  which  the  Germans  were  suffering  from  the  hands 
of  the  pope,  and  which  they  demanded  should  be  redressed. 

It  is  remarkable  that  these  grievances  were  presented  by  George, 
duke  of  Saxony,  the  most  inveterate  hater  of  Luther  in  the  whole 
assembly.  He  complained  of  the  amiats,  by  which  the  empire 
was  yearly  drained  of  large  sums  of  money;  of  the  leasing  and 
sale  of  ecclesiastical  benefices ;  of  the  toleration  granted  to  rich 
offenders,  while  the  poor  were  severely  punished ;  of  the  gross 
perversion  of  the  funds  of  the  Church  for  the  private  benefit  of 
the  pope  and  his  dependants  ;  of  the  shops  kept  open  in  the  large 
cities  for  the  sale  of  indulgences ,  that  ecclesiastics  were  permitted 
to  indulge  in  practices  for  which  other  men  were  degraded  and 
punished  ;  and  that  penances  were  so  devised  as  to  betray  the  pen- 


864  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

itent  into  a  repetition  of  his  offence  in  order  that  more  money 
might  be  exacted  from  him.  "  These,"  said  the  noble  duke,  "  are 
some  of  the  abuses  which  cry  out  to  Rome  for  redress.  All  shame 
is  laid  aside,  and  one  object  alone  incessantly  pursued,  —  money, 
money,  evermore  mone}^ !  " 

After  the  duke  had  thus  freely  and  plainly  spoken,  other  mem- 
bers of  the  diet  brought  forward  their  grievances.  Even  the 
ecclesiastical  princes  concurred  in  these  complaints.  "  The  pon- 
tiff," said  they,  "  is  occupied  only  with  pleasures  and  the  chase ; 
while  the  church-preferments  of  Germany  are  bestowed  upon  gun- 
ners, falconers,  valets,  ass-drivers,  grooms,  guardsmen,  and  other 
people  of  the  same  stamp,  ignorant,  inexperienced,  corrupt,  and 
strangers  to  our  nation."  Luther  himself  had  never  spoken  with 
greater  boldness  of  the  abuses  of  Rome  than  did  some  of  the 
Catholic  members  of  the  diet  at  Worms. 

In  consequence  of  these  complaints,  the  diet  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  draw  up  and  report  a  list  of  their  grievances.  The  enu- 
meration extended  to  a  hundred  and  one  ;  all  which  were  duly 
reported  to  the  emperor,  with  an  earnest  request  that  a  reforma- 
tion might  be  undertaken,  and  justice  done. 

This  remonstrance  of  the  diet  surj)rised  both  Aleander  and  the 
emperor.  It  had  not  been  expected.  They  were  still  more  sur- 
prised td  discover  an  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  assembly 
to  decide  upon  the  case  of  Luther  in  his  absence.  His  friends 
insisted  that  he  must  be  present,  and  face  his  accusers,  that  the 
assembly  might  learn  from  his  own  lips  whether  the  charges  against 
him  could  be  sustained. 

At  these  suggestions,  Aleander  was  greatly  disturbed  and 
alarmed.  He  dreaded  nothing  so  much  as  the  presence  of  Luther 
in  the  diet.  "  How  can  you  be  sure,"  said  he  to  the  emperor, 
"  that  the  genius  of  this  audacious  man,  the  flashes  of  his  eye,  the 
eloquence  of  his  speech,  and  the  mysterious  spirit  which  seems  to 
animate  him,  will  not  suffice  to  create  a  tumult?  "  Still  the  voice 
of  the  diet  was  not  to  be  disregarded.  As  the  appearance  of 
Luther  before  the  assembly  seemed  absolutely  necessary  in  order 
to  an  adjustment  of  difficulties,  Charles  resolved  to  summon  him. 
Accordingly,  a  special  messenger  was  appointed  to  communicate 
the  summons  td  Luther,  to  carry  him  a  safe  conduct,  and  to  escort 
him  to  Worms.     The  sequel  will  be  given  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. LIFE    OF    LUTHER    CONTINUED. 

ON  the  24tli  of  March,  1521,  the  imperial  herald  arrived  at 
Wittenberg,  delivered  to  Luther  his  safe  conduct,  and 
summoned  him  to  appear  at  Worms.  To  all  the  friends  of  the 
reformer  it  was  a  moment  of  anxiety  and  terror ;  but  he  received 
the  message  with  entire  composure.  "  The  Papists,"  said  he, 
"  have  no  desire  to  see  me  at  Worms ;  but  they  long  for  my  con- 
demnation and  death.  No  matter !  Pray,  not  for  me,  but  for  the 
word  of  God.  My  blood  will  scarcely  be  cold  before  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  in  every  land  will  be  made  to  answer  for 
the  shedding  of  it.  Christ  will  give  me  his  Spirit  to  overcome 
these  man-slayers,  these  ministers  of  Satan.  I  despise  them  while 
I  live  :  I  will  conquer  them  when  I  die.  They  are  striving  hard 
to  force  me  to  recant.  My  recantation  shall  be  this  :  I  once  said 
that  the  fope  was  Christ's  vicar  upon  earth.  I  now  say  that  he  is 
the  adversary  of  the  Lord,  and  the  apostle  of  the  Devil.'''' 

It  was  a  providential  occurrence  for  the  Reformation  that  Bu- 
genhagen  (more  frequently  called  Pomeranus),  a  noble  and  power- 
ful preacher  of  the  gospel,  who  had  been  driven  out  of  Pomerania 
by  persecution,  sought  a  refuge  at  Wittenberg  just  as  Luther  was 
ready  to  depart.  He  was  received  with  much  cordiality,  became 
pastor  of  the  church,  and  ministered  to  it  for. the  next  thirty-six 
years. 

It  was  on  the  2d  of  April  that  Luther  left  Wittenberg.  As 
he  departed,  he  said  to  Melancthon  with  much  emotion,  "  If  I 
never  return,  cease  not,  brother,  to  teach  and  stand  fast  in  the 
truth.  Labor  in  my  stead  when  I  can  no  longer  work.  If  you 
are  spared,  my  death  will  matter  little."  He  was  accompanied  in 
his  carriage  by  a  legal  counsellor  whose  name  was  Schurff,  by  his 
friend  Amsdorff,  and  a  pious  student.  The  imperial  herald,  in  full 
costume,  and  wearing  the  imperial  eagle,  rode  before  them.     In  all 

55  865 


866  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

places  through  which  they  passed,  there  seemed  to  be  a  general 
presentnneiit  that  Luther  was  going  to  meet  his  doom  :  still  he 
was  unmoved.  At  Weimar  he  had  an  interview  with  Duke  John, 
the  elector's  brother ;  at  whose  request  he  consented  to  preach. 
The  sermon  was  blessed  to  the  conversion  of  a  Franciscan  monk. 

As  he  approached  Erfurt,  he  was  met  by  a  troop  of  horsemen 
who  came  out  of  the  .town  to  do  him  honor.  They  escorted  him 
to  the  convent  of  the  Augustinians,  —  the  same  in  which  he  for- 
merly resided,  —  where  he  was  to  lodge.  On  the  following  Sun- 
day, he  preached  to  an  immense  crowd  ;  saying  not  a  word  about 
himself  or  his  peculiar  circumstances,  but  publishing  salvation  by 
the  blood  of  the  cross. 

At  Erfurt,  Luther  became  first  acquainted  with  Justus  Jonas, 
who  solicited  and  obtained  the  privilege  of  accompanying  him  to 
Worms.  Jonas  afterwards  became  provost  of  the  church  at  Wit- 
tenberg, where  he  continued  to  labor  to  the  end  of  life. 

At  Eisenach,  Luther  was  taken  ill ;  but,  in  consequence  of  bleed- 
ing and  the  use  of  cordials,  he  was  so  much  revived  as  to  be  able 
to  pursue  his  journey  the  following  day.  Arrived  at  Frankfort, 
he  rested  a  little,  and  dropped  a  line  to  S]3alatin,  —  the  only  one 
he  had  written  during  his  journey.  "  My  enemies,"  said  he, 
"  would  fain  terrify  me :  but  Christ  lives  ;  and  we  shall  enter 
Worms  in  spite  of  all  the  councils  of  earth  and  hell.  Therefore 
engage  a  lodging  for  me." 

When  the  partisans  of  Popery  found  that  Luther  was  really 
coming,  they  were  alarmed.  Some  expedient  must  be  resorted  to 
to  stop  him,  at  least  till  the  term  of  his  safe  conduct  expired  (and 
this  lasted  but  three  days  more),  when  they  might  safely  put  him 
out  of  the  way.  And  so  they  sent  out  messengers  to  meet  him, 
with  a  view  to  draw  him  into  a  compromise  ;  but  he  saw  through 
it  all,  and  refused  to  listen.  'i  If  you  have  any  thing  to  say 
to  me,  you  will  find  me  at  Worms.  I  repair  to  the  place  of  sum- 
mons." 

Meanwhile  Spalatin  himself  began  to  have  some  fearful  appre- 
hensions, and  sent  out  a  servant  to  say  to  him,  "  Better  not  venture 
to  enter  Worms  now."  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Luther  made 
to  the  servant  the  following  memorable  declaration  :  "  Go  tell 
your  master  that  I  shall  enter  the  city  of  Worms  although  there 
may  be  as  many  devils  there  as  there  are  tiles  on  the  roofs  of  the 
houses."  The  intrepidity  of  Luther  seemed  to  impart  new  life 
and  animation  to  his  friends. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER,  867 

It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  16th  of  April  that  Luther  dis- 
covered the  walls  of  the  ancient  city.  All  were  expecting  him. 
Not  less  than  a  hundred  individuals  —  nobles,  cavaliers,  and  other 
gentlemen  —  rode  out  to  meet  him,  and  escorted  him  to  the  gates. 
A  train  of  two  thousand  persons  accompanied  him  through  the 
streets  of  the  city.  The  concourse  was  even  greater  than  at  the 
public  entry  of  .the  emperor.  The  herald  of  the  empire  at  length 
stopped  before  the  hotel  of  the  Knights  of  Rhodes,  where  lodgings 
had  been  provided  for  him.  As  Luther  alighted  from  his  carriage, 
he  said,  "  God  will  be  my  defence." 

The  news  of  his  arrival  was  received  with  alarm  by  many,  both 
friends  and  enemies,  and  with  the  deepest  interest  by  all.  The 
emperor  immediately  convened  his  confidential  advisers  to  know 
what  was  to  be  done.  Some  said,  "  Let  your  Majesty  rid  yourself 
of  this  man  at  once.  Did  not  Sigismund  bring  John  Huss  to  the 
stake  ?  One  is  under  no  obligq,tions  to  observe  a  safe  conduct  in 
the  case  of  heretics."  But  Charles  could  not  consent  to  such 
diabolical  counsels.  It  was  therefore  agreed  that  the  reformer 
must  be  heard  ;  and  four  o'clock  on  the  following  day  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  public  hearing. 

The  summons  to  appear  was  received  by  Luther  with  profound 
respect,  though  he  was  at  that  time  suffering  from  an  unusual 
degree  of  mental  depression.  He  spent  most  of  the  intervening 
time  in  prayer,  and  such  prayer  as  rarely,  if  ever  before,  fell  from 
uninspired  lips.  "  O  liord,  help  me  !  O  faithful  and  unchange- 
able God,  help  me  !  I  lean  not  upon  man  :  that  Avere  vain.  What- 
ever is  from  man  is  tottering ;  Avhatever  proceeds  from  him  must 
fail.  But  thou  hast  chosen  me  for  this  work  :  I  know  it.  There- 
fore, O  God  !  accomplish  thine  own  will.  Forsake  me  not,  for  the 
sake  of  thy  well-beloved  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  my  defence,  my  buck- 
ler, and  my  strong  tower."  In  prayer  such  as  this  we  see  Avhere 
Luther's  great  strength  lay,  —  that  strength  which  sustained  him, 
comforted  him,  and  brought  him  off  a  conqueror. 

At  four  o'clock,  the  marshal  of  the  empire  appeared  ;  and  Luther 
prepared  to  accompany  him.  His  j)rayer  had  been  heard  ;  and  his 
mind  was  now  calm  and  tranquil.  But,  as  he  passed  out  from  his 
hotel,  the  crowd  was  so  dense,  that  it  was  found  impossible  to 
advance,  except  through  private  paths  and  back  ways,  to  the  place 
where  the  diet  was  assembled.  And,  when  they  arrived  at  the 
town-hall,  the  gate  could  not  be  reached  or  forced  until  a  passage . 
was  cleared  by  the  soldiers  with  their  halberds.     But  the  interven- 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

ing  difficulties  were  at  length  overcome  ;  and  Luther  was  ushered 
into  the  presence  of  his  judges.  Never  had  any  man  appeared 
before  a  more  august  assembly.  Here  were  the  Emperor  Charles, 
and  his  brother  the  archduke  of  Austria  ;  six  electors  of  the 
empire  ;  twenty-four  dukes  ;  eight  margraves ;  thirty  archbishops 
and  bishops  ;  seven  ambassadors,  including  those  of  France  and 
England  ;  the  dej)uties  of  ten  free  cities  ;  several  .princes,  counts, 
and  barons,  together  with  the  pope's  legates,  —  in  all,  two  hun- 
dred persons.  Such  was  the  assemblage  before  which  now  stood 
Martin  Luther. 

His  very  appearance  there  was  a  victory  over  the  Papacy.  The 
man  whom  the  pope  has  adjudged  a  heretic,  and  placed  under  an 
interdict,  and  thus  struck  him  out  from  all  human  fellowship,  is 
received  before  the  noblest  of  human  auditories.  When  the  pope 
has  declared  that  his  lips  shall  be  sealed  forever,  he  is  about  to 
open  them  in  the  presence  of  thousands  assembled  from  the  re- 
motest parts  of  Christendom. 

When  Luther  had  advanced  to  the  foot  of  the  throne,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Treves  put  to  him  the  following  questions :  "  First,  Do 
you  acknowledge  these  writings "  (pointing  to  a  pile  of  books 
lying  on  the  table)  "  to  have  been  composed  by  you  ?  Secondly, 
Are  you  prepared  to  retract  these  works  and  the  propositions  con- 
tained therein  ?  or  do  you  persist  in  what  you  have  published  ?  " 

When  the  titles  of  the  books  had  been  read,  Luther  answered 
the  first  question  by  saying,  "  Unless  the  books  shall  have  been 
mutilated  and  altered,  I  acknowledge  myself  to  be  their  author. 
But  as  to  the  second  question,  seeing  that  it  relates  to  faith,  and 
the  salvation  of  souls,  I  cannot  answer  without  reflection.  I  might 
say  less  than  circumstances  demand,  or  more  than  truth  requires ; 
and  so  sin  against  Christ :  therefore  I  most  humbly  desire  his 
imperial  Majesty  to  allow  me  time,  that  I  may  answer  without 
offending  against  the  word  of  God." 

This  reasonable  request,  after  some  deliberation,  was  granted ; 
and  Luther  was  allowed  to  defer  his  answer  till  the  next  day.  The 
enemies  of  Luther  were  miich  encouraged  by  his  request  for  delay. 
"  He  has  begged  for  time,"  said  they :  "  he  is  going  to  retract." 
But  Luther  had  no  thought  of  a  recantation.  "  By  the  help  of 
God,"  said  he  after  having  returned  to  his  hotel,  "I  will  not 
retract  a  single  letter  of  my  writings." 

At  the  hour  appointed,  Luther  was  conducted  again  to  the  hall 
where  the  diet  was  assembled.     His  mind  was  now  serene  and 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  869 

happy  ;  his  countenance  shone  ;  and  his  heart  was  dilated  with  joy : 
the  Eternal,  in  whom  he  trusted,  had  placed  him  on  a  rock. 
When  the  archbishop  of  Treves  demanded  whether  he  wished  to 
retract  any  part  of  his  writings,  or  whether  he  was  determined 
to  defend  them,  he  answered  as  follows :  "  Most  serene  emperor, 
and  you  illustrious  princes  and  gracious  lords,  I  this  day  appear 
before  you  in  all  humility,  according  to  your  command ;  and  I 
implore  your  Majesty  and  your  august  Highnesses,  by  the  mercies 
of  God,  to  listen  with  favor  to  the  defence  of  a  cause  which  I  am 
well  assured  is  just  and  right.  Two  questions  were  put  to  me 
yesterday  b}^  his  imperial  Majesty,  the  first  of  which  I  answered ; 
and  to  that  answer  I  adhere.  As  to  the  second,  I  have  composed 
writings  on  very  different  subjects.  In  some,  I  have  discussed 
faith  and  good  works  in  a  spirit  so  pure,  clear,  and  Christian,  that 
even  my  adversaries  confess  these  writings  to  be  profitable,  and 
worthy  to  be  perused  by  devout  persons.  What,  then,  should  I  be 
doing  were  I  to  retract  any  of  these  writings?  I  should  be  found 
abandoning  truths  and  opposing  doctrines  which  the  whole  world 
glories  in  professing. 

"  I  have  composed  certain  works  against  Popery,  wherein  I 
have  assailed  those  who  by  false  doctrines  and  scandalous  prac- 
tices afflict  the  Christian  world,  and  ruin  the  bodies  and  souls  of 
men ;  and  is  not  this  confirmed  to  the  grief  of  all  who  fear  God  ? 
Is  it  not  manifest  that  the  laws  and  doctrines  of  the  popes  entangle 
and  distress  the  consciences  of  the  faithful,  whilst  the  crying  and 
endless  extortions  of  Rome  ingulf  the  property  and  wealth  of 
Christendom,  and  more  particularly  of  this  German  nation  ?  If  I 
were  to  revoke  what  I  have  written  against  Popery,  should  I  not 
strengthen  this  tyranny,  and  open  a  wider  door  to  so  many  and 
flagrant  impieties  ?  And  then  we  should  behold  these  proud  men 
bearing  down  all  resistance  ;  swelling,  foaming,  and  raging  more 
than  ever ;  and  I  should  become  like  an  infamous  cloak  used  to 
hide  and  cover  over  every  species  of  malice  and  tja-anny. 

"  In  the  third  place,  I  have  Avritten  some  books  against  private 
individuals  who  had  undertaken  to  defend  the  tyranny  of  Rome, 
and  to  destroy  the  faith.  I  confess  that  I  may  have  attacked  such 
persons  with  more  violence  than  was  becoming  my  sacred  profes- 
sion. But  neither  can  I  retract  these  books ;  because,  by  so  doing, 
I  should  sanction  the  impiety  of  my  opponents,  who  would  thence 
take  occasion  more  cruelly  to  crush  the  people  of  God.  I  can  only 
say  of  them  what  Christ  said  of  his  opponents,  '  If  I  have  spoken 
evil,  hear  wit7iess  of  the  eviV 


870  .     ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

"  Most  serene  emperor,  and  you  illustrious  princes,  I  implore 
you,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  to  prove  to  me  by  the  writings  of  the 
apostles  and  prophets  that  I  am  in  error.  As  soon  as  I  shall  be 
convinced  on  such  grounds,  I  will  retract  all  my  errors,  and  will 
be  the  first  to  seize  my  writings  and  commit  them  to  the  flames." 

Luther  concluded  by  warning  his  august  hearers,  lest,  in  their 
endeavors  to  heal  discords,  they  should  be  found  fightmg  against 
the  word  of  God,  and  thus  bring  down  upon  their  heads  a  fright- 
ful deluge  of  present  disasters  and  everlasting  desolations.  He 
excuses  himself  for  having  spoken  so  plainly.  "But  I  wish,"  said 
he,  "  to  acquit  mj^self  of  a  duty  which  Germany  has  a  right  to 
expect  from  all  her  children ;  and  so,  commending  myself  to  your 
august  Majesty  and  your  most  serene  Highnesses,  I  beseech  you  in 
all  humilit}"  not  to  permit  the  hatred  of  my  enemies  to  rain  upon 
me  an  indignation  which  I  have  not  deserved." 

As  soon  as  he  was  through,  the  archbishop  of  Treves  inquired 
of  him  angrily  why  he  had  not  returned  a  clear  and  distmct 
answer  to  the  question,  "  Will  you,  or  u'ill  you  not,  retract  ?  "  To 
this  Luther  replied,  "  I  cannot  submit  my  faith  either  to  the  pope 
or  the  councils.  Unless  I  am  convinced  from  the  Holy  Scriptures 
or  from  reason,  I  neither  can  nor  will  retract  any  thing ;  for  it 
cannot  be  right  for  a  Christian  to  speak  against  his  conscience." 
And  then,  turning  a  look  on  that  venerable  assembly  before  which 
he  stood,  and  which  held  in  its  hands  his  life  or  his  death,  he 
added,  "  Here  I  stand,  and  can  say  no  more  :  God  help  me  ! 
Amen." 

After  a  few  moments,  during  which  the  assembly  sat  motion- 
less with  astonishment,  if  not  with  admiration,  the  archbishop 
resumed :  "  If  you  have  nothing  to  retract,  the  emperor  and 
the  princes  will  proceed  to  consider  in  what  manner  they  shall 
deal  with  an  obstinate  heretic."  To  which  Luther  replied,  "  The 
Lord  be  my  helper  I     I  can  retract  nothing." 

Luther  now  withdrew,  but  after  a  httle  time  was  called  back ; 
when  the  archbishop  thus  addressed  him :  "  Martin,  you  have  not 
spoken  with  that  humility  which  befits  your  condition.  It  is 
absurd  for  you  to  require  to  be  refuted  by  Scripture,  when  you 
are  reviving  heresies  condemned  by  the  great  Council  of  Con- 
stance. The  emperor  requires  you  to  say  yes  or  no ;  whether 
you  mean  to  affirm  what  you  have  advanced,  or  whether  you 
desire  to  retract  any  thing."  —  '•  I  have  no  answer  to  give," 
replied  Luther,  "  except  that  which  I  have  already  given."     The 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY. —  LUTHER.  871 

assembly  understood  liim,  and  adjourned  to  meet  the  next  morn- 
ing to  hear  the  emperor's  decision. 

The  impression  produced  by  the  address  and  demeanor  of 
Luther  before  the  diet  was  deep  and  powerful.  The  elector 
of  Saxony  was  delighted  with  him,  and  was  evidently  proud  of 
having  such  a  veteran  under  his  patronage.  He  resolved  from  this 
time  to  aiford  him  a  more  efficient  protection.  Other  members 
of  the  diet  were  won  over  to  his  cause,  and  became  at  a  later 
period  the  decided  patrons  of  the  Reformation. 

The  emperor,  however,  could  not  divest  himself  of  his  preju- 
dices, and  of  the  various  insnaring  influences  with  which  he  was 
surrounded.  The  day  following,  when  the  diet  came  together,  he 
declared  his  unalterable  resolution  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
ancestors,  and  defend  the  faith  of  Rome.  "A  single  monk,  led 
astray  by  his  o\A^n  madness,  erects  himself  against  the  faith  of 
Christendom.  I  will  sacrifice  my  kingdoms,  my  power,  my  friends, 
my  treasure,  my  body,  and  my  blood,  to  stay  the  farther  progress 
of  this  impiety.  I  am  about  to  dismiss  Luther,  forbidding  him  to 
make  the  least  disturbance  among  the  people.  I  will  then  take 
measures  against  him  and  his  adherents,  and  use  every  means 
necessary  to  their  destruction.  "  I  call  upon  the  members  of  the 
States  to  comport  themselves  as  faithful  Christians." 

This  indiscreet  declaration  on  the  part  of  the  emperor  produced 
great  complaints  and  murmurs  in  the  assembly.  By  giving  his 
opinion  first,  he  had  broken  the  established  rules  of  the  diet.  He 
had  prejudged  the  cause  of  Luther ;  and  the  right  of  the  princes 
to  act  freely  in  the  matter  was  taken  away.  Party  spirit  ran  high. 
The  enemies  of  Luther  Avere  for  killing  him  outright :  his  safe 
conduct  ought  not  to  be  respected.  But  this  disgraceful  proposal 
found  little  favor  among  the  Germans.  Even  Duke  George  cried 
out  against  it. 

For  the  next  two  or  three  days,  the  most  earnest  efforts  were 
made,  in  a  private  way,  to  bring  Luther  to  a  recantation ;  but 
neither  exhortations  nor  promises,  flatteries  nor  frowns,  availed 
to  change  his  resolution.  Rather  than  give  up  the  word  of  God, 
where  the  case  was  clear,  he  would  willingly  hi}^  down  his  life. 

When  all  other  plans  of  compromise  had  failed,  Luther  was 
urged  by  his  friends  to  renew  his  appeal  to  a  general  council. 
To  this  he  consented,  but  on  the  express  condition  that  the 
council  should  decide  according  to  the  Scriptures. 

Some  of  the  Romanists  asked  him,  "  What  remedy  would  you 


872  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

propose  for  the  healing  of  these  dissensions  ? "  To  this  Luther 
replied  in  the  words  of  Gamaliel,  "  Refrain  from  these  men,  and 
let  them  alone.  If  this  work  be  of  men,  it  will  come  to  nought : 
but,  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it;  lest  haply  je  be 
found  to  fight  even  against  God." 

Shortly  after  this  conversation,  Luther  received  the  emperor's 
orders  to  return  to  Wittenberg ;  pledging  the  public  faith  for  his 
personal  safety  for  twenty-one  days.  He  returned  his  thanks  to 
the  emperor,  and  to  the  other  members  of  the  diet,  for  the 
patience  with  which  they  had  listened  to  him.  "  I  have  not," 
said  he,  "  and  never  have  had,  but  one  wish  in  regard  to  this 
matter  ;  and  that  is  a  reformation  of  the  Church  according  to 
the  Scriptures.  I  am  ready  to  do  or  suffer  any  thing  in  obedience 
to  the  emperor's  will.  Life  or  death,  honor  or  dishonor,  I  will 
bear.  I  make  but  one  reservation,  —  the  word  of  God  must  not 
be  bound ;  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  must  be  free." 

On  Friday  morning,  April  26,  Luther  gave  his  blessing  to 
those  around  him,  and  left  Worms.  Twenty  gentlemen  on  horse- 
back surrounded  his  carriage.  A  crowd  accompanied  him  outside 
the  city.  As  he  passed  those  walls  which  many  predicted  would 
be  his  tomb,  his  heart  overflowed  with  gratitude  and  praise  to  God. 
"  The  Devil  has  been  obliged  to  confess,"  said  he,  "  that  Christ  is 
mightier  than  he." 

At  Frankfort,  he  found  time  to  write  the  following  brief  but 
characteristic  letter  in  reference  to  what  had  been  done  at  Worms  : 
"  I  expected  his  Majesty  would  assemble  fifty  learned  doctors  to 
convict  the  monk  outright ;  but  nothing  of  this  was  done.  '  Are 
these  books  of  your  writing  ? '  — '  Yes.'  — '  Will  you  retract  them  ? ' 
—  '  No.'  —  '  Well,  then,  begone  !  '  There  is  the  whole  story. 
Deluded  Germans !  how  are  we  duped  and  defrauded  by  Rome  !  " 

While  on  his  journey,  Luther  found  time  to  address  messages  to 
the  emperor,  and  also  to  the  princes  whom  he  had  left  at  Worms. 
In  these  he  explained  clearly  the  obedience  which  the  Christian 
owes  to  his  sovereign,  and  that  which  is  due  to  God ;  and  marked 
the  point  at  which  the  former  must  give  place  to  the  latter. 
"  Subjection  in  spiritual  things,"  said  he,  "is  a  real  worship,  which 
should  be  rendered  only  to  the  Creator." 

On  his  way  to  Wittenberg,  Luther  passed  through  Eisenach, 
which  had  been  the  scene  of  his  childhood,  and  where  he  preached. 
He  spent  a  day  here  with  his  relatives  ;  which  was  the  more  grate- 
ful to  him  on  account  of  the  turmoils  through  which  he  had  passed. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  873 

Soon  after  leaving  here,  he  and  his  company  encountered  an  inci- 
dent which  had  a  great  effect  upon  the  reformer's  future  life.  As 
they  were  passing  a  narrow  defile,  suddenly  five  horsemen,  masked, 
and  armed  from  head  to  foot,  fell  upon  them.  Two  of  the  assailants 
seized  the  driver  and  Amsdorff,  and  held  them  fast ;  while  the  other 
three  took  Luther  from  the  carriage,  threw  a  knight's  cloak  over 
him,  and  put  him  upon  a  horse  which  they  had  with  them.  This 
done,  the  whole  five  sprang  into  their  saddles,  leaving  the  driver  and 
Amsdorff  to  shift  for  themselves ;  and  in  a  moment  they  and  their 
prisoner  disappeared  in  the  thick  gloom  of  the  forest.  The  news 
flew  like  lightning  through  all  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  coun- 
try that  Luther  had  been  carried  off.  Some  rejoiced  at  the  report; 
but  the  greater  number  were  struck  with  astonishment  and  indig- 
nation ;  and  soon  a  cry  of  grief  resounded  throughout  Germany, 
"  Luther  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  !  " 

The  party  whicli  had  captured  Luther  continued  in  the  forest 
during  the  day ;  but,  when  night  came,  they  took  him  directly  to 
the  ancient  Castle  of  Wartburg.  This  was  a  lofty,  isolated  pile, 
situated  on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides, 
except  one,  by  the  forests  of  Tiiringen.  Here  he  was  stripped  of  his 
ecclesiastical  habit,  and  dressed  throughout  in  the  garb  of  a  knight. 
He  was  commanded  not  to  cut  his  hair  or  beard ;  and  the  attend- 
ants of  the  castle  were  to  know  him  only  by  the  name  of  Knight 
George. 

This  sudden  capture  and  confinement  of  Luther  was  undoubt- 
edly a  plan  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  who  knew  not  how  to  protect 
him  in  any  other  way.  It  is  possible  that  the  plan  was  disclosed 
to  Luther  a  short  time  before  his  departure  from  Worms ;  yet  so 
deeply  was  the  whole  transaction  involved  in  mystery,  and  so  art- 
fully was  it  accomplished,  that  even  Frederic  himself  was  for  a 
long  time  ignorant  of  the  place  where  Luther  was  concealed. 

But  we  must  return  for  a  moment  to  the  diet  at  Worms.  Shortly 
after  the  departure  of  Luther,  most  of  the  princes  who  were  favora- 
ble to  him  left  the  place.  The  Italians  and  Spaniards,  with  the 
strongly  Catholic  princes,  alone  remained.  Aleander  had  every 
thing  his  own  way.  He  therefore  drew  up  an  edict,  and  per- 
suaded the  emperor  to  sign  it,  charging  upon  Luther  the  most 
horrible  crimes,  and  condemning  him,  and  all  who  harbored  or 
aided  him,  with  the  severest  punishment.  "  We  enjoin,"  says  the 
edict,  "  that  you  seize  him,  or  cause  him  to  be  seized,  wherever  he 
may  be,  and  bring  him  before  us  without  delay,  or  hold  him  in 


874  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

r 

durance  until  you  shall  be  informed  how  to  deal  with  him ;  and, 
if  any  one  shall  dare  to  act  contrary  to  this  decree,  we  command 
that  he  be  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  empire." 

This  bloody  decree  was  antedated  several  days,  that  it  might 
seem  to  have  been  passed  when  the  diet  was  full.  It  caused  great 
joy  among  the  bigoted  Romanists.  They  exclaimed  aloud,  "  The 
tragedy  is  over !  "  But  events  soon  proved  that  it  was  not  over. 
For  various  reasons,  the  decree  fell  powerless  to  the  ground,  and 
produced  almost  no  effect.  The  Romanists  soon  began  to  com- 
plain, that,  "  before  the  ink  with  which  it  was  written  had  time  to 
dry,  the  edict  was  virtually  torn  to  pieces."  It  could  have  been 
executed  in  Germany  only  at  the  point  of  the  sword ;  and  the 
emperor  had  enough  else  to  do  without  staying  there  to  en- 
force it. 

For  a  time,  Luther  enjoyed  the  quiet  of  the  castle,  which  he 
called  his  Patmos.  But  ere  long  his  health  began  to  suffer ;  and,  as  a 
natural  consequence,  his  spirits  were  depressed.  His  table  was  too 
richly  stored ;  and  he  found  it  necessary  to  return  to  the  poorer  fare 
to  which  he  had  been  accustomed.  He  also  took  more  exercise, 
and  was  allowed  occasionally  a  degree  of  liberty.  He  continued 
to  study  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  was  often  engaged  in  preparing 
letters  and  tracts.  Indeed,  his  pen  was  never  idle.  His  enemies 
thought  him  dead  or  silenced ;  but  he  soon  convinced  them  that 
he  was  still  able  to  make  his  voice  to  be  heard.  For  almost  a  year, 
he  continued  to  thunder  from  his  mountain-height,  —  tract  follow- 
ing tract  in  such  rapid  succession,  that  his  astonished  adversaries 
began  to  think  that  there  was  something  supernatural  in  so  pro- 
digious an  activity. 

But  Luther  was  destined  to  perform  a  more  important  work' for 
his  nation  than  any  he  had  yet  accomplished ;  and  the  foundations 
of  this  work  were  laid,  and  a  considerable  part  of  it  completed, 
during  his  confinement  in  the  Wartburg.  It  was  to  give  to  the 
Germans  the  Scriptures  in  their  own  mother-tongue.  He  com- 
menced with  the  New  Testament ;  and,  at  the  time  of  his  enlarge- 
ment, this  was  nearly  ready  for  the  press. 

While  Luther  was  employed  in  translating  the  New  Testament, 
he  was  tormented  by  seeming  apparitions  of  the  Wicked  One.  In 
imagination,  "  he  saw  him  xearing  before  him  his  gigantic  form, 
lifting  his  finger  as  if  in  threatening,  grinning  triumphantly,  and 
grinding  his  teeth  in  fearful  rage.  One  day,  while  he  was  trans- 
lating, Luther  thought  that  he  saw  his  grand  enemy  moving  round 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  875 

him  like  a  lion,  and  threatening  to  spring  upon  his  prey.  Aroused 
and  alarmed,  he  seized  his  inkstand,  and  threw  it  at  the  Devil's 
head.  The  apparition  vanished ;  the  ink-bottle  was  dashed  in 
pieces :  and  to  this  day  the  keeper  of  the  Wartburg  points  out  to 
travellers  the  mark  made  by  Luther's  inkstand  against  the  wall." 

Daring  the  captivity  of  Luther,  the  Reformation  made  very  per- 
ceptible progress,  more  especially  in  its  outward  developments. 
Up  to  this  time,  the  constitution  of  the  Church,  its  ritual  and  dis- 
cipline, had  undergone  no  particular  change.  It  was  the  policy 
of  Luther  to  prepare  the  way  for  outward  changes  before  he  urged 
them.  Instead  of  pressing  them  prematurely,  and  thereby  creating 
revolution  and  confusion,  he  left  them  to  come  along  as  the  natural 
and  necessary  results  of  the  principles  he  had  inculcated. 

But  the  time  had  now  come — the  sooner,  perhaps,  because  of 
Luther's  absence  —  when  these  results  began  to  be  manifested. 
Two  of  the  German  pastors  had  entered  into  the  marriage-state. 
The  Popish  mass  had  been  exchanged  for  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  monks,  too,  began  to  oppose  the  monastic 
discipline  and  vows.  Thirteen  Augustinian  monks  quitted  the 
convent  in  one  day,  threw  aside  the  habit  of  their  order,  and 
assumed  the  dress  of  the  laity. 

But  while  these  changes  were  taking  place,  and  the  Church  was 
making  visible  progress,  impure  elements  began  to  work.  Fanatics 
made  their  appearance  at  Zwickau,  not  far  from  Wittenberg,  who 
professed  to  be  inspired,  and  to  be  sent  of  Heaven  to  complete  the 
reformation  wliich  Luther  had  but  feebly  begun.  "  What  is  the 
use,"  they  said,  "  of  such  perpetual  application  to  the  Bible  ?  Can 
the  Bible  preach  to  us  ?  Can  the  Bible  suffice  for  our  instruction  ? 
It  is  only  the  Spirit  that  can  enlighten.  God  himself  has  spoken 
to  us  by  his  Spirit,  and  taught  us  what  to  do  and  say." 

From  Zwickau  these  men  soon  came  to  Wittenberg,  and  opened 
their  dread  commission  tlwre.  At  first,  the  professors  and  minis- 
ters, and  even  the  elector,  were  puzzled  with  them  ;  but  soon 
Melancthon  declared  against  them,  and  the  elector  thought  that 
their  inspiration  was  from  a  bad  spirit,  and  not  a  good  one.  But 
Carlstadt,  who,  in  the  absence  of  Luther,  held  a  conspicuous  place 
among  the  professors,  was  rather  taken  with  the  new  teachers. 
He  did  not  receive  all  their  doctrines,  but  deeply  drank  in  the  con- 
tagion of  their  enthusiasm.  He  instigated  the  populace  to  remove 
the  pictures  and  images  from  the  churches,  and  to  destroy  them. 
He  also  began  to  pour  contempt  upon  human  learning.     He  neg- 


§7G  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.' 

lected  his  studies,  and  advised  the  students  at  the  university  to 
return  to  their  liomes,  and  resume  their  ordinary  avocations  ;  in- 
sisting that  they  were  quite  as  likely  to  become  prophets  in  this 
way  as  in  poring  over  books.  Other  teachers  copied  after  Carl- 
stadt,  and  advised  the  people  to  take  their  children  from  the 
schools.  In  consequence  of  these  proceedings,  some  of  the  schools 
were  broken  up  ;  the  university  was  likely  tO  be  deserted  ;  and  the 
light  of  the  Reformation  might  ere  long  be  extinguished. 

Wlien  Luther  was  apprised  of  the  critical  state  of  affairs  at 
Wittenberg,  he  resolved  that  he  would  remain  concealed  no  longer. 
At  all  hazards,  he  would  be  at  his  post ;  and,  if  he  fell  before 
his  enemies,  he  would  fall  there.  Bat,  before  commencing  his 
journey,  he  wrote  to  the  elector,  acquainting  him  with  the  bold 
step  which  he  was  about  to  take.  We  give  the  following  extract 
from  this  remarkable  letter :  "  I  have  sufficiently  shown  my  defer- 
ence to  your  Highness  in  withdrawing  from  public  view  for  a 
whole  year.  Satan  knows  that  it  was  not  from  cowardice  that  I 
did  so ;  nor  have  I  now  any  thing  to  fear,  so  long  as  I  continue  in 
the  way  of  duty.  You  tell  me  of  Duke  George,  and  of  his  rage 
against  me.  But,  if  what  is  now  passing  at  Wittenberg  were  oc- 
curring at  Leipsic  (his  usual  place  of  residence),  I  would  mount 
my  horse,  and  repair  thither,  even  though  it  should  rain  Duke 
Georges  for  nine  days  together,  and  every  one  of  them  should  be 
nine  times  as  fierce  as  he.  What  can  he  be  thinking  of  in  thus 
attacking  mc  ?  Does  he  suppose  that  Christ,  my  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter, is  a  man  of  straw  ? 

"  Be  it  known  unto  your  Highness  that  I  am  about  to  repair  to 
Wittenberg  under  a  protection  more  powerful  than  that  of  an 
elector.  I  am  so  far  from  desiring  your  protection,  that  it  is  my 
purpose  rather  to  protect  you.  If  I  knew  tliat  you  could  or  would 
attempt  my  defence  by  force  of  arms,  I  certainly  would  not  come 
to  Wittenberg.  But,  since  your  Highness  desires  to  know  what 
you  are  to  do,  I  answer  in  a  word,  Bo  notldng.  Your  Highness  has 
done  too  much  already.  I  expect  you  to  perform  your  duty  as  an 
elector,  and  allow  the  instructions  of  his  Imperial  Majesty  to  be 
carried  into  effect  in  your  towns  and  districts.  Offer  no  impedi- 
ment to  -any  one  who  would  seize  or  kill  me.  Leave  your  gates 
b\)en ;  and,  if  my  enemies  come  to  make  search  for  me,  let  them 
come.  I  wish  that  every  thing  may  take  its  natural  course,  with- 
out trouble  or  prejudice  to  your  Highness.  I  write  this  in  haste, 
that  you  may  not  feci  aggrieved  or  perplexed  at  my  coming." 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  877 

Having  thus  acquainted  his  sovereign  with  what  he  was  about 
to  do,  Luther  left  his  Patmos  on  tlie  3d  of  March,  and  turned  his 
steps  towards  the  haunts  of  men.  He  was  still  habited  as  a  knight, 
and,  in  nearly  all  places  through  which  he  passed,  was  entirely  un- 
known. In  two  or  three  instances,  he  was  recognized  ;  but  those 
who  knew  him  were  his  friends.  After  a  journey  of  five  days,  he 
arrived  safely  at  Wittenberg,  where  he  was  received  with  a  sort  of 
triumph.  Doctors,  students,  burghers,  peasants,  all  broke  forth 
in  rejoicing  together  ;  for  they  had  now  among  them  a  pilot,  who, 
they  believed,  could  extricate  the  vessel  from  the  reefs  and  perils 
with  which  it  was  surrounded. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. LIFE    OF    LUTHER    CONTINUED. 

THE  last  chapter  closed  with  an  account  of  Luther's  journey 
from  the  Wartburg  to  Wittenberg,  and  of  his  safe  arrival  and 
joyous  reception  at  the  latter  place.  But  he  soon  found  that  he 
had  something  to  do  besides  meeting  friends  and  exchanging  salu- 
tations. A  work  was  before  him  of  surpassing  difficulty  as  well  as 
importance,  —  a  work  such  as  he  had  never  attempted  before.  It 
devolved  on  him  to  reduce  to  silence  the  noisy  company  of  fanat- 
ics ;  to  arrest  the  headlong  course  of  the  multitude ;  to  calm  their 
excited  spirits,  and  restore  them  to  order,  peace,  and  reason ;  to 
break  the  force  of  that  torrent  which  was  beating  against  the  yet 
unsettled  edifice  of  the  Reformation,  and  threatening  to  sweep  it 
all  away.  Would  it  be  possible  to  perform  such  a  work  as  this  ? 
Could  it  be  accomplished  by  any  instrumentality  whatever  ? 

The  second  day  after  his  return  was  the  sabbath,  when  he  was 
expected  to  meet  that  beloved  flock  which  had  been  accustomed 
"  to  follow  him  like  docile  sheep,  but  some  of  whom  had  since 
broken  from  him  in  the  spirit  of  an  untamed  heifer."  And  consid- 
ering the  natural  temperament  of  the  man,  and  the  boldness  and 
energy  which  at  this  time  characterized  all  his  movements,  it  is 
remarkable  with  what  a  spirit  he  appeared  before  them.  His 
address  was  simple  and  noble,  energetic  and  persuasive.  He 
seemed  like  a  tender  father  returning  to  his  children,  inquiring 
into  their  conduct  and  welfare,  and  communicating  the  re^TOrts 
which  had  reached  him  respecting  them.  He  highly  commended 
their  progress  in  the  faith,  but  went  on  to  show  them  that  they 
needed  something  besides  faith ;  and  that  is  love.  "  Observe  the 
sun,"  says  he :  "  he  dispenses  two  gifts,  — light  and  warmth.  The 
mightiest  monarch  cannot  turn  aside  his  rays.  Thc}^  come  straight 
on,  and  reach  the  earth  by  a  direct  course.  Meanwhile  his  warmth 
goes  forth,  and  diffuses  itself  in  every  direction.     So  faith,  like 

878 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY. —  LUTHER.  879 

light,  should  be  ever  simple  and  unbending ;  while  love,  like 
warmth,  should  beam  forth  on  all  sides,  and  bend  to  every  neces- 
sity of  God's  children." 

He  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  mass,  which  had  been  abolished  ; 
approving  of  the  thing  done,  but  objecting  to  the  manner  in  which 
it  liad  been  done.  Instead  of  forcibly  taking  away  the  mass  from 
the  people,  the  people  should  have  been  drawn  away  from  the 
mass  by  the  force  of  truth  and  the  influeuce  of  love.  "  Know 
you,  my  brethren,  what  the  Devil  thinks  when  he  sees  us  resorting 
to  violent  methods  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  the  gospel  through 
the  world  ?  Sitting  behind  the  fires  of  hell,  and  folding  his  arms, 
with  malignant  glance  and  horrid  leer  he  says,  '  See  how  those 
madmen  play  into  our  hands  ! '  " 

In  the  six  following  days,  Luther  delivered  six  public  discourses, 
in  which  he  reviewed  the  changes  which  had  taken  place  at  Wit- 
tenberg during  his  absence,  —  such  as  the  destruction  of  images, 
the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  restoration  of  the  cup, 
&c. ;  in  all  which  was  exemplified,  not  only  his  unsparing  faithful- 
ness, but  his  wisdom,  his  tenderness,  his  moderation.  He  uttered 
no  rejiroaches  against  those  who  had  been  disorderly,  by  Avhich 
their  feelings  could  be  wounded  or  irritated.  His  manner  was 
like  that  of  Paul  in  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  or  like 
that  of  the  Saviour  in  his  messages  to  the  seven  churches  of  Asia. 
There  was  no  withstanding  the  power  of  such  eloquence.  Under 
the  influence  of  it,  difficulties  disappeared,  tumult  subsided,  the 
voice  of  sedition  was  hushed  ;  and  the  chafed  burghers  of  Wit- 
tenberg returned  quietly  to  their  homes  and  to  their  customary 
avocations.  Even  Carlstadt,  although  his  countenance  wore  the 
air  of  disappointment,  yet  thought  it  not  proper  to  make  any 
resistance.  He  became  reconciled  to  his  colleague,  at  least  in  ap- 
pearance, and  resumed  his  studies  in  the  university. 

Soon  after  this,  Luther  had  a  stormy  meeting  with  the  fanatical 
prophets,  otherwise  called  Anabaptists.  He  said  but  little ;  but 
what  he  did  say  was  calculated  to  throw  them  off  their  guard,  and 
show  what  manner  of  spirit  they  were  of.  Under  the  short 
but  pithy  rebukes  of  the  reformer,  they  trembled  from  head  to 
foot,  smote  the  table  with  their  fists,  and  roared  aloud,  "  The 
Spirit !  the  Spirit !  "  —  "I  will  slap  your  spirit  on  the  snout !  "  said 
Luther.  Whereupon  they  stormed  till  they  foamed  at  the  mouth ; 
and  their  voices  were  inaudible  from  the  tumult.  The  result  was, 
that  they  abandoned  the  field,  and,  that  very  day,  left  Wittenberg. 


880  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

No  sooner  was  order  re-established,  than  the  reformer,  assisted 
by  Melancthon,  entered  on  the  work  of  revising  his  translation 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  preparing  it  for  the  press.  It  was 
published  on  the  21st  of  September,  1522,  in  two  volumes,  with 
the  simple  title,  "  The  New  Testament  in  German."  It  was  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  Luther's  translation  was  then 
regarded  (and  so  it  has  been  ever  since)  as  a  truly  national  work. 
It  served,  more  than  all  his  own  writings,  to  diffuse  a  spirit  of 
true  Christian  piety.  It  recalled  the  minds  of  men,  which  for 
ages  had  been  wandering  in  the  labyrinths  of  scholastic  teaching, 
to  the  forgotten  springs  of  heavenly  truth.  The  success  which 
attended  this  undertaking  was  prodigious.  Within  the  next  ten 
years,  more  than  fifty  editions  were  published  in  different  parts 
of  Germany. 

Nor  was  Luther  slow  in  preparing  a  translation  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. This  work  was  begun  in  1522,  and  continued  without 
intermission  until  it  was  completed.  It  was  first  published  in 
detached  portions,  as  these  were  got  ready,  for  the  double  purpose 
of  satisfying  the  impatience  of  the  public,  and  of  making  the 
purchase  easy  to  the  poor. 

But,  if  the  Bible  was  thus  jo3"fully  received  by  the  friends  of  the 
Reformation,  it  was  as  scornfully  rejected  by  the  advocates  of 
Rome.  The  ignorant  priests  were  dismayed  at  the  thought 
that  burghers  and  even  rustics  would  now  be  able  to  dispute  with 
them'  out  of  the  Scriptures.  The  inveterate  Duke  George  of 
Saxony,  having  labored  in  vain  to  exclude  Luther's  Testament 
from  his  dominions,  directed  Emser,  one  of  his  divines,  to  prepare 
a  translation  which  might  be  safely  circulated.  He  did  so ;  and 
the  work  was  published  under  the  sanction  of  the  duke.  But  it 
turned  out,  on  examination,  that  Emser's  Testament  was  little  more 
than  a  transcript  of  Luther's.  "  In  fact,"  says  the  reformer, 
"  Emser  has  left  out  my  preface,  and  inserted  his  own,  and  thus 
sold  my  translation  almost  word  for  word.  I  have  determined, 
therefore,  not  to  produce  a  syllable  in  print  against  it." 

Coeval  with  the  publication  of  Luther's  Testament  appeared 
another  important  work.  It  was  Melancthon's  "  Loci  Communes," 
—  a  connected  system  of  biblical  theology.  This  work  was  re- 
ceived with  unbounded  favor  in  that  and  the  succeeding  age. 
Even  Erasmus  commended  it ;  Calvin  extolled  it ;  while  Luther 
was  never  tired  of  recommending  it  to  those  who  came  to  study 
theology  at  Wittenberg.     The  circulation  of  this  work  was  great. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  881 

and  its  popularity  enduring.  Before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  it  had  passed  through  sixty-seven  editions,  without  includ- 
ing translations. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1522  that  King  Henry  VIII.  of  England 
published  his  little  spiteful  book  in  opposition  to  Luther.  He  had 
long  regarded  him  with  strong  detestation,  and  had  been  urging 
the  German  princes  to  destroy  him ;  but  now  he  felt  constrained 
to  do  something  more  "than  this.  He  must  lay  aside  for  the  time 
his  royal  dignity,  and  descend  into  the  arena  of  theological  strife. 
His  work  was  entitled  "  A  Defence  of  the  Seven  Sacraments, 
against  Martin  Luther.  By  the  most  invincible  King  of  England, 
Henry  VIII."  The  royal  polemic  commences  by  saying,  "  I  will 
put  myself  in  the  fore-front  of  the  Church  to  save  her.  I  will  re- 
ceive into  my  bosom  the  poisoned  darts  of  her  assailant.  What 
I  hear  from  abroad  constrains  me  to  do  this."  The  king  proceeds 
to  speak  of  Luther  in  terms  of  the  greatest  bitterness  and  reproach, 
styling  him  "  an  infernal  wolf,'.'  "  a  venomous  serpent,"  "  an  ape 
in  purple,"  "  a  limb  of  the  Devil ;  "  and  insisting  much  and  often 
that  he  deserves,  not  merely  confutation  in  argument,  but  a  bitter 
death  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner. 

The  book  was  received  by  the  Romanists  with  a  profusion  of 
adulation.  One  declared  it  to  be  "  the  most  learned  work  that 
the  sun  ever  looked  upon."  Some  thought  the  writer  "  a  Con- 
stantine,  a  Charlemagne,  or  more  properly  a  second  Solomon." 
The  pope  insisted  that  the  work  must  have  been  written  by  the 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  immediately  conferred  upon  its 
author  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  —  a  title,  which,  from 
this  circumstance,  the  monarchs  of  England  bear  to  the  present 
day. 

Such  extravagant  praises  served  but  to  augment  the  already  in- 
sufferable vanity  of  Henry.  Henceforward,  he  could  endure  no 
contradiction.  Papal  authority,  in  his  view,  was  no  longer  at 
Rome,  but  at  London  ;  and  infallibity  was  vested  in  his  own  person, 
—  a  feeling  which  at  a  later  period  tended  much  to  promote  the 
Reformation  in  England. 

When  Henry's  book  fell  into  the  hands  of  Luther,  he  read  it 
with  mingled  indignation  and  contempt.  The  falsehoods  and  in- 
sults which  it  contained,  but,  above  all,  the  air  of  pity  which  the 
king  sometimes  assumed,  provoked  him  to  the  last  degree.  It  was 
under  the  influence  of  such  feelings  that  he  sat  himself  down  to 
prepare  an  answer.     The  elector,  Spalatin,  Melancthon,  and  other 

56 


882    .  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

friends,  tried  to  appease  him  ;  but  it  was  to-  no  purpose.  "  I  won't 
be  gentle  towards  the  king  of  England,"  said  he  :  "  it  is  useless 
for  me  to  compromise  and  entreat  and  try  peaceful  methods  with 
such  men.  I  will  show  these  wild  beasts  who  are  every  day  run- 
ning at  me  with  their  horns  how  terrible  I  can  be  :  I  will  turn  upon 
my  pursuers.  They  shall  find  Luther  like  a  bear  upon  their  track, 
and  as  a  lion  upon  their  path." 

Luther  reproaches  King  Henry  with  having  supported  his  state- 
ments by  Inere  appeals  to  custom  and  the  fathers,  and  quotes 
against  him  the  declaration  of  Paul,  that  our  "faith  should  not 
stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God."  "  By  this 
thunder-clap  from  heaven,"  he  adds,  "  the  apostle  overturns  and 
disperses,  as  the  wind  scatters  the  dust,  all  the  foolish  thoughts 
of  such  men  as  this  Henry."  In  conclusion,  Luther  says,  "  The 
Lord  is  on  my  side :  therefore  I  fear  nothing.  It  is  a  small  matter 
that  I  have  here  reviled  an  earthly  king ;  since  he  himself  hath  not 
feared  to  blaspheme  the  King  of  heaven,  and  to  profane  his  holy 
name  by  the  most  daring  falsehoods." 

We  shall  not  undertake  to  justif}^  the  spirit  and  manner  in  which 
this  and  some  other  of  the  controversial  publications  of  Luther 
were  written ;  since  he  himself,  in  his  sober  moments,  confessed 
that  he  had  used  too  much  asperity.  As  much  as  this,  however, 
may  be  said :  he  was  never,  like  his  enemies,  the  advocate  of  perse- 
cution ;  and  his  language,  in  point  of  coarseness  and  indelicacy, 
bears  no  comparison  to  that  with  which  he  was  assailed.  His 
answer  to  King  Henry  was  replied  to  by  Fisher,  bishop  of  Roches- 
ter, and  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  was  then  a  young  man ;  and  it 
would  seem  as  though  all  Billingsgate  was  exhausted  in  search  of 
opprobious  names  and  epithets  with  which  to  reproach  him.  Fisher 
calls  him  "  a  mad  dog,"  "  a  ravening  wolf,"  "  a  cruel  she-bear,"  or 
rather  all  these  put  together ;  "  for,"  says  he,  "  the  monster  includes 
many  beasts  within  himself."  And  More's  coarseness  and  vul- 
garity defy  all  description :  it  is  such  as  cannot  be  read  or  thought 
of  without  a  blush. 

At  no  period  since  the  Reformation  commenced  was  it  in  more  evi- 
dent and  .rapid  progress  than  in  the  years  1522  and  1523.  Opposed 
to  it  there  were,  indeed,  the  emperor,  the  pope,  and  almost  the 
entire  power  of  Church  and  State  ;  wliile  those  actively  engaged  in 
it  were  few  in  numbers,  and  feeble  in  strength,  without  organiza- 
tion, concert,  or  any  thing  like  a  concentration  of  plan.  And  yet 
there  was  a  vitality,  an  energy,  a  power,  in  their  ranks,  which 
carried  them  forward  in  face  of  all  opposition. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.         *       883 

Great  numbers  of  the  monks  in  Germany,  more  especially  the 
Augustinians  and  Franciscans,  began  to  lift  up  their  voices  in  favor 
of  that  holy  and  precious  truth,  which,  after  so  many  distressing 
doubts  and  inward  conflicts,  they  had  at  last  discovered.  The 
superiors  of  the  convents  were,  in  some  instances,  first  converted, 
and  gave  full  liberty  to  those  under  their  charge  to  dispense  with 
their  monastic  vows,  and  leave  the  fraternity,  if  they  desired  it : 
so  that,  all  over  the  country,  monks  might  be  seen  laying  aside  the 
frock  and  cowl,  and  engaging  in  the  active  employments  of  life. 
And  not  only  monks,  but  priests,  in  still  larger  numbers,  ranged 
themselves  under  the  standard  of  evangelical  truth,  and  began  to 
publish  the  new  doctrines.  These  preachers,  for  ^he  most  part, 
were  terribly  persecuted  :  but,  when  driven  from  one  city,  they 
fled  into  another  ;  and,  like  the  disciples  when  scattered  from  Jeru- 
salem, they  went  forth  everywhere  preaching  the  Word.  In  conse- 
quence of  these  labors,  and  of  the  free  circulation  of  the  Scriptures 
and  other  religious  books,  the  people  soon  became  wiser  than  their 
former  religious  teachers.  It  was  matter  of  constant  complaint 
among  the  Romanists,  that  women,  children,  artisans,  and  soldiers 
had  acquired  a  greater  knowledge  of  the  Bible  than  learned  doc- 
tors or  surpliced  priests. 

The  impulse  which  the  Reformation  had  given  to  popular  litera- 
ture in  Germany  was  prodigious.  Whilst  in  the  year  1513  there 
were  only  thirty-five  books  published,  and  in  1517  only  thirty- 
seven,  the  number  in  1522  was  three  hundred  and  forty-seven, 
and,  in  1523,  four  hundred  and  ninety-eight.  A  vast  majority  of 
these  publications  were  issued  at  Wittenberg ;  and,  what  is  more 
strange,  nearly  half  of  tliem,  regularly,  were  from  the  pen  of  Lu- 
ther. In  the  year  1522  he  alone  sent  forth  a  hundred  and  thirty 
publications,  and  in  the  following  year  a  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  ;  whilst  the  whole  number  of  Roman-Catholic  publications 
in  the  latter  year  amounted  to  but  twenty.*  No  wonder  these 
stupid  Catholics  dreaded  and  hated  Luther  !  No  wonder  they 
thought  him  supernaturally  assisted,  either  from  above  or  beneath  ! 
The  emperor  and  the  reigning  princes  had  indeed  fulminated  severe 
edicts  against  the  writings  of  the  reformers :  but  these  edicts  were 
worse  than  useless  ;  they  served  only  to  whet  the  curiosity  of  the 
people  to  buy  up  the  proscribed  publications,  and  read  them  with 
increased  ardor. 

Nothwithstanding    all   his   other  labors,    Luther   continued   to 

*  See  D'Aubign^'s  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  116. 


884  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

preach  with  his  usual  courage  and  zeal.  He  was  indeed  an  outlaw, 
and  every  one  that  met  him  was  at  liberty  to  take  his  life  ;  yet  he 
went  about  safely  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  as  though  the 
fulminations  of  his  enemies  had  never  been  heard  of.  In  one 
instance  he  disguised  himself,  and  traversed  the  territory  of  the 
persecuting  Duke  George  in  a  wagon,  preaching  in  different 
places  as  opportunity  presented.  He  came  to  Zwickau,  which  had 
been  the  principal  theatre  of  the  fanatical  prophets ;  and  there, 
from  the  balcony  of  the  town-hall,  he  addressed  a  congregation  of  • 
twenty-five  thousand  persons. 

About  this  time,  the  gospel  penetrated  the  Castle  of  Freyburg, 
the  residence  of  Prince  Henry,  the  brother  of  Duke  George.  The 
princess  was  first  converted,  and,  by  her  kindness  and  gentleness, 
gradually  won  over  the  heart  of  her  husband.  These  were  the 
parents  of  the  celebrated  Maurice,  now  an  infant,  but  who  was 
destined  in  coming  years  to  exert  a  controlling  influence  on  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation. 

Luther's  intrepidity  at  Worms  had  left  a  deep  impression  on  the 
inhabitants  of  that  city.  Scarcely  had  'the  diet  closed,  and  the 
members  dispersed,  when  the  gospel  was  preached  there  with 
great  power  and  earnestness  by  those  evangelists  that  were  now 
traversing  Germany.  Though  excluded  from  the  churches,  and 
proclaimed  from  the  corners  of  the  streets,  it  was  listened  to  by 
thousands  with  the  liveliest  interest. 

In  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  the  gospel  was  not  only  introduced 
at  this  time,  but  it  fairly  triumphed.  The  clergy  opposed  it  with 
all  their  might ;  but  the  people  favored  it,  and  procured  an  ordi- 
nance to  be  passed  by  the  city  council,  enjoining  "  all  ministers  to 
preach  the  pure  word  of  God,  or  to  quit  the  town." 

In  view  of  successes  such  as  these,  Luther  felt  his  confidence 
increased.  He  had  seen  a  feeble  effort,  commenced  amidst  many 
fears  and  trials,  rapidly  changing  the  face  of  the  whole  country ; 
and  he  was  himself  astonislied  at  a  result  which  at  the  first  he  had 
never  contemplated.  He  could  but  prostrate  himself  in  the  dust 
before  God,  and  confess  that  the  work  "was  all  his  ;  and,  if  his,  he 
could  but  rejoice  in  the  assurance  of  further  success  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  it. 

We  have  before  spoken,  incidentally,  of  the  decease  of  Pope 
Leo  X.  He  died  suddenly  in  December,  1521,Nduring  the  confine- 
ment of  Luther  in  the  Wartburg.  By  his  profligacy  and  prodigality, 
he  had  disgusted  even  the  Italians ;  so  that,  before  his  body  was 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY. —  LUTHER.  885 

interred,  they  began  to  reproach  and.  curse  his  memory.  "  Thoii 
didst  win  the  pontificate,"  they  said,  "like  a  fox.;  thou  didst  hold 
it  like  a  lion  ;  thou  didst  leave  it  like  a  dog." 

He  was  succeeded  by  Adrian  VI.,  a  native  of  Utrecht,  and  pro- 
fessor at  Lou  vain,  who  had  acted  as  tutor  to  Charles  V.  He  was 
venerable  for  his  age  and  learning,  of  strict  morals,  and,  in  the 
Romish  sense  of  the  word,  pious.  He  entered  upon  his  high  office 
with  a  determination  to  reform  the  Church,  but  soon  found  that 
he  had  obstacles  to  contend  with,  of  which,  previously,  he  had  no 
idea.  Some  derided  him,  some  hated  him ;  while  others,  with  a 
show  of  friendship,  warned  him  to  desist.  "  It  has  not  been  by 
reforms,"  they  said,  "  that  heresies  .have  been  extinguished,  but  by 
the  sword  and  by  fire." 

Nor  was  this  remark  offensive  to  the  new  pontiff ;  for,  with  all 
his  strictness  and  seeming  goodness,  Adrian  was  a  bigot  and  a 
persecutor.  This  was  manifest  from  his  communications  to  the 
Diet  of  Nuremberg,  which  was  in  session  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  his  pontificate.  He  endeavored  to  persuade  the 
diet  to  an  execution  of  the  bloody  Edict  of  Worms,  and  might 
have  been  successful  but  for  the  timely  interference  of  the  Turks. 
The  crescent  suddenly  appeared  in  the  provinces  of  Hungary: 
Belgrade  was  taken  ;  and  the  victorious  Solyman  seriously  threat- 
ened the  eastern  and  central  parts  of  Europe.  The  diet  was 
constrained,  therefore,  to  turn  away  from  the  anathematized 
reformer,  and  look  after  the  terrific  sultan  of  Constantinople. 

But  in  December  of  the  same  year  the  diet  re-assembled  at 
Nuremberg,  when  Adrian  sent  a  most  earnest  exhortation  to  the 
princes  to  commence  at  once  to  deal  with  the  Lutherans,  and  to 
make  thorough  work  of  it.  These  suggestions  were  seconded  with 
great  zeal  by  his  legate,  Cheregati,  who,  holding  up  the  pope's 
brief  in  his  hand,  declared  it  to  be  indispensable  to  the  life  of  the 
Church  that  the  gangrened  members  should  be  severed  from 
the  body.  "  Your  fathers  punished  with  death  John  Huss  and 
Jerome  of  Prague  ;  but  both  these,  and  much  more,  are  now 
risen  up  in  Luther.  Follow,  then,  the  glorious  example  of  your 
ancestors ;  and,  by  the  help  of  God  and  St.  Peter,  you  shall  gain 
a  signal  victory  over  this  servant  of  hell." 

While  these  things  were  urged  with  so  much  zeal  in  the  diet,  it 
was  no  small  annoyance  to  the  legate  and  his  friends  that  the 
Lutheran  doctrines  were  sounded  forth  from  nearly  all  the  pulpits 
in  the  city,  and  were  listened  to  with  deep  seriousness,  not  only 


886  •  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

by  the  common  people,  but  by  some  of  the  princes  of  the  empire. 
Cheregati  insisted  thai  these  audacious  preachers  (among  whom 
the  celebrated  Oriander  was  chief)  should  be  arrested;  and  the 
diet  were  on  the  point  of  giving  orders  to  that  effect :  but,  as 
Nuremberg  was  one  of  the  free  cities  of  Germany,  the  city  council 
interposed,  and  assured  the  Catholic  members  of  the  diet,  that,  if 
force  was  resorted  to  to  deprive  them  of  their  beloved  pastors, 
force  would  be  employed  on  tlieir  part  to  retain  them.  The  firm- 
ness of  the  council  put  a  stop  to  all  persecuting  measures ;  and  the 
preachers  were  permitted  to  continue  their  labors  as  before. 

Despairing  of  success  by  a  resort  to  force,  the  legate  resolved  to 
see  what  could  be  done  by  concession  and  flattery.  He  produced 
another  paper  from  the  pontiff,  which  hitherto  he  had  kept  con- 
cealed, in  which  his  Holiness  admits  all  that  the  reformers  had 
ever  asserted  respecting  the  corruptions  of  the  Romish  court,  and 
promises  his  best  endeavors  to  produce  an  amendment.  "  We  are 
well  aware,"  says  he,  "  that,  for  many  years  past,  the  Holy  City 
has  been  a  scene  of  corruption  and  abomination.  The  infec- 
tion has  spread  from  the  head  through  the  members,  —  from  the 
popes  to  the  rest  of  the  clergy.  Nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  my 
part  to  effect  a  thorough  reformation." 

The  partisans  of  Rome  blushed  to  hear  these  unlooked-for  con- 
cessions ;  while  the  friends  of  the  Reformation  rejoiced  to  listen  to 
the  Papal  harlot  proclaiming  aloud  her  own  corruptions.  "  Who 
could  doubt  that  Luther  had  truth  on  his  side,  now  that  the  pope 
himself  had  declared  it  ?  " 

The  members  of  the  diet,  profiting  by  the  pope's  confessions 
and  promises,  thought  it  a  good  time  to  set  forth  again  their  own 
grievances ;  which  they  did  to  the  number  of  a  hundred.  They 
spoke  of  the  scandals  and  profanations  of  the  clerical  orders ;  of 
the  disorders  and  simony  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts ;  of  the  dis- 
graceful arts  which  had  been  practised  in  order  to  squeeze  money 
out  of  Germany ;  and  of  the  alarming  restrictions  upon  civil  and 
religious  freedom.  The  States  distinctly  traced  all  these  abuses, 
not  to  the  gospel,  but  to  the  traditions  of  men,  and  concluded  by 
saying,  "  If  these  grievances  are  not,  within  a  reasonable  time, 
redressed,  we  shall  seek  relief  from  some  other  quarter." 

The  legate,  perceiving  the  course  that  things  were  taking, 
abruptly  took  his  departure  from  Nuremberg.  In  their  conclud- 
ing decree,  the  diet  "  demanded  the  convocation  of  a  free  council 
in  the  empire ;   and  determined,  that,  until  such  council  should 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  887 

t 

assemble,  nothing  should  be  preached  but  the  simple  gospel,  and 

nothing  printed  without  the  sanction  of  a  certain  number  of  men 
of  character  and  learning." 

This  decree  was  regarded  as,  on  the  whole,  favorable  to  the  Ref- 
ormation. It  virtually  rescinded,  or  at  least  suspended,  the  cruel 
Edict  of  Worms.  The  reformed  ministers  all  claimed  to  preach 
"the  simple  gospel;"  and  this  they  were  now  expressly  author- 
ized to  do ;  and  the  regulation  about  printing  was  of  so  vague  and 
undefined  a  character,  and  withal  so  difficult  of  execution,  that  it 
left  the  press  comparatively  free.  But  strong  was  the  indignation 
with  which  the  decree  was  received  at  Rome.  Pope  Adrian  seems 
to  have  lost  all  patience  under  it ;  and  he  immediately  commenced 
pouring  out  his  wrath  on  the  head  of  the  venerable  elector  of 
Saxony.  "  We  have  waited  long,"  said  he,  addressing  the  elector, 
"  perhaps  too  long,  to  see  whether  God  would  visit  thy  soul,  and 
deliver  thee  from  the  snare  of  the  Devil.  But,  where  we  had 
hoped  for  grapes,  we  have  found  only  wild  grapes  :  the  Spirit's 
promptings  have  been  despised ;  thy  wickedness  has  not  been 
subdued.  Open,  then,  thine  eyes  to  behold  the  greatness  of  thy 
fall.  If  the  unity  of  the  Church  is  gone  ;  if  the  simple  have  been 
turned  out  of  the  way ;  if  the  churches  are  deserted ;  if  the  people 
are  without  priests,  and  Christians  without  Christ,  —  to  whom  is  it 
owing  but  to  thee  ?  If  peace  hath  forsaken  the  earth ;  if  discord, 
rebellion,  pillage,  and  violence  prevail ;  if  the  cry  of  war  is  heard 
from  east  to  west,  and  universal  conflict  is  at  hand,  —  thou  art  the 
author  of  all  these  things."  The  pontiff  proceeds  with  a  terrible 
philippic  against  Luther,  whom  the  elector  is  charged  with  having 
encouraged  and  patronized ;  and  concludes  his  letter  thus  :  "  What 
punishment,  then,  dost  thou  think  we  judge  thee  to  deserve  ?  In 
the  name  of  the  Almighty  God,  and  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whom  I  am  the  vicegerent  on  earth,  I  warn  thee  that  thou  wilt  be 
judged  in  this  world,  and  be  cast  into  the  lake  of  everlasting  fire 
in  that  which  is  to  come." 

The  good  Frederic  shuddered  as  he  read  this  lying,  menacing, 
insulting  epistle.  Notwithstanding  his  age  and  infirmities,  he  was 
strongly  inclined  to  take  the  sword,  and  contend  for  his  own  honor 
and  for  the  liberty  of  his  subjects.  He  was,  however,  dissuaded 
from  such  a  purpose  through  the  influence  of  Luther  and  the 
other  reformers,  and  consented  to  revert  to  his  usual  system  of 
caution.  He  replied  to  the  pontiff  and  his  legat^  in  the  most 
general  terms,  giving  a  brief  explanation  of  the  line  of  conduct 


ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

which  he  had  thought  it  right  to  pursue  in  regard  to  Luther  and 
the  Reformation. 

The  fire  of  the  pope's  anger  soon  communicated  itself  to  the 
Catholic  princes  throughout  the  empire  ;  and  persecution  was  gen- 
erally determined  on.  Duke  George  of  Saxony  imprisoned  all  in 
his  dominions  who  preached  Luther's  doctrines,  and  burned  their 
books ;  and  the  same  course  was  pursued  in  Austria,  Wurtemberg, 
and  the  duchy  of  Brunswick.  But  it  was  in  the  Netherlands, 
which  were  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  Emperor 
Charles,  that  the  persecution  broke  out  with  the  greatest  violence. 
The  Augustinian  convent  at  Antwerp  was  razed  to  the  ground ; 
and  several  of  the  inmates  who  had  become  preachers  of  Christ 
were  hunted  with  the  utmost  cruelty.  Two  of  these  brethren, 
Esch  and  Voes,  were  brought  to  the  stiike  at  Brussels,  July  1, 1523, 
and  had  the  honor  to  be  the  first  martyrs  of  the  Reformation  in 
Germany!  They  died  most  triumphantly,  with  hymns  of  praise 
on  their  lips,  and  the  love  of  Christ  in  their  hearts.  Others  soon 
followed  them  in  the  same  pathway  of  fire.  But  these  executions 
more  than  defeated  their  own  object :  they  were  manifestly  over- 
ruled, as  such  scenes 'almost  invariably  are,  for  the  furtherance  of 
the  gospel. 

Luther  was  greatly  affected  with  the  tidings  which  came  to  him 
from  his  suffering  friends.  Writing  to  them,  he  says,  "I  am 
bound  with  you  in  your  bonds.  Your  dungeons  and  your  burn- 
ings my  soul  takes  part  in.  All  of  us  are  with  you  in  spirit ;  and 
the  Lord  is  above  it  all."  He  composed  the  following  hymn  in 
memory  of  young  Esch  and  Voes,  wliich  was  sung  everywhere 
throughout  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries :  — 

"  Flung  to  the  heedless  winds, 

Or  on  the  waters  cast, 
Their  ashes  shall  be  watched, 

And  gathered  at  the  last ; 
And  from  that  sacred  dust, 
•  Around  us  and  abroad. 

Shall  spring  a  plenteous  seed 

Of  witnesses  for  God. 
Jesus  hath  now  received 

Their  parting,  dying  breath  : 
Yet  vain  is  Satan's  boast 

Of  victory  in  tlieir  death  ; 
For  still,  though  dead,  they  speak, 
^  And,  trumpet-tongued,  proclaim 

In  many  a  waking  land  • 

The  all-availing  Name."  , 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  889 

These  persecutions  would  doubtless  have  been  continued,  had 
not  Providence  interposed,  and  cut  off  the  head  of  the  Romish 
Church  at  a  stroke.  Pope  Adrian  died  in  September,  1523 ;  and 
the  Romans,  overjoyed  at  his  departure,  suspended  a  crown  of  gar- 
lands at  the  door  of  his  physician,  with  this  inscription  attached  to 
it :  "To  the  savior  of  his  country." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. LIFE    OF    LUTHER   CONCLUDED. 

THE  last  chapter  closed  witli  the  death  of  the  persecuting  Pope 
Adrian,  in  September,  1523.  He  was  succeeded  by  Julio  de 
Medicis,  cousin  to  Leo  X.,  who  took  the  name  of  Clement  VII. 
From  the  hour  of  his  election,  all  ideas  of  religious  reformation 
were  at  an  end.  ^Like  most  of  his  predecessors,  he  thought  only 
of  maintaining  the  assumed  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Papacy* 
and  of  aggrandizing  himself. 

Another  diet  of  the  empire  was  held  at  Nuremberg  in  January, 
1624 ;  and  Cardinal  Campeggio,  the  ablest  prelate  of  the  Roman 
court,  was  commissioned  by  the  new  pontiff  to  be  his  legate. 

When  Campeggio  entered  Germany,  he  was  surprised  to  find  how 
little  notice  was  taken  of  him,  and  with  what  slight  demonstra- 
tions of  public  honor  he  was  received ;  and,  when  he  arrived  at 
Nuremberg,  he  found  the  state  of  things  there  not  at  all  agreeable 
to  his  wishes.  Osiander  and  his  companions  were  preaching  the 
reformed  doctrines  with  great  boldness  and  power :  the  Romish 
ceremonies  were  omitted;  and,  on  Palm  Sunday,  four  thousand  per- 
sons had  partaken  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  both  kinds,  among  whom 
was  the  queen  of  Denmark,  a  sister  of  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  and 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 

Campeggio  was  greatly  moved  by  what  he  saw,  and,  referring  at 
once  to  the  Edict  of  Worms,  demanded  that  it  should  be  executed, 
and  the  Reformation  be  put  down  by  force.  "  And  pray,"  inquired 
the  princes,  "  what  has  become  of  the  memorial  of  grievances  pre- 
sented to  the  pope  by  the  people  of  Germany  ?  "  The  legate 
answered,  that  their  memorial  had  not  been  officially  communi- 
cated :  "  And  for  my  part,"  said  he,  "  I  could  never  believe  that  so 
unseemly  a  paper  could  have  emanated  from  your  Highnesses."  The 
diet  was  stung  by  this  reply.  "  If  this,"  thought  they,  "  be  the 
spirit  in  which  the  pope  receives  our  representations,  we   shall 

890 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  891 

know  what  reception  to  give  to  such  as  he  may  please  to  address 
to  us." 

The  final  decree  of  this  diet  was  quite  as  favorable  to  the  Refor- 
mation as  that  of  the  former.  The  members  promised  to  observe 
the  Edict  of  Worms  so  far  as  they  could,  but  with  the  express 
understanding  on  the  part  of  many  that  they  could  do  nothing 
about  it.  They  repeated  the  demand  for  a  general  council ;  and 
appointed  the  11th  of  November  next  ensuing  for  a  new  assembly 
of  the  States  to  meet  at  Spire,  and  settle  all  questions  as-  to  reli- 
gion until  the  council  should  be  called. 

This  proposed  assembly  at  Spire  never  met.  The  reformers 
were  not  favorable  to  it ;  the  pope  abhorred  it,  as  taking  questions 
of  religion  out  from  under  his  cognizance,  and  placing  them  in  the 
hands  of  a  civil  body ;  and  the*  emperor,  set  on  by  the  pope,  posi- 
tively forbade  it. 

Instead  of  the  general  assembly  at  Spire,  a  partisan  meeting  of 
the  Catholic  princes  was  held  in  the  course  of  the  year  at  Ratis- 
bon,  that,  by  mutual  conference  and  confederation,  they  might 
strengthen  themselves  against  the  growing  influence  of  the  reform- 
ers. By  this  meeting  at  Ratisbon,  the  Romanists  were  the  first  to 
violate  the  unity  of  Germany.  They  set  an  example  of  those 
party  leagues  and  confederations  which  were  afterwards  formed 
on  one  side  and  the  other,  and  which  ultimately  deluged  the  Ger- 
man States  in  blood. 

Nor  were  the  friends  of  the  Reformation  slow  in  profiting  by  this 
example.  Scarcely  had  the  princes  at  Ratisbon  separated,  and 
returned  to  their  homes,  when  deputies  from  the  free  cities  and 
towns  assembled  in  large  numbers  at  Spire,  and  published  strong 
resolutions  in  favor  of  the  simple  preaching  of  the  gospel.  A  still 
larger  meeting  was  held  at  Ulm  near  the  close  of  the  year,  at 
which  the  members  bound  themselves  by  solemn  oath  to  assist  one 
another  in  case  of  an  attack. 

It  might  readily  be  perceived  that  measures  of  this  nature  beto- 
kened blood ;  nor  was  it  long  before  the  blood  of  martyrs  began 
again  to  flow.  At  Vienna,  at  Buda,  in  Wurtemberg,  and  in  Bava- 
ria, many  were  imprisoned,  some  shockingly  mutilated,  and  others 
were  put  to  death.  In  Holstein,  belonging  to  Denmark,  Henry 
Miiller  was  destroyed  by  a  mob  under  circumstances  the  most  ter- 
rible that  can  be  conceived.  His  murderers,  set  on  by  the  Domin- 
icans, broke  into  his  house  at  midnight,  tore  him  from  his  bed, 
bound  his  hands  behind  hun,  and  hurried  him  aAvay  half  naked,  in 


892  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.. 

the  depth  of  winter,  to  the  place  of  execution.  As  he  travelled 
along  over  ice  and  snow,  his  feet  began  to  bleed  profusely  ;  and  he 
besrsed  to  be  carried  on  a  horse  :  but  the  favor  was  denied  him. 
Arrived  at  the  spot,  he  found  a  pile  prepared  for  his  destruction  ; 
but  the  wood  would  not  burn.  Here  he  stood  for  two  long  hours 
in  presence  of  the  infuriated  rabble,  calm,  and  lifting  up  his  eyes 
to  heaven.  Despairing  of  being  able  to  eifect  their  purpose  by  fire, 
the  mob  at  length  fell  upon  him  with  clubs,  and  literally  beat  his 
breath  from  his  body.  Henry  was  warned  of  his  danger  before  he 
went  to  preach  at  Holstein  ;  but  he  despised  it,  saying,  "  Heaven 
is  as  easily  reached  from  thence  as  from  any  other  place.  I  will  go 
and  preach." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Philip,  landgrave  of  Hesse,  who  was 
destined  to  bear  so  important  a  parf  in  the  subsequent  struggles  of 
the  Reformation,  became  established  in  the  truth.  He  embraced 
the  gospel  with  all  the  energy  that  marked  his  character,  and  pub- 
lished an  edict  directing  that  it  should  be  preached  in  its  purity 
throughout  his  dominions.  Other  princes  followed  the  same  ex- 
ample. The  elector  palatine  granted  liberty  of  worship  in  his 
dominions,  and  would  not  countenance  the  slightest  persecution. 
The  duke  of  Luneburg,  nephew  of  the  elector  of  Saxony,  also 
patronized  the  Reformation ;  and,  what  was  more  important  than 
either,  Albert,  the  marquis  of  Brandenburg,  and  sovereign  of  the 
Prussian  States,  began  to  exhibit  movements  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. He  encouraged  the  Lutheran  divines  to  settle  in  his  domin- 
ions, and  afforded  them  an  efficient  protection.  One  of  his  bishops, 
the  good  bishop  of  Samland,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  of  the 
Popish  prelates  who  came  out  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Reformation. 

In  the  city  of  Strasburg,  several  priests  had  embraced  the 
reformed  religion,  and  entered  into  the  marriage-state.  They 
were  cited  by  their  bishop  to  appear  before  him,  and  receive  sen- 
tence for  what  they  had  done.  They  insisted  that  they  ought  not 
to  be  punished  without  a  trial,  and  appealed  to  the  senate  of  the 
city  to  protect  them.  The  senate  interposed  accordingly,  and 
resciied  them  from  the  tyranny  of  the  bishop.  The  bishop  now 
complained  to  the  legate,  Campeggio,  that  he  had  been  hindered 
from  exercising  his  just  authority  in  punishing  those  of  his  clergy 
who  had  become  husbands.  As  might  be  expected,  the  legate  took 
part  with  the  bishop,  and  administered  a  severe  rebuke  to  the 
senators  for  their  disorderly  proceeding.  To  this  the  senators 
replied  as  follows :  "  A  great  part  of  the  Strasburg  clergy  cohabit 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER.  893 

with  harlots  in  the  most  shameful  manner,  giving  great  offence  to 
the  people,  and  setting  the  very  worst  example.  Yet  there  is  not 
an  instance  of  any  one  of  them  being  punished  by  the  bishop  on 
this  account :  on  the  contrary,  the  bishop  is  known  to  have 
received  money  from  them  as  the  price  of  their  wickedness."  To 
this  the  legate  replied,  that  one  sin  was  no  excuse  for  another; 
and  that,  though  the  licentious  priests  had  hitherto  escaped  punish- 
ment, they  might  be  called  to  an  account  at  some  future  time. 
Whereupon  the  senate  dryly  answered,  "  When  the  bishop  shall 
begin  to  punish  the  whoremongers,  we  may  be  able  to  support 
him  with  more  advantage  in  his  animadversions  upon  others."  As 
the  result  of  this  affair,  the  reformed  religion  soon  became  trium- 
phant in  Strasburg ;  and  from  it  went  forth  an  influence  which 
tended  much  to  promote  the  Reformation  in  France. 

At  Wittenberg,  the  Lord's  Supper  had  long  before  taken  the 
place  of  the  mass  in  all  the  churches  except  one ;  viz.,  that  of  All 
Saints.  Here  private  masses  were  still  celebrated,  much  to  the 
grief  of  all  the  better  and  more  enlightened  citizens.  Luther 
exerted  his  influence  with  the  elector  and  with  the  chapter  to 
have  this  abomination  done  away ;  and,  after  much  pleading  and 
warning,  he  succeeded.  A  new  order  of  service  was  instituted, 
which  began  to  be  observed  on  Christmas  Day,  1524.  The  fall  of 
the  mass  in  this  renowned  sanctuary  hastened  its  abolition  in  many 
other  places.  In  most  cases,  there  was  resistance ;  but  this  was 
followed  by  a  speedy  victory. 

But  it  was  not  in  public  worship  alone  that  the  Reformation  was 
destined  to  work  a  change.  Its  influence  was  powerfully  felt 
in  promoting  the  cause  of  public  education.  Luther  addressed  a 
letter  at  this  time  to  the  councillors  of  all  the  towns  in  Germany, 
.  urging  them  to  establish  Christian  schools.  "  How  is  it,"  says  he, 
"  when  so  much  money  is  expended  annually  in  purchasing  arms, 
making  roads,  and  constructing  bridges  and  dikes,  that  so  little  is 
expended  in  paying  schoolmasters  to  instruct  our  poor  children  ? 
The  prosperity  of  a  town  does  not  consist  so  much  in  its  wealth, 
its  walls,  its  mansions,  or  its  means  of  defence,  as  in  its  having 
within  its  walls  a  large  proportion  of  learned,  serious,  kind,  well- 
educated  citizens.  And  who  is  to  blame  that  there  are  found  in 
our  day  so  few  of  this  stamp  ?  The  blame  attaches  to  you  the 
magistrates,  who  suffer  our  children  and  youth  to  grow  up  like 
the  neglected  trees  of  the  forest." 

Luther  insisted   strongly  in  this   letter  on).  the  importance  of 


894  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

giving  attention  to  the  learned  languages.  "  We  are  asked,"  says 
he,  "  what  is  the  use  of  studying  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew, 
when  we  have  the  whole  Bible  in  German  ?  "  And  to  this  he 
replies,  "  But  for  the  languages,  we  should  never  have  received 
the  gospel.  Languages  are  the  scabbard  in  which  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit  rests  :  they  are  the  casket  which  holds  the  jewels,  the 
vessels  which  contain  the  new  wine,  the  baskets  in  which  are  kept 
the  loaves  and  fishes  which  are  to  feed  the  multitude.  If  the  lan- 
guages had  not  given  me  the  certainty  as  to  the  true  sense  of  the 
Word,  I  might  still  have  been  a  pious  monk,  shut  up  in  the  obscu- 
rity of  the  cloister.  If  we  cease  to  study  the  learned  languages, 
we  shall  not  only  lose  the  gospel,  but  shall  eventually  be  unable  to 
speak  in  our  own  mother-tongue." 

Luther  also  urged  upon  the  towns  the  importance  of  establishing 
libraries^  not  limited  to  the  works  of  the  scholastic  divines  and 
fathers  of  the  Church,  but  furnished  with  the  productions  of  poets . 
and  orators  ;  also  with  books  of  law,  medicine,  and  history.  This 
effort  of  Luther  in  behalf  of  general  education  is  one  of  the  most 
important  of  his  whole  life.  It  wrested  learning  from  the  hands 
of  priests  and  sophists,  and  rendered  it  accessible  to  all.  Literary 
men  who  decry  the  Reformation  forget  that  they  are  themselves 
the  offspring  of  it.  But  for  the  influence  of  the  Reformation,  they 
might  themselves  have  been  at  this  hour  in  the  deepest  ignorance, 
under  the  authority  of  a  domineering  clergy  and  church. 

From  this  point,  it  is  necessary  that  we  turn  and  contemplate 
one  of  the  most  distressing  occurrences  in  the  Avhole  history  of  the 
Reformation,  —  an  occurrence  to  which,  at  the  distance  of  more 
than  three  centuries,  the  enlightened  Christian  can  never  direct 
his  thoughts  without  pain.  I  refer  to  that  most  embarrassing  dis- 
pute among  the  reformers  themselves  relative  to  the  presence  of 
Christ  in  the  Holy  Supper.  This  controversy  originated  at  Witten- 
berg between  Luther  and  Carlstadt.  At  an  earlier  period,  Luther 
had  been  strongly  inclined  to  the  same  views  which  he  afterwards 
condemned  in  Cg^rlstadt :  but  new  circumstances  had  arisen ;  and 
his  mind  had  undergone  a  change.  The  fanaticism  of  the  pre- 
tended prophets,  and  the  countenance  which  Carlstadt  was  induced 
to  afford  them,  may  account,  in  part,  for  his  altered  views.  At  any 
rate,  from  the  time  -of  his  return  from  the  Wartburg,  and  his 
encounters  with  the  fanatics  and  their  supporters,  all  attempts  to 
exhibit  the  merely  commemorative^  symholical  import  of  the  supper 
met  with  a  determined  resistance  from  Luther.     He  seemed  to 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  895 

perceive  in  all  such  attempts  the  danger  of  weakening  the  authori- 
ty of  Scripture,  and  of  admitting,  in  place  of  its  true  meaning, 
mere  arbitrary  and  fanciful  allegories.  He  feared,  too,  that  such 
interpreters  would  be  likely  to  substitute  in  place  of  religion  a 
sort  of  dreamy,  mystic  fanaticism,  which  would  be  sure  to  be  its 
grave. 

Carlstadt  was  an  honest  advocate  for  the  symhoUcal  import  of 
"the  supper,  as  the  doctrine  was  then  held  by  Zwingle  and  his  asso- 
ciates, and  as  it  is  held  by  evangelical  churches  generally  at  the 
present  day.  Finding  that  he  could  not  freely  inculcate  his  views 
at  Wittenberg,  he  retired  to  Orlamund  in  1524,  and  (with  some 
irregularity)  was  established  over  the  church  in  that  place.  He 
earnestly  inculcated  his  doctrines  concerning  the  sacrament,  in 
opposition  to  those  of  Luther ;  and  began  to  declaim,  as  formerly, 
against  pictures  and  images,  and  excited  the  people  to  remove  them 
forcibly  from  the  churches.  The  elector  interposed  his  authority 
to  prevent  such  proceedings  ;  but  he  was  not  obeyed.  He  deter- 
mined, therefore,  to  despatch  Luther  to  Orlamund,  in  hope  that  he 
might  be  able  to  restore  tranquillity.  But  the  journey  was  one  of 
no  credit  to  the  reformer,  and  of  no  profit  to  any  one.  He  re- 
ceived only  angry  words  ;  nor  did  he  refrain  altogether  from  return- 
ing the  same.  The  people  at  Orlamund  grossly  insulted  him  ;  and, 
when  he  left  them,  they  cried  after  him,  saying,  "  Begone,  in  the 
name  of  all  the  devils  !  and  may  you  break  your  neck  before  you 
are  out  of  town  ! "  Never  had  the  reformer  met  Avith  such  con- 
temptuous treatment,  even  from  Papists. 

The  elector  now  took  up  the  matter  in  good  earnest.  He  issued 
orders  depriving  Carlstadt  of  his  appointments,  and  banishing  him, 
not  only  from  Orlamund,  but  from  the  States  of  the  Electorate. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  people  of  Orlamund  interceded  on  his 
behalf.  Frederic  would  not  listen  to  their  entreaties ;  nor  would 
he  afford  the  unhappy  Carlstadt  any  assistance  in  effecting  his 
removal.  • 

After  leaving  Saxony,  Carlstadt  went  first  to  Strasburg,  and 
then  to  Switzerland.  His  views  of  the  sacrament  being  in  accord- 
ance with  those  of  the  Swiss  reformers,  he  was  here  received  with 
much  kindness,  and  his  instructions  excited  a  good  degree  of  atten- 
tion. This  was  by  far  the  happiest  and  most  useful  portion  of 
his  life.  \ 

Of  this  controversy  respecting  the  sacrament  we  shall  hear  more 
at  a  later  period.     We  turn  from  it  at  present  to  consider  another 


896  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

occurrence,  which  was  of  dangerous  influence  to  Germany  and 
the  Reformation.  This  was  the  terrible  rustic  war,  or  ivar  of  the 
peasants.  That  the  laboring-classes  in  Germany  were  greatly 
oppressed,  and  had  been  for  a  long  course  of  years,  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  There  had  been  repeated  insurrections,  in  the  vain 
hope  of  bettering  their  condition,  long  before  the  Reformation 
commenced.  Unquestionably  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures 
and  the  publication  of  the  gospel  had  poured  light  on  the  darkened 
minds  of  men,  quickened  their  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  thus 
made  them  more  sensible  of  their  burthens ;  but  that  there  was 
any  direct  connection  between  the  rebellion  of  which  we  are  to 
speak  and  the  Reformation,  or  that  the  latter  was  in  any  culpable 
sense  the  cause  of  the  former  (though  perpetually  insisted  on 
by  Romanists),  has  not  the  slightest  foundation  in  truth.  From 
his  tower  in  the  Wartburg,  Luther  had  early  warned  the  lower 
classes  in  regard  to  the  sin  and  danger  of  rebellion.  "  Rebellion," 
he  said,  "  never  obtains  for  us  the  benefits  we  seek.  'The  Devil  tries 
to  stir  those  up  to  rebellion  who  have  embraced  the  gospel,  that 
so  it  may  be  covered  with  reproach  and  shame  ;  but  they  who 
have  rightly  received  the  truth  will  not  be  insnared  and  ruined 
by  his  wiles." 

There  seems  not  to  have  been  any  connection,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, between  the  insurgent  peasants  and  the  fanatical  prophets, 
or  Anabaptists ;  although  the  latter  naturally  and  speedily  fell 
into  the  current,  and  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  blinded 
multitude. 

The  rebellion  broke  out  in  the  districts  of  the  Black  Forest, 
near  the  source  of  the  Danube,  —  a  country  somewhat  noted  for 
popular  insurrections.  It  spread  with  inconceivable  rapidity 
through  South-western  Germany,  from  Suabia  to  the  Rhenish 
provinces :  so  that,  by  the  beginning  of  the  year  1525,  all  that 
region  was  in  a  state  of  open  rebellion.  The  insurgents  put  forth 
a  declaration  in  twelve  articles,'  stating  the  grounds  of  their  pro- 
ceeding, and  the  claims  which  they  advanced.*  Each  demand 
was  backed  by  a  passage  of  Scripture ;  and  the  paper  concluded 
with  these  words :  "  If  we  are  wrong,  let  Luther  set  us  right  from 
the  Scriptures." 

Appealed  to   in   this  way,    Luther  immediately  published   an 

*  At  a  later  period,  Luther  added  in  derision  a  thirteenth  article,  which  ran  as  follows  : 
"  Henceforth  the  wagon  shall  guide  the  horses,  and  the  horses  shall  hold  the  reins;  and  all  shall 
move  on  prosperously,  according  to  the  glorious  system  set  forth  in  the  precedmg  articles." 


THE    REFORMATION    IN   GERMANY.— LUTHER.  897 

address,  —  first  to  the  princes  and  Insliops,  and  tlien  to  the  insur- 
gents. Addressing  the  former  class,  he  says,  "  It  is  you  wlio  have 
caused  this  revolt.  It  is  your  guilty  oppression  of  the  poor  of  the 
flock  which  has  driven  the  people  to  despair.  It  is  not,  my  dear 
lords,  the  peasants  that  have  risen  up  against  you :  God  himself 
has  risen  up,  and  is  reproving  your  madness.  The  peasants  are 
but  the  instruments  which  he  employs  to  humble  you.  And,  if 
you  could  succeed  in  exterminating  all  the  peasants,  from  the 
stones  God  could  I'aise  up  others  to  chastise  your  pride.  For  the 
love  of  God,  then,  I  beseech  j^ou  to  calm  your  irritation.  Grant 
reasonable  conditions  to  these  poor  people.  Appease  their  com- 
motion by  gentle  methods,  lest  they  give  rise  to  a  conflagration 
that  shall  set  all  Germany  in  a  flame." 

After  such  an  exordium,  which  was  calculated  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  the  peasants,  and  prepare  them  to  listen  to  liis  further 
suggestions,  Luther  proceeded  to  press  home  the  truth  upon  them. 
He  told  them  that  Christians  were  called  to  suffer,  not  to  fight ; 
and  that  if  they  persisted  in  their  revolt  in  the  name  of  the  gospel, 
but  contrary  to  the  plainest  precepts  of  the  gospel,  he  should  con- 
sider them  as  worse  enemies  than  the  poj)e. 

But  in  vain  did  Luther  inculcate  these  Christian  precepts.  The 
insurgents  and  their  inflamed  leaders  —  Munzer,  Stubner,  and 
Storck  —  were  deaf  to  his  words.  "  He  is  playing  the  hypocrite," 
they  said,  "  and  flattering  the  nobles.  He  has  himself  made  war 
upon  the  pope,  but  expects  us  to  submit  to  our  oppressors." 

The  insurrection  now  spread  rapidly  ;  and  the  most  horrible 
atrocities  were  in  many  instances  committed.  Throughout  the 
empire,  a  terrible  revolution  was  in  progress.  When  Luther  per- 
ceived that  the  infatuated  leaders  would  yield  to  no  reason,  and 
submit  to  no  restraint,  he  came  out  against  them  in  a  much  more 
decided  manner.  He  exhorted  the  rulers  to  take  up  arms  ;  and 
"  if  you  fall,"  said  he,  "  you  cannot  have  a  more  blessed  end.  He 
who  dies  in  this  cause,  fighting  with  a  good  conscience,  will  be  a 
martyr." 

It  was  early  in  May  that  the  imperial  forces  marched  into  Ger- 
many from  the  south-west,  and  effected  a  junction  with  such  of 
the  princes  as  had  taken  up  arms.  They  soon  came  upon  the  rebel 
multitude,  and  it  was  completely  routed.  And  now  the  nobles,  the 
bishops,  and  the  imperial  troops,  gave  themselves  up  to' unheard- 
of  cruelties.  Prisoners  were  hanged  by  the  roadside.  The  in- 
nocent and  the  guilty  were  executed  together.     It  is  computed 

57 


898  .  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

that  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  persons  perished  ;  and  those  that 
survived,  instead  of  finding  their  condition  improved  by  the 
rebellion,  lost  much  of  the  little  liberty  which  they  had  before 
enjoyed. 

But  the  evil  was  not  confined  to  the  south  and  west  of  Germany. 
Munzer,  the  chief  of  the  fanatics,  had  his  headquarters  at  Mul- 
hausen,  in  Thuringia,  where  he  had  exercised  an  almost  unlimited 
power  for  a  considerable  time.  The  revolt  in  Southern  Germany 
encouraged  him  to  make  new  and  vigorous  efforts  to  extend  his 
power.  He  told  the  people  that  the  time  for  their  deliverance  was 
come,  and  urged  them  to  put  themselves  immediately  under  his 
direction.  The  deluded  people  flocked  to  his  standard.  Through- 
out Mansfeld,  Stolburg,  Hesse,  and  Brunswick,  the  peasantry  arose 
almost  en  masse.  Terror  spread  far  and  wide.  Even  at  Witten- 
berg, those  who  had  not  feared  emperor  nor  pope  began  to  tremble 
in  presence  of  a  madman.  Melancthon  wrote,  "  We  are  here  in 
imminent  peril.     If  Munzer  prevails,  it  is  all  over  with  us." 

But  Munzer  was  not  suffered  to  prevail.  The  princes  took  up 
arms  against  him ;  and  his  rabble  multitude  were  dispersed  at  a 
stroke.  Five  thousand  were  slain  upon  the  spot.  Munzer  was 
discovered  in  his  concealment,  brought  forth,  and  beheaded.  Mul- 
hausen  was  taken ;  and  the  rebellion  was  quenched  in  blood.  It 
is  remarkable  that  in  the  States  of  the  elector  of  Saxony  there 
were  no  executions  or  punishments.  The  word  of  God,  set  forth 
in  its  purity,  had  been  sufficient  to  control  the  tumult  of  the  people. 

The  situation  of  Luther  and  his  fellow-laborers  at  this  critical 
period  was  a  painful  one.  The  Romanists  charged  him  (as  they 
have  always  done)  with  being  the  cause  of  the  rebellion,  and, 
with  a  malicious  sneer,  demanded  if  he  did  not  know  that  it  was 
easier  to  kindle  a  fire  than  to  extinguish  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  leaders  of  the  sedition  represented  him  as  a  vile  hypocrite, 
and  flatterer  of  the  great ;  and  their  calumnies  easily  obtained 
belief.  But,  on  a  review  of  the  case,  Luther  seems  to  have  acted 
with  entire  conscientiousness,  and  with  much  wisdom  and  prudence, 
in  reference  to  the  whole  of  this  distressing  business.  Knowing 
the  sufferings  of  the  lower  classes,  and  the  danger  of  tumults,  he 
faithfully  warned  the  people  against  rebellion  long  before  it  broke 
out.  In  the  early  stages  of  its  progress,  he  again  warned  both 
princes  and  people,  and  gave  them  the  best  advice  in  his  power. 
As  the  insurrection  proceeded,  and  the  designs  of  the  leaders 
became  more  manifest,  he  took  strong  and  decisive  ground  against 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  — LUTHER,  899 

them.  How  could  he  do  otherwise,  unless  he  would  see  his  native 
land  desolated,  and  its  institutions  of  religion,  learning,  and 
government,  all  swept  away.  Nor  was  he  satisfied  with  merely 
using  his  pen.  At  great  personal  hazard,  he  visited  some  of  the 
districts  where  the  agitation  was  greatest,  endeavoring  to  soften 
the  minds  of  the  people,  and  imbue  them  with  a  spirit  of  forbear- 
ance and  moderation.  Many  others  of  the  reformed  preachers  did 
the  same  ;  and  their  success  in  this  timely  but  perilous  labor  was 
very  great. 

It  was  only  a  few  days  before  the  defeat  of  Munzer  that  the 
venerable  elector  of  Saxony  descended  to  the  tomb.  His  resi- 
dence was  in  the  Castle  of  Lochaw,  where  he  was  constantly  at- 
tended by  his  faithful  chaplain  Spalatin.  A  short  time  before  his 
death,  he  made  a  humble  confession  of  his  sins,  and  received  the 
communion  in  both  kinds.  He  also  destroyed  a  will  made  some 
years  before,  in  which  he  had  commended  his  soul  to  "  the  mother 
of  God  ;  "  and  dictated  another,  in  which  he  cast  himself  "  upon  the 
spotless  and  availing  merit  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  ;  "  and  expressed  an  assurance  that  "  he  had  been  redeemed  by 
the  precious  blood  of  his  Lord  and  Saviour."  He  asked  the  for- 
giveness of  all  about  him,  even  of  his  servants ;  and  added,  "  My 
strength  fails  me  :  I  can  say  no  more."  At  five  o'clock  the  same 
evening,  he  fell  asleep. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  going  to  illustrate  the  reserved 
and  cautious  character  of  Frederic,  ,that  notwithstanding  all  the 
interest  he  had  felt  in  Luther,  and  the  many  communications  which 
had  passed  between  them  by  letter  and  through  the  intervention 
of  others,  still  they  had  never  met,  and  held  conversation,  face  to 
face.  Indeed,  Luther  had  never  seen  the  elector  but  at  a  distance 
and  on  great  public  occasions.  Still  they  were  essentially  one  in 
spirit,  and  were  in  the  highest  degree  necessary  to  each  other. 
Without  the  cautious  protection  of  Frederic,  Luther  could  never 
have  succeeded  in  the  work  of  reformation  ;  and  without  the  bold- 
ness, the  strength,  and  the  ardor  of  Luther,  the  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence of  Frederic  had  accomplished  nothing.  God  knows  how  to 
raise  up  and  modify  and  join  together  instruments  to  carry  for- 
ward the  righteous  counsels  of  his  will. 

Frederic  was  succeeded  in  the  government  by  his  brother  John, 
Avho  was  a  firm  friend  of  Luther  and  of  the  Reformation.  In 
regard  to  religion,  his  measures  were  of  a  much  more  bold  and 
decided  character  than  those  of  his  brother.     What  Frederic  had 


900  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

merely  connived  at  and  permitted,  John  openly  countenanced  and 
established.  He  required  of  his  clergy  to  preach  nothing  but  the 
word  of  God,  and  assisted  the  reformers  in  introducino-  those 
external  changes  which  the  altered  condition  of  the  Church 
required.  Indeed,  the  establishing  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and 
giving  to  it  form  and  organization,  is  due  rather  to  John  than  to 
Frederic.  The  new  elector  had  an  excellent  assistant  in  his  son 
and  heir,  John  Frederic,  who,  though  at  this  time  but  a  youth,  had 
given  many  proofs  of  wisdom  and  piety. 

It  is  evidence  of  the  stability  of  Luther's  character,  and  his 
aversion  to  premature  and  sudden  changes,  that  he  continued  to 
wear  his  monk's  frock,  and  to  reside  in  the  convent  at  Wittenberg 
until  he  was  left  entirely  alone  there  ;  all  the  other  inmates  having 
renounced  their  profession,  and  departed.  He  walked  alone 
through  "  the  long-drawn  aisles."  He  sat  alone  in  the  refectory, 
so  lately  vocal  with  the  babble  of  the  monks.  It  Avas  then  that 
Luther  finally  laid  aside  the  monastic  habit,  and  appeared  in  the 
garb  of  a  secular  priest.  It  was  then  (December,  1524)  that  he 
sent  the  keys  of  the  monastery  to  the  elector ;  thereby  intimating, 
that,  as  the  convent  no  longer  existed,  the  disposal  of  the  premises 
belonged  of  right  to  him.  The  elector  made  a  present  of  the 
building  to  the  university ;  and  it  afterwards  became  the  abode  of 
Luther's  family. 

The  marriage  of  Luther  was  on  this  wise :  In  one  of  the  clois- 
ters of  Saxony  there  was  a  class  of  nuns,  who,  by  the  daily  and 
prayerful  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  had  become  satisfied  that  their 
course  of  life  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  divine  will,  and 
tended  rather  to  hinder  than  jjromote  their  salvation.  They  re- 
solved, therefore,  to  forsake  the  nmmery,  return  into  society,  and 
engage  in  the  appropriate  duties  of  the  Christian  life.  They  con- 
certed a  plan  for  their  escape,  which  they  were  enabled  to  carry 
into  effect ;  and,  having  arrived  safely  at  Wittenberg,  the  citizens 
received  them  into  their  homes.  Among  these  emancipated  fe- 
males was  Catherine  Bora,  who,  after  about  two  years  from  the 
time  of  her  leaving  the  convent,  became  the  wife  of  Luther. 

The  marriage  of  Luther  took  place  on  the  11th  of  June,  1525. 
The  event  was  regretted  by  many  of  his  friends,  and  was  matter 
of  loud  reproach  and  scandal  to  his  enemies.  Henry  VIII.  of 
.England,  who  was  remarkably  conscientious  in  regard  to  such  mat- 
ters, pronounced  the  connection  incestuous,  and  declared  that  the 
parties  ought  to  be  cut  to  pieces.     Others  thought  that  Antichrist 


\ 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  LUTHER.  901 

would  be  the  fruit  of  the  union  ;  for,  said  they,  "  It  hath  been  pre- 
dicted that  Antichrist  is  to  be  the  offspring  of  a  monk  and  a  nun." 
To  this  Erasmus  made  answer,  after  his  pecuhar  manner,  "  If  that 
prophecy  be  true,  the  world  has  seen  already  many  Antichrists." 

But,  after  all  that  could  be  said  one  way  and  the  other,  Luther's 
marriage  proved  a  happy  one.  It  was  a  great  blessing  to  him  per- 
sonally, and  tended  rather  to  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel.  He  . 
thus  separated  himself  more  entirely  than  ever  from  the  institu- 
tions of  Popery.  He  sealed  his  doctrine  by  his  eicample,  and 
encouraged  the  hesitating  and  the  timid  to  make  a  full  and  final 
renunciation  of  Papal  delusions.  From  this  period,  he  was  less 
subject  than  before  to  seasons  of  darkness  and  depondency.  His 
mind  acquired  a  steady  cheerfulness,  which  was  not  lost  in  the 
most  trying  circumstances. 

We  have  now  traced  the  Reformation  in  Germany  through  the 
early  stages  of  it  down  to  the  middle  of  the  year  1525.  Thus  far, 
this  year  had  been  signalized,  as  we  have  seen,  by  several  impor- 
tant events  ;  such  as  the  wars  of  the  peasants,  the  death  of  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  the  accession  of  his  brother  John,  and  the 
marriage  of  the  great  reformer.  From  this  point,  the  religious 
divisions  in  Germany  began  to  assume  more  of  a  political  aspect ; 
and  parties  were  forming  on  either  side,  betokening  a  future  issue 
in  blood.  But,  before  tracing  the  history  farther,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  give  an  account  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  some  of  the  surrounding  countries,  commencing  with  Swit- 
zerland. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND. 

THE  father  and  founder  of  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland 
was  UMc  Zwingle.  He  was  born  Jan.  1,  1484,  at  Wilder- 
hausen,  among  the  mountains  of  the  Tockenburg,  a  few  months 
after  the  birth  of  Luther.  His  father  was  a  magistrate  in  his  little 
Alpine  village,  and  gave  his  son  the  privileges  of  a  good  education. 
The  young  man  pursued  his  studies  first  at  Basle,  then  at  Berne, 
and  afterwards  at  the  University  of  Vienna.  At  the  end  of  two 
years,  he  returned  to  Basle,  had  an  office  in  the  university,  and 
applied  himself  with  great  earnestness  to  the  study  of  languages. 
Through  life  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  classical 
scholars  in  Europe.  He  made  himself  familiar  with  Plato, 
Aristotle,  Demosthenes,  Sallust,  Horace,  Seneca,  and  Pliny, — 
a  fact  which  may  account  for  the  elegance  of  his  style.  He  was  a 
correspondent  of  Erasmus;  and  several  of  his  published  letters 
were  written  in  Greek.  He  studied  theology  at  Basle  under  the 
direction  of  Thomas  Wyttenback,  and  by  him  was  instructed  in 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith.  Like  Luther  and  Milton,  he 
was  fond  of  music,  and  not  only  composed  several  pieces,  but 
wrote  lyrics  to  accompany  them. 

Li  the  year  1506,  Zwingle  took  his  master's  degree,  and  was 
presented  to  the  important  cure  of  Glaris,  where  he  remained  ten 
years.  From  the  time  of  his  ordination,  he  commenced  his  theo- 
logical course  anew,  and  devoted  himself  almost  entirely  to  the 
Greek  Testament.  For  the  Epistles  of  Paul  he  had  a  pecuhar 
attachment.  He  not  only  copied  them  with  his  own  hand,  but  he 
committed  the  most  of  them  to  memory.  He  also  studied  the  early 
Christian  fathers,  and  pondered  the  anathematized  writings  of 
Wickliffe  and  Huss.  He  soon  learned  the  corruptions  and  abuses 
of  his  Church,  and  began  to  speak  out  his  convictions  for  the 
benefit  of  others.     During  his  residence  at  Glaris,  Zwingle  twice 

902 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  903 

accompanied    the    Swiss    armies    into    Italy  in   the    capacity  of 
chaplain. 

In  the  year  1516,  Zwingle  was  removed  from  Glaris,  and  became 
preacher  to  a  Benedictine  monastery  at  Einsideln.  He  was  here 
associated  with  several  persons  whose  views  of  truth  were  similar 
to  his  own,  particularly  with  Myconius  and  Leo  Juda.  In  con- 
nection with  them  he  studied  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  lan- 
guages, and  also  the  writings  of  Reuchlin  and  Erasmus.  He  began 
to  denounce  the  superstitions  of  Rome,  and  to  preach  the  pure 
gospel  of  salvation,  at  least  a  year  before  Luther  commenced  his 
attack  upon  indulgences. 

In  1518,  the  chapter  of  Zurich  conferred  upon  Zwingle  the  cure 
of  the  first  parish  in  that  city.  He  now  entered  upon  a  continuous 
exposition  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  which  he  pursued 
in  order  until  the  whole  was  finished.  He  inveighed  freely,  as  he 
passed  along,  against  the  superstitions  and  enormities  of  the  Church 
and  clergy,  and  called  loudly  for  a  reformation. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  a  cordelier,  by  the  name  of  Sampson, 
came  into  the  canton  as  a  seller  of  indulgences.  He  had  pursued  • 
this  traffic  in  Switzerland  for  eighteen  years,  and  was  generally 
detested  both  by  priests  and  people.  Through  the  influence  of 
Zwingle,  he  was  expelled  from  Zurich.  Zwingle  took  occasion,  in 
this  connection,  to  declare  more  fully  than  he  had  done  the  scrip- 
tural doctrine  of  forgiveness,  or  absolution  ;  insisting  that  it  was 
to  be  secured,  not  by  any  purchased  priestly  indulgence,  but  only 
through  the  death  and  merits  of  Christ. 

His  labors  at  Zurich  were  attended  with  such  success,  that,  at 
the  close  of  the  year  1519,  two  thousand  persons  confessed  their 
adherence  to  the  truth  ;  and  the  town  council  passed  a  decree,  that, 
within  their  jurisdiction,  nothing  should  be  preached  which  could 
not  be  established  by  the  word  of  God.  At  the  same  time,  it  was 
resolved  that  all  preachers  and  pastors  are  at  liberty  to  reject  the 
mass  and  other  human  inventions,  and  to  celebrate  the  Holy  Supper 
according  to  the  Scriptures.  In  1520,  Zwingle  renounced  the 
pension  which  he  had  been  receiving  from  Rome ;  "  bidding,"  to 
use  his  own  language,  "  the  pontiff  and  his  gifts  a  long  farewell."  , 

Still  these  successes  were  not  achieved  without  violent  opposi- 
tion. The  following  letter  to  Myconius  refers  to  this  opposition, 
and  shows  the  spirit  with  which  it  was  met :  "  The  attacks  upon 
me  are  so  incessant,  and  the  blows  so  vehement,  of  those  who  try 
to  overthrow  the  Church  of  God,  that  one  might  justly  think  them, 


904  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

not  wind  and  rain,  but  hail  and  thunder ;  and,  were  I  not  sure  that 
the  Lord  is  in  the  ship,  I  had  long  ago  abandoned  the  helm. 
But  when  I  behold  him  strengthening  the  cords,  adjusting  the 
yards,  controlling  the  winds,  and  spreading  the  sails,  1  should  be -a 
dastard  if  I  deserted  my  station,  even  at  the  risk  of  perishing 
ignominiously.  I  will,  therefore,  leave  all  to  his  benignity.  Let 
him  rule,  conduct,  hasten,  delay,  or  immerge,  at  his  pleasure ;  I 
will  not  rebel :  I  am  his  poor  vessel,  which  he  may  use  either  to 
honor  or  dishonor,  as  seemeth  him  good." 

Tlirough  most  of  the  year  1522,  Zwingle  and  his  fellow-laborers 
were  endeavoring  to  procure  the  same  religious  liberty  in  other 
parts  of  Switzerland  which  was  enjoyed  at  Zurich ;  also  to  obtain 
the  release  of  some  who  were  in  prison  for  conscience'  sake. 
Zwingle  addressed  a  letter  to  Hugo,  bishop  of  Constance,  .inviting 
him  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  reform,  and  allow  that  "  to 
be  removed  with  caution  and  prudence  which  had  been  added 
with  temerity."  But  this  effort,  so  far  from  being  successful, 
aroused  all  the  fury  of  the  priests  and  monks,  who  denounced  him 
in  the  grossest  manner. 

About  this  time.  Pope  Adrian  addressed  a  letter  to  Zwingle,  in 
which,  by  flatteries  and  promises,  he  strove  to  detach  him  from  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation,  and  bind  him  to  the  holy  see.  He 
instructed  his  legate  to  manage  the  matter  with  all  prudence,  and 
leave  nothing  untried  in  order  to  gain  the  bold  reformer.  This 
letter,  however,  was  not  delivered  ;  because,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
legate,  it  was  found  that  Zwingle  had  already  committed  himself 
in  another  direction.  He  had  come  before  the  grand  council  of  his 
canton,  and  requested  a  jniblic  conference  in  which  he  might  give 
an  account  of  his  doctrine  before  the  deputies  of  the  bishop.  He 
promised  to  retract  if  it  coidd  be  shown  tliat  he  was  in  error ;  but 
he  demanded  the  special  protection  of  the  government  in  case  he 
proved  his  adversaries  to  be  in  the  wrong.  The  grand  council 
consented,  and  notified  all  the  clergy  of  the  canton  to  assemble  on 
the  29th  of  January,  1523  ;  granting  to  each  one  full  "  liberty  to  in- 
dicate such  opinions  as  he  judged  heretical,  and  to  combat  them  on 
the  ground  of  the  gospel."  In  preparation  for  the  conference, 
Zwingle  issued  sixty-seven  theses,  setting  forth  the  main  points  of 
difference  between  himself  and  the  Romish  Church. 

'The  following  are  some  of  them  :  — 

"  They  who  assert  that  the  gospel  is  nothing  until  confirmed  to 
us  by  the  Church  utter  blasphemy  against  God. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  905 

"  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  way  of  salvation  for  all  who  ever 
have  been  saved  or  shall  be. 

"  Christians  have  no  fathers  upon  earth,  but  are  all  brethren  in 
Christ,  and  one  of  another.  Hence  there  should  be  no  religious 
orders,  sect? ,  or  parties,  among  them. 

"  No  compulsion  should  be  employed  in  the  case  of  such  as  are 
in  error,  unless  by  their  seditious  conduct  they  disturb  the  peace 
of  society." 

At  the  time  appointed,  more  than  six  hundred  persons  assem- 
bled in  the  hall  of  the  great  council  at  Zurich.  Many  from  the 
neighboring  cantons  were  present  as  spectators.  The  bishop  of 
Constance  was  represented  by  John  Faber,  his  vicar-general,  and 
by  other  theologians  ;  the  clergy  of  the  canton  of  Zurich,  by  Zwin- 
gle  and  his  friends.  The  burgomaster  Roust  presided,  explained 
the  object  of  the  meeting,  and  invited  all  persons  to  express  their 
opinions  without  fear. 

Zwingle  'arose,  and  said,  "  I  have  proclaimed  that  salvation  is  to 
be  found  in  Christ  alone.  It  is  for  this  that  I  am  charofed  throusrh- 
out  Switzerland  with  being  a  heretic,  a  seducer,  and  a  rebel.  Here 
then,  in  God's  name,  I  stand." 

Upon  this,  all  eyes  were  turned  towards  Faber.  "  I  am  not  sent 
here  to  dispute,"  said  he,  "  but  to  report.  The  Diet  of  Nuremberg 
has  promised  a  general  council  within  a  year :  we  must  wait  for  its 
assembling." 

"  But,"  replied  Zwingle,  "  is  not  this  large  and  intelligent  meet- 
ing as  competent  as  a  council  ?  " 

A  solemn  silence  now  ensued,  which  was  interrupted  by  the 
burgomaster :  "  If  any  one  present  has  aught  to  say,  let  him  speak." 
Still  all  were  silent.  "  I  implore  those  who  have  accused  me,"  said 
Zwingle,  —  "  and  some  of  them  I  know  are  present,  —  to  come  for- 
ward and  rebuke  me  for  the  truth's  sake."  Not  a  word  was  spoken. 
Again  and  again,  Zwingle  repeated  his  request ;  but  it  was  all  in 
vain.  Faber  was  shrewd  enough  to  perceive,  that,  if  the  contro- 
versy went  on,  it  must  turn  against  him ;  and  therefore  he  declined 
to  proceed. 

In  the  afternoon  the  conference  assembled,  and  resolved,  that 
"  as  Zwingle  had  not  been  convicted  of  heresy,  nor  refuted,  he 
should  continue  to  preach  the  gospel  as  he  had  done  ;  and  that,  in 
future,  the  pastors  of  Zurich  and  its  territory  should  base  all  their 
preaching  upon  the  Scriptures." 

This  decision  was  received  by  the  Papists  with  cries  of  dissat- 


906  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

isfaction ;  but  it  assured  the  reformers  of  their  triumph,  and 
encouraged  them  to  go  forward  with  their  work.  Concerning  this 
conference,  Hoornbeck  remarks,  that  he  knew  of  no  public  dispu- 
tation which  had  been  conducted  with  more  dignity  or  advantage. 
The  good  effects  of  it  were  soon  visible.  Clergymen  began  to 
enter  the  marriage-state;  nunneries  were  thrown  open;  the  bap- 
tismal service  was  performed  without  exorcism  and  the  other 
Popisli  ceremonies ;  the  chapter  of  the  great  minster  was  turned 
into  a  school  for  theological  students ;  and  the  surplus  revenues 
were  devoted  to  charity.  The  doctrine  prevailed  among  both 
clergy  and  laity,  that  the  mass  was  no  sacrifice,  and  that  the 
invocation  of  saints  was  forbidden. 

Such  was  the  zeal  of  the  populace  against  image-worship,  that  a 
shoemaker  named  Huttenger,  assisted  by  a  large  body  of  citizens, 
proceeded  to  throw  down  the  great  cross  of  Stadelhofer,  standing 
just  outside  the  city  gates.  This  and  some  other  like  proceedings 
aroused  the  Popish  party ;  and,  to  prevent  a  tumult,  the  council 
caused  the  offenders  to  be  arrested.  Zwingle  conceded  that  their 
act  was  civilly  unlawful,  but  denied  that  it  was  intrinsically  evil  or 
sinful.  In  their  perplexity,  the  council  resolved  to  convoke  a 
second  conference  to  decide  whether  the  worship  of  images  was 
authorized  by  the  gospel,  and  whether  the  mass  should  be  abol- 
ished. This  conference  met  in  the  city  of  Zurich  on  the  28th  of 
■  October,  1523,  and  was  attended  by  more  than  nine  hundred 
persons  from  St.  Gall,  Schaifhausen,  Zurich,  and  some  other 
cantons.  The  sessions  continued  for  three  days.  The  bishops 
of  Coira,  of  Constance,  and  of  Basle,  were  invited  to  be  present ; 
but  they  declined,  remembering  the  little  credit  which  they  had 
gained  on  the  former  occasion,  and  having  no  wish  for  a  repetition 
of  so  humiliating  a  scene. 

The  discussions,  as  in  the  previous  conference,  were  chiefly  on 
one  side.  The  leading  Romanists  were  not  present ;  or,  if  present, 
they  chose  to  keep  silence,  and  remain  concealed.  Near  the  close 
of  the  sessions,  some  fanatical  teachers  arose,  declaimed  (as  was 
their  wont)  about  the  Spirit,  and  demanded  abrupt  and  violent 
changes ;  but  their  counsels  were  not  heeded.  Zwingle  made  a 
great  impression  on  the  meeting  by  his  closing  address.  His  feel- 
ings overcame  him ;  he  wept ;  and  many  others  were  affected  to 
tears. 

The  result  of  this  second  conference  was  very  happy.  Many  of 
the  priests  who  were  present  returned  to  their  respective  stations 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.    .  907 

full  of  zeal  for  the  gospel ;  and  their  influence  was  felt  in  every  part 
of  Switzerland.  The  church  of  Zurich,  which  in  its  connection 
with  the  see  of  Constance  had  always  maintained  a  measure  of 
independence,  was  now  fully  emancipated.  Instead  of  resting  on 
the  bishop  and  the  pope,  henceforward  it  rested  on  the  word  of 
God.  From  this  time,  image-processions  were  prohibited ;  the 
pastors  generally  abandoned  the  mass,  and  the  people  refused  to 
assist  at  it  or  receive  it. 

The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  came  up  for  discussion  in  this  second 
conference ;  and  Zwingle  showed  that  it  has  no  foundation  in  the 
Scriptures.  The  government  of  Zurich,  however,  came  to  no 
decision  on  the  subject,  but  allowed  the  priests  to  marry  if  they 
chose.  Accordingly,  on  the  2d  of  April,  1524,  Zwingle  was  mar- 
ried to  Madame  Anne  Reinhard,  a  wealthy  lady  of  noble  descent, 
the  widow  of  a  magistrate.  By  her  he  had  two  children,  —  a  son, 
who  was  afterwards  archdeacon  of  Zurich ;  and  a  daughter,  who 
became  the  wife  of  an  excellent  Protestant  minister.* 

As  early  as  the  year  1524,  several  persons  came  to  Zurich  to 
confer  with  Zwingle  respecting  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  bis  confer- 
ence with  them,  he  expounded  the  words,  "  This  is  my  body,"  to 
mean,  "  This  signifies  or  represents  my  body ;  "  showing  that  his 
mind  was  even  then  made  up  as  to  tlie  doctrine  of  the  real  pres- 
ence. He  also  insisted  on  the  propriety  of  administering  the 
sacrament  in  both  kinds,  according  to  the  command  of  Christ. 

As  a  natural  consequence  of  the  Reformation  at  Zurich,  several 
religious  liouses  were  suppressed.  Among  them  was  an  ancient 
abbey  near  the  city,  which  was  in  possession  of  valuable  privileges 
and  revenues.  With  the  consent  of  the  inmates,  the  lady  abbess 
delivered  to  the  magistrates  all  their  property,  only  requesting  that 
the  income  of  it  might  be  appropriated  for  religious  purposes  and 
for  the  relief  of  the  poor.  This  example  was  followed  by  several 
convents ;  the  old  members  being  supported  out  of  the  income 
of  the  houses,  and  the  young  men  being  apprenticed  to  differ- 
ent trades.  Much  of  the  wealth  of  the  suppressed  houses  was 
employed  for  the  endowment  of  professorships  in  the  university. 
This  was  organized  with  great  skill  by  Zwingle,  who  gathered 
around  him  some  of  the  most  learned  meli  of  the  age.  Among 
the  professors  were  Conrad  Pellican,  a  Hebraist  from  the  school  of 
Reuchlin,  and  CoUinus,  an  eminent  Greek  scholar.     Such  was  the 

*  There  was  a  thh-d  public  disputation  held  at  Zurich  in  January,  1524;  which  terminated, 
like  the  two  previous  ones,  in  tlie  discomfiture  of  Rome. 


908  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

influence  of  the  university  at  Zurich,  that,  twenty  years  after  it 
was  no  uncommon  thing  to  meet  with  merchants  and  magistrates 
who  could  read  the  whole  Bible  in  the  original  tongues. 

Every  thing  was  now  moving  forward  at  Zurich.  Men's  minds 
v/ere  becoming  enlightened ;  their  hearts  were  more  steadfast ; 
the  Reformation  was  gaining  strength.  Zurich  was  a  fortress  in 
which  the  new  doctrine  had  intrenched  itself,  and  from  which  it 
was  ready  to  pour  itself  abroad  over  the  whole  confederation. 
The  enemies  of  the  gospel  saw  all  this.  They  felt  that  they  had 
remained  quiet  too  long  already.  It  was  now  time  to  strike  a 
vigorous  blow.  The  general  diet  of  the  Swiss  cantons  was  about 
to  assemble  at  Lucerne.  The  priests  were  resolved  to  enlist  the 
great  council  of  the  nation  in  their  favor ;  and,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  they  were  successful.  They  caused  an  edict  to  be  passed, 
"  forbidding  all  persons  to  inculcate  or  preach  any  new  or  Lutheran 
doctrine,  either  secretly  or  publicly,  or  to  discuss  such  matters  at 
home  or  abroad."  This  edict  was  adopted  by  all  the  States  except 
Zurich,  and  transmitted  to  all  the  bailiffs,  with  strict  orders  to  see 
it  executed.  At  the  same  time,  the  diet  sent  'a  deputation  to 
Zurich  to  demand  of  the  council  and  the  citizens  that  they  should 
renounce  their  new  religion.  The  deputies  came,  and  delivered 
their  message  faithfully :  "  Confederates  of  Zurich,  join  your 
efforts  with  ours.  Root  out  this  new  doctrine.  Dismiss  Zwingle 
and  his  followers  ;  and  let  us  all  unite  to  remedy  the  abuses  which 
have  arisen  against  the  Holy  Church  of  Rome." 

To  this  arrogant  demand,  the  reply  of  the  Council  of  Zurich  was 
calm  and  dignified :  "  We  can  make  no  concessions  in  what  concerns 
the  word  of  God.''''  And  this  reply  in  words  they  followed  out 
with  corresponding  deeds.  Instead  of  treading  back  in  the  work 
they  had  undertaken,  they  went  forward  to  perfect  it  and  make  it 
more  complete.  The  pictures  and  images  were  removed  from  the 
churches  ;  the  relics  were  decently  interred  ;  and  a  new  form  of 
baptism  was  established,  from  which  every  thing  unscriptural  was 
excluded. 

The  advocates  of  Popery,  finding  that  their  demands  upon 
Zurich  had  not  been  heeded,  resolved  to  make  another  effort.  At 
the  call  of  the  pontiff,  the  diet  assembled  at  Hug  in  the  month 
of  July,  and  sent  another  deputation  to  Zurich,  assuring  the 
government  and  people  of  their  determination  that  the  new 
doctrine  should  be  suppressed,  and  its  adherents  subjected  to  the 
forfeiture  of  property,  honors,  and  even  of  life  itself. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  909 

Such  an  announcement  could  not  fail  of  excitinsf  a  strono;  sen- 
sation  at  Zurich  :  but  a  resolute  answer  was  again  returned,  —  that, 
in  matters  of  faith,  the  word  of  God  ivas  supreme  ;  that  this,  and 
this  only,  should  he  obeyed. 

When  this  rej)ly  was  communicated  to  the  diet,  the  greatest 
indignation  was  manifested  by  the  Catholic  members.  They  re-* 
solved  that  they  would  no  longer  sit  with  Zurich  in  the  diet :  and 
not  only  so ;  they  entered  at  once  upon  the  bloody  work  of  per- 
secution. Several  excellent  men  —  ministers  and  others — were 
arrested  and  put  to  death  ;  and  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland 
was  early  baptized  in  blood. 

But  the  Zurichers,  so  far  from  being  terrified  by  these  proceed- 
ings, were  the  rather  strengthened  in  their  resolution  to  go  forward. 
The  sacrifice  of  the  mass  had  been  before  abolished  ;  but  the  old 
form  of  celebration  was  still  continued.  Now  it  was  resolved  that 
the  form  also  should  be  changed,  and  should  give  place  to  the 
simple  supper  of  the  Lord ;  and,  for  three  days  together,  the  ordi- 
nance was  administered  according  to  the  scriptural  j^attern,  so  that 
all  persons  who  wished  to  partake  of  it  might  be  accommodated; 
At  the  commencement  of  the  service,  the  deacons  read  aloud  such 
passages  of  Scripture  as  refer  to  the  sacrament.  Next  the  pastors 
addressed  the  flock  in  language  of  pressing  admonition,  charging 
all  those  whose  wilful  indulgence  of  sin  would  bring  dishonor  upon 
the  body  of  Christ  to  withdraw  from  the  saCred  feast.  The 
people  then  fell  on  their  knees  :  the  bread  was  carried  round  on 
large  wooden  platters,  and  the  wine  was  distributed  in  wooden 
cups.  The  hearts  of  all  who  engaged  in  this  solemn  transaction 
were  affected  with  alternate  emotions  of  wonder  and  joy  ;  and  the 
celebration  was  followed  by  a  remarkable  outpouring  of  the  spirit 
of  love.  The  love  which  had  glowed  so  brightly  in  the  first  age 
of  Christianity  seemed  kindled  anew.  Persons  who  before  had 
been  at  variance  were  seen  weeping  together,  and  embrachig  each 
other  at  the  table  of  the  Lord. 

The  Papists  were  not  the  only  enemies  with  which  the  reformers 
in  Switzerland  were  called  to  contend.  The  same  fanatical  Ana- 
baptists who  had  made  so  much  disturbance  in  Germany  found 
their  way  into  this  country  also.  We  have  heard  of  them  already 
in  the  second  conference  held  at  Zurich  in  1523  ;  but,  two  years 
later,  they  had  so  increased  in  numljers,  and  were  so  bold  and 
defiant  in  their  claims,  that  it  was  thought  best  to  give  them  a 
public  hearing  at  Zurich.     The  debate  lasted  three  days,  and,  in 


910  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

some  of  its  stages,  was  very  violent.  Some  of  the  ranters  insisted 
that  baptism  was  no  better  than  the  washing  of  a  dog.  Some  cast 
the  New  Testament  into  the  fire,  exclaiming,  "  The  letter  killeth  ; 
but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  Some  girded  themselves  with  ropes, 
and  ran  through  the  streets,  crying,  "  Woe,  woe  to  thee,  Zurich  ! 
In  a  few  days  more,  Zurich  shall  be  destroyed  !  " 

While  Zwingle  was  trying  to  stem  the  torrent  of  fanaticism  at 
Zurich,  it  broke  out  with  increased  violence  in  St.  Gall.  Grebel, 
one  of  the  leaders,  made  his  appearance  there,  and  succeeded  in 
producing  an  immense  excitement.  Multitudes  from  the  neigh- 
boring cantons,  and  not  a  few  from  Zurich,  flocked  to  his  place 
of  meeting  to  receive  his  baptism.  But  the  ferment  was  not 
destined  to  continue  long.  It  soon  came  to  a  crisis,  and  passed 
away  in  blood. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Gall  lived  an  aged  farmer  by  the 
name  of  Shucker,  who  had  five  sons.  The  whole  family  had  re- 
ceived the  new  baptism  ;  and  two  of  the  sons,  Thomas  and  Leonard, 
were  distinguished  for  their  zeal.  In  the  evening  of  the  7th  of 
February,  1526,  there  was  a  meeting  of  Anabaptists  at  the  house 
of  the  Shuckers  ;  and  the  whole  night  was  spent  in  fanatical 
excitement,  convulsions,  visions,  and  revelations.  In  the  morn- 
ing, Thomas,  still  agitated  with  the  night's  disorder,  approached 
his  brother  Leonard,  and  said,  "  Brother,  fall  on  your  knees  ! " 
and  Leonard  knelt  down.  Then  he  said,  "  Brother,  arise  !  "  and 
Leonard  rose  up.  Pretty  soon  he  said,  "  Brother,  kneel  down 
ao-ain  !  "  and  he  knelt  down.  At  that  moment,  Thomas  snatched 
a  sword,  brought  it  down  with  all  his  might  upon  the  neck  of  his 
brother,  and  severed  his  head  from  his  body ;  crying  out  at  the 
same  time,  "  Now  is  the  will  of  the  LoVd  accomplished ! "  At 
once  the  dreadful  tidings  spread  through  St.  Gall.  The  murderer 
was  arrested ;  and,  nine  days  afterwards,  he  was  executed. 

But  fanaticism  had  now  run  its  course  ;  men's  eyes  were  opened ; 
and,  to  use  the  words  of  an  early  historian,  "  The  same  blow  took 
off  the  head  of  Thomas  Shucker  and  of  Anabaptism  in  St.  Gall." 
It  survived,  however,  for  a  time  in  Zurich,  and,  by  its  excesses, 
provoked  the  civil  authorities  to  put  some  of  the  ringleaders  to 
death.  These  executions  were  not  approved  by  Zwingle  ;  though 
he  exerted  himself  in  every  way  possible  to  convince  the 
fanatics,  to  restrain  them  in  their  mischievous  course,  and  bring 
them  to  submit  to  reason  and  the  word  of  God.  And,  although 
for  this  he  incurred  their  severest  reproaches,  his  known  opposition 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  911 

to  them  was,  in  the  eyes  of  all  sober  people,  creditable  to  the  cause 
of  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland. 

But  to  return  to  the  Catholics.  As  the  Reformation  had  now 
been  accomplished  in  Zurich,  the  principal  object  of  Zwingie  and 
his  associates  was  to  sustain  it  there,  and  spread  it  into  the  other 
cantons ;  while  the  Romanists  were  as  much  engaged  to  crush  it 
out  at  Zurich,  and  prevent  its  diffusion.  Among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Tockenburg  and  of  the  Grisons,  religious  liberty  had  been 
proclaimed ;  and  preachers  were  required  to  confine  themselves,  in 
their  discourses,  to  the  word  of  God.  But  the  greatest  interest 
was  manifested  in  regard  to  the  important  cantons  of  Berne  and 
Basle.  Will  they  take  their  stand  on  the  side  of  the  truth  ?  or 
will  they  remain  in  subjection  to  Rome  ? 

These  questions  were  not  soon  or  easily  answered.  In  both  can- 
tons, the  Reformation  had  powerful  supporters ;  and,  in  both,  the 
powers  of  Rome  were  strongly  intrenched.  Popery  was  advocated 
in  these  places,  not  only  by  the  priests,  but  by  many  of  the  oli- 
garchs, —  the  rulers  who  had  been  receiving  pensions  from  Rome, 
and  whose  prejudices  were  fortified  by  considerations  of  interest. 
Among  the  reformers  at  Berne  were  Berthold,  Haller,  and  the 
noble  family  of  the  Wattsvilles :  among  those  at  Basle  were 
Capito  and  (Ecolampadius.  Erasmus  had  also  fixed  his  residence 
at  Basle,  partly  on  account  of  its  high  literary  character,  and  partly 
that  he  might  be  near  Frobenius,  the  publisher  of  his  works. 

As  the  conferences  at  Zurich  had  been  such  an  eminent  means 
of  spreading  the  reformed  doctrines  there,  the  general  diet  of  the 
Swiss  cantons  resolved  to  have  a  conference  which  should  be  under 
a  decidedly  Catholic  influence,  in  hope  thereby  of  counteracting 
and  suppressing  the  new  religion.  After  much  consultation  and 
debate,  it  was  resolved  that  the  conference  should  meet  at  Baden, 
one  of  the  most  decidedly  Catholic  districts  in  Switzerland ;  and 
that  it  should  be  opened  on  the  16th  of  May,  1526.  Only  a  week 
previous  to  the  meeting,  two  excellent  ministers  were  put  to  death, 
—  the  one  by  drowning,  and  the  other  by  fire.  So  dissatisfied  Avere 
the  Zurichers  with  the  place  ot  meeting,  and  with  all  the  circum- 
stances attending  it,  that  they  resolved  to  have  no  part  in  it ;  nor 
would  they  suffer  Zwingie  to  be  present,  though  he  kept  up  a 
constant  correspondence  with  it  by  reporters  and  runners. 

Chief  among  the  disputants  on  the  Catholic  side  was  the  pom- 
pous and  boastful  Dr.  Eck,  bedizened  with  rings,  chains,  and 
crosses,  and  threatening  to  crush  all  opposition  under  his  feet.    On 


912  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

the  other  side  were  the  modest  and  gentle  CEcoLampadius  from 
Basle,  and  the  still  more  timid  Haller  from  Berne.  The  discussion 
lasted  eighteen  days.  Eck  was  vehement  in  manner,  as  he  always 
was,  using  the  most  insulting  language,  interlarded,  not  unfre- 
quently,  with  oaths.     A  contemporary  poet  describes  him  thus :  — 

"  Eck  stamps  his  foot,  and  claps  his  hands ; 
He  raves,  he  swears,  he  scohls  : 
'  I  do,'  he  cries,  '  what  Rome  commands, 
And  teach  whate'er  she  holds.' " 

CEcolampadius,  on  the  contrary,  spoke  with  so  much  mildness  and 
gentleness,  and  at  the  same  time  with  such  ability  and  courage, 
that  even  his  antagonists  were  affected  and  impressed. 

The  discussion  terminated,  as  might  have  been  expected,  in  a 
nominal  victory  for  the  Catholics ;  and  yet,  in  its  results,  it  was  a 
great  injury  to  them.  Those  who  had  contended  for  the  gospel, 
being  returned  to  their  homes,  infused  into  their  fellow-citizens  an 
enthusiasm  for  the  cause  they  had  defended ;  and,  from  this  time, 
Berne  and  Basle  began  to  fall  away  from  the  ranks  of  the  Papacy. 
Also  the  preachers  of  St.  Gall,  on  their  return  from  the  conference, 
proclaimed  with  new  earnestness  the  gospel.  The  images  were 
removed  from  some  of  the  churches ;  and  the  people  stripped  them- 
selves of  their  ornaments,  that  they  might  employ  the  money  in 
works  of  charity.  At  Mulhausen,  the  gospel  was  preached  with 
great  boldness  ;  while,  in  Thurgovia  and  the  Rhenish  provinces,  the 
people  became  more  than  ever  interested  in  the  doctrines  of 
Zwingle.  Even  at  Baden,  where  the  conference  was  held,  almost 
the  whole  district  received  the  gospel.  Facts  such  as  these  clearly 
show  which  party  really  triumphed  in  the  conference.  The  Catho- 
lics secured  a  majority  of  votes ;  but  the  permanent  good  results 
were  chiefly  on  the  other  side. 

Two  years  after  this  (1528),  the  city  and  canton  of  Berne  made 
a  more  formal  profession  of  the  gospel  than  ever  before.  A  con- 
vention was  held  at  Berne  for  the  discussion  of  the  new  doctrines. 
Zwingle  was  present,  with  CEcolampadius,  Pellican,  Ballinger, 
Capito,  Baur,  and  Haller.  They  discussed  ten  theses  drawn  up 
by  Haller,  and  were  employed  upon  them  several  days.  At  the 
close,  a  great  majority  of  the  clergy  and  people  of  Berne  sub- 
scribed the  theses,  declaring  them  to  be  in  their  judgment  conso- 
nant with  the  Scriptures.  During  the  time  of  the  convention,  the 
reformed  clergy  preached  by  turns  in  the  Cathedral  of  Berne,  — 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SWITZERLAND.  913 

the  same  pulpit  where,  ten  years  before,  Sampson  had  pubhshed 
the  sale  of  indulgences. 

In  the  following  year  (1529)  was  the  famous  conference  at 
Marpurg,  between  the  German  and  Swiss  theologians,  respecting 
the  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist.  Of  this  we  shall  give  a 
more  full  account  in  another  place.  Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that  the 
conference  was  proposed  by  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  in  the  hope 
of  bringing  about  an  agreement  between  the  reformers  of  the  two 
countries,  that  so  they  might  be  mutually  strengthened  against  their 
common  enemy.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  an  agreement  was 
impossible.  The  parties  could  only  agree  to  differ,  and  hardly 
that. 

At  the  diet  of  Augsburg,  in  1530,  Zwingle  presented  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  to  the  emperor,  Charles  V.,  which  was  less  acceptable 
to  him  than  the  Lutheran  Confession,  and  was  replied  to  by  Eck 
with  great  bitterness. 

In  1531,  the  controversies  in  Switzerland,  which  had  come  to  be 
political  as  well  as  religious,  broke  out  iilto  open  Avar.  The  Roman- 
Catholic  cantons  had  entered  into  an  alliance  with  Austria,  which 
was  exceedingly  offensive  to  the  other  branches  of  the  confederacy. 
On  the  6th  of  October,  the  five  Romish  cantons  published  their 
manifesto,  and  took  the  field.  The  Zurichers,  who  were  left  almost 
alone  to  contend  with  them,  could  not  muster  more  than  a  few 
hundred  men  ;  and  Zwingle  was  ordered  to  accompany  them  as 
chaplain.  It  had  been  the  invariable  custom  of  the  canton,  when 
engaged  in  war,  to  send  one  of  their  best  ministers  with  the  army 
to  perform  religious  services ;  and  Zwingle  was  not  a  man  to  shrink 
from  duty  in  the  hour  of  peril.  "  Our  cause  is  good,"  said  he ; 
"but  it  is  ill  defended.  The  expedition  will  cost  me  my  life  ;  but 
no  matter  for  that :  God  will  not  abandon  those  who  serve  him." 

The  engagement  was  at  Cappel,  only  a  few  miles  from  Zurich ; 
but  the  road  was  mountainous,  which  impeded  the  heavy  armed 
soldiery.  Meanwhile  the  roar  of  cannon  announced  that  the  battle 
was  begun.  "  Let  us  hasten  our  march,"  said  Zwingle,  "  or  we 
shall  arrive  too  late.  Let  us  fly  to  the  assistance  of  our  brethren, 
that  so  we  may  stand  or  fall  together."" 

In  the  very  beginning  of  the  battle,  while  Zmngle  was  urging 
forward  the  troops,  he  received  a  mortal  wound  in  the  throat.  He 
was  struck  down  senseless  at  the  time ;  but,  recovering  his  con- 
sciousness, he  crossed  his  feeble  hands  upon  his  breast,  and  said, 
.   58 


914  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

"  Well,  they  may  kill  the  body ;  but  the  soul  they  cannot  kill." 
Some  Romish  soldiers  found  him,  and  offered  to  bring  him  a  con- 
fessor ;  but  he  declined  seeing  one.  They  exhorted  him  to  pray  to 
the  Holy  Virgin ;  but  he  would  not.  "  Then  die,  obstinate  here- 
tic !  "  cried  one  of  them,  and  thrust  him  through  with  his  sword. 
His  body  was  soon  recognized,  and  was  burned  to  ashes  by  liis 
ruthless  enemies. 

Thus  died  Ulric  Zwingle,  the  hero  and  martyr  of  Switzerland, 
at  the  early  age  of  forty-seven.  That  he  was  a  great  and  good 
man,  learned,  eloquent,  and  brave,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  that 
he  performed  his  part  manfully  in  the  troublous  times  on  which 
he  fell,  and  died  heroically  for  his  religion  and  his  country, 
is  equally  clear  ;  that  he  commenced  the  work  of  reformation 
earlier  than  Luther,  and  pursued  it  in  its  first  stages,  independent 
of  him,  is  certain.  He  pursued  it,  too,  on  different  principles  ;  and 
was,  on  that  account,  a  more  thorough  reformer.  With  all  his  fire 
and  zeal,  Luther  was  naturally  conservative :  he  was  averse  to  un- 
necessary, uncalled-for  changes.  He  made  the  Scriptures  his  rule, 
but  was  for  retaining  as  much  of  the  old  religion  as  was  not 
positively  forbidden  in  the  Scriptures.  Zwingle,  on  the  contrary, 
was  for  rejecting  all  which  could  not  be  established  by  the  Scriptures. 
Hence  his  removal  of  pictures  and  images  from  the  churches,  his 
restoration  of  the  sacraments  to  their  primitive  forms,  and  the 
changes  which  he  introduced  in  the  government  of  the  church.* 
The  views  of  the  two  reformers  on  all  the  great  points  of 
Christian-  doctrine  were  coincident ;  and,  if  it  be  asked  why 
Zwingle  did  not  accomplish  so  great  a  work  as  Luther,  the 
answer  is  plain :  Luther  had  a  much  wider  field  on  which  to 
operate,  —  the  great  field  of  Germany  and  the  surrounding 
countries ;  while  Zwingle  was  shut  up  to  the  little  canton  of 
Zurich,  and  to  such  influence  as  he  could  exert  upon  the  cities 
around  him.  Then  Luther  lived  almost  to  the  middle  of  the 
century  ;  while  Zwingle  was  smitten  down  in  the  midst  of  his  days 
and  usefulness. 

In  one  respect,  Luther  may  be  regarded  as  in  advance  of  his 
brother  reformer.  He  had  less  of  the  politician  in  him,  and  was 
far  more  averse  to  war.     Luther  was  for  putting  his  trust  in  God, 

*  The  difference  here  noticed  in  the  principles  of  the  original  reformers  shows  itself  in  their 
followers  even  to  this  day.  The  Lutheran  Church  approximates  much  more  nearly  to  the 
Catholic  than  the  generality  of  the  reformed  churches. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  915 

leaning  on  him  in  faitli  and  prayer,  and  leaving  worldly  affairs  to 
worldly  men ;  while  Zwingie,  though  not  destitute  of  these 
Christian  qualities,  had  more  of  worldly  wisdom,  and  was  inclined 
to  lean  more  on  an  arm  of  flesh.  He  would  wield  carnal  as  well 
as  spiritual  weapons ;  and  hence  his  early  and  lamented  death. 


CHAPTER   XLI. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    FRANCE. 


AS  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland  commenced  previous  to 
and  independent  of  that  in  Germany,  so  it  may  be  said  of 
the  Reformation  in  France,  that  it  commenced  previous  to  and 
independent  of  theni  both.  The  first  seeds  of  it  were  sown  in 
Paris,  and,  what  is  more  strange,  in  the  university,  —  among  the 
doctors  of  the  Sorbonne.  James  Lefevre  began  to  teach  and  preach 
the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  to  call  the  attention  of 
his  pupils  from  scholastic  learning  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  early 
as  the  year  1512.  Among  these  pupils  was  a  Dauphinese  youth 
of  peculiar  interest  and  promise,  —  WilUam  Farel.  Scarcely  had 
his  teacher  begun  to  proclaim  salvation  hy  grace,  when  Farel 
embraced  it  with  all  his  heart.  He  had  experienced  enough  of 
labor  and  conflict  to  know  that  he  could  never  save  himself :  there- 
fore, when  he  learned  that  the  salvation  of  the  gospel  is  freely 
offered,  and  that  it  is  all  of  grace,  through  faith,  he  received  the 
truth,  and  began  to  rejoice  in  it  with  unspeakable  joy.  And  not 
only  so ;  the  truth  weaned  him,  set  him  free,  from  all  the 
errors  and  superstitions  of  Rome.  "  From  that  moment,"  saj^s  he, 
"  the  Papacy  was  dethroned  within  me.  I  began  to  abhor  it  as  a 
devilish  imposture :  the  blessed  truth  of  God  held  the  first  place 
in  my  heart." 

Farel  was  not  the  only  pupil  to  whom  the  teachings  of  Lefevre 
proved  a  blessing.  He  was  the  instructor  of  the  brothers  Roussel, 
who  afterwards  did  good  service  for  Christ.  At  a  later  j)eriod,  he 
was  the  teacher  of  Calvin,  and  helped  to  prepare  his  mind  and 
heart  for  that  career  of  distinguished  usefulness  to  which  he  was 
destined.  Nor  was  this  all :  in  the  years  1524,  1525,  he  published  a 
French  translation  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  Psalms ;  thus 
putting  it  in  the  power  of  the  people  to  read  the  Scriptures  in 
their  own  tongue. 

916 


THE  REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  917 

After  Lef^vre  left  Paris,  he  led,  for  the  most  part,  a  wandering 
life,  fleeing  from  his  persecutors,  and  taking  refuge  wherever  he 
could  find  a  place.  Still  he  never  came  out  fully  and  formally 
from  the  Church  of  Rome.  Repulsed  and  persecuted  by  this 
corrupt  Church,  he  still  clung  to  it.  In  his  last  years  he  was 
sheltered  by  Margaret,  queen  of  Navarre ;  and  died  at  her  residence, 
a  hundred  years  old. 

This  Margaret  was  sister  of  Francis  I.,  the  king  of  France.  She 
was  first  married  to  the  duke  of  Alengon,  and  afterwards  to  the 
king  of  Navarre ;  and  was  the  grandmother  of  Henry  IV.,  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  of  the  French  kings.  She  had  naturally 
a  pure  and  thoughtful  mind ;  and  through  the  instrumentality 
of  Lefevre  and  Farel,  and  more  especially  of  Briconnet,  bishop 
of  Meaux,  she  was  brought  early  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
She  had  great  influence  over  her  brother  the  king,  and  was 
a  means  of  saving  man}'-  of  Christ's  faithful  servants  from  per- 
secution and  death.  On  the  other  hand,  her  brother  had  much 
influence  over  her,  and  prevented  her  from  making  that  formal 
separation  from  the  religion  of  Rome  which  otherwise  she  might 
have  accomplished. 

The  history  of  her  principal  counsellor,  Briconnet,  bishop  of 
Meaux,  is  one  of  deep  and  painful  interest.  Through  the  influence 
of  Lefevre,  he  was  enlightened,  and  apparently  converted.  He 
seemed  to  understand  the  gospel ;  was  deeply  interested  in  it ; 
and,  when  the  little  company  of  reformers  was  driven  away  from 
Paris,  he  invited  them  to  follow  him  to  Meaux,  and  set  up  their 
banner  there.  They  did  so  ;  and  the  first  congregation  of  French 
believers  Avas  formed  in  his  diocese,  and  under  his  protection.  •  He 
visited  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  removed  the  incompetent  and 
unfaithful,  and  endeavored  to  bring  about  a  general  reformation ; 
but  by  his  zeal  and  faithfulness  he  provoked  opposition,  was  com- 
plained of  to  his  superiors,  and  a  persecution  arose.  Lefdvre, 
Farel,  and  the  other  preachers,  were  scattered ;  several  were  put 
to  death ;  and  at  length  the  bishop  himself  was  arrested,  and 
brought  to  trial.  For  a  time  he  wavered,  and  then  fell  away.  He 
signed  a  recantation  which  was  prepared  for  him,  and  became 
reconciled  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  On  his  final  condition  we 
pretend  not  to  pass  judgment.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  visionary, 
mystical  character ;  and  many  have  expressed  the  hope  that  his 
heart  was  essentially  right  in  the  sight  of  God.  Certain  it  is  that 
his  fall  was  a  great  hinderance  and  discouragement  to  the  infant 
cause  of  the  Reformation  in  France. 


918  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Francis  I.,  the  brother  of  Margaret,  queen  of  Navarre,  and  the 
rival  of  Charles  V.,  came  to  the  throne  in  the  year  1515.  His 
course  in  regard  to  the  Reformation  was  variable,  but,  on  the 
•whole,  severe  and  cruel.  He  was  a  friend  of  learning  and  of 
learned  men ;  and  this  induced  him  to  invite  them  to  his  court, 
and  sustain  them  there,  without  regard  to  their  religious  opinions. 
His  sister  Margaret,  too,  had  much  influence  over  him,  which  she 
exerted  in  favor  of  the  reformers  ;  and  she  often  persuaded  him  to 
succor  those  who  otherwise  might  have  been  destroyed.  But 
the  king  was  surrounded  by  evil  counsellors,  who  excited  his  preju- 
dices, inflamed  his  zeal,  and  led  him,  in  many  instances,  to  oppose 
and  persecute  those  who  dared  to  dissent  from  the  established 
religion. 

We  have  already  heard  of  the  persecution  at  Meaux,  by  which 
the  reformed  preachers  Avere  scattered ;  some  fleeing  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  some  in  another.  Farel  repaired  to  Dauphiny,  his  native 
region ;  but  John  Le  Clerc,  Chatelain,  and  some  others,  went  to 
Metz.  Le  Clerc,  though  no  more  than  a  wool-comber  by  trade, 
was  an  unwearied  laborer  for  Christ,  and  soon  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  little  church  at  Metz  :  but  his  zeal  was  greater  than  his  dis- 
cretion ;  and  this  brought  him  to  an  untimely  end.  On  one  occa- 
sion, he  went  privately  into  a  chapel  standing  a  little  way  out  of 
the  city  of  Metz,  and  broke  and  scattered  all  the  images.  The 
deed  was  soon  discovered,  and  the  perpetrator  of  it ;  and  he  was 
sentenced  to  be  burnt  alive. 

At  the  place  of  execution,  an  awful  scene  awaited  him.  His 
persecutors  began  by  cutting  off  his  right  hand ;  then,  taking  up  red- 
hot  pincers,  they  tore  away  his  nose  ;  after  this,  with  the  same  in- 
strument, they  lacerated  his  arms,  and  ended  by  applying  the  burn- 
ing pincers  to  his  breast.  All  this  while,  the  soul  of  the  sufferer 
was  kept  in  perfect  peace.  He  continued  repeating  the  hundred 
and  fifteenth  psalm :  "  Their  idols  are  silver  and  gold,  the  work  of 
men's  hands.  They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not ;  eyes  have 
they,  but  they  see  not ;  they  have  ears,  but  they  hear  not ;  noses  have 
they,  but  they  smell  not ;  they  have  hands,  but  they  handle  not ; 
feet  have  they,  but  they  walk  not ;  neither  speak  they  through  their 
throat.  They  that  make  them  are  like  unto  them ;  and  so  is  every 
one  that  trusteth  in  them.  0  Israel !  trust  thou  in  the  Lord :  he  is 
their  help  and  their  shield.^''  By  the  sight  of  so  much  composure, 
his  enemies  were  awed ;  believers  were  confirmed  in  their  faith  ; 
and  the  people  were  astonished  and  affected.     After  undergoing 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  919 

every  torture,  Le  Clerc  was  consumed  by  a  slow  fire.  He  was  the 
first  martyr  of  the  Reformation  in  France. 

But  the  priests  of  Metz  were  not  satisfied  Avith  a  single  victim. 
His  friend  Chatelain  soon  followed  him,  and,  like  him,  was  commit- 
ted to  the  flames.  Other  leaders  of  the  Church  escaped,  and  took 
refuge  in  Basle.  Meanwhile,  Farel  was  preaching  the  gospel  in 
Dauphiny  and  among  the  Alps  ;  and  many  of  the  dwellers  in  those 
rough  regions  received  the  truth  from  his  lips.  Among  these  was 
a  knight  named  Anemond,  who  became  at  once  a  fellow-laborer 
with  Farel  and  a  powerful  helper  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  Leav- 
ing Dauphin}^,  the  friends  ere  long  met  in  Basle,  where  a  French 
church  was  organized,  and  fr(^n  which  an  influence  went  forth  to 
bless  the  surrounding  country. 

While  Farel  was  at  Basle,  he  had  an  earnest  invitation  to  visit 
Montbeliard,  and  publish  the  gospel-message  there.  As  he  had 
never  received  ordination  in  any  form,  before  proceeding  on  his 
mission  he  was  privately  ordained  by  CEcolampadius.  At  Montbe- 
liard, he  entered  immediately  upon  his  work  of  preaching  Christ 
and  him  crucified ;  exhorting  all  men  to  come  to  him,  and  to  per- 
severe in  their  attachment  to  his  cause.  He  was  here  like  a  gen- 
eral stationed  on  a  hill,  surveying  with  searching  vigilance  the  field 
before  him,  cheering  on  those  who  were  actively  engaged,  and 
encouraging  others  who  were  inclined  to  fall  away.  Nor  were  his 
labors  without  effect.  Converts  were  multiplied,  gainsayers  were 
confounded ;  and  the  cause  of  truth  was  making  evident  progress. 

At  this  time,  the  gospel  began  to  be  preached  in  Lyons.  The 
king  was  marching  an  army  into  Italy ;  and  his  sister,  the  queen  of 
Navarre,  attended  by  some  of  her  ministers,  had  followed  him  as 
far  as  Lyons.  They  at  once  commenced  publishing  the  gospel- 
message  ;  and  their  word  was  with  power.  Numbers  were  con- 
vinced, and  embraced  the  truth.  Nor  did  tliey  confine  their  labors 
to  Lyons.  Supported  and  encouraged  by  Christians  in  the  city, 
they  published  salvation  in  several  of  the  adjacent  provinces  where 
before  it  was  not  known.  But  soon  their  prospects  were  clouded 
and  their  efforts  checked.  One  of  the  queen's  preachers  was  cast 
into  prison  ;  nor,  with  all  her  patronage  and  influence,  was  she 
able  to  procure  his  release. 

The  campaigh  of  the  king  in  Italy  proved  a  most  disastrous  one. 
The  battle  of  Pavia  occurred  in  February,  1525,  when  Francis  was 
defeated  and  taken  prisoner  by  Charles  V.  During  his  captivity, 
which  lasted  about  a  year,  the  enemies  of  the  Reformation  raged  in 


920  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

France  with  unwonted  fury.  The  queen-mother  (who  acted  as 
regent),  the  parliament,  the  Sorbonne,  —  all  united  their  forces  to 
persecute  the  friends  of  religion,  and  crush  out  what  remained  of 
the  new  doctrine.  To  accomplish  this  the  moi-e  surely,  a  board 
of  inquisitors  was  organized  (consisting  of  some  of  the  more  vio- 
lent Romanists),  whose  office  it  was  to  seek  out,  try,  condemn,  a'lid 
destroy  all  who  were  known  as  friends  of  the  gospel.  It  was  before 
these  inquisitors  that  Briconnet,  bishop  of  Meaux,  was  arraigned, . 
of  whose  trial  and  recantation  I  have  already  spoken.  Lefevre 
was  next  sought  for  ;  but  he  fled  to  Strasburg,  and  escaped  their 
hands.  At  Strasburg  he  found  Farel,  Roussel,  and  many  other 
refugees  from  France,  who  covenant^  together,  and  formed  a  little 
church,  to  which  Farel  preached  the  doctrine  of  salvation. 

The  first  victim  who  suffered  death  at  the  hands  of  the  inquisi- 
tors was  a  pastor  by  the  name  of  Schuck.  He  was  burned  in  the 
city  of  Nancy,  Aug.  19,  1525.  When  he  came  to  the  place  of 
execution,  his  books  were  first  burned ;  and  he  was  called  upon  to 
recant.  He  refused,  and  began  repeating  with  a  loud  voice  the  fifty- 
first  psalm :  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God  !  according  to  thy  lov- 
ing-kindness ;  according  unto  the  multitude  of  thy  tender  mercies, 
blot  out  my  transgressions."  Having  mounted  the  pile,  he  con- 
tinued to  repeat  the  psalm  until  his  voice  was  stifled  with  smoke 
and  flame. 

James  Pavann^  had  been  once  tried  for  heresy,  and  had  been 
persuaded  to  retract ;  but  the  consequence  was,  that  his  peace  of 
mind  was  utterly  destroyed.  He  could  do  nothing  but  sigh  and 
weep,  and  utter  reproaches  against  himself  for  having  denied  his 
Lord  and  Saviour.  He  was  seized,  and  brought  before  the  inquisi- 
tors ;  and,  when  he  found  himself  condemned  to  death,  his  mind 
was  greatly  relieved.  He  died  full  of  joy,  encouraging  by  his 
example  all  around  him,  who,  whether  secretly  or  openly,  had  em- 
braced the  gospel. 

In  the  Forest  of  Livry,  three  leagues  from  Paris,  lived  a  hermit, 
who,  having  learned  the  way  of  life,  was  very  earnest  in  unfolding 
it  to  others.  He  went  from  cottage  to  cottage  in  the  surrounding 
villages,  speaking  to  the  poor  peasants  of  the  gospel,  and  of  the 
free  pardon  which  it  offers  to  every  burthened  soul.  It  was  not 
long  before  intelligence  of  what  the  hermit  was  doing  reached  the 
ears  of  the  inquisitors ;  and  he  was  seized.  He  was  dragged  from 
his  retreat  in  the  forest,  thrown  into  prison,  and  sentenced  to  the 
common  punishment  of  being  "  burned  by  a  slow  fire." 


THE   REFORMATION   IX   FRANCE.  921 

Other  executions  followed:  and  the  inquisitors  even  aimed  to  get 
into  their  hands  the  good  queen  of  Navarre,  the  king's  sister  ;  but 
she  escaped  them  by  being  sent  into  Spain,  at  her  own  request,  to 
effect  the  release  of  the  Icing,  her  brother ;  Avhich  she  happily  ac- 
complished. By  a  treaty  entitled  "  The  Peace  of  Madrid,"  entered 
into  on  the  14th  of  January,  1526,  the  king  of  France  obtained  his 
liberty.  The  terms  of  his  liberation  were  unreasonably  severe. 
He  renounced  all  claims  to  his  Italian  possessions,  ceded  Burgundy, 
relinquished  his  feudal  sovereignty  over  Flanders  and  Artois,  and 
promised  to  withdraw  his  protection  from  the  king  of  Navarre. 
He  left  his  two  elder  sons  with  the  Emperor  Charles  as  hostages, 
and  took  an  oath,  that,  if  all  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  were  not 
complied  with,  he  would  return  into  captivity.  Still  he  never 
complied  with  them,  and  never  meant  to  comply.  He  insisted  that 
his  concessions  were  extorted  from  him  by  compulsory  means  ;  and 
Pope  Clement  VII.  formally  released  him  from'  the  obligations  of 
his  oath. 

After  his  return  from  captivity,  the  king  of  France  pursued  a 
more  dubious,  vacillating  course  in  regard  to  religion  than  ever 
before.  His  hatred  of  the  emperor  induced  him  to  form  alliances 
with  the  king  of  England  and  with  some  of  the  German  and  Swiss 
reformers.  His  plan  was,  by  means  of  compromise  and  treaty,  to 
bring  about  a  sort  of  reformation,  in  which  all  (unless  it  were  the 
emperor)  might  coincide  without  a  formal  separation  from  the 
Romish  Church.  And  some  of  the  reformers  seemed  not  unwilling, 
for  a  time,  to  listen  to  him,  and  to  forward  his  plans.  But  Luther 
and  the  great  body  of  them  had  no  confidence  in  him,  or  in  his 
method  of  reforming  the  Church.  And  they  were  the  more  con- 
firmed in  this  opinion  from  the  fact  that  the  fires  of  persecution 
were  still  burning  in  France,  and  numbers  of  their  dear  brethren 
Avere  yielding  up  their  lives.  The  king  tried,  indeed,  to  throw  off 
the  responsibility  of  these  persecutions,  and  to  persuade  the  Prot- 
estants that  they  were  confined  to  certain  fanatics  and  Anabap- 
tists. But  the  facts  of  the  case  could  not  long  be  concealed.  The 
truth  is,  the  king  was  acting  a  double  part.  He  must  conciliate 
the  pontiff  as  well  as  the  Protestants ;  and  hence  the  vacillating, 
inconsistent  course  which  he  was  led  to  pursue. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  mention  all  the  instances  of'  martyrdom 
which  occurred  in  France  during  the  next  eight  or  ten  years  ;  and 
yet  the  names  of  a  few  which  have  come  down  to  us  should  not  be 
omitted. 


922  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Bartholomew  Milo,  a  shoemaker  of  Paris,  was  a  cripple  in  all 
his  limbs  except  his  arms.  He  had  been  a  wicked  youth,  and  cast 
much  reproach  upon  the  people  of  God.  A  pious  man,  being 
ridiculed  by  him  as  he  passed  his  shop,  gave  him  a  New  Testament 
to  read.  He  read  it  continually,  was  greatly  affected  by  it,  and 
became  a  sincere  convert  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  And  now  he 
was  as  much  in  earnest  to  promote  the  truth  as  before  he  had  been 
to  ridicule  and  oppose  it.  His  sick-chamber  was  a  little  school  in 
which  the  gospel  was  made  known,  and  out  of  which  the  honor 
and  majesty  of  the  Lord  shone  brightly  forth.  Of  course,  he  could 
not  escape  the  notice  of  the  king's  commissioners.  He  was 
dragged  from  his  humble  home,  and  condemned  to  be  burned  by  a 
slow  fire  on  the  Place  de  Grove.  His  courage  and  patience 
afforded  his  fellow-prisoners  unspeakable  comfort  and  increased 
resolution.     He  honored  God  in  death  as  he  had  done  in  his  life. 

Nicolas  Valeton  saw  the  inquisitor  coming  to  his  house,  and  re- 
moved his  books  to  a  secret  place.  And  this  was  all  that  could  be 
proved  against  him.  The  books  contained  nothing  that  had  been 
forbidden  ;  but  the  fact  of  his  concealing  them  implied,  it  was 
thought,  an  heretical  disposition.  He  died  with  great  firmness ; 
being  burnt  alive  with  wood  that  had  been  brought  from  his  own 
house. 

John  Du  Bourg,  a  merchant  of  Paris,  bore  testimony  to  the 
truth  in  the  same  way.  No  regard  for  relatives,  no  thought  of 
riches,  no  earthly  bond  whatever,  could  move  him  to  deny  the 
faith.     He,  too,  was  burned  at  Paris. 

Henry  Poille,  a  poor  bricklayer,  gave  similar  proof  of  the  power 
x)f  a  lively  faith.  His  persecutors,  fearing  that  his  word  at  the 
stake  might  work  upon  the  feelings  of  the  spectators,  bored 
through  his  tongue,  and  fastened  it  with  an  iron  pin  to  his  cheek. 
It  was  very  common  at  this  time  to  gag  the  martyrs,  to  prevent 
them  from  bearing  testimony  to  the  truth  in  their  dying  hours. 

Stephen  La  Forge  of  Tournay,  a  rich  and  benevolent  merchant, 
published  Bibles  at  his  own  expense  for  gratuitous  circulation.  This 
was  deemed  an  unpardonable  oifence  ;  and  he  sealed  his  profession 
in  the  flames  at  the  churchyard  of  St.  John. 

At  some  of  these  executions,  the  king  himself  was  present.  Thus 
when  Dymond  Levoy  and  five  others  were  burned,  in  1528,  he 
went  bareheaded  to  witness  the  horrible  transaction,  accompanied 
by  a  procession  of  priests  and  monks. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  friends  of  the  gospel  were  not  always 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  923 

as  discreet  in  their  measures  as  they  should  have  been.  On  one 
occasion,  they  affixed  to  the  gates  of  the  palace,  and  in  other  pub- 
lic places,  papers  containing  indecent  reflections  on  the  rites  and 
doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  particularly  on  the  mass.  Infatuated 
with  rage,  the  king  decreed  a  public  procession  in  honor  of  the 
holy  sacrament.  "■  The  procession,"  says  Lorimer,  "  issued  from 
the  Church  of  St.  Germain,  bearing  the  relics  of  all  the  martyrs 
that  were  preserved  in  the  sanctuaries  of  Paris ;  among  the  rest 
the  beard  of  St.  Louis,  which  had  not  been  exposed  shice  his 
death.  There  were  present  many  cardinals,  bishops,  abl)0ts,  and 
other  •  prelates,  the  faculties  of  the  colleges,  and  tlie  bishop  of 
Paris,  bearing  the  holy  sacrament.  Then  followed  the  king,  un- 
covered, holding  in  his  hand  a  wax  candle  ;  and  after  him  the  queen, 
the  princes,  two  hundred  gentlemen  of  the  court,  the  guard,  the 
parliament,  the  judges,  and  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  States  and 
princes. 

"  The  procession  passed  slowly  through  all  quarters  of  the  city  ; 
and  in' six  principal  places  there  had  been  erected  an  altar  for  the 
holy  sacrament,  and  beside  it  a  scaffold  and  a  funeral-pile.  At 
each  of  these  six  places,  six  j^ersons  loere  burned  alive.  By  the 
king's  order,  these  unhappy  victims  were  fastened  to  a  beam, 
which  was  so  balanced,  that,  when  it  was  let  down,  they  were 
plunged  into  the  fire  ;  but,  when  it  was  elevated,  they  were  raised 
up  again,  so  as  in  this  way  to  prolong  their  sufferings.  And  this 
was  repeated  until  the  cords  that  bound  them  were  consumed,  and 
they  fell  into  the  fire.  It  was  so  arranged  that  the  victims  should 
fall  just  as  the  king,  in  the  procession,  reached  each  place  ;  and  then 
the  king,  handing  his  candle  to  one  of  the  attendants,  prostrated 
himself  upon  the  earth,  and  implored  mercy  on  his  people,  until  the 
victims  were  consumed.  The  procession  finally  stopped  at  the 
Church  of  St.  Genevieve,  where  the  sacrament  was  deposited  on 
the  altar,  and  mass  was  celebrated."  It  was  during  this  procession 
that  the  king  is  reported  to  have  said,  that,  if  the  blood  in  his  right 
arm  were  tainted  with  heresy,  he  would  cut  it  off ;  and  that  he 
would  not  spare  even  his  own  children  if  they  proved  unfaithful 
to  the  ancient  faith. 

But,  frequent  and  terrible  as  these  executions  had  been,  they 
were  as  nothing  compared  with  the  destruction  which  fell  upon 
the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Vaudois  or  Waldenses  in  the  south 
of  France.  In  the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  their  settle- 
ments had  extended  through  several  provinces  ;  and  then-  numbers 


924  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

were  estimated  at  eight  liimdred  thousand.  Their  doctrines  were 
the  same  Avith  those  of  the  reformers  ;  and  the  two  bodies  regarded 
each  other  as  brethren. 

In  1540,  a  severe  sentence  had  been  pronounced  against  the  Wal- 
denses  of  Provence  by  the  Parhament  of  Aix ;  but  the  infliction 
was  for  several  years  suspended.  In  the  year  ^1545,  Baron 
d'Oppede  assured  Francis  that  the  Waldenses  were  preparing  to 
attack  Marseilles,  and  prayed  that  the  Edict  of  Aix  might  be  exe- 
cuted upon  them.  The  king  was  entreated,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
stay  the  execution ;  but  he  replied,  that,  as  he  was  purging  the 
other  parts  of  his  dominion  of  heretics,  he  could  not  be  expected 
to  spare  those  in  Provence.  He  issued  an  order,  therefore,  that 
the  edict  should  be  executed,  and  committed  the  execution  of  it  to 
the  Baron  d'Oppede.  The  edict  declared  that  every  dissentient 
from  the  holy  mother-church  who  did  not,  within  a  specified 
period,  acknowledge  his  errors,  and  obtain  absolution,  should  be 
proceeded  against  with  the  utmost  severity  ;  and,  as  Merindole  was 
considered  the  principal  seat  of  the  heresy,  that  that  devoted  city 
should  be  razed  to  the  ground.  The  edict  declared  "  that  all  the 
caverns,  cellars,  vaults,  and  hiding-places  in  the  city  and  vicinity 
should  be  carefully  searched  out  and  destroyed ;  that  the  woods 
should  be  cut  down,  and  all  the  gardens  and  vineyards  laid  waste  ; 
that  none  who  possessed  houses  or  any  other  property  in  Merindole 
or  the  vicinity  should  ever  occupy  them  again  ;  and,  in  short,  that 
the  memory  of  the  excommunicated  sect  should  be  utterly  obhte- 
rated  in  the  province,  and  the  place  be  made  a  desert." 

This  was  a  horrible  decree,  and  still  more  horribly  was  it  exe- 
cuted. "  Twenty-two  towns  or  villages  were  burned  or  sacked 
with  a  degree  of  barbarity  beyond  example.  The  miserable  inhab- 
itants, surj)rised  during  the  night,  and  pursued  from  rock  to  rock 
by  the  light  of  the  fires  which  consumed  their  own  dwellings,  fre- 
quently escaped  one  snare  only  to  fall  into  another.  The  pitiful 
cries  of  the  old  men,  women,  and  children,  far  from  softening  the 
hearts  of  the  soldiers,  only  set  them  upon  following  the  fugitives, 
and  pointed  out  the  places  whither  to  direct  their  fury.  Volun- 
tary surrender  did  not  exempt  the  men  from  execution,  nor  the 
women  from  excesses  of  brutality  which  makes  Nature  blush.  It 
was  forbidden,  under  pain  of  death,  to  afford  them  any  refuge  or 
succor. 

"  At  Cabri^res,  more  than  seven  hundred  men  were  murdered  in 
cold  blood ;  while  the  women  were  shut  up  in  barns  filled  with 


THE  ^REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  925 

siraw,  which  was  set  on  fire.  If  any  attempted  to  escape  by  the 
windows,  they  were  driven  back  with  swords  and  pikes.  Fmally, 
according  to  the  letter  of  the  edict,  the  houses  were  razed,  the 
woods  cut  down,  the  fruit-trees  pulled  up  by  the  roots ;  and  the 
whole  country,  before  so  fertile  and  populous,  became  a  waste  and 
a  desert. 

"  From  Cabrieres,  the  army  proceeded  to  La  'Coste.  Here  the 
inhabitants,  who  had  prepared  for  a  defence,  were  assured  of  kind 
treatment  if  they  would  surrender.  But  the  same  cruelties  were 
inflicted  as  at  Cabrieres.  The  town  was  destroyed  ;  and  all  who 
could  not  escape  were  murdered  without  mercy.  The  women 
were  treated  with  such  violence  and  barbarity,  that  many  of  them 
died  ei,ther  from  grief,  or  from  the  torments  'to  which  they  were 
subjected.  Those  who  escaped  wandered  among  the  mountains, 
until  they  reached  Geneva  and  the  reformed  Swiss  cantons."  In 
describing  this  massacre,  Maimbourg,  a  Catholic  historian,  says  that 
"  more  than  three  thousand  persons  were  killed ;  and  nine  hundred 
houses  were  plundered,  and  then  destroyed." 

The  miseries  that  have  been  described  occurred  in  Provence, 
but  were  not  confined  to  that  locality.  Dauphiny  and  Languedoc 
experienced  the  same  horrid  treatment.  Few  were  the  Waldenses 
that  were  spared  ;  and  fewer  still  had  the  courage  to  acknowledge 
that  they  belonged  to  the  proscribed  party.  We  have  the  name 
of  one  of  their  preachers  (Aymond  de  la  Voye)  who  openly  main- 
tained the  truth,  and  labored  to  encourage  the  desponding  people 
of  God  ;  but  he  was  arrested,  and  cruelly  put  to  death. 

Francis  was  severely  censured  for  permitting  such  atrocities  in 
his  dominions  ;  but  he  threw  the  blame  on  the  Parliament  of  Aix, 
and  ordered  that  the  prosecution  of  the  remaining  heretics  should 
be  continued.  He  seems  to  have  relented  a  little  on  his  death- 
bed ;  and  ordered  his  son  to  inquire  into  the  matter,  and  see  that 
justice  was  done.  He  died  in  15-1:7.  His  excellent  sister  Margaret 
survived  him,  and  died  in  1549. 

While  these  struggles  and  conflicts  were  going  on  in  France, 
the  Lord  was  raising  up  there  an  instrument  for  the  propagation 
of  his  truth,  who  should  be  second  in  influence  to  none  who  had 
gone  before  him.  I  refer  to  the  celebrated  John  Calvin.  Calvin 
was  born  at  Noyon  in  Picardy,  a  province  of  France,  July  10,  1509. 
His  father,  Gerard  Chauvin,  or  Calvin,  was  in  easy  circumstances, 
and  enjoyed  an  unblemished  reputation.  He  was  esteemed  by  the 
nobility  in  his  neighborhood;  and  had  the  privilege  of  liberally 


926  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

educating  his  son  in  the  family  of  Mommer,  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished in  the  province.  In  this  noble  family  Calvin  was 
trained  up,  and  received  the  rudiments  of  a  thorough  education. 
With  the  children  of  Mommer,  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  and  placed 
in  the  College  of  La  Manche,  under  the  tuition  of  the  learned 
Maturin  Cordier.  This  Cordier  afterwards  abjured  Popery,  and 
lived  with  Calvin  at  Geneva.  Under  him,  Calvin  obtained  that 
corre'ct  knowledge  of  Latin  which  enabled  him  to  write  it  with 
such  elegance  and  ease. 

From  La  Manche,  Calvin  was  removed  to  the  College  of  Mon- 
taigne, where  he  was  instructed  in  mathematics  and  philosophy. 
Being  of  a  sedate  and  thoughtful  disposition,  his  father  procured 
him  a  benefice  in  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Gesine  when  be  was 
only  twelve  years  old.  At  this  time  he  received  the  tonsure,  which 
was  the  first  step  towards  priestly  orders  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 
In  1527,  he  was  presented  to  an  additional  benefice,  the  rectory 
of  Martville,  which  he  .  exchanged  for  a  curacy  in  his  father's 
native  place.  Here  he  sometimes  preached  with  great  acceptance, 
though  then  only  twenty  years  of  age. 

His  j)romise  of  distinction  Avas  now  so  great,  that  his  father 
changed  his  purpose  respecting  him,  and,  instead  of  making  him 
a  priest,  resolved  that  he  should  enter  upon  the  study  of  law.  It 
is  remarkable  that  both  Luther  and  Calvin  were  lawyers  before 
they  became  ministers  of  Christ.  Calvin  entered  upon  his  new 
course  of  study  reluctantly,  and  only  in  obedience  to  the  will  of 
his  father.  That  he  might  the  more  successfully  pursue  the  study 
of  law,  he  went  to  the  University  of  Orleans,  and  afterwards  to 
that  of  Bourges.  At  this  time,  he  lost  his  father.  He  also  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  kinsman  by  the  name  of  Olivetan,  who  en- 
couraged him  to  study  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  from  this  period 
they  became  almost  his  only  study.  He  lost  all  relish  for  other 
pursuits,  and  devoted  every  leisure  hour  to  the  perusal  of  the 
Sacred  Word.  At  Bourges  he  also  became  acquainted  with  Melchior 
Wolmar,  a  Protestant  from  Germany,  who  taught  him  Greek,  and 
who  contributed  much  to  settle  his  still-wavering  purpose  on  the 
subject  of  religion.  To  Wolmar,  Calvin  was  chiefly  indebted, 
under  God,  for  his  conversion  ;  and  through  life  he  speaks  of 
him  in  terms  of  warm  affection  and  of  strong  obligation. 

The  conversion  of  Calvin,  so  deep  and  thorough,  was  not 
effected  without  a  struggle.  In  his  own  experience,  he  learned 
the  inefficacy  of  all  Catholic  forms  and  penances  to  give  peace  to 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  927 

the  soul.  "  When  I  had  attended  to  these  things,"  said  he,  "  and 
while  I  yet  trusted  to  them,  very  far  was  I  from  having  peace  of 
conscience  ;  for  whenever  I  descended'  into  myself,  or  raised  my 
heart  to  God,  such  extreme  horror  surprised  me,  that  neither 
purifications  nor  satisfactions  could  bring  any  relief.  Alas !  the 
more  closely  I  examined  myself,  so  much  the  sharper  became  the 
stings  of  my  conscience.  To  such  a  degree  was  this  the  case,  that 
I  could  find  neither  solace  nor  comfort,  except  so  far  as  I  could 
deceive  myself  or  forget  myself."  In  this  state  of  mind,  Calvin 
could  have  no  peace  till  he  found  it  in  Christ.  After  his  change, 
he  could ^say  with  Paul  and  with  ten  thousand  others,  "Being 
justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

After  leaving  the  university,  Calvin  went  to  Paris,  where  he 
frequented  the  private  assemblies  of  Christians,  and  preached  to 
them  the  gospel.  His  ministrations  were  received  with  great  joy 
by  the  faithful ;  among  whom  was  the  excellent  Stephen  La  Forge, 
of  whose  martyrdom  I  have  already  spoken. 

The  horrible  insensibility  with  which  men  raged  against  the 
gospel  deeply  affected  the  heart  of  Calvin ;  and  he  was  resolvied 
to  make  an  effort  to  shame  the  persecutors.  With  this  object  in 
view,  he  published  with  notes  and  comments  the  two  books  of 
"  Seneca  de  Clementia,"  which  the  philosopher  had  addressed  to 
Nero  during  his  persecution  of  the  Christians.  But  as  these  books, 
when  originally  published,  produced  no  softening  effect  upon  the 
heart  of  Nero,  so  the  republication  of  them  by  Calvin  was  equally 
inefficacious  upon  the  heart  of  Francis  and  his  persecuting  court. 

On  the  1st  of  November,  1532,  Nicolas  Cop,  rector  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  delivered  an  address  at  the  celebration  of  the 
festival  of  All  Saints.  The  discourse  was  prepared  by  Calvin.  It 
treated  of  the  inefficacy  of  Romish  superstitions  to  give  peace  to 
the  soul,  and  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  justification  by  faith. 
Of  course,  it  gave  great  offence,  and  Cop  was  sought  for  ;  but  he 
made  his  escape  to  Basle,  his  native  place.  Calvin,  too,  was  sought 
for ;  but  he  escaped,  and  took  refuge  with  Margaret,  queen  of 
Navarre.  She  sent  for  him  to  her  palace,  heard  him  discourse,  and 
used  her  influence  with  the  king  for  his  personal  safety. 

While  Calvin  was  absent  from  Paris,  he  went  to  Nerac,  in  the 
province  of  Aquitain,  to  visit  the  venerable  James  Lefevre,  the 
father  of  the  Reformation  in  France,  who  was  here  protected  and 
provided  for  by  the  queen  of  Navarre.      The  excellent  old  man 


928  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

received  young  Calvin  with  joy,  and  predicted  that  he  would  be 
the  instrument,  in  the  hands  of  God,  of  estabhshing  the  true  reli- 
gion in  France. 

From  Nerac,  Calvin  returned  privately  to  Paris,  where  he 
remained  a  little  time,  and  where  Michael  Servetus  requested  an 
interview  with  him,  and  a  public  disputation.  Calvin  agreed  to 
meet  him,  and,  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  repaired  to  the  appointed 
place  ;  but  Servetus  did  not  appear. 

After  the  king's  murderous  procession  in  honor  of  the  sacrament, 
of  which  we  have  before  spoken,  Calvin  took  a  more  decided  stand 
in  favor  of  the  Reformation  than  ever  before.  He  renounced  all 
fellowship  with  the  Romish  Church,  resigned  the  benefices  which 
had  been  given  him  in  early  life,  and  retired  to  Orleans,  where  he 
published  his  "  Psychopannacliia,"  —  a  refutation  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  sleep  of  the  soul  between  death  and  the  resurrection. 

From  Orleans,  Calvin  retired  to  Strasburg,  where  he  formed  an 
acquaintance  with  those  early  reformers,  Grynseus  and  Capito.  He 
here  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  Hebrew,  of  which  before  he 
had  little  knowledge. 

In  the  year  1535,  Calvin  published  at  Basle  the  first  edition  of 
his  "  Institutes,"  with  a  long  and  elaborate  preface,  addressed  to  the 
king  of  France.  His  hope  was,  that,  by  making  the  king  acquainted 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  reformers,  he  might  soften  his  prejudices, 
and  stay  the  further  effusion  of  human  blood.  But  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  king  ever  read  the  work,  or  even  the  preface.  This 
work  has  been  one  of  inestimable  value  to  the  church  and  the 
world;  but  it  seems  to  have  produced  no  good  effect  upon  the 
king. 

After  the  publication  of  his  "  Institutes,"  Calvin  retired  into  Italy, 
and  made  a  visit  to  the  celebrated  duchess  of  Ferrara.  This 
estimable  woman  was  a  daughter  of  Louis  XII.  of  France,  and 
cousin  to  Margaret,  queen  of  Navarre.  She  had  imbibed  the  prm- 
ciples  of  the  reformers,  and  was  eminently  distinguished  for  her 
learning  and  piety.  Her  home  was  a  refuge  for  the  persecuted 
people  of  God  in  Italy,  as  that  of  Margaret  had  been  in  France. 
She  received  Calvin  with  great  kindness,  and  was  much  profited 
by  his  instructions.  She  corresponded  with  him  as  long  as  he 
lived,  and,  after  his  death,  gave  proof  of  her  grateful  attachment  to 
his  memory.  She  continued  for  thirty  years  to  be  a  nursing-mother 
to  the  reformed  churches. 

Calvin  spent  but  a  short  time  in  Italy,  when  he  returned  pri- 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  929 

vately  to  France  to  settle  his  pecuniary  affairs  at  Noyon.  He 
soon  left  Noyon,  taking  with  him  his  only  surviving  brother, 
Anthony  Calvin,  intending  to  fix  his  residence  at  Basle  or  Stras- 
burg,  where  he  might  quietly  pursue  his  studies.  The  direct  route 
from  France  to  Strasburg  being  obstructed  by  troops,  Calvin  was 
led  to  take  another  road,  which  brought  him  to  Geneva,  intending 
to  stop  there  but  for  a  night.  But,  from  this  time,  Geneva  became 
his  home,  —  the  home  of  his  unweared  studies  and  labors  ;  the  post 
of  his  influence,  his  fame,  and  his  power. 

59 


CHAPTER   XLII. 

THE   REFORMATION    IN    DENMARK,    SWEDEN,    THE    NETHERLANDS, 
BOHEMIA,    ITALY,    AND    SPAIN. 


I.  — DENMARK  AND   SWEDEN. 

'TTT'HEN  the  Reformation  commenced,  the  tyrannical  Christian 
V  V  II.  was  ruling  over  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway.  In 
all  these  kingdoms,  the  bishops  were  in  possession  of  large  property 
and  privileges ;  and  by  them  and  the  nobles  the  royal  power  was 
very  much  curtailed.  With  a  view  to  restrict  the  power  of  the 
clergy.  Christian  favored  the  Reformation,  and  invited  Martin 
Reinhard,  a  disciple  of  Carlstadt,  to  be  professor  of  theology  at 
Copenhagen.  He  also  issued  a  law  encouraging  the  marriage  of 
the  priests.  At  the  same  time,  in  Sweden,  he  was  endeavoring  to 
strengthen  his  dominion  by  favoring  the  pope  and  the  clergy.  He 
even  went  so  far  as  to  put  some  of  the  Swedish  nobles  to  death. 
By  his  crooked,  inconsistent  policy,  as  well  as  by  his  cruelties,  he 
provoked  his  people  to  rise  against  him,  and  dethrone  him. 

In  consequence  of  tliis  revolution,  Sweden  and  Denmark  were 
separated ;  Gustavus  Vaso  reigning  over  the  former  kingdom, 
and  Frederic,  duke  of  Holstein,  over  the  latter.  Both  of  these 
were  wise  and  good  kings ;  and  both  proceeded  in  the  work  of 
reformation  with  moderation  and  success.  Gustavus  had  resided 
in  Germany,  and  become  acquainted  with  the  Lutheran  doctrines. 
He  procured  a  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Swedish  language ; 
introduced  teachers  from  Germany  to  instruct  his  people ;  and  in 
an  assembly  of  the  States,  in  1527,  he  so  earnestly  recommended 
the  Lutheran  doctrines,  that  after  long  discussion,  and  much  oppo- 
sition from  the  clergy,  it  was  decided  that  the  new  religion  might 
be  introduced.  Gustavus  declared  publicly  at  this  time  that  he 
would  rather  resign  his  kingdom  than  reign  over  a  people  who 

930 


THE   REFORMATION   IN  THE   NETHERLANDS.  931 

were  subject  to  the  laws  and  the  authority  of  Rome.  The  religious 
affairs  of  the  nation  were,  however,  unsettled  during  the  reigns  of 
his  two  sons,  Erich  and  John ;  but  under  the  reign  of  his  youngest 
son,  Charles  IX.,  Lutheranism  became  firmly  established,  and  has 
continued  to  be  so  to  the  present  time. 

In  Denmark  the  change  was  accomplished  gradually,  and  with- 
out violent  resistance.  Frederic  could  not  be  induced  to  persecute 
the  Protestants ;  he  favored  them,  so  far  as  he  could  safely  do  it : 
and  in  the  Diet  of  Odensee,  in  1527,  a  decree  was  passed,  giving 
full  liberty  to  the  people,  either  to  continue  in  the  old  religion,  or 
to  embrace  the  new.  Under  the  influence  of  this  decree,  the 
Protestant  preachers  discharged  their  functions  with  so  much  abil- 
ity and  success,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Danes  abandoned  the 
pontiff  of  Rome.  Christian  III.,  the  son  and  successor  of  Frederic, 
consummated  the  work  which  his  father  had  begun.  He  strij^ped 
the  bishops  of  their  great  power  and  ill-gotten  wealth,  and,  by  the 
aid  of  Bugenhagen  of  Wittenberg,  settled  the  religious  affairs  of 
the  nation  in  the  most  judicious  manner.  Bugenhagen  crowned 
the  king  and  queen  in  the  year  1537,  and  consecrated  the  new 
evangelical  bishops.  He  assisted  the  king  in  organizing  anew  the 
University  of  Copenhagen,  and  in  preparing  and  publishing  the  new 
ecclesiastical  order  for  the  kingdom ;  and,  in  an  assembly  of  the 
States  in  1539,  the  chiefs  gave  their  sanction  to  all  that  had  been 
done. 

The  Reformation  in  these  northern-  kingdoms  had  come  to  be,  at 
the  time,  a  matter  of  necessity ;  for  the  bishops,  by  various  arti- 
fices, had  acquired  so  much  wealth,  so  many  castles,  such  princely 
revenues,  and  so  great  authority,  that  they  were  more  powerful 
than  the  kings,  and  were  able  to  control  the  realm  at  their  pleasure. 
They  must  therefore  be  put  down,  or  the  government  must  be 
subverted  ;  and  they  were  effectually  put  down  in  the  manner 
above  described. 

II.  — THE   NETHERLANDS. 

The  seventeen  Belgian  provinces  composing  the  Netherlands 
were  a  part  of  the  hereditary  dominions  of  Charles  V.,  which  he 
governed  by  his  viceroys.  While  these  provinces  were  under  the 
dukes  of  Burgundy,  they  enjoyed  a  great  degree  of  civil  freedom. 
Their  affairs  were  regulated  by  an  assembly  of  the  States ;  and 
they  may  almost  be  said  to  have  constituted  a  republic.  This  form 
of  goverment  stimulated  industry  and  enterprise ;  and  in  their  trade, 


932  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

their  commerce,  and  tlie  useful  arts,  they  were  highly  prospered. 
Agriculture  flourished ;  and  lands  naturally  sterile  and  unproduc- 
tive (in  many  places  recovered  from  the  sea)  were  brought  into 
a  high  state  of  cultivation.  Bruges,  in  West  Flanders,  was  the 
great  emporium  of  the  nations  until  the  sixteenth  century ;  when 
Antwerp,  which  had  long  been  its  rival  in  commerce,  became  the 
principal  mart  of  Europe.  Even  as  late  as  the  time  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, the  foreign  commerce  of  England  was  confined  chiefly  to  the 
Netherlands. 

Owing  to  their  liberty  and  commerce,  the  writings  of  Luther 
were  early  introduced  into  the  Netherlands,  and  produced  a  decid- 
ed impression  there.  Many  were  converted,  not  only  in  Holland, 
but  in  the  flourishing  cities  of  Flanders  and  Brabant.  The  Em- 
peror Charles  earnestly  desired  to  suppress  the  heresy  in  his  heredi- 
tary dominions,  and,  as  early  as  1521,  published  a  severe  law  against 
it.  We  have  before  spoken  of  the  execution  of  two  Augustinian 
friars  under  this  law  ;  viz.,  Esch  and  Voes,  who  had  the  honor  to 
be  the  first  martyrs  of  the  Reformation.  Other  laws  against  here- 
tics were  enacted ;  and  executions  were  frequent  for  the  next  thir- 
ty years.  Scarcely  a  year  passed  in  which  some  were  not  called 
to  yield  up  their  lives,  either  on  the  burning  pile  or  by  the  axe  of  the 
executioner.  And  these  cases  of  martyrdom  would  have  been  more 
frequent,  but  that  the  viceroys  who  governed  under  Charles  were 
not  heartily  inclined  to  carry  out  his  wishes.  Besides,  as  the  exe- 
cution of  these  bloody  laws  depended  upon  the  provincial  and  city 
authorities,  it  was  frequently  passed  over  through  their  connivance 
or  neglect.  The  result  was,  that  the  adherents  of  the  Reformation, 
instead  of  being  diminished,  were  constantly  increased ;  and  they 
would  have  increased  more  rapidly,  but  that  the  excesses  of  the 
Anabaptists  and  other  fanatics  created  a  prejudice  against  the 
reformed  religion. 

As  the  persecuting  edicts  of  Charles  were  not  likely  to  secure 
their  object,  he  instituted  a  regular  inquisition,  after  the  pattern  of 
that  existing  in  Spain ;  but  this  terrible  engine  could  not  be  worked 
to  advantage,  and,  in  some  of  the  provinces,  could  not  exist  at  all. 
Such,  in  general,  was  the  state  of  things  in  these  provinces  up  to 
the  year  1555  ;  when  Charles  resigned  the  government  of  them  to 
his  son  Philip  II.,  under  a  solemn  charge  that  he  should  watch 
over  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  religion,  and  see  that  heresy  was 
extirpated,  —  a  charge  which  Philip  was  most  persistently  deter- 
mined to  fulfil. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   BOHEMIA   AND   MORAVIA.  933 

Of  his  cruel  war  against  the  Reformation  in  these  provinces,  — 
a  war  in  which  streams  of  blood  were  continually  flowing,  and 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Dutch  republic,  — 
I  shall  speak  in  another  place. 

III.  — BOHEMIA  AND   MORAVIA. 

We  pass  next  to  notice  the  beginnings  of  the  Reformation  in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia.  The  Reformation  in  Bohemia  may  be  said 
to  have  commenced  Avith  the  labors  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of 
Prague.  These  men  were  burned  by  the  Council  of  Constance ; 
but  they  lett  a  precious  seed  behind  them  in  Bohemia  to  lament 
and  avenge  their  death.  It  is  no  jjart  of  my  present  purpose  to 
speak  of  the  terrible  Hussite  wars  under  Ziska  and  others ;  of  the 
division  among  the  Hussites  into  two  parties,  the  Calixtines  and 
Taborites  ;  and  of  their  terrible  persecutions  during  the  next  fifty 
years.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  these  persecutions  served  to  purify 
them,  to  sift  out  from  among  them  unworthy  materials,  and  to  pre- 
pare them  for  future  and  better  service  in  the  cause  of  God.  In 
the  year  1457,  the  genuine  followers  of  Huss  first  organized  their 
church.  They  entered  into  a  formal  union  among  themselves ;  and 
the  rules  and  principles  of  their  church  were  adopted. 

For  the  next  sixty  or  seventy  years,  these  poor  people  may  be 
said  to  have  had  no  continuing  city.  They  resided  wherever  they 
could,  and  had  communion  one  with  another,  and  with  God,  as 
they  had  opportunity.  With  some  short  intervals  of  rest,  they 
were  almost  continually  persecuted,  —  often  cruelly,  grievously 
persecuted.  On  one  occasion,  great  numbers  of  them  were  driven 
from  their  homes,  and  compelled  to  seek  an  asylum  in  the  thickest 
forests,  and  in  the  clefts  and  recesses  of  the  rocks.  They  kindled 
their  fires  only  in  the  night,  lest  the  places  of  their  retreat  should 
be  discovered  by  the  smoke  ;  and  during  the  winter,  while  snow 
was  on  the  ground,  they  used  the  precaution,  when  going  out,  to 
walk  one  after  another,  the  last  person  dragging  a  brush  after  him 
to  erase  the  traces  of  their  feet. 

But  under  the  title  of  Unitas  Fratrum.,  or  United  Brethren, 
they  lived  through  till  the  time  of  Luther ;  and,  when  they  heard 
of  the  Reformation  which  he  had  commenced,  they  welcomed  it' 
with  exceeding  joy.  In  the  year  1522,  they  wrote  to  Luther,  mak- 
ing him  acquainted  with  their  trials  and  persecutions,  and  asking 
his  advice.     He  replied  to  them  in  a  letter  of  encouragement  and 


934  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

counsel,  advising  them  to  adhere  strictly  to  the  word  of  God,  and 
to  the  administration  of  the  sacrament  in  both  kinds,  and  to  hold 
in  veneration,  as  they  ever  had  done,  the  memory  of  Hiiss.  "  Al- 
though all  Bohemia  should  apostatize,"  said  he,  "  yet  would  I  cele- 
brate and  commend  the  doctrines  of  Huss  to  all  posterity."  He 
exhorted  the  brethren  to  persevere  in  the  way  they  had  hitherto 
defended  with  the  loss  of  so  much  blood,  and  not  bring  a  reiDroach 
upon  the  gospel  by  turning  back,  and  yielding  to  their  enemies. 
Several  letters  passed  afterwards  between  the  brethren  and  Luther, 
in  which  they  set  forth  more  fully  the  doctrines  and  usages  of  their 
church.  Luther  found  fault  with  some  things,  more  especially 
with  their  views  of  the  sacrament,  in  which  they  accorded  more 
nearly  with  the  Swiss  doctors  than  with  him.  Nevertheless,  a 
good  understanding  prevailed  between  the  brethren  and  the  Lu- 
therans ;  and  mutual  fellowship  was  maintained. 

But  a  long  period  of  darkness  and  persecution  was  still  before 
the  United  Brethren.  In  the  year  1627,  through  the  influence 
of  the  Jesuits,  the  last  traces  of  religious  liberty  were  obliterated 
in  Bohemia ;  and  all  who  would  not  embrace  the  Catholic  religion 
were  required  to  leave  their  country.  Some  yielded  to  the  neces- 
sity, at  least  externally ;  some  fled  to  other  lands  ;  while  a  few 
were  enabled,  with  the  greatest  secrec}^,  to  remain  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  By  the  grace  of  God,  they  were  sustained  through  another 
hundred  years  of  trial  and  conflict ;  when  at  length  they  found 
a  resting-place  on  the  estates  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  at  Hernhut,  in 
Saxony.  From  them  have  descended  the  Moravians,  or  United 
Brethren,  of  our  own  times. 

IV.  — ITALY. 

Of  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  none  seemed  better  prepared  for 
the  Reformation,  at  the  time  when  it  commenced,  than  Italy.  Here 
learning  was  first  revived,  and  had  been  most  assiduously  cultivat- 
ed. Here  lived  and  labored  most  of  those  men,  who,  without  know- 
ing it,  were  preparing  the  way  for  a  reformation.  Here,  too,  the 
corruptions  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  were  best  understood,  and 
the  need  of  a  reformation  was  most  deeply  felt.  According^,  the 
writings  of  Luther  and  the  other  reformers  were  early  and  ear- 
nestly received  in  Italy  ;  though  many  of  them  appeared  under  fic- 
titious names,  that  they  might  be  circulated  without  impediment. 
The  Scriptures,  too,  were  much  studied.     Several  imperfect  trans- 


THE    REFORMATION    IN   ITALY.  935 

lations  of  the  Bible  were  early  attempted  ;  but  a  correct  and  read- 
able version  was  published  by  Antonio  Brucioli  in  1530.  It  was 
a  circumstance  peculiar  to  the  Reformation  in  Italy,  that  it  first 
appeared,  and  was  chiefly  promoted,  among  the  higher  and  more 
cultivated  classes.  The  common  people  were  not  so  much  affected 
by  it. 

The  more  decided  advocates  of  the  Reformation  first  appeared 
at  Ferrara,  after  the  marriage  of  Renata,  a  French  princess,  with 
the  duke  of  Ferrara,  in  1527.  This  excellent  woman  was  the 
second  daughter  of  Louis  XII.,  —  one  of  the  best  monarchs  that 
France  ever  had,  who,  when  urged  to  renew  the  crusades  against 
the  poor  Waldenses,  replied,  "  They  are  much  better  Christians 
than  we  are."  She  had  been  instructed  in  the  gospel  before  she 
left  her  native  land,  and  gave  evidence  that  her  heart  was  deeply 
interested  in  it.  Under  her  auspices,  Ferrara  became,  for  several 
years,  a  "  city  of  refuge  "  to  unfortunate  scholars  and  to  persecuted 
Protestants.  Calvin  made  a  visit  here,  as  we  have  before  said, 
and  helped  to  confirm  the  duchess  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Refor- 
mation. Almost  all  the  distinguished  Protestants  of  Italy  visited 
Ferrara  occasionally,  and  spent  more  or  less  time  there.  From  this 
point  the  Reformation  spread  into  Modena,  and  was  welcomed 
there,  more  especially  in  the  academy.  In  Venice,  too,  it  had 
friends  very  early ;  and  their  numbers  rapidly  increased.  They 
found  powerful  advocates,  and  were  diffused  through  the  territory 
of  the  republic.  So  great  was  the  progress  of  truth  in  the  Vene- 
tian territories  between  the  years  1530  and  1542,  that  its  friends 
began  to  deliberate  on  the  propriety  of  organizing  themselves  into 
regular  congregations,  and  of  assembling  in  public. 

The  duchy  of  Milan  was  favorably  situated  for  receiving  the 
Reformation.  The  people  were  not  unacquainted  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Waldenses,  who  lived  on  their  borders ;  and,  as  their 
country  touched  upon  Switzerland,  the  writings  of  Zwingle  and 
Bucer  gained,  not  only  an  early  entrance,  but  a  wide  diffusion. 
Owing  to  these  and  other  causes,  the  new  opinions  had  made  great 
progress  among  the  Milanese  previous  to  the  year  1540. 

In  Mantua  also,  and  Cremona  and  Locarno  and  Florence,  the 
Reformation  found  friends  and  advocates.  It  was  in  Florence  that 
Brucioli  made  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  of  which  I  have 
before  spoken.  Perhaps  no  man  in  Italy  rendered  such  important 
service  to  the  cause  of  truth  as  he.  Besides  his  version  of  the 
Scriptures,  he  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  whole  Bible,  extending 


936  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

to  seven  folio  volumes,  —  a  work  of  great  value,  and  replete  with 
evangelical  truth. 

The  Reformation  found  friends  in  several  parts  of  the  pope's 
dominions;  as  Bologna,  Ancona,  Imola,  and  other  places.  The 
truth  found  an  entrance,  also,  at  Pisa,  Sienna,  and  at  Lucca.  At 
Lucca,  Peter  Martyr  formed  a  church,  over  which  he  presided. 
He  also  founded  a  college,  and  employed  several  professors,  who 
were  lovers  of  the  truth.  A  rich  blessing  attended  the  instructions 
of  these  learned  and  pious  men. 

Into  Naples,  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  were  first  intro- 
duced by  the  soldiers  of  Charles  V.  Unknown  to  him,  there  were 
faithful  Christians  in  his  army  who  went  forth  to  fight,  not  only 
his  battles,  but  also  the  battles  of  the  Lord.  The  cause  of  truth 
was  greatly  promoted  in  Naples  by  tliree  excellent  men  ;  viz.,  John 
Valder,  Bernard  Ochino,  and  Peter  Martyr.  The  two  last  of 
these  were  afterwards  invited  by  Archbishop  Cranmer  into  Eng- 
land to  help  forward  the  Reformation  there. 

It  will  be  seen  by  these  statements  that  Italy  at  this  time  was 
pretty  thoroughly  permeated  by  evangelical  truth,  and  that  this 
truth  was  likely  to  break  forth  at  any  time,  and  prevail.  And  why 
did  it  not  ?  Why  was  not  Italy  as  thoroughly  reformed  in  the 
sixteenth  century  as  Switzerland  or  Germany  ? 

In  the  first  place,  controversies  sprang  up  there  which  divided 
the  Protestants,  and  hindered  their  efforts.  There  was  the  standing 
controversy  about  the  personal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament. 
The  most  of  the  Italian  reformers  inclined  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Swiss  on  this  subject ;  while  others  held  with  Luther,  and  were  as 
obstinate  as  he. 

Then  there  were  some  in  Italy  who  denied  the  proper  divinity 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  These  anti -Trinitarian  speculations  seem 
to  have  originated  at  Sienna,  the  birthplace  of  the  Socini,  and 
thence  to  have  been  transferred  to  the  Venetian  territories,  where 
they  chiefly  prevailed.  The  seeds  of  the  error  may  have  been 
planted  by  Michael  Servetus.  In  his  visit  to  Italy,  he  became 
acquainted  with  several  of  the  reformers,  upon  whose  minds  he 
doubtless  endeavored  to  make  an  impression,  both  by  his  corre- 
spondence and  his  books. 

But  that  which  fatally  interrupted  the  Reformation  in  Ital)%  and 
finally  extirpated  it,  was  the  working  of  the  terrible  Inquisition. 
This  was  set  up  in  1542  ;  and  Cardinal  Caraffa  was  commissioned 
to  direct  it.    He  took  such  energetic  measures  against  all  suspected 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   ITALY.  937 

persons,  that  multitudes  of  them  forsook  their  native  land,  and 
sought  security  in  Switzerland  and  Germany.  Among  these  were 
Bernard  Ochino  and  Peter  Martyr ;  the  latter  of  whom  went  to 
Strasburg,  and  there  became  professor  of  theology. 

The  Inquisition  became  still  more  cruel  when  its  leading  spirit, 
Caraffa,  was  called  to  the  Papal  chair  in  the  year  1555.  He  took 
the  title  of  Paul  V.,  and  published  a  list  of  prohibited  books 
which  were  to  be  seized  and  burned.  Among  those  who  were 
assailed  at  this  time  was  the  good  Renata,  duchess  of  Ferrara. 
One  indignity  after  another  was  heaped  upon  her.  Her  attendants 
were  sent  away ;  and  even  her  children  were  forbidden  to  approach 
her.  But  she  was  not  a  person  to  be  persuaded  or  frightened  into  an 
abandonment  of  what  she  conceived  to  be  her  duty.  Fortunately, 
her  brutal,  Catholic  husband  died  about  this  time,  and  she  returned 
to  France.  She  took  up  her  abode  in  the  Castle  of  Montargis, 
some  forty  miles  south-east  of  Paris,  where  she  spent  the  remainder 
of  her  days. 

The  reformed  religion  lingered  longer  in  Venice  than  in  any 
other  part  of  Italy.  As  late  as  1560,  those  that  followed  the  truth 
met  regularly  in  a  private  house  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  called 
a  minister  to  organize  them  into  a  church.  But  at  length  the  fatal 
Inquisition  was  established  there,  and  entered  on  its  work  of  mis- 
ery and  death.  The  mode  of  execution  in  Venice  was  not  burning, 
but  drowning.  The  prisoner  was  taken  from  his  cell  in  the  night, 
and  placed  in  a  gondola,  with  no  other  attendants  than  the 
rowers  and  a  priest.  After  being  carried  into  the  outer  harbor, 
another  boat  came  alongside :  the  prisoner  was  laid  on  a  plank, 
whose  ends  rested  on  the  two  boats;  his  hands  were  tied;  and  a 
heavy  stone  was  attached  to  his  feet.  At  a  given  signal,  the  boats 
separated,  and  the  victim  was  plunged  into  the  deep,  to  rise  no 
more  until  "  the  sea  shall  give  up  her  dead." 

Time  would  fail  to  speak  of  the  persecutions  in  other  places,  as 
Locarno,  Mantua,  Milan,  Cremona,  Lucca,  Florence,  and  Naples, 
where  thousands  upon  thousands  were  driven  into  exile,  and  other 
thousands  were  put  to  death  with  every  species  of  torture  that  a 
hellish  ingenuity  could  invent.  But  we  must  describe  in  few 
words  the  treatment  of  a  large  colony  of  Waldenses,  who  had 
been  settled  some  two  hundred  years  in  Calabria,  the  southernmost 
point  of  the  Italian  peninsula.  As  the  truth  made  progress  in 
Italy,  it  waked  up  a  new  interest  in  this  branch  of  the  Waldensian 
Church.     Faithful  ministers  from   Piedmont   came   and  labored 


938  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

among  them  to  revive  the  true  spirit  of  piety  in  their  hearts ;  but 
they,  ill  their  ahnost  insular  seclusion,  could  not  long  be  let  alone. 
Rome  roused  herself  like  a  lioness  to  pounce  upon  them,  and 
make  them  her  prey.  Inquisitors  were  sent  among  them,  resolved 
either  to  effect  their  destruction,  or  bring  them  over  to  the  Catholic 
faith ;  and,  as  the  latter  was  found  to  be  impracticable,  the  former 
was  terribly  accomplished.  The  most  of  them  were  destroyed  in 
war ;  and  on  the  remnant  was  inflicted  every  kind  of  torture  and 
of  death.  The  following  description  of  what  took  place  at  Mon- 
talto  in  the  year  1558  is  from  the  pen  of  an  eye-witness  and  a 
Roman  Catholic :  "  Eighty-eight  men  were  penned  up  in  one  house 
as  in  a  sheepfold.  The  executioner  went  in,  and,  bringing  out  one 
of  them,  covered  his  face  with  a  napkin.  He  led  him  out  into  a 
field  near  by,  caused  him  to  kneel  down,  and  cut  his  throat  with 
a  knife ;  then,  taking  off  the  bloody  napkin,  he  went  and  brought 
out  another,  whom  he  put  to  death  in  the  same  way :  and  in  this 
way  the  whole  number  were  butchered.  I  leave  you  to  picture  to 
yourself  the  frightful  spectacle ;  for  I  can  scarcely  refrain  from 
tears  while  I  write.  The  meekness  and  patience  with  which  these 
poor  creatures  went  to  martyrdom  are  incredible.  I  still  shudder 
while  I  think  of  the  executioner,  with  the  bloody  knife  between 
his  teeth,  the  dripping  napkin  in  his  hand,  and  his  arms  besmeared 
with  gore,  going  to  the  house,  and  taking  out  one  victim  after 
another,  just  as  the  butcher  does  the  lamb  which  he  is  about 
to  kill." 

Should  any  one  doubt  the  above  statement,  let  him  take  what 
follows  from  a  Catholic  historian  of  that  age :  "  Some,"  says  he, 
"  had  their  throats  cut,  others  were  sawn  asunder,  and  others 
thrown  from,  the  top  of  a  high  cliff.  It  was  strange  to  hear  of 
their  obstinacy  ;  for  while  the  father  saw  the  son  put  to  death,  and 
the  son  the  father,  they  not  only  exhibited  no  symptoms  of  grief, 
but  said  joyfully  to  one  another,  '  We  shall  soon  be  as  the  angels 
of  God.'  " 

I  cannot  draw  out  further  this  painful,  dreadful  narrative. 
Enough  has  been  said  to  show  how  the  Reformation  Avas  sup- 
pressed in  Italy.  It  was  literally  burned  out  in  the  fires  of  the 
Inquisition :  it  was  crushed  out  under  the  heel  of  a  most  violent 
and  relentless  persecution.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  not 
always  the  seed  of  the  Church ;  but  the  souls  of  the  ten  thousand 
martyrs  which  the  idolatrous  Church  of  Rome  has  caused  to  be 
slain  are  still  crying  under  the  heavenly  altar,  "  How  long,  Holy 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  939 

and  True,  dost  thou  not  judge,  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that 
dwell  upon  the  earth?" 

v.  — SPAIN. 

The  end  of  the  Reformation  in  Spain  was  very  like  to  that  which 
has  been  described  in  Italy.  The  Albigenses  of  Languedoc  and 
Provence  had  migrated  into  Northern  Spain  ;  and  efforts  were  made 
to  expel  them  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century.  In  the  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries,  great  numbers  of  people  who 
sympathized  with  the  Vaudois  and  the  Wickliffites  were  com- 
mitted to  the  flames  in  Aragon,  Valencia,  and  Majorca.  These 
facts  show,  that,  for  hundreds  of  years  before  the  Reformation  of 
Luther,  heretical  opinions  were  prevalent  in  some  parts  of  Spain. 

In  the  year  1478,  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  issued  a  bull  for  establishing 
the  Inquisition  in  Castile.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  assented  to  the 
measure ;  and  in  1483  it  went  into  operation  under  the  merciless 
Torquemada,  who  had  been  appointed  inquisitor-general.  "  In 
the  course  of  the  first  year,"  says  Dr.  McCrie,  "two  thousand  per- 
sons were  committed  to  the  flames  ;  and  on  a  moderate  computa- 
tion, from  the  same  date  to  1517  (the  year  in  which  Luther  com- 
menced his  attack  upon  indulgences),  thirteen  thousand  more 
were  burnt  alive." 

As  I  have  had  frequent  occasion  already  to  speak  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, and  shall  be  under  the  necessity  of  referring  to  it  often  in 
the  following  pages,  it  may  be  well  to  sketch  its  history  here.  It 
was  founded  by  St.  Dominic,  near  the  commencement  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  and  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Dominicans  ever  after- 
wards. It  was  first  brought  to  bear  upon  the  poor  Albigenses  of 
Toulouse  and  Languedoc,  and  upon  those  of  the  same  people  who 
fled  over  the  Pyrenees  into  Spain.  The  method  of  proceeding  in 
the  Inquisition  was  at  first  simple,  not  differing  materially  from 
that  in  other  courts :  but  gradually  the  Dominicans  rendered  it 
more  complex,  after  the  model  of  the  confessional ;  and  so  shaped 
it,  that  the  prisoner  was  made  to  convict  himself.  When  the 
inquisitors  were  led  to  suspect  any  person,  he  was  cited  at  once  to 
appear  before  them  ;  and,  if  he  did  not  appear,  he  was  forthwith 
condemned.  When  a  supposed  heretic  was  in  their  hands,  no  one 
dared  to  inquire  after  him,  or  write  to  him,  or  intercede  for  him. 
After  many  days,  and  perhaps  months,  which  the  accused  dragged 
out  in  a  loathsome  dungeon,  the  keeper  would  ask  him,  as  it  were 


940  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

incidentally,  if  lie  wished  to  have  a  hearing.  When  he  appeared 
before  his  judges,  they  would  inquire,  as  though  they  knew  noth- 
ing about  him,  who  he  was,  and  what  he  wanted;  If  he  wished  to 
know  what  offence  h^  had  committed,  he  was  admonished  to  con- 
fess his  faults  himself.  If  he  confessed  nothing,  time  was  given 
him  for  reflection  ;  and  he  was  remanded  back  to  prison.  If,  after 
a  long  time,  he  still  confessed  nothing,  he  must  swear  to  answer 
truly  all  the  questions  that  were  put  to  him.  If  he  took  the  oath, 
he  was  then  questioned  in  regard  to  his  whole  past  life,  without 
intimating  any  thing  as  to  his  offence.  He  was  promised  a  pardon 
if  he  would  truly  confess  his  offences,  —  an  artifice  by  which  his 
judges  often  learned  more  against  him  than  they  knew  before. 

If  his  answers  did  not  satisfy  the  judges,  resort  was  had  to  tor- 
ture, which  was  inflicted  in  different  ways.  If  tortured  by  rope, 
the  rope  was  passed  under  his  arms,  which  were  tied  behind  him, 
and  he  was  drawn  up  by  a  pulley,  to  swing  for  a  time  ;  then  he 
was  suddenly  dropped  to  within  a  foot  of  the  floor,  by  which  means 
his  arms  were  dislocated.  If  he  still  confessed  nothing,  the  torture 
by  water  was  applied.  A  great  quantity  of  water  was  poured 
down  his  throat ;  after  which  he  was  laid  on  his  back  upon  a  hol- 
lowed bench,  across  which  a  piece  of  timber  was  passed,  which 
bent  up  the  middle  of  the  body,  and  caused  the  intensest  pain  in 
the  backbone.  But  the  most  cruel  torture  was  that  by  fire,  in 
which  the  feet,  being  smeared  with  grease,  were  placed  near  a  hot 
fire  ;  and  the  soles  were  left  to  burn  until  he  would  confess.  These 
tortures,  in  some  instances,  were  repeated  in  order  to  draw  out 
the  motives  of  the  accused,  and  also  his  accomplices. 

When  the  trial  was  ended,  the  prisoner  was  sentenced  according 
to  the  nature  of  his  offence.  He  was  then  delivered  over  to  the 
civil  authorities,  which  were  entreated  to  spare  his  life,  since  the 
Church  never  persecutes,  or  thirsts  for  blood.  And  yet  the  civil 
officers  would  have  experienced  the  same  treatment  had  they  re- 
fused to  carry  the  sentence  into  execution. 

Such  was  the  Inquisition,  which  was  committed  to  the  hands  of 
Torquemada  in  Spain,  and  which  had  destroyed  some  fifteen  thou- 
sand lives  before  the  Reformation  in  Germany  commenced. 

The  Lutheran  Reformation  was  extended  into  Spain  in  several 
ways.  In  1519,  a  collection  of  Luther's  tracts,  in  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, were  sent  from  Basle  into  Spain.  Other  writings  of  the 
reformer  were  printed  at  Antwerp,  sent  into  Spain,  and  pretty 
widely  circulated.     Spain  also  became  enlightened  by  means  of 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SPAIN.  941 

those  theologians  whom  Charles  V.  took  with  him  into  Germany 
to  confute  the  heretics  ;  for  in  some  instances  these  same  theolo- 
gians returned  to  their  own  country  confirmed  Lutherans,  and  did 
what  they  could  to  spread  the  Lutheran  doctrines.  And  the  same 
was  done  by  some  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  emperor's 
army.  By  mingling  with  the  reformed  in  other  countries,  they 
became  enlightened  and  convinced,  and  exerted  much  influence  in 
favor  of  the  gospel. 

Previous  to  the  year  1543,  Spain  was  destitute  of  the  Scriptures 
in  the  vernacular  tongue  ;  but  in  that  year  Enzinas  published 
the  New  Testament  at  Antwerp,  and  presented  a  copy  to  the 
emperor.  Other  editions  followed;  and  the  whole  Bible  in  Spanish 
was  published  in  1569.  But  these  Avere  all  snatched  up  as  soon  as 
possible  by  the  inquisitors,  and,  with  high  exultation,  were  com- 
mitted to  the  flames. 

Notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  the  holy  office,  there  was  in 
Seville  a  secretly-organized  church  of  the  reformed,  of  which  sev- 
eral individuals  of  opulence  and  rank  were  members.  In  several 
of  the  convents,  also,  the  reformed  doctrines  were  held  and  taught : 
so  that  nothing  remained  of  the  old  system  but  external  ceremo- 
nies and  the  monastic  garb.  In  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  king- 
dom, as  Grenada,  Murcia,  and  Valencia,  the  seeds  of  heresy  were 
widely  disseminated ;  but  it  was  in  the  northern  provinces,  at  the 
foot  of  the  P3^renees,  that  the  advocates  of  the  reformed  doctrines 
were  most  numerous. 

Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  religious «feeling  in. Spain  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1557.  The  three  great  doctrines  of  the  Reformation, — 
viz.,  that  "  the  Church  of  Rome  is  idolatrous,  that  the  pope  is  An- 
tichrist, and  that  the  sinner  is  justified  of  God  by  faith,"  —  these 
doctrines  were  so  widely  diffused,  and  so  earnestly  preached,  that 
Popish  writers  have  been  constrained  to  admit,  that,  "  had  not  the 
Inquisition  taken  care  to  put  a  stop  to  them,  they  would  have  run 
through  Spain  like  wildfire,  and  people  of  all  ranks  would  have 
been  disposed  to  embrace  them." 

But,  in  1556,  Philip  II.  succeeded  his  father,  Charles  V.,  in  the 
government  of  Spain  ;  and,  three  years  after,  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
entered  into  between  Spain,  France,  and  England.  Philip  was 
now  at  leisure  to  regulate  the  internal  affairs  of  his  kingdom,  and 
at  once  took  measures  for  the  suppression  of  heresy.  Confessors 
were  required  to  be  more  strict  in  their  investigations,  and  to  ex- 
pose all  persons,  without  regard  to  rank  or  condition,  who  were 


942  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

justly  suspected  of  heretical  opinions.  The  king  revived  an  anti- 
quated statute,  which  gave  to  informers  against  heretics  a  fourth 
part  of  their  confiscated  property.  The -inquisitors  were  soon  ap- 
prised of  the  extent  of  heretical  pravity  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  their 
zeal  pursued  it  through  all  its  ramifications.  And  most  effectual 
and  complete  were  their  efforts  for  its  extirpation.  By  a  simulta- 
neous movement,  the  Protestants  were  seized  in  Seville,  Valladolid, 
and  all  the  surrounding  country.  They  made  no  resistance.  Over- 
whelmed with  consternation,  many  of  them  voluntarily  appeared 
before  the  inquisitors,  and  informed  against  themselves.  The  cas- 
tles, the  common  prisons,  the  convents,  and  even  private  houses, 
were  crowded  with  prisoners.  Numbers  in  the  northern  provinces 
succeeded  in  escaping  to  the  mountains,  and  passed  over  into  France, 
Germany,  and  Switzerland. 

The  unresisting  Protestants  were  everywhere  immolated  on  the 
altar  of  Popish  bigotry  and  superstition.  Loathsome  and  protract- 
ed imprisonment,  aggravated  by  every  device  which  could  increase 
their  sufferings,  tortures,  —  the  rack,  and  the  auto  da  /e,  —  was 
inflicted  upon  them  with  the  most  unrelenting  severity. 

It  is  needless  to  go  into  a  recital  of  particular  instances  of  suffer- 
ing and  death.  Not  less  than  half  a  million,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  fell  victims  to  Popish  persecution  in  this  devoted  country. 
The  Reformation  was  so  effectually  prostrated,  that,  in  the  year 
1570,  scarcely  a  vestige  of  the  Protestant  religion  was  remaining 
anywhere  in  Spain. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

THE   REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. CONCLUDED. 

IN  a  previous  chapter,  we  traced  tlie  progress  of  the  Reformation 
in  Germany  to  about  the  middle  of  the  year  1525.  This  year 
had  been  signalized  by  several  important  events ;  such  as  the  war 
of  the  peasants,  the  death  of  Frederic,  elector  of  Saxony,  the 
accession  of  his  brother  John,  and  the  marriage  of  Luther.  Hav- 
ing noticed  in  several  chapters  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Ref- 
ormation in  the  surrounding  countries,  we  turn  again  to  its  history 
in  Germany. 

We  have  already  remarked,  that  the  new  elector,  John,  was  much 
more  decided  in  maintaining  the  reformed  religion  than  his  brother 
Frederic  had  been.  He  took  the  responsibility  of  establishing  re- 
formed churches  within  his  territories,  and  abolishing  the  supersti- 
tious rites  and  forms  observed  in  the  Papal  Church.  In  the  year 
1527,  the  new  ecclesiastical  establishment  was  completed  by  a 
system  of  laws  and  regulations  drawn  up  by  Luther  and  Me- 
lancthon.  The  princes  and  states  of  Germany  which  had  adopt- 
ed the  same  religious  principles  followed  the  example  of  the 
elector ;  and  the  Lutheran  Church  was  placed  at  once  upon  a 
solid  basis. 

A  diet  assembled  at  Spire,  on  the  Rhine,  in  May,  1526.  Ferdi- 
nand, the  brother  of  Charles,  presided.  Notwithstanding  the  ur- 
gent demands  of  tile  emperor,  that  the  sentence  pronounced  against 
Luther  and  his  followers  in  the  Diet  at  Worms  five  years  before 
should  now  be  executed,  the  Popish  party  were  defeated  in  this, 
as  they  were  in  all  other  measures  for  the  suppression  of  heresy. 
A  general  council,  it  was  contended,  was  the  only  prop'er  tribunal 
for  deciding  upon  ecclesiastical  matters.  The  diet,  therefore,  sent 
a  request  to  the  emperor,  that  he  would  immediately  call  such  a 
council.  Meanwhile,  it  was  resolved  that  the  several  German  prin- 
cipalities should  regulate,  each  in  its  own  territories,  its  ecclesiasti- 

943 


944  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

cal  affiiirs,  responsible  to  a  council,  to  the  emperor,  and  to  God. 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  favorable  to  the  reformed  churches 
than  this  result.  They  acquired  by  it  another  respite,  and  were  at 
liberty  to  push  forward  their  schemes  of  reformation  in  any  manner 
they  pleased. 

We  have  already  heard  of  the  success  of  the  emperor's  arms  in 
Italy,  of  the  capture  of  the  French  king,  and  of  the  disadvan- 
tageous treaty  under  which  he  had  obtained  his  release.  These 
things  led  to  the  apprehension  that  Charles  was  becoming  too 
strong,  and  that  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe  was  likely  to  be 
disturbed.  No  one  entertained  such  thoughts  more  vividly  than 
the  pontiff.  He  therefore  released  Francis  from  his  obligations  to 
fulfil  the  hard  treaty  into  which  he  had  entered,  and  formed  a 
league  between  the  French,  the  English,  the  Swiss,  and  some  of 
the  States  of  Italy,  having  for  its  object  to  humble  the  emperor, 
and  limit  liis  power.  This  brought  the  imperial  army  again  into 
Italy.  Milan  was  soon  taken ;  and  in  May,  1527,  Rome  was  be- 
sieged by  the  emperor's  forces.  After  an  obstinate  resistance,  the 
city  was  taken  by  assault,  and  given  up  to  wanton  pillage  and  in- 
discriminate slaughter.  The  palaces  were  despoiled  of  their  wealth ; 
the  nobles  and  prelates  were  seized  and  imprisoned  ;  and  the  sever- 
est tortures  were  inflicted  upon  them  to  compel  them  to  disclose 
their  treasures.  Defenceless  females  were  violated  on  the  sacred 
altars  to  which  they  had  fled  for  protection.  The  pope  himself, 
having  taken  refuge  in  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  was  captured,  and, 
after  having  been  treated  with  much  indignity  by  the  soldiers,  was 
retained  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

Such  were  the  bitter  fruits  which  his  Holiness  reaped  from  his 
faithless  intrigues  and  his  short-sighted  diplomacy.  The  hypocriti- 
cal emperor  affected  a  deep  regret  at  the  violence  which  had  been 
offered  to  the  pontiff.  By  his  orders,  the  imperial  court  went  into 
mourning  ;  and  prayers  were  offered  up  for  his  deliverance.  Many 
months  after  his  capture,  the  pontiff  succeeded  in  making  his  es- 
cape. He  seems  never  to  have  forgotten,  however,  the  disastrous 
issue  of  this  conspiracy  against  Charles.  He  feared  a  power  which 
he  had  so  sensibly  felt,  and  dreaded  to  offend  a  monarch  who  had 
inflicted  on  him  so  severe  a  punishment. 

In  the  year  1529,  political  affairs  in  Europe  assumed  a  new 
aspect.  Tranquillity  had  been  established  ;  the  pope  and  emperor 
were  on  terms  of  mutual  friendship  ;  and  the  latter  went  through 
the   formality  of  a   coronation   from   the   hands   of  the   former. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  CONCLUDED.  945 

Charles  now  directed  his  attention  to  the  religious  differences 
which  distracted  his  dominions ;  and  a  diet  was  again  appointed  to 
be  held  at  Spire.  In  this  diet  a  decree  was  passed,  revoking  the 
power  granted  three  years  before  to  every  prince,  —  to  regulate 
religious  matters  as  he  saw  fit  in-  his  own  territories  until  the 
meeting  of  a  general  council.  In  place  of  this  liberal  decree,  it 
was  now  declared  that  all  changes  in  religion  should  he  considered 
unlaivful  until  sanctioned  by  a  general  council.  This  put  the  Refor- 
mation upon  a  different  footing,  and  was  exceedingly  offensive  to 
all  its  friends.  And,  when  they  found  that  they  could  not  prevent 
it,  they  entered  a  solemn  jjrotest  against  it ;  and  hence  originated 
the  term  "  Protestant,"  which  has  since  been  applied  to  all  those 
who  are  not  in  communion  with  the  Roman  pontiff.  It  grew  out 
of  the  protest  which  these  reformed  German  princes  entered  against 
the  decision  of  the  second  Diet  of  Spire. 

The  Protestants,  on  this  occasion,  immediately  despatched  en- 
voys to  acquaint  the  emperor  with  the  stand  which  they  had  taken ; 
but,  instead  of  receiving  the  envoys  courteously,  the  emperor  put 
them  under  arrest,  and  held  them  in  durance  for  several  days. 
When  the  Protestant  princes  were  informed  of  this,  they  justly 
concluded  that  their  own  safety  depended  wholly  upon  their 
union,  and  their  ability  to  defend  themselves  ;  and  therefore  several 
conventions  were  held  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  a  closer 
alliance  for  repelling  the  attacks  of  their  enemies.  But  nothing 
definite  could  be  agreed  upon,  because  of  the  diversity  of  their 
opinions  and  views,  more  especially  in  regard  to  the  question  of 
the  sacrament. 

Hoping  to  remove  this  obstacle,  and  bring  this  troublesome  con- 
troversy to  a  close,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  appointed  a  conference 
between  Luther  and  Zwingle,  and  some  other  principal  doctors  of 
both  parties,  to  be  held  at  Marpurg,  with  a  view  to  a  compromise. 
Qiicolampadius  and  Melancthon  attended,' — the  former  to  assist 
Zwingle,  and  the  latter  Luther,  in  maintaining  their  respective 
opinions.  Besides  these,  numerous  other  theologians  were  present 
as  spectators.  But  through  the  whole  discussion,  which  lasted 
several  days,  Luther  was  inflexible.  Ujoon  seating  himself  at  the 
table  Avith  his  companions,  he  took  a  piece  of  chalk,  and  wrote 
upon  the  velvet  cloth  which  covered  it,  "  Hoc  est  corpus  meum " 
("This  is  my  body")  ;  and,  whatever  arguments,  or  explanations 
were  urged,  he  replied  chiefly  by  pointing  to  this.    He  would  allow 

60 


946  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

no  argument  or  illustration  or  metaphysical  objection  to  move  liim 
at  all  from  his  position  :  "  This  is  my  body.'''' 

When  it  was  found  that  an  agreement  in  doctrine  was  impossible, 
it  was  urged  that  there  ought  to  be  at  least  a  unity  of  affection 
and  co-operation  in  the  great  work  to  which  they  were  all  com- 
mitted ;  and,  after  much  persuasion  on  the  part  of  the  landgrave 
and  his  friends,  this  object  was  in  good  measure  secured.  Luther 
drew  up  a  series  of  articles,  to  which  the  Swiss  divines  assented, 
and  to  which  they  all  affixed  their  names,  the  concluding  sentence 
of  which  was  in  these  words :  "  Although  at  present  we  are  not 
agreed  on  the  question,  whether  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ 
are  corporeally  present  in  the  bread  and  wine,  yet  both  parties 
shall  cherish  more  and  more  a  truly  Christian  charity  for  one 
another  so  far  as  conscience  permits ;  and  we  will  all  earnestly 
implore  the  Lord  to  condescend,  by  his  Spirit,  to  confirm  us  in  the 
sound  doctrine." 

Such  was  the  issue  of  the  famous  conference  at  Marpurg.  If 
it  did  not  accomplish  all  that  could  be  desired,  it  was  not  altogether 
a  vain  effort.  It  brought  the  two  parties  together ;  it  made  them 
spiritually  acquainted.  The  closing  sessions  were  fraternal  and 
tender :  the  parties  separated  in  mutual  charity,  and  with  a  deter- 
mination to  help  forward  together,  so  far  as  practicable,-  the  work 
of  the  Lord. 
.  If  it  be  inquired  why  Luther  was  so  pertinacious  on  the  question 
of  the  7'eal  bodily  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  when  is  it 
known,  that,  in  the  early  part  of  the  Reformation,  his  opinions 
leaned  to  the  other  side,  the  answer  is,  that  his  change  of  views 
grew  out  of  his  contests  with  the  fanatical  Anabaptists  and  with 
Carlstadt.  He  connected  the  fanatical  proceedings  of  Carlstadt 
with  what  he  considered  his  loose  views  of  the  sacrament ;  and 
with  Carlstadt  he  associated  the  Swiss  reformers.  He  regarded  them 
all  as  virtually  abrogating  the  sacrament ;  and,  having  done  this, 
they  were  prepared  to  run  out  into  all  sorts  of  extravagance.  As 
much  as  this  should  be  said  in  excuse  for  what  many  have  regarded 
as  the  unwarrantable  obstinacy  of  the  great  reformer  in  regard  to 
this  matter. 

The  period  had  now  arrived  when  the  religious  world  impera- 
tively called  for  a  clear  exposition  of  the  doctrines  for  which  the 
reformers  were  contending,  and  an  explanation  of  the  abuses  and 
corruptions  alleged  against  the  Papal  Church.  Hence,  at  the 
suggestion   of  the   elector  ,of  Saxony,  Luther  drew  up   a   com- 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. —  CONCLUDED.  947 

pendium  of  scriptural  doctrines,  consisting  of  seventeen  articles, 
which  he  presented  to  the  elector  at  Torgau.  These  were  after- 
wards known  as  the  Articles  of  Torgau. 

The  emperor  had  summoned  a  diet  to  meet  at  Augsburg  in  the 
summer  of  1530,  intending  to  be  present  at  it  in  person.  The 
object  of  tlie  diet  Avas  to  consider  and  settle,  so  far  as  practicable, 
the  religious  differences  in  Germany ;  and  also  to  provide  means 
of  defence  against  the  Turks,  who  had  extended  their  conquests 
to  the  walls  of  Vienna,  and  were  menacing  Hungary  and  the 
dominions  of  Austria.  The  emperor  had  agreed  that  the  religious 
differences  should  first  be  considered,  and  had  promised  the  Prot- 
estants a  fair  and  impartial  hearing. 

The  diet  was  opened  June  20,  1630,  and  was  numerously 
attended.  The  elector  of  Saxony  arrived  early  with  some  of  his 
best  theologians,  —  as  Spalatin,  Melancthon,  Justus  Jonas,  and 
Agricola.  Luther,  being  an  outlaw,  was  left  behind  at  Coburg, 
the  nearest  Saxon  city,  whence  he  might  readily  confer  with  his 
friends  at  Augsburg.  Before  the  opening  of  the  diet,  the 
Articles  of  Torgau  were  submitted  for  revision  to  Melancthon ; 
and  from  them  was  drawn  out  the  Confession  of  Ausrsburo:. 
This  confession,  consisting  of  twenty-eight  articles,  was  read  before 
the  diet,  and  has  ever  been  considered  as  the  symbol  of  the 
Lutheran  Church. 

As  the  emperor  was  journeying  slowly  from  Italy  to  Augsburg, 
he  was  met  by  several  of  the  more  violent  Popish  princes  of 
Germany,  that  they  might  enlist  him  more  fully  against  the 
Reformation.  His  hostility  was  made  manifest,  even  before  his 
arrival,  in  the  reproaches  which  he  addressed  to  the  elector  of 
Saxony.  On  the  very  day  of  his  arrival,  he  undertook  to  humble 
the  Protestant  princes  by  requiring  them  to  stop  their  preaching 
exercises,  and  to  take  part  in  the  procession  of  Corpus  Christi, 
which  was  to  occur  on  the  following  day.  Their  determined 
bearing,  however,  soon  convinced  him  that  nothing  was  to  be 
gained  by  menace  and  fear. 

Great  efforts  were  made  by  the  legate  and  the  Popish  clergy  to 
prevent  the  reading  of  the  confession  in  public ;  but  their  designs 
were  overruled.  The  confession  was  read  before  the  diet  on  the 
25th  of  June,  1580 ;  and  copies  were  handed  to  the  emperor  both 
in  German  and  Latin.  This  was  a  very  important  event  in  the 
history  of  the  Reformation.  By  it  many  objections  which  had  been 
urged  against  it  were  obviated ;  and  its  opponents  in  Germany  and 


948  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

elsewhere  obtained  more  correct  views  concerning  it  than  they  had 
before.  The  confession  was  speedily  published  in  several  lan- 
guages, and  circulated  in  every  part  of  Europe. 

The  emperor  caused  a  confutation  of  the  confession  to  be  drawn 
up  by  three  of  his  most  able  theologians,  which  was  also  read  in 
the  diet.  This  the  Protestants  were  required  to  accept,  and  so 
end  the  controversy ;  but  they  were  not  at  all  disposed  to  yield  to 
the  requisition.  They  requested  a  copy  of  the  confutation,  that 
they  might  reply  to  it ;  but  this  was  denied  them.  They  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  getting  a  copy ;  and  Melancthon  prepared  a 
reply,  which  the  emperor  refused  to  receive. 

Four  of  the  free  cities  of  Germany  also  sent  in  a  formula  of 
doctrine,  which  was  called  "  The  Tetrapolitan  Confession."  Still 
another  confession  was  forwarded  by  Zwingle  ;  so  that  the  emperor 
had  ample  means  of  knowing  the  views  of  the  different  reformers. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  session,  every  available  means  were 
used  with  the  reformers  —  menace,  artifice,  compromise,  flattery 
—  to  bring  them  back  into  the  Romish  Church ;  but  all  in  vain. 
They  were  inflexible.  At  length,  tired  out  with  delay,  and  fearing 
for  his  own  personal  liberty,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  privately  left 
Augsburg,  and  returned  to  his  own  dominions ;  and,  after  a  few 
weeks,  the  other  Protestant  princes  folloAved  his  example. 
'  When  threats  and  negotiations  had  been  tried  in  vain,  the  final 
decree  of  the  diet  was  drawn  up  according  to  the  views  of  the 
Catholic  majority,  and  was  published  on  the  19th  of  November, 
1530.  It  confirmed,  with  stronger  sanctions,  the  old  Edict  of 
Worms,  and  commended  in  a  highly-wrought  eulogy  the  rites, 
doctrines,  and  forms  of  the  Roman-Catholic  Church.  The  emperor 
called  imperatively  on  all  the  princes,  states,  and  cities  to  return 
to  their  allegiance  to  the  Romish  hierarchy,  and  submit  to  the 
government  and  worship  of  the  ancient  religion.  Severe  penal- 
ties were  denounced  upon  the  refractory  and  disobedient.  The 
Protestants  were  alloAved  time  for  consideration  until  the  following 
April,  when  the  decree  would  be  enforced ;  and,  to  secure  its  rigid 
enforcement,  the  emperor  and  the  Popish  princes  entered  into  a 
solemn  compact  to  unite  their  efforts,  and  actively  exert  their 
respectiye  forces.  / 

Immediately  after  the  publication  of  this  edict,  the  Protestant 
princes  assembled  at  Smalcald,  and  entered  into  an  alliance  for 
mutual  defence.  To  this  alliance  the  free  cities  were  admitted, 
who  held  to  the  Zwinslian  views  of  the  sacrament.     Under  these 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  CONCLUDED.  949 

circumstances,  the  emperor  dared  not  carry  into  execution  the 
threats  of  the  final  decree  at  Augsburg ;  and  the  necessity  for 
conciliation  became  more  imperative  from  the  exposed  situation  of 
Hungary  and  Austria.  In  the  springof  1532,  the  sultan  invaded 
these  countries  with  an  immense  armament.  Of  course,  the  Prot- 
estants of  Germany  would  afford  no  assistance  in  opposing  them, 
so  long  as  they  were  threatened  with  war  and  subjugation  upon 
their  own  soil.  Nothing  remained,  therefore,  to  Charles,  but  to 
conclude  a  treaty  with  the  Protestants  on  the  best  terms  he  could ; 
and  such  a  treaty  was  formed  at  Nuremberg  in  the  year  1532. 
Charles  agreed,  on  his  part,  to  annul  the  edicts  of  Worms  and 
Augsburg,  and  give  the  reformers  full  liberty  to  regulate  their 
religious  matters  as  they  pleased,  until  either  a  general  council  or  a 
diet  of  the  empire  should  determine  what  religious  principles  were 
to  be  received  and  obeyed.  On  these  conditions,  the  Protestants 
agreed  to  afford  assistance  in  the  Turkish  war,  and  to  acknowledge 
Ferdinand,  the  emperor's  brother,  as  king  of  the  Romans. 

Thus  Providence  wrought  out  another  decisive  deliverance  for 
the  Protestants.  To  be  sure,  the  peace  of  Nuremberg  was  not  likely 
to  be  permanent.  Yet  a  respite,  a  season  of  quiet  development, 
was  secured  to  the  Protestants,  while  their  cause  was  gathering 
strength,  not  only  in  Germany,  but  among  the  other  countries 
of  Europe. 

Scarcely  was  the  treaty  of  Nuremberg  adopted,  when  John,  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  magnanimous 
but  unfortunate  son,  John  Frederic.  It  was  about  this  time,  or  a 
little  earlier,  that  Luther  heard  of  the  death  of  his  father.  The 
good  old  man  had  renounced  Popery,  and  fell  asleep  in  the  faith 
of  Jesus.  "Alas!"  cried  Luther  when  he  heard  of  it,  "it  was 
the  sweat  of  his  dear  old  brow  that  made  me  what  I  am." 

When  the  dread  of  the  Turks  had  somewhat  subsided,  Charles 
returned  to  his  favorite  project  of  a  general  council.  But  the 
pontiff  was  averse  to  it,  as  the  later  pontiffs  had  always  been.  He 
remembered  the  Council  of  Constance,  which  deposed  three  popes, 
and  created  another.  Besides,  the  very  idea  of  a  council  was  a 
reflection  upon  that  of  Papal  sufficiency  and  infallibility.  But,  in 
1534,  Pope  Clement  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Paul  IIL  He 
expressed  a  willingness  to  convoke  a  general  council,  and  issued 
letters  appointing  one  at  Mantua,  to  be  held  in  the  spring  of  1537. 
This  council  was  never  held ;  yet,  in  prospect  of  it,  the  Protestants 
procured  a  new  summary  of  their  religious  faith  to  be  drawn  up 


950  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

by  Luther,  which  the}^  might  present  to  the  bishops  in  case  they 
should  assemble.  This  writing  is  called  "•  The  Articles  of  Smalcald ; " 
and  in  style  and  manner,  if  not  in  substance,  it  is  exceedingly 
different  from  the  Confession  of  Augsburg.  The  latter  was  designed 
;to  conciliate  the  Catholics,  and  was  drawn  up  by  the  polished  and 
gentle  Melancthon  :  the  former  was  a  manifesto  in  preparation 
for  a  campaign,  in  which  the  only  alternative  was  victory  or  death. 
Of  course,  all  delicacy  towards  the  Catholics  was  avoided ;  and 
Luther's  fiery  style  was  adopted,  and  was  allowed  full  scope. 

During  this  interval  of  peace  to  the  Protestants,  there  was  a 
new  and  violent  insurrection  of  the  Anabaptists.  They  came  to 
Munster,  a  city  of  Westphalia,  alleging  that  they  were  divinely 
commissioned  to  set  up  a  holy,  spiritual  empire  upon  the  ruins  of 
all  human  institutions.  They  proceeded  to  organize  their  new 
commonwealth,  and  placed  John  Bockholdt,  a  tailor  of  Leyden,  at 
the  head  of  it.  But  the  city  was  taken  by  the  bishop  of  Munster, 
assisted  by  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  and  by  other  princes.  Bock- 
holdt and  his  followers  were  slain ;  and  the  new  commonwealth 
was  overthrown  almost  as  soon  as  established.  This  was  a  fatal 
blow  to  the  Anabaptists  in  Germany ;  but  the  interests  of  Protes- 
tantism were  not  involved  in  it,  since  it  was  well  understood  that 
these  were  entirely  distinct  from  Anabaptism. 

At  a  diet  convened  at  Spire  in  the  year  1542,  Paul  III.  publicly 
announced  his  determination  to  convene  a  general  council  at  Trent, 
situated  on  the  confines  of  Italy  and  Germany.  The  Catholic 
princes  gave  their  assent :  but  the  Protestants  rejected  both  the 
place  and  the  council,  and  demanded  a  free  council ;  i.e.,  one  that 
should  be  exempt  from  the  prescriptions  and  authority  of  the 
pontiff.  Nevertheless,  the  council  was  appointed,  and  commenced 
its  sessions  on  the  13th  of  December,  1545.  The  Protestant 
princes  protested  against  its  proceeding  and  its  authority ;  and  both 
parties  prepared  for  war. 

While  the  storm  was  gathering,  Luther,  who  was  always  disposed 
to  contend  with  prayers  and  patience  rather  than  with  arms,  met 
a  peaceful  death  at  Eisleben,  his  native  town,  on  the  18th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1546. 

He  had  gone  to  Eisleben  to  assist  in  settling  some  disputes  in 
that  vicinity,  when  he  was  smitten  with  a  fatal  disease  of  the  lungs. 
As  he  lay  gasping  for  breath,  he  said,  "  I  am  dying ;  but  we  have 
a  God  to  rest  upon.  Lorci,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 
One  of  his  friends  asked  him,  "  Reverend  father,  do  you  die  in  the 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   GERMANY.  —  CONCLUDED.  951 

faith  of  the  doctrines  you  have  preached  ?  "  With  a  loud  voice, 
he  repUed,  "  Yes,  yes !  "  aud  these  were  tlie  hist  words  he  ever 
uttered. 

In  the  commencement  of  this  war,  the  Saxon  and  Hessian 
princes  led  their  forces  into  Bavaria,  and  cannonaded  the  emperor's  , 
camp  at  Ingolstadt.  But  here  they  were  destined  to  meet  with  a 
repulse.  During  the  absence  of  John  Frederic,  elector  of  Saxony, 
Maurice,  duke  of  Saxony,  was  induced  to  invade  his  uncle's  terri- 
tories ;  and  the  elector  was  under  the  necessity  of  returning  from 
Ingolstadt  to  repel  the  invasion.  This  divided  and  broke  up  the 
Protestant  army.  On  his  retreat,  John  Frederic  was  pursued, 
beaten,  and  taken  prisoner;  and  the  landgrave,  the  other  Protes- 
tant leader,  who  was  induced  to  throw  himself  upon  the  mercy  of 
the  emperor,  was  treated  no  better.    He,  also,  was  kept  a  prisoner. 

By  this  defeat,  the  cause  of  the  Protestants  seemed  to  be  irre- 
coverably ruined.  In  a  diet  held  soon  after  at  Augsburg,  the 
emperor  demanded  of  the  Protestants  that  they  should  submit 
their  cause  to  the  Council  of  Trent.  The  great  part  consented ; 
and,  in  particular,  Maurice,  who  had  received  from  Charles  the 
electoral  dignity  of  which  John  Frederic  had  been  deprived. 

But  the  emperor  lost  the  benefit  of  this  assent ;  for,  upon  a 
rumor  that  a  pestilence  had  appeared  at  Trent,  the  holy  fathers 
were  frightened,  and  retired  to  Bologna ;  and  the  council  was  broken 
up.  This  rumor,  it  afterwards  appeared,  was  a  mere  pretence,  got 
up  by  the  pontiff  for  the  purpose  of  dispersing  the  council. 

As  the  time  for  the  re-assembling  of  the  council  was  uncertain, 
the  emperor  deemed  it  necessary,  in  the  interim,  to  adopt  some 
plan  which  might  preserve  the  peace  in  regard  to  religion.  Hence 
he  caused  a  paper  to  be  drawn  up  by  three  Catholic  priests,  which 
should  serve  as  a  rule  of  faith  and  worship  to  the  professors  of  both 
the  old  religion  and  the  new  until  the  meeting  of  the  council ;  and 
this  paper,  because  it  had  not  the  force  of  a  permanent  law,  was 
commonly  called  "  The  Interim."  But  "  The  Interim  "  was  equally 
displeasing  to  the  pontiff  and  to  the  Lutherans.  The  imposing  of 
it,  instead  of  promoting  peace,  led  to  endless  contentions  and  divis- 
ions. Maurice,  the  new  elector  of  Saxony,  had  several  consulta- 
tions with  his  theologians  on  the  subject.  Melancthon  decided 
that  the  whole  instrument  called  "The  Interim"  could  by  no  means 
be  admitted;  but  that  there  was  no  objection  to  receiving  and 
adopting  it  so  far  as  it  concerned  adiapJmris,  or  things  indifferent. 
But  this  decision  divided  the  Lutheran  Church  on  the  question  of 


952  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

things  indifferent.  Some  made  the  catalogue  of  things  indifferent 
much  larger  than  others.  The  controversy  which  grew  up  on  this 
subject  was  appropriately  called  "  The  Adiaplioristic  Controversy." 

In  the  midst  of  these  contests,  Julius  III.,  who  had  succeeded 
» Paul  III.  in  the  government  of  the  Romish  Church,  being  over- 
come by  the  entreaties  of  the  emperor,  consented  to  revive  the 
Council  of  Trent.  The  emperor,  therefore,  at  the  Diet  of  Augs- 
burg,—  which  he  had  surrounded  with  his  troops,  —  conferred  with 
the  princes  as  to  the  prosecution  of  the  council.  The  major  part 
agreed  that  the  council  should  go  on ;  and  Maurice  consented, 
though  on  certain  conditions  ;  which  conditions  were  not  fulfilled. 
At  the  close  of  the  diet,  therefore,  all  parties  were  directed  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  the  council. 

Charles,  at  this  time,  felt  quite  satisfie.d  with  his  position.  He 
had  humbled  the  refractory  princes  of  the  empire,  and  felt  con- 
fident that  he  should  be  able,  by  the  help  of  his  theologians,  so  to 
direct  the  doings  of  the  council  as  to  reduce  the  Papal  power,  and 
make  it  subservient  to  his  designs.  But  his  expectations  were  all 
frustrated  through  that  very  Maurice  by  whose  assistance  he  had 
before  been  able  to  break  the  power  of  the  Protestants. 

Long  had  Maurice  solicited  in  vain  for  the  liberation  of  his 
father-in-law,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse ;  and  other  German  princes 
had  been  equally  importunate  that  the  late  elector  of  Saxony  might 
also  be  set  at  liberty.  Well-founded  suspicions  were  indulged, 
that  Charles  had  designs,  not  only  against  Protestantism,  but  against 
the  liberties  of  Germany.  Under  these  impressions,  Maurice  en- 
tered into  an  alliance  with  the  king  of  France,  and  with  certain 
German  princes,  for  asserting  the  rights  of  the  Germanic  nation : 
and,  in  the  year  1552,  he  led  forth  a  well-appointed  army  against 
the  emperor ;  and  with  such  celerity  and  vigor  did  he  conduct  the 
enterprise,  that  he  came  near  taking  him  by  surprise  as  he  lay  in 
fancied  security  at  Innspruck,  with  only  a  small  detachment  of  his 
army  about  him.  This  sudden  attack  so  terrified  Charles,  that  he 
appeared  quite  ready  to  agree  to  any  terms ;  and  soon  after,  at 
Passau,  he  not  only  gave  present  tranquillity  to  the  Protestants, 
but  promised  to  assemble  a  diet  within  six  months,  at  which  the 
long-protracted  religious  contests  should  be  finally  settled.  Thus 
the  very  Maurice  who  had  given  a  severer  blow,  perhaps,  than 
any  other  individual,  to  the  Protestant  cause,,  was  the  man  to 
establish  and  give  triumph  to  that  cause  when  it  was  well-nigh 
prostrated  and  abandoned.    Such  is  the  wonder-working  providence 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    GERMANY. —  CONCLUDED.  953 

of  God  in  the  care  and  protection  which  he  affords  to  his  people. 
Yet  Maurice  himself  did  not  long  live  to  witness  the  results  of  his 
great  undertaking.  He  fell  the  next  year  in  a  battle  with  Albert 
of  Brandenburg. 

The  diet  which  the  emperor  promised  at  Passau  could  not 
be  assembled  until  the  year  1555 ;  but  in  this  year,  at  Augsburg, 
in  presence  of  Ferdinand,  the  emperor's  brother,  that  memorable 
convention  was  held,  which  gave  to  the  Protestants,  after  so  much 
slaughter  and  so  many  calamities,  a  firm  and  stable  religious  peace. 
On  the  25th  of  September,  after  various  discussions,  the  religious 
liberties  of  the  German  Protestants  were  recognized  and  secured 
on  the  following  basis  :  1.  That  the  Protestants  who  followed 
the  Confession  at  Augsburg  should  for  the  future  be  considered  as 
entirely  exempt  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and 
from  the  authority  and  superintendence  of  the  Romish  bishops. 

2.  That  they  were  at  perfect  liberty  to  enact  laws  for  themselves 
relating   to   their   religious   sentiments,    discipline,    and   worship. 

3.  That  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  German  Empire  should  be  at 
liberty  to  judge  for  themselves  in  religious  matters,  and  to  join 
themselves  to  that  church  whose  doctrine  and  worship  they  thought 
the  purest,  and  the  most  consonant  to  the  spirit  of  pure  Christian- 
ity. And,  4.  That  all  those  who  should  injure  or  persecute  any 
person,  under  religious  pretexts,  or  on  account  of  their  opinions, 
should  be  proceeded  against  as  enemies  of  the  empire,  invaders  of 
its  liberty,  and  disturbers  of  its  peace. 

Nothing  more  clearly  shows  the  superstition,  ignorance,  and 
wretchedness  of  that  age,  and  the  necessity  there  was  for  a  refor- 
mation, than  the  fact  that  the  great  German  nation  needed  to  be 
instructed  by  so  many  writings,  controversies,  and  wars,  before 
they  could  assent  to  regulations  so  equitable  as  these,  and  so  con- 
sonant to  reason  and  the  word  of  God. 

There  remained  some  minor  questions  to  be  settled  after  the 
above  treaty  had  been  ratified ;  but  this  was  the  grand  pacification 
of  Germany,  —  the  foundation,  under  God,  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion in  that  country,  from  those  times  to  the  present.  And  here 
the  Reformation  in  Germany,  so  far  as  it  partook  of  a  revolutionary 
character,  may  be  said  to  end.  Henceforward,  the  religious  state 
of  Germany,  like  that  of  other  nations,  was  subject  to  change  ;  and 
these,  changes  belong  to  the  religious  history  of  the  country :  but 
the  history  of  the  Reformation^  properly  speaking,  terminates  with 
the  Peace  of  Augsburg,  which  was  settled  on  the  25th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1555. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    ENGLAND. 


THE  Reformation  in  England  may  be  said  to  have  commenced 
with  Wickliffe,  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
By  his  preaching,  by  his  various  writings,  by  his  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  English,  and  more  especially  by  the  system  of  itineracy 
which  he  instituted,  —  his  "  poor  preachers,"  as  he  called  them, 
but  which  in  our  day  would  be  called  "  colporters,"  who  went 
everywhere  reading  and  distributing  his  books,  and  teaching  the 
people  the  way  of  life,  —  this  heroic  man  set  on  foot  means  and 
influences,  the  results  of  which  have  never  been  lost.  He  held 
up  a  light  which  the  floods  of  the  enemy  could  not  extinguish, 
which  continued  to  shine  upon  the  darkness  until  it  was  merged  in 
the  brighter  light  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  His  followers 
were  called  Wickliflites  and  Lollards,  and  were  hunted  and  per- 
secuted for  a  century  and  a  half.  The  first  statute  in  England,  de 
heretico  comhurendo\  was  issued  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  about 
the  year  1400,  and  Avas  not  repealed  until  the  3'ear  1677.  Under 
this  fiery  statute,  hundreds  of  the  poor  Lollards  went  to  the  stake. 
The  most  conspicuous  martyr  of  the  times  was  Sir  John  Oldcastle, 
baron  of  Cobham.  In  order  to  prejudice  the  king  the  more 
against  him,  he  was  accused  of  treasonable  practices.  He  was 
seized,  tried,  and  committed  to  the  Tower ;  but  he  contrived  to 
make  his  escape,  and  fled  into  Wales,  where  he  remained  concealed 
several -years.  At  length  he  was  discovered,  and  delivered  over 
to  his  enemies.  His  sentence  was,  to  be  hanged  up  by  a  chain 
around  his  waist  over  a  slow  fire,  and  there  to  remain  until  he 
was  consumed.  This  barbarous  sentence  was  speedily  executed 
amidst  the  imprecations  and  curses  of  the  priests,  and  the  tears 
and  prayers  of  vast  numbers  of  the  common  people.  These  per- 
secutions continued  under  all  the  succeeding  kings  until  the  latter 
part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIIL     Still  the  number  of  the  Lol- 


954 


THE  REFORMATION   IN   ENGLAND.  955 

lards  continued  to  increase  ;  and,  when  the  Reformation  at  length 
dawned  upon  benighted  England,  they  were  ready  to  welcome  it 
with  exceeding  joy. 

Henry  VIII.  ascended  the  throne  of  England  on  the  20th  of 
April,  1509.  He  was  by  nature  a  despot,  and,  through  the  first 
twenty  years  of  his  reign,  was  a  decided  Catholic.  He  hated 
Luther  with  a  perfect  hatred,  and  was  exceedingly  annoyed  when 
he  discovered  that  some  of  Luther's  publications  had  found  their 
way  into  England.  In  1521,  he  issued  his  famous  book  against 
Luther,  for  which  the  pope  rewarded  him  with  a  new  title,  — 
Defender  of  the  Faith. 

Henry  was  early  married  to  Catharine  of  Aragon,  the  widow 
of  his  deceased  brother  Arthur,  and  an  aunt  of  Charles  V.  Some 
scruples  were  entertained  at  the  time  as  to  the  legality  of  the 
marriage,  on  account  of  her  previous  connection  with  his  brother  ; 
but  the  pope  granted  a  dispensation,  which  was  thought  to  make 
the  matter  clear.  We  hear  nothing  of  Henry's  anxieties  on  the 
subject  until  the  appearance  of  Anne  Boleyn  at  court  in  the  year 
1527.  Anne  was  grand-daughter  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  and 
had  been  a  maid  of  honor  at  the  court  of  the  king  of  France. 
Upon  her  return  to  England,  she  was  received  in  the  same  capacity 
into  the  service  of  Queen  Catharine.  Her  beauty  and  accom- 
plishments quite  captivated  Henry ;  and  he  determined  to  dissolve 
his  marriage  with  Catharine,  and  espouse  the  fair  maid  of  honor. 

His  scruples  about  the  legahty  of  the  existing  marriage  were  at 
once  revived ;  and  he  sent  messengers  to  Pope  Clement  VII.  to 
procure  a  divorce.  There  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  the  pope's 
granting  his  request,  had  he  been  so  disposed  ;  for  the  popes  had 
often  clone  such  things  before,  and  have  done  them  since.  As  late 
as  the  year  1807,  Pope  Pius  VII.  divorced  Bonaparte  from  his 
faithful  wife  Josephine,  to  make  way  for  his  marriage  with  a 
princess  of  Austria.  But  Catharine  was  aunt  to  the  emperor, 
Charles  V.,  whom  the  pontiff  did  not  care  to  offend.  Hence  there 
was  hesitation,  diplomacy,  and  vexatious  delay. 

For  years,  Henry  had  entertained  at  court,  as  his  special  favorite 
and  prime  minister,  Cardinal  Wolsey.  From  humble  life,  the 
cardinal  had  risen  to  a  height  of  power  and  dignity  such  as  no 
English  subject  had  before  enjoyed.  He  had  great  influence  with 
the  monarch,  and  was  intrusted  by  him  with  the  management  of 
his  most  important  concerns.  Of  course,  the  cardinal  was  an 
obsequious  servant  of  the  pope  of  Rome  ;  and  Henry  had  commit- 


956  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.. 

ted  to  him  chiefly  the  delicate  negotiation  respecting  a  divorce. 
And  now  the  delay  in  procuring  it  was  in  great  measure  imputed 
to  him.  Anne  Boleyn  ascribed  to  the  cardinal's  machinations  and 
ambitious  projects  the  frustration  of  her  fond  expectations ;  and, 
by  her  persuasion,  the  royal  favor  was  withdrawn  from  him.  The 
process  instituted  against  this  great  prelate  was  the  first  measure 
adopted  by  Henry  tending  to  his  rejection  of  the  Papal  authority, 
and  the  introduction  into  his  kingdom,  by  legislative  enactments, 
of  the  religious  reformation.  The  great  seal  was  taken  from 
"VVolsey ;  and,  under  an  indictment  in  the  Star  Chamber,  a  sen- 
tence of  condemnation  was  pronounced  upon  him.  He  was 
declared  to  be  out  of  the  king's  protection ;  his  lands  and  goods 
were  forfeited  ;  and  he  continued  in  disgrace  to  the  day  of  his 
death. 

Henry's  next  movement  towards  procuring  a  divorce  was  to 
submit  the  question  as  to  the  lawfulness  of  his  marriage  to  the 
several  universities  of  Europe.  Those  on  the  continent,  without 
any  hesitation,  declared  the  marriage  unlawful ;  and  those  in  Eng- 
land (though  with  more  hesitation)  came  to  the  same  conclusion. 
Thus  strengthened  in  his  purpose,  Henry  renewed  his  application 
to  the  pope  ;  and  the  pope  replied  by  summoning  the  king  to  ap- 
pear in  person,  or  by  proxy,  before  him  at  Rome.  Such  was  -the 
state  of  affairs  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1531. 

On  the  16th  of  January,  parliament  convened ;  and  the  con- 
vocation of  Canterbury  was  summoned  to  meet  at  the  same  time. 
In  these  meetings,  measures  Avere  taken  effectually  to  humble  the 
bishops  and  clergy ;  and,  before  they  separated,  they  were  made 
to  acknowledge  the  king  as  "  the  protector  and  supreme  head  of 
the  church  and  the  clergy  of  England." 

Shortly  after  these  occurrences,  the  queen  was  directed  to  with- 
draw from  the  court  at  Windsor.  Tlie  pontiff  remonstrated  against 
this  indignity  ;  and  the  king  replied  with  some  asperity.  Another 
embassage,  however,  was  sent  to  Rome,  to  see  if  a  divorce,  even 
then,  could  not  be  procured  ;  but  as  the  pope  was  still  inclined  to 
prevaricate,  and  put  the  ambassadors  off,  they  told  him  plainly 
that "  the  Church  of  England  was  an  independent  body,  and  that 
the  matter  could  be  decided  without  any  reference  to  him  what- 
ever." 

In  January,  1532,  an  act  of  parliament  was  passed,  forbidding 
the  levying,  in  future,  of  what  the  Church  of  Rome  calls  annats. 
These  annats  are  a  year's  rent  of  all  the  benefices  which  become 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   ENGLAND.  957 

vacant,  to  be  paid  to  the  bishop  of  Rome  by  those  who  succeed 
to  such  vacant  benefices.  "  Since  the  second  year  of  Henry  VII.," 
says  Hume,  "  no  less  than  a  hundred  and  sixty-seven  thousand 
pounds  have  been  transmitted  to  Rome  on  account  of  this 
claim." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  following  year,  the  king  resolved  that 
he  would  no  longer  delay  his  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  ceremony  was  performed  on  the  2oth  of  January, 
15S3.  In  INIay  of  the  same  year.  Dr.  Thomas  Cranmer  was 
promoted  to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  Soon  after  this,  the  king's 
marriage  to  Catharine  was  pronounced  null  and  void  ;  his  recent 
marriage  to  Anne  Boleyn  was  duly  ratified,  and  she  was  pubhcly 
crowned  queen  of  England. 

When  these  occurrences  were  communicated  to  the  court  of 
Rome,  they  awakened  in  the  conclave  the  direst  indignation.  The 
pontiff  was  advised  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  utmost  extremities 
with  the  king,  and  fulminate  against  him  a  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion ;  and  this  advice  was  very  soon  taken.  His  pretended  mar- 
riage to  Anne  Boleyn  was  dissolved ;  and  a  solemn  sentence  of 
excommunication  was  published. 

But,  in  effect,  this  was  but  a  hrutum  fulmen  :  it  neither  terrified 
the  king,  nor  deterred  the  parliament  from  carrying  out  his  assumed 
supremacy.  In  the  year  1534,  it  was  enacted  that  "  all  Papal  pro= 
visions,  bulls,  and  dispensations  were  abolished ;  that  monasteries 
were  subjected  in  future  to  the  visitation  and  government  of  the 
king  only ;  that  the  ancient  right  of  nominating  to  vacant  sees  was 
restored  to  the  crown  ;  and  that  all  applications  to  Rome  for  palls, 
bulls,  or  provisions,  were  prohibited."  No  convocation  could  be 
assembled  without  an  express  warrant  from  the  king ;  nor,  when 
assembled,  could  the  convocation  put  in  execution  any  canons  re- 
pugnant to  the  king's  authority.  As  head  of  the  Church,  there 
was  an  ultimate  appeal  to  him  from  the  sentence  of  any  and  every 
ecclesiastical  judge.  The  bishops  even  went  so  far  as  to  take  out 
new  commissions  from  the  crown,  in  which  all  their  official  authori- 
ty was  affirmed  to  be  derived  from  him,  and  to  be  entirely  depend- 
ent on  his  pleasure.  In  short,  it  was  enacted  in  parliament  in  this 
year  (1534),  that  "  the  king  is,  and  rightfully  ought  to  be,  the 
supreme  head,  under  God,  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  has  so 
been  recognized  by  the  clergy  in  their  convocation."  At  the  close 
of  this  year,  therefore,  the  Church  of  England  may  be  said  to 
have    been  permanently  established  by  the  laws    of   the    realm. 


958  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Its  doctrines  and  rites  were  as  yet  but  slightly  changed  ;  but  it  had 
renounced  one  pope,  and  taken  another.  Its  supreme  head  was  no 
longer  the  bishop  of  Rome,  but  Henry  VIII.  of  England  and  his 
successors. 

The  king  was  still  strongly  attached  to  the  tenets  of  the  ancient 
religion ;  and,  when  any  were  brought  before  him  for  assailing  these 
tenets,  the  flames  were  at  once  kindled  for  their  punishment.  He 
was  immovably  fixed,  also,  in  the  notion  of  his  own  supremacy ; 
and,  when  any  were  found  who  would  not  submit  to  this,  they,  too, 
were  punished  with  equal  rigor.  Hence  the  martyrs  of  this  period 
(and  they  were  not  a  few)  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  — the 
outspoken  Lollards  on  the  one  hand ;  and  rigid,  unyielding  Papists 
on  the  other.* 

It  may  be  thought,  that  thus  far  the  Reformation  in  England  <lid 
not  amount  to  much  ;  and  in  itself  it  did  not.  And  yet  a  founda- 
tion was  laid,  on  which  the  most  important  changes  were  afterwards 
accomplished.  Among  the  courtiers  of  Henry  were  some  good 
advisers,  yielding,  but  yet  persuasive,  who  secured  his  confidence 
b}^  deserving  it.  This  was  specially  true  of  Archbishop  Cranmer. 
With  the  king's  license,  he  visited  all  the  churches  within  his 
metropolitan  see,  and  not  only  erased  the  name  of  the  pope  from 
the  offices  of  the  Church,  but  required  the  clergy  to  acknowledge 
the  supremacy  of  the  king.  A  visitation  of  the  monasteries  through- 
out the  realm  was  also  undertaken  ;  and  the  most  frightful  state  of 
morals  in  them  was  disclosed.  It  was  high  time,  manifestly,  that 
they  should  be  either  expurgated  or  broken  up.  The  king  pre- 
ferred to  take  the  latter  course.  In  the  year  1536,  three  hundred 
and  seventy-six  monasteries  were  suppressed  ;  and  their  revenues, 
amounting  to  thirty-two  thousand  pounds  a  year,  were  granted  to 
the  king.  Their  goods,  chattels,  and  plate,  which  were  also  con- 
fiscated, amounted  to  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  more.  In  1538, 
the  work  of  suppressing  the  monasteries  was  again  undertaken, 
and  was  carried  through.  Their  store  of  relics  was  exposed  to  the 
gaze  and  laugh  of  the  community  ;  and  their  wealth,  which  was 
enormous,  passed  over  to  the  crown.  The  shrine  of  Thomas  a 
Becket,  which  had  become  a  principal  object  of  worship,  was  also 
demolished ;  and  its  riches  were  transferred  to  the  public  treasury. 
St,  Thomas  himself,  though  he  had  been  dead  more  than  four  hun- 
dred years,  was  formally  arraigned  before  the  court,  and  condemned 

*  Among  the  Papists  who  suffered  were  Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  aud  Sir  Thomas  More. 


THE   REFORMATION^  IN   ENGLAND.  959 

as  a  traitor.  His  bones  were  burned ;  and  his  name  was  struck  from 
the  calendar  of  saints.  The  pontiff  of  Rome,  who  still  claimed  Eng- 
land as  a  fief  of  the  holy  see,  was  roused  to  the  intensest  indigna- 
tion when  informed  of  these  proceedings  of  Henry.  He  renewed 
asfainst  him  the  most  terrific  denunciations  and  anathemas ;  ab- 
solved  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  and  his  allies  from  their 
treaties ;  and  exhorted  all  Christians  to  make  war  upon  him,  and 
extirpate  him  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Yea,  more  than  this :  he 
delivered  over  his  soul  to  the  powers  of  Satan  and  the  everlasting 
torments  of  hell.  But  the  days  of  the  Gregories  and  the  Innocents 
had  passed  away ;  and  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  no  longer  awa- 
kened any  superstitious  fears.  Henry  was  a  pope  in  his  own  domin- 
ions ;  and  he  wielded  all  the  powers  of  the  g'overnment  to  main- 
tain his  ecclesiastical  authority  and  jurisdiction. 

In  the  year  1536,  a  beginning  was  made  in  reforming  the  doc- 
trines, rites,  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church.  The  result  was  a 
compromise  between  the  friends  of  the  old  religion  and  the  new. 
The  Protestants  agreed  to  accept,  at  least  for  the  time,  auricular 
confession,  penance,  the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist, 
the  use  of  pictures  and  images  (though  not  as  objects  of  worship), 
the  expediency  of  invoking  the  saints,  the  use  of  holy  water,  &c. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Popish  party  admitted  as  their  standard  of 
faith  the  Scriptures,  together  with  the  Apostolic,  the  Nicene,  and 
the  Athanasian  Creeds.  The  year  following,  the  attention  of  the 
convocation  was  again  called  to  the  same  subject.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  who  prepared  a  volume,  entitled  "  The  Godly  and 
Pious  Institute  of  a  Christian  Man."'  It  was  also  called  "  The 
Bishops'  Book."  The  first  part  of  this  formula  contains  an  expo- 
sition of  the  Apostles'  Creed ;  the  second,  the  doctrine  of  the  sacra- 
ments ;  the  third,  a  comment  on  the  Ten  Commandments  ;  and  the 
fourth,  an  explanation  of  the  Pater  Noster  and  the  Ave,  with  the 
articles  of  justification  and  purgatory.  In  this  book,  the  idea  of  a 
compromise  is  still  kept  up.  Its  definitions  of  justification,  free- 
will, faith,  good  works,  and  grace,  accord,  for  the  most  part,  with 
the  views  of  the  Protestants ;  but,  in  the  matter  of  the  «acraments, 
the  tenets  of  the  Romish  Church  are  retained. 

At  a  pretty  early  period  of  the  Reformation  in  England,  atten- 
tion had  been  called  to  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures.  In  the 
year  1526,  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  was  published  at 
Antwerp  by  William  Tyndal.  This  was  bought  up  by  Tonstal 
and  Sir  Thomas  More  to  prevent  its  circulation  among  the  people : 


"960  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

but  their  object  was  defeated ;  for,  with  the  money  received  for  his 
first  edition,  Tyndal  was  enabled  to  get  out  a  much  better  Testa- 
ment in  1530.  Two  years  hiter,  he  pubhshed  the  whole  Bible  in 
English ;  soon  after  which  he  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  heresy, 
and  burned  in  Flanders,  by  an  order  from  the  emperor,  Charles  V. 

In  1535,  a  revised  edition  of  Tyndal's  Bible  was  published  by 
Miles  Coverdale,  afterwards  bishop  of  Exeter,  and  dedicated  to 
Henry  VIII.  In  1537,  a  more  thorough  revision  of  Tj-ndal  was 
made  by  Coverdale,  assisted  by  John  Rogers  the  martyr,  and  pub- 
lished under  the  assumed  name  of  Thomas  Matthews.  The  next 
year,  Cranmer's  Bible  was  published  in  London.  This  Bible  Crom- 
well presented  to  the  king,  and  j^rocured  his  warrant,  allowing  all 
his  subjects  to  read  it  without  hazard  or  control.  It  was  directed, 
also,  that  copies  of  it  should  be  placed  in  all  the  churches.  At  a 
later  period,  the  Popish  party  endeavored  to  stop  the  free  circula- 
tion of  the  Scriptures.  They  complained  of  the  translation,  and 
pretended  that  there  were  hundreds  of  Latin  words  in  the  Vulgate 
which  could  never  be  translated  into  English.  They  persuaded 
the  king  to  modify  his  previous  proclamations,  encouraging  a  gen- 
eral study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  limiting  the  reading  of  them  to 
the  higher  classes. 

In  fact,  the  course  of  King  Henry  in  regard  to  the  Reformation 
during  the  ten  last  years  of  his  life  was  not  uniform  or  consistent. 
He  was  consistent  in  one  thing ;  which  was,  to  maintain  his  suprem- 
acy in  opposition  to  all  the  pretensions  of  Rome,  and  to  persecute 
those  among  his  people  who  had  the  hardihood  to  dispute  it ;  but 
as  to  favoring  or  discouraging  Popish  doctrines,  rites,  and  supersti- 
tions, he  wavered,  and  was  not  consistent.  Thus  in  April,  1539, 
he  enjoined  upon  his  parliament  "  to  extirpate  from  his  kingdom 
all  heresy  and  diversity  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion ;  "  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  for  this  purpose.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  the  bloody  law  of  the  six  articles  was  enacted,  which,  says 
Blackstone,  "  established  the  six  most  contested  points  of  Popery, — 
viz.,  transubstantiation,  communion  in  only  one  kind,  the  celibacy 
of  the  clerg}^,  monastic  vows,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  and  auricular 
confession,  —  and  which  declared  all  oppugners  of  these  doctrines 
to  be  heretics,  and  worthy  of  death,"  Up  to  this  time,  Cranmer 
had  been  a  married  man,  and  known  to  be  such ;  but  he  was  now 
obliged  to  dismiss  his  wife,  and  send  her  into  Germany,  which  was 
her  native  country.  And  hundreds  of  other  clergymen  were  tried 
in  the  same  way. 


THE    REFORMATION   IN   ENGLAND.  961 

These  changes  in  Henry's  religious  poHcy  were  owing,  partly  to 
the  freaks  and  prejudices  of  his  hasty  and  suspicious  temper,  but 
more  probably  to  changes  in  his  domestic  life,  and  to  the  coun- 
sellors by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  While  Anna  Boleyn  and 
Jane  Seymour  lived,  and  Cromwell  retained  his  place  as  lord  high- 
chamberlain  of  England,  the  Idng  was  favorably  disposed  towards 
the  Protestant  party,  and  was  willing  to  take  measures  —  though 
very  slowly  and  cautiously  —  to  promote  the  Reformation.  But 
after  his  unfortunate  marriage  with  Anna  of  Cleves,  and  their 
speedy  divorce,  and  the  consequent  fall  of  Cromwell,  and  especially 
after  his  marriage  to  Catharine  Howard,  and  the  ]3romotion  of 
her  uncle  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  a  strict  Papist,  into  the  place  of 
the  fallen  Cromwell,  we  find  him  turning  his  back  upon  the  Refor- 
mation, sustaining  the  Popish  rites,  and  persecuting  those  who 
would  not  observe  them. 

But  the  cup  of  sorrow  was  passing  round ;  and  Catharine  Howard 
and  her  Popish  uncle  must  drink  their  share.  The  queen  is  deserv- 
edly cast  off ;  the  uncle  is  disgraced ;  and  the  way  is  open  for 
Henry's  sixth  and  last  marriage, — to  Catharine  Parr.  She  is  a 
discreet  woman,  and  partial  to  the  Reformation ;  and  some  of 
Henry's  last  acts  were  regarded  as  favorable  to  the  same  cause. 
Repeated  attempts  were  made,  near  the  close  of  his  reign,  to  bring 
Cranmer  into  trouble  ;  but  the  king's  regard  for  him,  and  confidence 
in  him,  could  not  be  shaken.  He  stood  by  him  and  defended  him 
to  the  last. 

Henry  VIII.  died  in  January,  1547 ;  having  j)repared  the  way, 
in  some  measure,  for  a  reformation  in  the  Church  of  England, 
though  he  did  not  accomplish  much  himself.  The  principal 
changes  effected  under  his  administration  were  the  following:  He 
renounced  on  his  own  behalf,  and  on  that  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, all  allegiance  to  and  dependence  upon  the  pope  of  Rome  ;  he 
suppressed  the  monasteries ;  he  gave  to  the  English  a  better  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  than  they  had  before,  and  legalized  the  reading 
of  it.  Henry  was  succeeded,  the  same  year  in  which  he  .died,  by 
his  only  son,  Edward  VI.,  who  was  at  this  time  about  ten  years 
old.  Edward  was  the  son  of  Jane  Seymour,  and  was  under  the 
guardianship  of  his  uncle.  Sir  Edward  Seymour,  afterwards  duke 
of  Somerset.  He  was  a  thoughtful,  pious  youth,  wise  beyond  his 
years,  whose  surroundings,  connections,  and  education  all  led  him 
to  favor  and  promote  the  Reformation.  Consequently,  during  the 
six  years  of  his  reign,  the  Reformation  made  rapid  progress.     The 

61 


962  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

work  was  commenced  by  a  general  visitation  of  the  cliurches, 
with  a  view  to  correct  such  abuses,  and  suppress  such  superstitious 
practices,  as  the  purity  of  divine  worship  demanded.  A  Bible  was 
to  be  placed  in  every  church,  accompanied  by  an  English  transla- 
tion of  Erasmus'  paraphrase  of  the  New  Testament.  A  book  of 
homilies  was  also  prepared  for  the  better  instruction  of  the  people 
in  the  way  of  salvation  as  taught  in  the  Scriptures.  Images 
were  removed  from  the  churches ;  and  the  sale  of  indulgences, 
which  had  been  privately  practised  in  the  preceding  reign,  was  for- 
ever prohibited.  An  order  of  council  was  passed,  annulling  the 
carrying  of  candles  on  Candlemas  Day,  and  ashes  on  Ash  Wednes- 
day, and  palms  on  Palm  Sunday ;  also  the  ceremonies  of  creeping 
to  the  cross,  and  taking  holy  bread  and  water.  Private  masses 
were  abolished ;  new  regulations  for  the  communion  were  intro- 
duced; the  liturgy  was  revised  and  amended;  and  the  whole  ser- 
vice was  to  be  conducted,  not,  as  formerly,  in  Latin,  but  in  English. 
The  communion  was,  of  coiu-se,  to  be  administered  in  both  kinds. 
A  new  form  of  ordination  was  appointed,  and  the  laws  enjoining 
celibacy  upon  the  clergy  were  rescinded. 

In  the  year  1549,  Martin  Bucer  and  Peter  Martyn  were  invited 
over  from  Germany  to  be  teachers  of  theology  in  the  two  English 
universities.  These  two  distinguished  men  exerted  a  happy  influ- 
ence at  this  period  upon  the  progress  of  events,  and  aided  directly 
in  the  due  organization  and  regulation  of  the  Church.  By  their 
help,  the  English  articles  of  faith  were  drawn  up,  numbering  at 
that  time  forty-two  ;  but  they  were  subsequently  reduced  to  thirty- 
nine,  as  they  are  at  present. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  these  and  other  connected  alterations 
were  made  in  the  service  of  the  Church  of  England  without  oppo- 
sition. The  Princess  Mary  was  opposed  to  them  all ;  and  she  was 
allowed  to  retain  in  her  chapel  the  rites  and  forms  that  were  in 
use  during  the  reign  of  her  father.  Many  of  the  bishops  also 
were  opposed  to  them.  Some  of  them  conformed,  so  as  to  retain 
their  bishoprics ;  but  others  refused,  and  were  .deprived.  Bonner 
was  not  only  deprived  of  his  see,  but  was  imprisoned.  Tonstall 
was  deprived,  and  his  goods  were  confiscated.  Gardiner,  Day, 
Heath,  and  Voisey  were  severally  divested  of  their  bishoprics. 

The  law  de  heretico  comhurendo  was  still  on  the  statute-book ; 
but  it  was  not  enforced,  except  in  two  instances,  during  the  reign 
of  Edward,  and,  in  both  these,  against  the  wishes  of  the  king. 
The  first  victim  was  Joan  of  Kent,  a  fanatic,  an  Arian,  and  an 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   ENGLAND.  963 

Anabaptist,  who  was  thought  to  be  much  fitter  for  bedlam  than 
for  the  stake.  It  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Edward  could  be 
brought  to  sign  the  warrant  for  her  execution.  He  did  it  with 
tearful  eyes,  saying  at  the  same  time  to  Cranraer,  "  If  I  am 
wrong  in  this,  the  sin  must  lie  at  your  door."  The  other  victim 
was  George  Van  Parr,  a  Dutchman,  Avho  was  condemned  and 
burnt  for  denying  the  proper  divinity  of  Christ. 

Edward  was  contemplating  other  reforms  in  the  government  of 
the  Church,  more  especially  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts ;  but  disease 
and  death  came,  and  relieved  him  from  all  earthly  responsibilities. 
He  died  of  pulmonary  consumption  on  the  6th  of  July,  1553, 
loved  and  honored  by  all  his  subjects,  and  greatly  lamented  by  all 
good  men.  Some  called  him  Josiah ;  oihevs,  Udward  the  /Saint; 
and  others,  the  Phoenix,  because  he  rose  out  of  his  mother's  ashes. 

After  some  ineffectual  attempts  to  turn  aside  the  natural  course 
of  events,  Mary  was  proclaimed  queen  on  the  19th  of  the  same 
month  in  which  her  brother  died.  She  gave  strong  assurances, 
before  her  coronation,  that  she  would  do  nothing  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  established  religion  ;  but  it  was  soon  evident  that  her  jDromises 
were  no^  likely  to  be  remembered.  She  began  by  restoring  the 
deprived  bishops  —  Gardiner,  Bonner,  Tonstall,  Day,  Heath,  and 
Voisey  —  to  their  respective  sees,  and  by  ordering  several  of  the 
Protestants  bishops  —  as  Holdgate,  Coverdale,  Ridley,  Hooper,  and 
Latimer — into  close  confinement.  Cranmer  was  arrested  and  con- 
victed ;  but  his  execution  was  delayed.  Peter  Martyn  fled  from 
the  kingdom ;  but  his  wife's  body  was  disinterred,  and  buried  in  a 
dunghill.  The  bones  of  Bucer,  who  had  died  in  1551,  were  dug 
up,  and  Inirnt.  The  Protestants  from  abroad  generally  returned  to 
the  Continent ;  and  many  Englishmen  who  professed  the  reformed 
doctrines  took  refuge  in  other  lands. 

The  first  parliament  convened  in  October,  1553,  and  by  one 
sweeping  clause  repealed  all  statutes  pertaining  to  religion  which 
had  been  enacted  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI. ;  thus  putting  mat- 
ters back  into  the  state  in  which  they  were  at  the  death  of  Henry 
VIII.  The  mass  was  everywhere  re-established  ;  marriage  was 
forbidden  to  the  clergy ;  and  a  visitation  was  appointed  in  order  to 
restore  more  perfectly  the  ancient  rites. 

Great  dissatisfaction  was  manifested  on  account  of  the  queen's 
proposed  marriage  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain :  but  she  was  inflexible 
on  that  point ;  and,  in  the  summer  of  1554,  the  marriage  was  solem- 
nized. 


964  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  next  object  of  the  queen  was  to  be  rid  of  the  title  of 
supreme  head  of  the  Chui'ch  of  England,  and  subject  it  again  to 
the  rule  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  Accordingly,  Cardinal  Pole,  an 
Enghshman  who  had  been  banished  by  Henry  VIII.  for  opposing 
his  divorce. from  the  queen's  mother,  was  sent  as  legate  into  Eng- 
land to  accomplish  this  important  purpose.  As  soon  as  he  arrived, 
he  importuned  the  parliament  to  become  reconciled  to  his  Holiness, 
and  to  exert  their  influence  for  restoring  the  Papal  authority  in  the 
kingdom.  Upon  this,  both  houses  presented  addresses  to  Philip 
and  Mary,  "■  acknowledging  that  they  had  been  guilty  of  a  most 
horrible  defection  from  the  true  Church,  professing  sincere  repent- 
ance for  theh'  past  offences,  declaring  their  readiness  to  repeal  aU 
laws  enacted  in  prejudice  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  praying 
their  Majesties  that  they  would  intercede  with  the  holy  Father  for 
the  absolution  and  forgiveness  of  their  penitent  subjects."  The 
"forgiveness  thus  humbly  asked  for  the  legate  stood  ready  to  grant; 
and  both  houses  were  graciousl}'  absolved  from  all  guilt  and  past 
transgression.  The  whole  kingdom  was  blessed  with  a  similar 
absolution ;  and  England  was  again  received  into  the  bosom  of 
mother-church.  And  great  was  the  rejoicing  upon  this  important 
event.  A  law  was  directly  passed,  which  repealed  all  the  former 
statutes  against  the  pope's  authority,  revived  the  ancient  statutes 
against  heresy,  and  re-estabhshed  the  lately-rescinded  forms  of 
Romish  worship. 

And  now  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  queen  to  enter  upon 
her  contemplated  schemes  of  persecution  and  death.  On  the  28th 
of  January,  a  court  was  opened,  under  the  authority  of  the  legate, 
for  the  trial  of  heretics.  John  Rogers  and  Hooper  were  first  ar- 
raigned and  convicted.  Rogers  was  burnt  at  Smithfield  on  the 
4th  of  February ;  and  Hooper  a  few  daj's  after,  in  his  own  diocese 
of  Gloucester.  The  fires  of  persecution,  being  thus  kindled,  con- 
tinued to  rage  month  after  month,  and  3-ear  after  year,  to  the  end 
of  Mary's  reign.  Sixty-seven  persons  were  burnt  in  1555,  among 
whom  were  foui"  bishops  and  thirteen  priests.  In  the  following 
year,  eighty-five  were  burnt  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom ;  no 
regard  being  had  to  age  or  sex,  or  condition  in  life.  In  1558, 
thirty-nine  were  burnt.  JQie  \v1iol^_jrmmbejH^ 
reign  was  two  hundred  and  eighty-four ;  while  jiearly_as^  JBaoX. 
were  put  to  death  in  other  way^  Surely  this  queen  most  richly 
deserves  the  damning  appellation  so  commonly  given  to  her,  — 
"  the  Bloody  Mary.'"     Had  her  reign  continued  as  long  as  that  of 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   ENGLAND.  965 

Elizabeth,  she  might  have  utterly  prostrated  the  Reformation  in 
England,  and  quenched  its  holy  fires  in  blood. 

But,  in  mercy  to  his  afflicted  people,  God  was  pleased  to  cut 
short  her  mad  careeer.  She  died  on  the  17th  of  November,  1558. 
Gardiner  had  died  a  little  before  her,  and  Cardinal  Pole  on  the 
day  following  her  decease.  And  thus  the  dominion  of  Popery  in 
England  came  to  an  end,  we  trust  never  to  be  revived. 

Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  Henry  by  Anne  Boleyn,  succeeded 
to  the  throne,  and  was  crowned  on  the  15th  of  February,  1559. 
Her  life  had  been  in  great  danger  at  times  during  her  sister's  reign  ; 
but  by  her  discreet  conduct,  and  careful  avoidance  of  every  thing 
calculated  to  give  offence,  she  escaped  palpable  persecution,  and 
lived  to  be  for  more  than  forty  years  the  queen  of  England.  Her 
accession  was  the  occasion  of  great  joy  to  the  nation  in  general, 
but  of  grief  and  mortification  to  the  priests,  and  those  of  the  Romish 
party  who  justly  apprehended  a  new  revolution  in  religion.  One 
of  the  first  things  done  was  to  order  that  the  liturgy  and  the  rest 
of  the  service  should  be  read  in  English.  The  next  thing  was  the 
choice  of  her  counsellors,  and  the  filling  of  the  vacant  sees.  Dr. 
Matthew  Parker,  who  had  been  her  mother's  chaplain,  and  her  own 
instructor  in  youth,  was  made  arclibishop  of  Canterbury ;  Sir 
Richard  Cecil  was  secretary  of  state  ;  and  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  father 
of  the  celebrated  Lord  Francis  Bacon,  was  made  keeper  of  the  seals. 
Parliament  met  on  the  25th  of  January ;  and  the  first  thing  done 
by  them  was  to  declare  Elizabeth  the  lawful,  undoubted,  and  true 
heir  to  the  crown,  and  the  queen  of  England.  Bills  were  then 
passed  for  abolishing  the  monasteries  recently  established  by  Mary, 
and  for  re-annexing  the  spiritual  supremacy  to  the  crown.  Eliza- 
beth did  not  like  the  title  of  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  but 
consented  to  be  styled  its  governess,  —  a  title  which  she  afterwards 
pretty  thoroughly  vindicated.  The  crown  was  fully  empowered 
"  to  make  or  repeal  all  canons,  repress  and  punish  all  heresies, 
determine  all  points  of  discipline,  and  ordain  or  abolish  any  re- 
ligious rite  or  ceremony,  without  the  concurrence  of  either  the 
parliament  or  convocation."  It  was  also  declared,  that  whoever 
refused  to  take  an  oath  acknowledging  the  queen's  supremacy 
should  be  incapable  of  holding  any  office  ;  and,  persisting  in  such 
offence,  he  should  be  accounted  guilty  of  treason.  Thus  were 
vested  in  the  crown,  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  all  the  spiritual 
powers  which  had  before  been  claimed  by  the  popes.  Another- 
act  was  passed,  known  as  "  the  Act  of  Uniformity,"  by  which  the 


966  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

mass  was  abolished,  the  liturgy  of  Edward  re-established  ;  and 
severe  penalties  were  denounced  upon'  all  who  should  presume  to 
adopt  any  other  form  of  worship.  This  act  was  made  to  bear 
hard  upon  the  Puritans  before  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign. 
Still  another  act  was  passed,  which  confirmed  all  the  statutes  of 
Edward  on  the  subject  of  religion,  and  restored  to  the  sovereign 
the  nomination  of  bishops,  without  any  election  by  the  chapters. 

When  the  period  'arrived  for  introducing  the  liturgy  of  EdAvard, 
and  administering  the  oath  of  supremacy,  all  the  bishops,  except 
one,  refused  compliance,  and  Avere  deprived  of  their  sees ;  but  tlie 
clergy  generally  took  the  oath,  and  remained  in  the  establishment. 
The  places  of  the  deprived  prelates  were  supplied  by  the  most 
distinguished  Protestants ;  and  thus,  in  a  few  months  after  the 
coronation  of  Elizabeth,  the  Protestant  religion  was  re-established 
throughout  the  kingdom. 

The  new  edition  of  the  liturgy  adopted  by  Elizabeth  was  not 
precisely  that  which  had^  been^jised  in  Ed^yard's  time,  but_was 
made  more  conformable  to  the  views^ofjlomanists^___The  Articles, 
too^imlsrwent  some  modification  ;  and  the  number  of  them  was 
reduced  to  thirty-nine.  Elizabeth  was  fond  of  pomp  and  ceremony 
inj;eligion,  and  wasjncliiied  to  retain  more  of  the  Popish  ritual 
th^;n^jtvTis_^^eeaMeJo^jim^  This  brought  her 

into  frequent  and  sharp  collision  with  the  Puritans,  and  con- 
stituted one  of  the  principal  troubles  of  her  otherwise  prosjDerous 
reign. 

The  Puritan  controversy  may  be  said  to  have  originated  among 
the  English  exiles  at  Frankfort  and  Strasburg  during  the  reign 
of  the  bloody  Mary.  As  the  exiles  were  now  out  of  England, 
many  of  them  wished  to  push  the  Reformation  further  than  they 
had  ever  been  permitted  to  do  in  tlireir  own  country,  and  to  con- 
form their  church  service  ajid  organization  more  entirely  to  the 
standard  of  the  reformed  churches-  among  whom  they  dwelt. 
Others  wished  to  retain  precisely  the  standards  of  Edward  VI. 
The  former  of  these  classes  were  the  Puritans,  and  the  latter  the 
liigh  churchmen  of  those  times.  After  the  accession  of  Elizabeth, 
both  classes  returned  into  England,  and  brought  the  controversy 
with  them ;  and  it  continued  to  rage  there  for  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years.  Of  course,  Elizabeth  and  her  court  sided  with  the 
high-church  party ;  and  the  Puritans  were  oppressed  and_]3(erj 
secuted  through  the  greater  part  of  her_reign.  The  history  of 
these  struggles  and  conflicts  is  a  deeply  interesting  one  ;  but  we 
cannot  enter  upon  it  here. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   ENGLAND.  967 

Elizabeth's  other  difficulties  were  with  concealed  Papists  and 
Jesuits  in  her  own  and  in  foreign  lands.  These  were  continually 
plotting  against  her  government  and  her  Ufe ;  and  it  is  a  wonder 
that  she  escaj^ed  their  murderous  hands.  She  was  obliged  to  be 
constantly  on  her  guard  against  them,  and  to  treat  them  with  a 
degree  of  severity,  which,  in  other  circumstances,  could  not  be 
justified.  The  act  for  which  she  has  been  most  censured  was  the 
execution  of  her  cousin,  —  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.  And  yet  it 
would  be  easy  to  show  that  this  Mary  was  a  very  bad  woman,  — 
as  wicked  as  she  was  beautiful ;  and  that  Elizabeth  would  have 
received  no  mercy  from  her,  could  she  have  got  her  within  her 
power. 

In  short,  Elizabeth  was  a  genuine  daughter  of  Henry  VIII., 
and  resembled  liim  in  many  points  of  character.  Like  him,  she 
was  arbitrary,  cruel,  and  ambitious  ;  greedy  of  lucre,  of  honor, 
and  of  power.  And  yet  her  long  reign  was  an  eminently  prosper- 
ous one,  and  a  means,  under  God,  of  immovably  establishing  the 
Protestant  religion  in  England. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

THE   REFORMATION    IN    SCOTLAND    AND   IRELAND. 

CHRISTIANITY  was  introcliiced  into  Scotland  in  the  sixth  and 
seventh  centuries,  by  the  Culdees,  from  the  convent  of  lona. 
This  convent  was  no  other  than  a  missionary  school,  instituted  by 
Columba,  an  Irish  monk ;  from  which  issued  some  of  the  best 
preachers  and  missionaries  of  the  ancient  Church.  These  mis- 
sionaries were  called  Culdees^  a  contraction  of  cultores  Dei  ;  indicat- 
ing their  piety  as  tvorshippers  of  Grod.  They  spread  themselves 
over  Scotland  and  the  north  of  England,  and  extended  their  labors 
even  to  the  Continent.  Several  schools  of  them  sj^rang  up  in  Scot- 
land, formed  after  the  model  of  that  at  lona,  by  means  of  which 
the  number  of  laborers  was  multiplied.  Their  influence  in  Scot- 
land continued,  with  little  abatement,  until  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  At  this  period.  Queen  Margaret,  the  wife  of 
Malcolm  III.,  exerted  all  her  influence  in  favor  of  the  religion  of 
Rome.  She  was  an  Anglo-Saxon  princess,  who  had  been  educated 
in  the  Romish  faith ;  and,  being  a  fascinating  and  gifted  woman, 
she  did  much  to  control  the  counsels  of  her  husband  and  his  court. 
Besides,  she  was  the  mother  of  the  four  succeeding  Scottish  kings; 
viz.,  Edmund,  Edgar,  Alexander  I.,  and  David  I.  This  David  suc- 
ceeded, about  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century,  in 
breaking  down  the  Culdee  establishments,  and  subjecting  them  to 
the  rule  of  the  Catholic  bishops.  These  facts  render  it  probable 
that  the  influence  of  the  gospel  was  not  altogether  lost  in  Scotland 
during  the  next  two  hundred  years,  and  account  for  it  that  the 
people  were  so  ready  to  welcome  the  Reformation  when  it  came. 
We  have  no  such  instance  of  a  simultaneous  and  decided  move- 
ment of  the  people  against  the  burthens  and  Nibominations  of  the 
Romish  hierarchy  as  that  exhibited  in  Scotland  during  the  latter 
half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  state  of  the  Scottish  Church  at  this  period,  and  of  the  coun- 


THE  REFORMATION   IN   SCOTLAND.  969 

try  under  the  oppression  of  that  church,  was  most  deplorable.  A 
full  half  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation  belonged  to  the  clergy ;  and  the 
greater  part  of  this  was  in  the  hands  of  a  few  individuals,  who  had 
the  control  of  the  whole  body.  The  consequence  was,  that  avarice, 
ambition,- and  a  desire  for  pomp  and  display,  reigned  everywhere. 
Bishops  and  abbots  rivalled  the  first  nobility  in  magnificence,  and 
preceded  them  in  honors.  The  bishops  and  secular  clergy  never 
preached.  This  part  of  their  duty  was  devolved  entirely  upon  the 
mendicants,  who  performed  it  only  for  mercenary  purposes. 

At  the  same  time,  the  lives  of  the  clergy  had  become  not  only  a 
scandal  to  religion,  but  an  outrage  upon  all  decency.  While  they 
professed  chastity,  and  prohibited,  under  the  severest  penalties,  the 
marriage  of  priests,  they  set  an  example  before  the  world  of  the 
most  shameless  profligacy.  Through  the  munificence  of  kings  and 
nobles,  monasteries  had  been  greatly  multiplied.  The  kingdom 
swarmed  with  ignorant,  idle,  and  luxurious  monks,  who,  like 
locusts,  devoured  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  tainted  the  very 
atmosphere  with  infection. 

The  ignorance  of  the  clergy  was  as  gross  as  their  morals  were 
dissolute.  We  read  of  one  bishop  who  thanked  God  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  Old  Testament  or  the  New.  Many  of  the  priests  in- 
sisted that  the  New  Testament  was  entirely  the  work  of  Luther,  and 
that  the  Old  only  was  the  word  of  God.  There  was  a  fierce  con- 
troversy at  one  time  among  the  theologians  of  St.  Andrew's  on  the 
question  whether  the  Pater  Noster  (in  other  words,  the  Lord's  Pray- 
er) should  be  addressed  to  God  or  the  saints.  The  religious  service 
was  mumbled  over  in  a  dead  language,  which  many  of  the  priests 
did  not  understand,  and  some  of  them  could  scarcely  read. 

Of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  almost  nothing  remained  but  the 
name.  Every  avenue  by  which  light  and  truth  might  find  access 
to  the  minds  of  the  people  was  carefully  guarded.  Learning  was 
branded  as  the  parcAt  of  heresy';  and  the  most  frightful  pictures 
were  drawn  of  the  state  of  the  heretic,  both  in  this  life  and  in  that 
which  is  to  come. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  state  of  things  in  Scotland,  in  a  moral 
and  religious  point  of  view,  at  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  No  wonder  the  land  "  groaned  and  travailed  in  pain  to- 
gether," waiting  for  the  deliverance  which  was  just  at  hand. 

It  is  likely  that  the  writings  of  the  Protestants  had  begun  to  find 
their  way  into  Scotland  as  early  as  the  year  1525 ;  since  an  act  of 
parliament  passed  in  that  year,  strictly  prohibiting  the  importation 


970  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

of  such  writings,  and  forbidding  all  "  disputation  about  the  heresies 
of  Luther,  except  it  be  to  the  confusion  thereof." 

The  first  martyr  of  the  Reformation  was  Patrick  Hamilton,  who 
was  burnt  in  the  year  1527.  He  was  a  nephew  of  the  earl  of 
Arran  and  of  the  duke  of  Albany,  and  had  been  educated  at  the 
university  of  Marpurg,  in  German3%  Here  he  became  a  convert 
to  the  reformed  religion ;  and,  although  high  preferments  in  the 
Church  were  offered  him  on  his  return  to  Scotland,  he  adhered  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  and  publicly  taught  them.  He  was  de- 
coyed by  the  priests  to  St.  Andrew's,  under  pretence  of  having  a 
free  conference  with  him  on  religious  subjects,  where  he  was  brought 
before  an  ecclesiastical  court,  and  charged  with  maintaining  and 
propagating  heretical  opinions.  A  sentence  of  condemnation  was 
pronounced  upon  him,  which  was  executed  that  very  day.  He  was 
biu-nt  at  the  stake,  exclaiming,  "  How  long,  O  Lord !  shall  dark- 
ness overwhelm  this  kingdom  ?  How  long  wilt  thou  suffer  the 
t}Tanny  of  these  men  ?  " 

.  The  death  of  this  noble  3'oung  man,  and  the  patience  and  forti- 
tude which  he  exhibited,  awakened  a  general  inquuy  into  his  opin- 
ions, and  was  a  powerful  means  of  spreading  the  truth.  As  one 
remarked,  "  The  smoke  of  Patrick  Hamilton  infected  all  that  it 
blew  upon."  Many  were  converted  in  different  parts  of  Scotland, 
several  of  whom  were  called  to  seal  their  testimony  with  their  blood. 
Between  the  years  1530  and  1540,  the  faithful  were  everywhere 
persecuted.  Large  numbers  fled  to  England  and  to  the  Continent : 
some  few  recanted,  and  made  their  peace  with  the  Church  ;  while 
others  followed  Hamilton  to  the  stake,  and  won  for  themselves  a 
martyr's  crown. 

Most  of  the  martjTdoms  at  this  period,  and  for  years  after- 
wards, were  perpetrated  by  Archbishop  Beaton  of  St.  Andrew's. 
"  He  would  rather,"  says  M'Gavin,  "  have  seen  half  the  nation 
brought  to  the  stake,  than  that  one  man  should  be  allowed  to  read 
the  Bible,  and  form  his  own  judgment  of  its  contents."  For  his 
eminent  services  in  killing  off  the  people  of  God,  the  pope  conferred 
on  him  the  rank  of  cardinal. 

In  the  year  1542,  James  V.,  king  of  Scotland,  died.  He  left  a 
widow,  Mary  of  Lorraine,  sister  of  the  Guises  in  France ;  and  an 
infant  daughter,  afterwards  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.  The  king  left 
no  will,  and  made  no  provision  for  a  regency  during  liis  daughter's 
minority.  The  earl  of  Arran  became  nominally  regent ;  but,  by  in- 
trigue and  fraud  and  force,  Cardinal  Beaton  obtained  the  control 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SCOTLAND.  971 

of  affairs,  and  pursued  with  his  wonted  severity  the  adherents  of 
the  reformed  :faith.  Among  the  objects  of  his  wrath  was  George 
Wishart,  a  izealous  and  popular  preacher  of  tlie  new  doctrines. 
While  in  the  neighborhood  of  Edinburgh,  Wishart  had  for  a  con- 
stant hearer  John  Knox,  who  was  at  that  time  tutor  in  the  family 
of  Douglas  of  Langniddrie.  Going  from  Haddington  to  Ormiston 
to  fulfil  an  appointment,  Knox  wished  to  accompany  his  favorite 
preacher ;  but  Wishart  refused  to  permit  him,  saying,  "  One  for  a 
sacrifice  is  enough."  During  the  night,  the  house  where  Wishart 
lodged  was  assailed  by  armed  horsemen :  he  was  taken  and  carried 
a  prisoner  to  St.  Andrew's.  The  earl  of  Arran  opposed  his  con- 
demnation ;  but  Cardinal  Beaton  was  willing  to  take  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility. Accordingly,  Wishart  was  tried  before  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal court,  and  sentenced  to  be  burnt.  When  fastened  to  the  stake, 
Beaton  placed  himself  at  an  open  window  in  the  castle,  that  he 
might  feast  his  eyes  upon  his  devoted  victim  writhing  in  the  agonies 
of  conflagration.  When  the  fire  was  kindled,  Wishart  said,  "•  This 
flame  does  indeed  bring  pain  to  my  body ;  but  it  hath  in  no  wise 
broken  my  heart."  And  then,  pointing  to  the  cardinal,  he  added, 
"  He  who  now  so  proudly  looks  down  upon  me  shall  in  a  few  days 
be  hanged  out  of  the  same  window."  And  the  prediction  was  ful- 
filled. The  friends  of  Wishart  were  resolved  to  avenge  his  murder ; 
and  so,  entering  the  castle  very  early  in  the  morning,  and  making 
their  way  to  the  cardinal's  apartment  before  any  suspicion  was 
entertained  of  their  design,  they  thrust  him  through  with  a  sword, 
and  thus  put  an  end  to  his  bloody  and  diabolical  career.  To  allay 
the  tumult,  and  satisfy  all  concerned  that  the  cardinal  was  dead, 
the  conspirators  hung  out  his  lifeless  body  from  the  same  window 
where  he  had  been  seated  gazing  upon  the  martyrdom  of  Wishart. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Beaton,  the  reformed  party  took  forcible 
possession  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  so  strongly  fortified 
it,  that  the  regent  and  his  troops  could  not  dislodge  them.  They 
called  John  Knoft  to  be  their  pastor ;  and  it  was  under  these  cir- 
cumstances that  he  commenced  his  ministry.  It  did  not,  however, 
continue  long.  The  place  was  soon  captured  by  a  fleet  from 
France  ;  and  Knox  and  his  party  were  taken  prisoners.  Knox  con- 
tinued a  close  prisoner  in  the  French  galleys  for  nineteen  months, 
when  he  obtained  his  liberty,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  England. 

In  the  year  1548,  the  child  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  was  removed 
from  Scotland  to  the  court  of  France,  that  she  might  be  there  edu- 
cated ;  and,  ten  years  after,  she  was  married  to  Francis,  the  eldest 


972  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

son  of  Henry  II.  In  the  marriage-treaty,  it  was  stipulated  that 
the  dauphin  should  assume  the  title  of  King  of  .  ^Scotland,  and 
that  the  crown  matrimonial  should  be  conferred  upon  him.  At 
the  same  time,  through  the  influence  of  the  Guises,  the  uncles 
of  the  young  queen,  she  was  induced  to  take  the  title  of  Queen  of 
England.  This  was  a  most  unfortunate  step  for  Mary,  as  it  occa- 
sioned an  irreconcilable  jealousy  between  herself  and  Elizabeth, 
and  may  have  been  a  means  of  bringing  her  to  the  block. 

In  the  year  1554,  the  earl  of  Arran  resigned  the  regency,  which 
was  given  to  the  queen-mother,  Mary  of  Guise;  she  j^romising  at 
the  same  time  to  protect  the  reformers.  But  this  promise  she  soon 
broke,  as  she  subsequently  did  nearly  all  her  promises. 

Between  the  years  1554  and  1558,  while  the  bloody  Mary  was  on 
the  throne  of  England,. many  Protestant  preachers  fled  into  Scot- 
land, and  helped  to  carry  forward  the  work  of  reformation  there. 
Among  these  were  William  Harlow  and  John  Willocks,  both 
native  Scotchmen,  who  took  this  opportunity  to  return  to  their 
own  country.  Willocks  was  afterwards  a  colleague  with  John 
Knox. 

When  we  last  heard  of  Knox,  he  was  a  resident  in  England, 
where  he  remained  until  the  accession  of  the  bloody  Mary  in  1553. 
He  became  one  of  the  chaplains  of  Edward  VL,  and  had  the  offer 
of  a  bishopric,  which  he  declined.  He  preached  most  of  the  time 
at  Newcastle  and  Berwick,  on  the  borders  of  his  native  country. 
In  Berwick  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  Miss  Marjora  Bowes, 
who  afterwards  became  his  wife.  Soon  after  the  accession  of 
Mary,  Knox  went  to  France,  to  Geneva,  and  some  parts  of  Ger- 
many, where  he  became  acquainted  with  many  of  the  reformers, 
and  particularly  with  Calvin.  At  length,  in  the  autumn  of  1555, 
he  returned  to  Scotland,  and  resumed  his  reforming  labors  there 
'with  increased  energy,  zeal,  and  success.  Commencing  at  Edin- 
burgh, he  made  a  tour  through  a  considerable  part  of  the  country, 
conferring  with  the  nobles  who  favored  the  Reformation,  and 
preaching  in  all  places  where  congregations  could  be  gathered. 
He  gave  a  mighty  impulse  to  the  work  of  salvation  in  his  native 
latid.  He  was  summoned  by  the  regent  to  Edinburgh  to  give  an 
account  of  his  heretical  proceedings ;  but,  when  he  appeared,  she 
did  not  dare  to  deal  with  him,  and  let  him  depart.  He  did  not  go, 
however,  until  he  had  preached  to  a  great  congregation  ;  thus  deep- 
ening the  impressions  which  he  had  before  made,  and  increasing 
the  alarm  and  confusion  of  liis  enemies. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SCOTLAND.  973 

In  the  midst  of  these  deeply-interesting  but  perilous  labors,  he 
received  a  pressing  invitation  from  Geneva  to  return  and  take 
charge  of  an  English  congregation  there.  To  this  call  he  thought 
it  his  duty  to  listen,  and  departed  for  Geneva  in  1556,  taking  his 
wife  and  his  wife's  mother  with  him.  No  sooner  was  he  gone  than 
the  Popish  clergy  renewed  their  summons  for  him  to  appear  at 
Edinburgh ;  and,  upon  his  failing  to  meet  them,  he  was  tried,  con- 
demed,  and  burned  in  effigy  at  the  market-cross,  —  an  achievement 
sufficiently  showing  their  courage  and  their  impotent  hate. 

During  the  absence  of  Knox,  an  event  occurred  which  had  an 
important  influence  upon  the  Scottish  Reformation.  On  the  od  of 
December,  1557,  the  earls  of  Argyle,  Glencairn,  and  Morton,  the 
lord  of  Lorn,  John  Erskine  of  Dun,  with  many  other  distinguished 
men  among  the  lesser  barons  and  influential  countiy  gentlemen, 
assembled  at  Edinburgh,  and  set  their  names  to  a  common  bond,  or 
covenant,  binding  themselves  before  God  and  his  congregation 
that  "  they  would  apply  their  whole  power  and  substance,  and 
their  very  lives,  to  the  support  and  defence  of  each  other  and  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ."  This  remarkable  document,  Avhich-  is  too 
long  to  be  quoted  here,  was  called  The  First  Covenant ;  and  those 
who  entered  into  it  were  called  The  Congregation  of  the  Lord. 
This  association  of  noblemen,  who  had  power  to  maintain  their 
principles  by  force  of  arms,  was  a  great  protection  to  the  Protes- 
tant preachers,  and  a  great  restraint  upon  their  enemies.  Still  they 
could  not  at  once  desist  from  their  old  measures  of  persecution  and 
blood.  There  was  an  aged  priest,  named  Walter  Mill,  who  had 
been  charged  with  heresy  in  the  days  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  but 
had  contrived  to  escape  from  his  murderous  hands.  He  was  dis- 
covered at  this  time,  seized,  and  brought  to  trial  at  St,  Andrew's. 
The  venerable  man,  now  more  than  fourscore  years  old,  defended 
himself  with  great  spirit  and  ability.  He  was  nevertheless  con- 
demned to  be  burnt ;  but  so  great  was  the  compassion  felt  for 
him,  and  such  th-e  horror  awakened  by  this  barbarous  outrage,  that 
no  person  could  be  found  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  sentence, 
until  the  archbishop  commanded  one  of  his  own  domestics  to  per- 
petrate the  crime.  The  old  man  died  uttering  these  words :  "  As 
for  me,  I  am  fourscore  and  two  years  old,  and  cannot  live  long  by 
course  of  nature  ;  but  a  hundred  better  men  shall  arise  out  of  my 
ashes.  I  trust  in  God  that  I  am  the  last  who  shall  suffer  death  in 
Scotland  for  this  cause."  And  he  was  the  last :  the  Papists  were 
not  able  to  brings  another  victim  to  the  stake. 


974  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Mucli  of  the  next  year  or  two  was  spent  in  fruitless  negotiations 
between  the  congregation  of  lords  and  the  queen-regent :  she 
endeavoring  to  get  the  reformed  preachers  into  her  power,  that 
she  might  renew  upon  them  her  old  persecutions,  and  they  defeat- 
ing her  murderous  designs ;  she  making  promises  to  them  while 
under  pressure,  and  brealring  them  as  soon  as  the  pressure  was 
removed ;  and  mustering  an  army  occasionally  to  carry  forward  her 
plans  of  wickedness,  but,  when  confronted  with  another  army,  not 
daring  to  strike.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  negotiations,  eva- 
sions, and  troubles,  that  Knox  made  his  appearance  the  second 
time  at  Edinburgh.  The  regent  had  summoned  four  of  the  prin- 
cipal ministers  to  take  their  trial  before  her  court  at  Stirling  on  the 
10th  of  May,  1559.  Upon  the  remonstrance  of  the  lords,  she  had 
promised  repeatedly  that  there  should  be  no  trial ;  and  yet  her 
clergy  were  holding  a  council  at  Edinburgh,  in  preparation  for  the 
trial,  when  some  one  came  in  in  haste,  exclaiming,  "  John  Knox 
has  come  !  He  slept  in  the  city  last  night :  he  is  here  now."  The 
council  was  panic-struck.  In  dumb  dismay,  they  saw  the  ruin  of 
all  their  plans.  At  once  they  broke  up  the  assembly,  and  dispersed 
to  their  homes. 

It  seems  that  Knox  had  been  invited  by  the  lords  to  hasten  his 
return  to  Scotland :  he  had  listened  to  their  invitation ;  and  on 
the  2d  of  May,  eight  days  before  the  contemplated  trial  at  Stirling, 
he  had  arrived  at  Leith,  the  port  of  Edinburgh.  He  spent  but 
one  day  in  the  city ;  being  resolved  to  cast  himself  at  once  into  the 
heart  of  the  conflict,  and  share  the  dangers  of  his  brethren.  He 
hurried  on  to  Dundee,  and  joined  those  who  were  preparing  to 
proceed  to  the  trial  at  Stirling.  But,  instead  of  a  trial,  the  queen- 
regent  collected  a  body  of  French  and  Scotch  troops,  and  hastened 
them  forward  to  Perth  to  give  the  reformers  battle  ;  and  yet  there 
was  no  battle,  but,  instead  of  that,  a  treaty,  which  the  treacherous 
regent  broke  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  made. 

The  lords  of  the  congregation  now  resolved  to  negotiate  and 
temporize  no  longer,  but  to  take  immediate  steps  for  abolishing  the 
idolatrous  worship  of  Rome,  and  setting  up  the  reformed  worship 
in  all  places  to  which  their  authority  extended  ;  and  as  Lord  James 
Stewart,  one  of  their  number,  was  prior  of  St.  Andrew's,  he  gave 
an  authoritative  invitation  to  Knox  to  meet  him  in  that  city  on  a 
certain  day,  and  preach  publicly  in  the  abbey-church.  Knox 
hastened  to  comply  with  the  invitation,  and,  on  the  9th  of  June, 
arrived  at  St.  Andrew's.    But  the  archbishop,  hearing  of  his  design, 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SCOTLAND.  975 

collected  an  armed  force,  and  sent  word  to  Knox,  that,  if  he 
appeared  in  the  pulpit  on  that  day,  he  would  give  orders  to  fire 
upon  him.  Under  these  circumstances.  Lord  James  Stewart  hesi- 
tated, and  inquired  of  Knox  what  was  to  be  done.  Knox  replied 
in  the  following  characteristic  language  :  "  Let  no  man  be  solicitous 
concerning  me.  My  life  is  in  the  hands  of  Him  whose  glory  I 
seek.  I  wish  no  one  to  lift  a  hand  or  a  weapon  to  defend  me. 
I  only  crave  audience  ;  and  that  I  must  have." 

On  the  next  day,  Knox  appeared  in  the  pulpit,  and  preached  to 
a  numerous  audience,  including  the  archbishop  and  many  of  the 
inferior  clergy ;  thus  fulfilling  a  prediction  which  he  uttered  when 
taken  captive  at  St.  Andrew's  eleven  j-ears  before,  —  that  he  should 
return,  and  again  lift  up  his  voice  for  God  in  that  city. 

When  the  regent  heard  what  had  been  done  at  St.  Andrew's,  she 
sent  forward  her  army  to  drive  the  reformers  away ;  but,  seeing 
their  numbers,  she  dared  not  encounter  them.  She  entered  into  a 
treaty  with  them,  which  she  again  broke.  The  lords  of  the  con- 
gregation determined,  therefore,  to  adopt  more  decisive  measures, 
and  secure  by  their  own  efforts  what  they  could  not  gain  by 
compromise.  They  advanced  forthwitli  to  Perth,  and  expelled 
the  garrison  which  the  regent  had  left  there.  Thence  they  went 
forward  and  seized  Stirling ;  and,  continuing  their  march,  they 
took  possession  of  Edinburgh,  driving  out  the  regent,  who  retired 
with  her  forces  to  Dunbar.  And  now,  as  the  dread  of  the  Popish 
rulers  and  clergy  was  removed,  the  rest  of  the  kingdom  quickly 
followed  the  example  of  Perth  and  St.  Andrew's, — abolished  the 
Romish  worship,  and  set  up  that  of  tlie  reformers  in  its  place. 
Knox  was  chosen  by  the  people  of  Edinburgh  to  be  their  minister ; 
and  John  Willocks  was  appointed  his  assistant. 

About  this  time  the  king  of  France  died,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Francis  IL,  the  husband  of  Mary.  Thus  the  crowns  of  France 
and  Scotland  seemed  to  be  united ;  and  an  additional  supply  of 
money  and  troops  was  sent  forward  to  the  queen-regent  to  enable 
her  to  crush  out  the  Reformation  in  Scotland.  This  led  to  a 
general  meeting  of  the  Protestant  lords-  in  Edinburgh  in  October, 
1559,  where,  by  a  solemn  vote,  they  suspended  the  queen-dowager 
from  the  office  of  regent,  until  the  meeting  of  a  free  parliament, 
and  at  the  same  time  elected  a  council  for  the  management  of 
public  affairs  during  the  interval.  This  act  was  proclaimed  in  all 
the  chief  towns  of  the  kingdom,  and  intimated  formally  to  the 
regent  herself.     She  charged  the  lords  with  rebellion,  and  utterly 


976  ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 

defied  their  power.  Nor  was  her  defiance  altogether  vain.  By  the 
help  of  her  French  troops  and  money,  she  fortified  Leith;  took 
possession  of  Edinburgh,  —  all  but  the  castle ;  and  was  pressmg 
on,  through  Stirling,  in  the  direction  of  St.  Andrew's. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  Protestants  found  it  necessary  to 
apply  to  England  for  help.  The  case  was  stated  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, showing  her  that  her  own  crown  was  involved  in  the  strife ; 
and  she  resolved  at  once  to  send  a  fleet  and  an  army  to  Scotland. 
At  the  approach  of  the  English,  the  French  retreated  to  Leith, 
where  they  hoped  to  hold  out  indefinitely  ;  but,  as  the  English  had 
possession  of  the  fort,  no  supplies  could  be  furnished  them  from 
France,  and  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  capitulating.  A 
treaty  was  formed,  according  to  which  the  English  and  French 
troops  were  both  to  retire  from  Scotland ;  an  amnesty  was  granted 
to  all  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  late  rebellion  against  the 
regent ;  the  principal  grievances  which  had  been  complained  of 
were  to  be  redressed ;  a  free  parliament  should  assemble  as  soon  as 
practicable  to  settle  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom ;  and  in  the  mean 
time  the  government  should  be  administered  by  a  council  of 
twelve,  all  natives  of  the  country,  to  be  chosen,  half  by  the  estates 
of  the  nation,  and  half  by  the  queen.  During  the  adjustment  of 
this  treaty,  the  queen-regent  died  ;  and  thus  a  principal  hinderance 
in  the  way  of  a  pacification  was  removed. 

On  the  first  day  of  August,  1560,  the  parliament  which  had  been 
provided  for  assembled ;  and  is  regarded  as  the  most  important 
meeting  of  the  estates  which  had  ever  been  held  in  Scotland. 
The  questions  about  religion  were  first  to  be  considered ;  and  the 
reformed  ministers  were  called  upon  to  present  a  summary  of 
doctrine  such  as  they  wished  to  have  established.  In  a  few  days 
a  confession  was  furnished,  agreeing  for  substance  with  the  con- 
fessions of  the  other  reformed  churches.  This  was  adopted  almost 
unanimously ;  only  two  of  the  temporal  lords  voting  against  it. 
Parliament  then  proceeded  to  abolish  the  Papal  jurisdiction ;  pro- 
hibited, under  certain  penalties,  the  celebration  of  mass ;  and 
rescinded  all  the  laws  formerly  made  in  support  of  the  Roman- 
Catholic  Church.  These  acts  were  sent  to  France  to  be  ratified 
by  the  king  and  queen,  but  without  expecting  or  much  caring 
for  their  ratification.  Their  enforcement  had  been  guaranteed  by 
anticipation,  on  the  ground  of  the  treaty. 

Soon  after  the  parliament  had  been  dissolved,  the  reformed 
ministers  and  leading  Protestants  met  in  Edinburgh  "  to  consult 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SCOTLAND.  977 

upon  those  things  which  are  to  fo^^yarcl  God's  glory  and  the  weal 
of  his  Church  in  this  realm."  This  was  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Greneral  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.  It  consisted  of  only 
forty  members,  and  but  six  of  these  were  ministers  ;  but  they  were 
men  of  great  abilities,  of  deep  piety,  and  eminently  qualified  for 
the  work  which  God  had  given  them  to  do.  Their  first  Avork  was 
to  prepare  a  hook  of  discipline  to  accompany  their  confession  of 
faith  ;  which  was  approved  by  the  General  Assembly.  It  was  next 
suljmitted  to  the  Priv}^  Council ;  but  here  it  met  with  opposition,  — 
partly  because  of  its  evangelical  strictness,  and  partly  because  of 
the  disposition  which  it  made  of  the  revenues  of  the  old  church 
for  the  support  of  the  new  religious  and  literary  establishments. 
Several  of  the  lords  insisted  on  dividing  these  revenues  among 
themselves. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Francis  II,,  the  young  king  of  France, 
and  husband  of  Mary,  died ;  and  the  queen  indicated  her  willing- 
ness to  return  to  Scotland.  On  the  19th  of  August,  1561,  she 
landed  at  Leith,  and  was  conducted  to  Holyrood  House,  amidst 
great  demonstrations  of  joy  at  her  safe  arrival.  But  she  soon 
began  to  manifest  her  predilections  for  the  religion  of  Rome  in  a 
way  to  be  very  offensive  to  many  of  her  people.  She  had,  indeed, 
the  privilege  of  celebrating  the  Catholic  worship  without  interrup- 
tion in  her  own  household  ;  but  this  was  as  much  as  could  be 
allowed  her.  Knox  was  highly  displeased  with  her  masses  and 
other  superstitious  rites,  and  reproved  her  for  them,  but  with- 
out any  good  effect.  Her  influence  upon  the  nobility,  or  upon 
many  of  them,  was  soon  very  obvious ;  and  several  years  were 
filled  up  with  disputes  between  the  lords,  and  the  lords  and  min- 
isters, respecting  the  Book  of  Discipline  and  other  connected  topics. 
The  queen  became  at  length  so  much  incensed  against  Knox,  that 
she  caused  him  to  be  indicted  and  tried  for  treason ;  but  he  was 
most  triumphantly  acquitted,  much  to  the  mortification  of  Mary 
and  her  abetters. 

In  the  year  1565,  the  agitation  commenced  respecting  the  queen's 
marriage  with  Lord  Darnley.  Darnley  was  the  nearest  heir  to  both 
the  English  and  Scottish  crowns,  in  failure  of  any  direct  heirs  from 
the  two  reigning  queens,  Elizabeth  and  Mary.  There  was,  there- 
fore, a  political  convenience  in  a  union  between  him  and  Mary,  as 
likely  to  preclude  any  competition  for  the  crown  of  either  coun- 
try. Add  to  this  that  Mary  seems  to  have  had  a  strong  affection 
for  him  from  their  first  inter\dew,  and  was  seriously  intent  upon 

62 


978  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

the  marriage.  But  Darnley  was  a  man  of  no  fixed  religious  prin- 
ciples ;  though,  so  far  as  he  had  indicated  his  predilections,  he  was 
hiclined  to  Popery.  The  Protestants,  therefore,  were  afraid  of 
him,  and  would  gladly  have  prevented  the  marriage ;  but  Mary 
could  not  he  restrained.  She  hastened  the  matter  forward  with 
such  precipitation  as  to  anticipate  all  opposition.  On  the  19th  of 
July,  1565,  the  nuptials  were  solemnized ;  and  Darnley  was  pro- 
claimed Idng  without  the  consent  of  the  estates  of  the  kingdom. 

I  pass  over  the  queen's  intrigue  with  Rizzio,  her  Italian  secre- 
tary, the  jealousy  of  her  husband,  the  murder  of  Rizzio,  —  to  which 
her  husband  is  supposed  to  have  been  accessory,  —  and  her  conse- 
quent aversion  to  her  husband,  and  virtual  separation  from  him. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  on  the  19th  of  June,  1656,  she  gave  birth  to  a 
son,  afterwards  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  and  James  I.  of  England. 

Shortly  after  this,  her  intimacy  with  Bothwell  commenced,  —  one 
of  the  vilest  men  that  ever  lived ;  and  this  was  followed  by  the 
murder  of  her  husband.  Poor  Darnley  was  decoyed  to  Edinburgh, 
and  there  lodged  in  a  solitary  dwelling,  which  was  blown  up  on 
the  10th  of  February,  and  he  was  destroyed.  No  one  doubted 
that  Bothwell  was  the  responsible  author  of  the  crime ;  but  the 
favor  of  the  queen,  who  was  supposed  to  be  accessory  to  it,  screened 
him  from  justice ;  and  in  three  short  months  she  was  married  to 
the  infamous  Bothwell.  Fearing  now  for  the  life  of  the  infant 
jDrince,  the  nobles  formed  a  confederacy  to  avenge  the  king's  death, 
and  to  rescue  the  child  fi'om  its  mother's  hands.  She  tried  to  raise 
an  army  for  her  defence ;  but  her  troops  would  not  fight  for  her 
and  for  her  blood-stained  paramour.  Bothwell  fled  ;  and  Mary  was 
confined  to  Lochleven  Castle.  Her  escape  from  the  castle,  the 
rallying  of  the  Hamiltons  for  her  defence,  her  defeat,  her  flight 
to  England,  her  protracted  imprisonment,  and  melancholy  death 
—  all  these  are  well  known  to  the  readers  of  Scottish  history,  and 
need  not  be  detailed  here.  Much  sympathy  has  been  excited  for  this 
wicked  woman,  and  much  censure  heaped  upon  Queen  Elizabeth 
for  cutting  her  off,  but,  as  it  seems  to  me,  without  sufficient  reason. 
That  she  was  a  consummate  hypocrite,  a  murderess,  and  an  adul- 
teress, there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and  that  she  was  accessory  to 
nearly  all  the  leagues  and  plots  which  were  formed  by  the  Guises 
and  the  Jesuits,  with  a  view  to  take  the  life  of  Elizabeth,  is  sus- 
ceptible of  the  fullest  proof.  She  early  assumed  the  title  of  queen 
of  England ;  and  she  was  unscrupulous  in  her  endeavors  to  make 
her  title  good.     That  she  was  a  persistent  traitor  to  the  crown  of 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SCOTLAND.  979 

Elizabeth,  and  deservedly  came  to  a  traitor's  end,  is,  in  my  view, 
unquestionable. 

After  the  downfall  of  Mar}^,  the  earl  of  Murray  was  constituted 
regent  during  the  minority  of  the  young  prince.  His  administra- 
tion was  so  upright,  and  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  religion,  as  to 
secure  for  him  the  appellation  of  the  Good  Rege7it.  It  continued 
about  three  years,  —  until  1570,  — when  he  was  treacherously  mur- 
dered by  one  of  the  Hamiltons.  The  regency  then  fell  to  the 
earl  of  Lennox,  father  of  Darnley,  and  the  grandfather  of  the  young 
king.  After  his  death,  in  1574,  the  earl  of  Mar  was  made  regent ; 
and  after  him  the  earl  of  Morton,  who  continued  in  office  until 
James  assumed  the  government  in  1578.  During  the  most  of  this 
time,  the  country  was  agitated  by  dissensions,  and  rent  by  civil 
war.  The  Hamiltons  headed  one  party,  which  aimed  at  the  resto- 
ration of  the  exiled  queen  ;  and  the  regents  the  other  party,  which 
contended  for  the  rights  of  the  Church  and  the  young  king. 
There  were  violent  disputes,  too,  in  regard  to  the  disposition  of  the 
revenues  of  the  Church ;  the  ministers  insisting  that  they  should 
be  devoted  to  the  interests  of  education  and  religion,  but  the  nobil- 
ity claiming  that  the  principal  share  belonged  to  them. 

In  the  midst  of  these  commotions,  Knox,  the  faithful  guardian 
of  liberty  and  religion,  died.  When  his  body  was  lowered  into 
the  grave,  the  Regent  Morton  (Avith  whom  Knox  had  been  often 
in  conflict)  looked  down  into  it,  and  said,  "  There  lies  one  who  never 
feared  the  face  of  man.'''  After  Knox's  death,  the  leadership  in 
church-matters  devolved  chiefly  upon  Andrew  Melville,  —  a  man 
eminently  adapted  to  carry  forward  and  consummate  what  Knox 
and  his  co-adjutors  had  so  successfully  begun. 

I  have  said  already,  that,  in  the  year  1560,  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  held  its  first  meeting,  consisting  of 
only  forty  members.  It  continued  to  meet  from  year  to  year,  and 
often  more  than  once  in  the  year,  down  to  the  accession  of  James 
in  1578.  In  this  time,  though  tossed  and  agitated  by  numerous 
conflicts,  it  had  perfected  its  organization,  adopted  its  confession  of 
faith  and  book  of  discipline,  established  rules  of  procedure,  and 
greatly  increased  in  numbers  and  strength.  Calvinistic  in  doctrine, 
and  Presbyterian  in  government,  it  had  become  in  fact,  what  it 
was  in  name,  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland.  The  subse- 
quent history  of  this  church  is  one  of  great  interest ;  but  the  his- 
tory of  the  revolution,  fitly  termed  the  Reformation  in  Scotland^ 
may  with  propriety  be  ended  here. 


980  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

It  may  be  proper  to  close  this  chapter  with  a  brief  account  of 
the  Reformation  in  Ireland.  Nothwithstanding  the  proximity  of 
Ireland  to  England,  there  had  been  little  intercourse  between  the 
two  countries  before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century ;  nor,  up 
to  this  time,  had  the  churches  of  Ireland  had  any  close  and  formal 
connection  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  They  had  been  gathered 
and  instructed  by  St.  Patrick  and  his  successors,  and  were  far  from 
being  strict  and  obsequious  Papists.  Their  religion  was  more  like 
that  of  the  Culdees.  But,  during  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  of  Eng- 
land, one  of  the  Irish  chieftains  or  kings,  being  driven  from  his 
own  country,  had  recourse  to  Henry,  and  promised  to  surrender 
to  him  his  crown  in  case  he  would  effect  his  restoration.  At  the 
same  time,  Henry  procured  from  Pope  Adrian  a  bull  conferring 
on  him  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland.  Thus  subjection  to  England 
and  the  Popish  religion  commenced  at  nearly  the  same  time  ;  and 
together  they  continued  to  dominate  over  Ireland,  not'  without 
frequent  struggles  and  conflicts,  until  the  revolution  under  Henry 
VIII.  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

When  Henry  renounced  the  pope  of  Rome,  and  made  himself 
head  of  the  English  Church,  he  attempted  to  do  the  same  thing  in 
Ireland ;  and,  though  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  major  vote  for  it 
in  the  Irish  parliament,  the  people  and  the  clergy  generally  would 
not  consent  to  it.  Henry  suppressed  the  monasteries,  and  confis- 
cated their  funds  ;  but  this  did  not  suppress  Popery.  Nor  did  the 
Reformation  in  Ireland  make  much  progress  during  the  short  reign 
of  Edward  VI.  Hence,  when  Mary  came  to  the  throne,  she  at 
once  restored  every  thing  in  that  country  except  the  confiscated 
property.  She  did  not  attempt  to  persecute  the  handful  of  Prot- 
estants in  Ireland  until  near  the  close  of  her  reign ;  when  she  sent 
over  Dr.  Cole  with  a  commission  for  that  purpose.  But  his  com- 
mission was  stolen  from  him  on  the  way,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
return  for  another ;  and,  before  he  reached  Ireland,  the  second 
time,  the  queen  was  dead,  and  he  could  not  proceed  with  his 
bloody  work. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  proclaimed  head  of  the  Church  in  Ireland 
as  well  as  in  England,  and  undertook  to  enforce  the  Protestant 
doctrine  and  worship,  but  without  much  success.  The  Popish 
clergy  lost  their  livings,  and  a  Protestant  establishment  was  set 
up ;  but  the  people  at  large  would  not  attend  Protestant  worship. 
Hence,  while  the  established  religion  was  that  of  the  Church  of 
England,  it  was  followed  by  few  except  the  officers  of  government 
and  some  resident  English  families. 


THE    REFORMATION    IN    IRELAND.  981 

In  the  reign  of  James  I.  and  his  successors,  many  Presbyterians 
from  Scotland  settled  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  English  Puri- 
tans also  took  refuge  there  :  so  that  the  province  of  Ulster  became, 
and  still  continues  to  be,  in  great  measure  Protestant.  But  the 
pure  Irishmen,  in  the  middle  and  south  and  west  of  Ireland, 
adhere  to  the  Catholic  religion.  Protestant  missions  and  schools 
have  been  established  among  them ;  and  the  conflict  is  still  raging 
between  the  Romish  and  reformed  religions.  The  Church  of  Ire- 
land, which  was  Protestant-Episcopal,  has  recently  been  dis- 
established ;  and  Christians  of  all  classes  are  put  upon  their  own 
resources.  The  religious  future  of  Ireland  is  still  uncertain, 
though  it  can  hardly  be  worse  than  it  has  been  for  the  last  three 
hundred  years. 


CHAPTER  XL VI. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND   AND   FRANCE. 


SWITZEELAND. 

WE  have  traced  tlie  history  of  the  Reformation  in  most  of 
the  countries  of  Eiu'ope,  until  it  resulted,  either  in  a  total 
suppression  of  the  work,  as  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  Bohemia  ;  or  in 
its  permanent  establishment,  as  in  Germany,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Enoiand,  and  Scotland.  We  have  traced  it  in  Switzerland  to  the 
death  of  Zwingie  in  1531 ;  in  France  to  the  death  of  Francis  I. 
in  1547  ;  and,  in  the  Netherlands,  to  the  abdication  of  Charles  V. 
in  1555. 

Before  the  death  of  Zwingie,  in  1531,  several  of  the  Swiss  can- 
tons had  either  established  the  reformed  religion,  or  had  proclaimed 
an  unrestricted  liberty  of  worship.  In  the  grisons,  religious  free- 
dom was  introduced  in  the  year  1527.  In  the  great  canton,  of 
Berne,  the  reformed  religion  was  established  the  next  year ;  and 
this  was  followed  by  a  similar  change  in  the  canton  of  St.  Gall. 
In  Basle,  the  struggle  was  more  protracted  :  but  in  February, 
1529,  the  Catholic  members  of  the  government  were  compelled 
to  resign  ;  and  the  reformed  religion  was  introduced.  In  Glaris 
and  Appenzell,  the  two  parties  compromised  their  differences  by 
establishing  religious  freedom. 

In  the  Protestant  cantons,  a  league  was  formed  before  the  death 
of  Zwingie, .  under  the  name  of  "  Burgher  Rights,"  embracing 
Zurich,  Constance,  Berne,  St.  Gall,  Biel,  Mulhausen,  Schaffhausen, 
and  Basle.  The  city  of  Strasburg  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 
were  also  connected  with  the  league.  But,  notwithstanding  this 
show  of  strength,  Zurich  was  left  almost  alone  to  engage  in  the 
war  with  the  five  Catholic  cantons,  in  which  Zwingie  was  slain. 

The  results  of  this  war  were,  on  many  accounts,  unfavorable  to 

982 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  983 

the  Protestant  cantons.  They  were  obliged  to  pay  all  indemnities, 
and  to  abolish  their  league  ;  .and  they  lost,  not  only  their  great 
leader  Zwingie,  but  also  Qj^colampadius.  He  died  the  same  year, 
of  disappointment  and  grief ;  but  their  places  were  soon  filled  by 
men  of  the  like  spirit.  Henry  Bullinger  was  the  successor  of 
Zwingie  at  Zurich,  while  Myconius  took  the  place  of  Q^^colampadius 
at  Basle.  There  were  divisions  and  contentions,  too,  among  the 
reformed  cantons,  of  which  the  Catholics  took  advantage  to  re- 
assert their  claims. 

,  But,  while  the  defeat  at  Cappel  set  bourtds  to  the  Reformation 
in  German  Switzerland,  in  the  French  cantons  it  gained  an  effectual 
entrance.  For  several  years,  Farel  had  been  preaching  in  the 
French  parts  of  the  cantons  of  Berne  and  Biel,  and  also  at  Neu- 
chatel,  where  the  Reformation  was  established  in  1530 :  but  in 
Geneva  he  found  a  miujh  wider  sphere  for  his  energies. 

The  history  of  Geneva,  which  now  claims  our  attention,  is  one 
of  much  interest.  It  was  a  Avell-known  city  of  the  Allebrogians 
in  the  time  of  Julius  Ccesar,  and  continued  to  be  a  place  of  dis- 
tinction under  the  following  emperors.  In  the  fourth  centurj^ 
the  inhabitants  embraced  Christianity ;  and  the  city  became  an 
episcopal  see.  In  the  following  century,  it  was  the  capital  of  the 
newly-established  kingdom  of  Burgundy ;  but,  in  the  time  of 
Charlemagne,  it  was  transferred  to  the  French  monarchy,  and  its 
ancient  privileges  and  laws  were  restored.  Under  Henry  the 
Fowler,  it  was  united  to  the  German  Empire  ;  and,  in  1153,  Frederic 
Barbarossa  resigned  the  entire  government  of  the  place  into  the 
hands  of  the  bishop,  who  thus  became  a  prince-bishoj),  or  temporal 
prince. 

The  Genevans  had  always  been  a  liberty-loving  people  ;  and  for 
the  next  three  or  four  hundred  years  it  is  interesting  to  trace  their 
conflicts  —  with  their  prince -bishops  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
dukes  of  Savoy  on  the  other,  and  sometimes  with  the  pontiffs 
and  the  German  emperors  —  to  preserve  their  political  existence 
and  the  liberties  which  still  remained  to  them.  Wearied  out  Avith 
these  long  struggles,  in  the  year  1526  the  Genevans  entered  into 
an  alliance  with  the  Swiss,  and  adopted  a  form  of  government  like 
that  of  the  other  cantons.  They  had  their  three  councils,  —  the 
lesser  council ;  the  council  of  sixty ;  and  the  council  of  three  hun- 
dred, which  was  over  all. 

In  consequence  of  this  alliance,  the  reformed  doctrines  came  to 
be  known  in  Geneva ;    and  in  1535  —  chiefly   through   the  in- 


984  '        ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

fliience  of  Farel  and  Viret  —  the  Papal  authority  was  abolished, 
and  the  worship  of  the  reformed  churches  was  established.  In 
the  next  year,  Calvin  arrived  there  on  a  journey,  thinking  to  tarry 
but  for  a  night ;  but  his  coming  was  made  known  to  Farel,  who 
went  to  him  at  once,  and  used  every  persuasive  method  to  retain 
him.  Finding,  however,  that  persuasion  was  powerless ;  that 
Calvin's  purpose  was  to  go  to  Basle  or  Strasburg,  and  devote  him- 
self to  private  studies,  —  Farel  lifted  up  his  hand,  and  said,  "  In 
the  name  of  the  Almighty,  I  declare  to  you,  that  if,  under  the 
pretext  of  love  to  your  studies,  you  refuse  to  unite  your  labor 
with  ours  in  this  work  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  will  curse  you  in  your 
retirement^  as  seeking  your  oivn  tvill,  and  not  his."  Awed  by  this 
denunciation,  Calvin  gave  over  the  prosecution  of  his  journey,  and 
yielded,  not  only  to  the  wishes  of  his  friend,  but  to  what  seemed 
to  him  the  will  of  Providence.  By  the  suffrages  of  the  pres- 
bytery, the  magistrates,  and  of  the  whole  people,  he  was  chosen 
preacher,  and  also  professor  of  sacred  literature  ;  which  office  he 
accepted  in  August,  1536. 

The  first  object  of  Calvin's  attention  at  Geneva  was  to  publish 
a  formula  of  doctrine,  and  a  short  catechism  adapted  to  the  state 
of  the  Genevese  Church  on  its  first  emerging  from  the  delusions 
of  Popery.  He  also  prepared  some  necessary  rules  of  order  and 
discipline.  As  might  have  been  expected,  these  excited  opposition. 
Nevertheless,  on  the  26th  of  July,  1537,  the  senate  and  citizens 
of  Geneva  entered  the  council-house,  and  publicly  took  the  oath 
of  adherence  to  the  articles  of  doctrines,  and  rules  of  discipline, 
which  had  been  prepared. 

Just  at  this  time  there  was  an  influx  of  Anabaptists  at  Geneva, 
who  took  occasion  to  stir  up  strife  by  propagating  their  levelling 
principles.  Calvin  and  his  colleagues  proposed  to  have  a  public 
conference  with  them ;  which  proposition  was  accepted :  and  so  . 
completely  were  they  confuted  by  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  that 
they  left  the  place,  and  made  no  more  efforts  of  the  kind  at 
Geneva. 

There  were  those  at  Geneva  who  professed  to  be  Christians, 
who  had  assented  to  the  creed  and  rules  of  the  Church,  and  claimed 
the  right  to  come  to  its  ordinances,  whose  characters  and  lives 
were  base  and  vicious.  All  prudent  methods  had  been  taken  to 
reclaim  them,  but  to  no  purpose.  And  now  what  shall  be  done  ? 
Shall  all  persons  be  allowed  to  come  to  the  sacrament  as  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  do  in  the  Romish  Church  ?  or  shall  the  dis- 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   SWITZERLAND.  985 

cipline  of  the  Church  be  sustained,  and  the  flagrantly  delinquent 
be  excluded  ?  Calvin  and  his  colleagues  were  aware  that  to 
exclude  them  would  create  a  difficulty  ;  for  to  be  shut  away  from 
communion  in  those  times  was  equivalent  to  becoming  an  outlaw  ; 
and  the  delinquents  were  among  the  magnates  of  the  city.  Never- 
theless, these  faithful  men  did  not  hesitate.  They  resolved  to 
adhere  firmly  to  what  they  conceived  to  be  their  official  duty,  and 
abide  the  consequences.  They  refused  to  dispense  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  those  whose  characters  were  vicious,  and  who  refused 
to  abide  by  the  rules  of  discipline  which  liad  been  adopted. 

This  was  the  first  attempt,  of  which  we  have  any  account,  to 
enforce  discipline  in  the  reformed  churches,  and  exclude  the  un- 
worthy from  the  supper  of  the  Lord  ;  and  we  can  hardly  realize 
how  much  we  are  indebted  to  Calvin  and  his  colleagues  for  the 
stand  which  they  took  on  this  trying  occasion.  Had  they  decided 
differently,  the  discipline  of  our  churches  might  have  been  as 
utterly  prostrate  at  this  day  as  is  that  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
Germany,  or  the  Church  of  England. 

A  controversy  followed,  as  the  ministers  had  anticipated.  The 
censured  syndics  refused  to  submit.  They  could  accept  Calvin's 
decretum  absolutimi,  or  almost  any  thing  else  in  point  of  doctrine  ; 
but  to  have  their  sinful  indulgences  interfered  with,  and  be  exclud- 
ed from  the  communion  of  the  Church,  they  could  not  submit. 
They  resorted  to  all  methods  of  stirring  up  strife  ;  and  at  length 
obtained  an  order  in  an  assembly  of  the  people,  that  Calvin,  Farel, 
and  Viret  should  leave  the  city  in  two  days.  When  this  decision 
was  announced  to  Calvin,  he  simply  said,  "  Had  I  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  man,  this  would  have  been  a  poor  reward :  but  it  is  well ;  I 
have  served  Him  who  never  fails  to  repay  his  servants  all  that  he 
has  promised." 

Calvin  retired  from  Geneva,  first  to  Basle,  and  then  to  Strasburg, 
where  he  resolved  to  rest  for  a  time,  and  prosecute  his  favorite 
studies.  Here  he  found  some  of  the  more  distinguished  ministers 
in  the  Reformed  Church,  such  as  Bucer,  Capito,  Hedio,  Niger,  and 
Sturmius.  Calvin  was  soon  appointed  professor  of  theology  in  the 
college  at  Strasburg,  and  succeeded  in  gathering  a  French  Church, 
of  which  he  became  pastor,  and  in  which  he  established  the  same 
order  of  worship  and  discipline  Avhich  he  had  introduced  at  Geneva. 
At  the  same  time,  he  exercised  a  general  supervision  of  the  Church 
at  Geneva,  and  by  messages  and  letters  endeavored  to  heal  their 
divisions,  and  protect  them  from  the  machinations  of  the  Romanists 
and  other  enemies. 


986  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Calvin  was  absent  from  Geneva  about  three  years ;  in  which 
time  he  was  married  to  a  widow  lady,  by  whom  he  had  a  son.  The 
child  died  in  1545,  when  about  four  years  old.  He  also  visited 
Germany,  attended  the  diets  of  Worms  and  Ratisbon,  and  became 
acquainted  with  Melancthon. 

Meanwhile  God  had  been  visiting  a  just  retribution  upon  the 
reprobate  syndics  at  Geneva  who  had  effected  the  expulsion  of 
Calvin.  One  of  them,  in  endeavoring  to  escape  from  the  officers 
oi  justice,  fell  through  a  lattice,  and  was  killed.  Another  had  been 
convicted  of  murder,  and  was  executed.  Two  others  had  been 
banished  from  tlie  city,  and  forbidden  ever  to  return.  In  short, 
two  years  had  materially  changed  the  face  of  things  at  Geneva ;  and 
the  people  sent  an  embassy  to  Calvin  to  solicit  his  return.  At  first, 
he  positively  refused ;  but  at  the  solicitation  of  friends,  and  after 
having  adjusted  matters  to  his  satisfaction,  he  thought  it  his  duty  to 
comply.  He  arrived  at  Geneva  Sept.  13,  1541,  and  was  received 
with  the  gratulations  of  the  whole  people  ;  while  the  senate  ordered 
a  public  thanksgiving  to  God  for  so  great  a  blessing. 

We  shall  not  pursue  the  history  of  Calvin  and  of  the  Church  at 
Geneva  further.  It  belongs,  not  to  a  history  of  the  Reformation, 
but  rather  of  the  entire  Reformed  Church.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
he  remained  steadfastly  at  his  post  for  the  next  twenty-three  years, 
—  abounding  in  all  sorts  of  ministerial  labor,  and  pre-eminent  in 
usefulness,  —  the  teacher  not  only  of  his  own.  church  and  people, 
but  indirectly  of  all  the  reformed  churches.  Nor  has  his  influence 
ceased,  or  scarcely  diminished,  to  the  present  time.  It  is  felt 
wherever  his  name  is  known  or  his  works  are  read.  He  died  on 
the  24th  of  May,  1564,  aged  fifty-four  years,  ten  months,  and  seven- 
teen days. 

In  the  other  cantons  of  Switzerland,  the  Reformation  came  to  a 
stand  soon  after  the  death  of  Zwingle.  They  were  divided  in  re- 
spect to  religion,  —  part  of  them  Catholic,  part  Protestant,  and  part 
mixed  ;  and  so  they  continue  to  the  present  day. 

FRANCE. 

We  have  before  traced  the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  France 
to  the  death  of  Francis  I.  in  1547.  His  excellent  sister  Margaret, 
queen  of  Navarre,  who,  though  she  never  formally  separated  herself 
from  the  Romish  Church,  was  yet  the  fast  friend  and  protectress 
of  the  reformers,  died  two  years  after,  —  in  1549. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  987 

Francis  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Heniy  II.,  whose  wife  was  the 
infamous  Catharine  de  Medicis,  niece  of  Pope  Clement  VII.  She 
was  an  unprincipled,  deceitful,  cruel  woman,  —  the  mother  of  the 
three  succeeding  kings.  She  was  a  persecutor  of  God's  people, 
and  a  curse  to  France  for  many  years.  During  the  reign  of  Henry, 
the  same  system  of  oppression  which  had  marked  the  character  of 
his  predecessor  was  rigidly  adhered  to.  He  emulated  the  zeal  and 
imitated  the  example  of  his  father  by  attending  in  person  the 
executions  at  Paris.  With  a  singular  inconsistency,  but  from  mo- 
tives of  policy,  while  he  pursued  his  own  Protestant  subjects  with 
fire  and  sword,  he  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Protestant  princes 
of  Germany,  and  sent  his  armies  to  assist  them  in  the  defence  of 
their  religion.  Thus  did  Providence  overrule  and  control  the  ene- 
mies of  his  Church  by  making  them  the  instruments  of  their  own 
discomfiture  and  defeat. 

In  this  reign  we  begin  to  hear  of  the  two  Guises,  brothers  of 
the  ancient  house  of  Lorraine,  who  had  great  influence  with  the 
government,  and  were  bitter  enemies  of  the  Reformation.  At  their 
instigation,  an  edict  was  published  by  Henry,  establishing  the  In- 
quisition. The  inquisitors  were  empowered  to  inflict  capital  pun- 
ishment upon  all  heretics.  The  severity  of  this  edict  was  some- 
what softened  by  an  act  of  parliament.  Still  the  institution  was 
one  of  terror  and  death  to  the  Protestants,  as  it  had  been  in  all 
places  where  it  was  set  up. 

In  the  year  1559,  the  duke  of  Ferrara  died  ;  and  his  widow,  Re- 
nata,  a  daughter  of  Louis  XII.,  returned  to  France.  She  took  up 
her  residence  in  the  Castle  of  Montargis,  avowing  openly  her  at- 
tachment to  the  Reformation,  and  receiving  and  protecting  those 
who  professed  its  doctrines.  This  she  had  done  in  Italy  during  her 
whole  married  life  ;  and  she  persisted  in  the  same  course  after  her 
return  to  France.  She  was  to  the  Reformed  Church  Avhat  the  la- 
mented Margaret  had  been  who  died  ten  years  before.  The  didve 
of  Guise,  being  highly  incensed  that  she  extended  protection  to 
the  Protestants,  threatened  to  batter  the  walls  of  her  castle  unless 
she  dismissed  them  ;  but  she  said  to  his  messenger,  "  Tell  your 
master  that  I  shall  mj^self  mount  the  battlements,  and  see  if  he 
dare  kill  a  king's  daughter."  She  lived  after  her  return  to  France 
sixteen  years,  and  died  in  1575. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  influences  that  were  exerted  for  the 
suppression  of  the  reformed  religion,  it  continued  to  make  progress 
during  the  whole  of  Henry's  reign.     The   entire  Bible  had  been 


988  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

translated  into  the  French  language  by  Olivetan,  the  uncle  of  Cal- 
vin ;  and  the  Psalms  had  been  versified  by  Marot.  This  last  publi- 
cation was  immensely  popular.  The  verses  of  Marot  were  set  to 
music,  and  were  sung  everywhere,  even  by  the  king  and  his  court. 
No  gentleman  professing  the  reformed  religion  would  engage  in 
morning  or  evening  worship,  or  sit  down  at  his  table,  without  sing- 
ing a  psalm.  Many  of  the  nobility  declared  themselves  Protestants, 
among  whom  were  the  king  of  Navarre,  the  prince  of  Conde,  and 
the  admiral  Coligni.  At  length,  the  Popish  clergy  became  alarmed, 
and  called  upon  the  king  to  put  forth  his  power,  and  suppress  the 
hated  Reformation  before  it  had  infected  all  classes  of  his  subjects. 
The  king  roused  himself  to  the  bloody  work  with  the  determina- 
tion to  carry  it  through  effectually ;  when  Providence  again  inter- 
posed for  the  safety  of  the  Protestants.  The  king  was  killed  at  a 
tournament  on  the  29th  of  June,  1559,  in  a  tilt  with  one  of  his 
knights. 

This  same  year,  the  Protestant  Church  of  France  became  more 
fully  organized  than  ever  before.  A  general  assembly,  consisting 
of  eleven  ministers,  was  secretly  held  in  Paris,  and  prepared  a  com- 
prehensive confession  of  faith.  Without  any  concert  with  other 
Protestant  churches,  it  harmonizes  entirely  with  the  confessions  of 
them  all ;  thus  showing,  that,  under  the  teaching  of  God's  Spirit, 
no  good  men,  however  scattered,  can  seriously  differ  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture. 

Henry  II.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Francis  II.,  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 
Yet  he  had  been  married  for  some  months  to  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. 
His  mother,  Catharine,  supported  by  the  Guises,  took  possession  of 
the  government,  and  undertook  at  once  the  work  of  persecution 
which  the  sudden  death  of  Henry  had  left  unfinished.  Dubourg, 
a  noble  member  of  parliament,  was  brought  to  trial,  and,  after  a 
little  delay,  was  executed.  He  might  have  saved  himself  by  some 
slight  evasions  and  modifications  ;  but  he  disdained  on  such  terms 
to  accept  of  life,  and  nobly  and  resolutely  met  his  fate.  It  was 
the  intention  .of  the  government  to  proceed  to  other  executions ; 
but  the  threatening  aspect  of  public  affairs  prevented.  The  Hugue- 
nots entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  pul^  down  the  Guises,  and  reform 
the  government ;  but  their  design  was  discovered,  and  the  leaders 
were  put  to  death.  The  prince  of  Conde  and  the  king  of  Navarre 
were  both  in  prison,  and  would  have  been  executed  in  a  few  days ; 
when  the  king  died,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  having  reigned  only 
seventeen  months. 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   FRANCE.  989 

Charles  IX.  was  in  his  eleventh  year  when  called  to  succeed 
his  brother  Francis.  His  reign  of  fourteen  years  was  a  stormy 
one,  filled  up  with  religious  quarrels,  civil  wars,  and  massacres. 
Contrar}^  to  the  wishes  of  the  Guises,  his  mother  was  appointed 
regent.  To  secure  her  power,  she  now  sought  the  friendship  of 
the  king  of  Navarre  and  of  the  Protestants,  and  even  listened  to 
some  Protestant  preachers.  She  needed  money ;  and  in  1561 
the  states-general  were  called  together.  But  they  did  nothing 
but  wrangle  ;  the  Catholics  insisting  upon  the  extirpation  of  all 
heretics,  and  the  Protestants  demanding  toleration.  In  hope  of 
restoring  harmon}^  and  peace,  a  conference  of  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant divines  was  held  at  Poissy  in  July,  1561.  In  behalf  of  the 
Protestants,  Theodore  Beza  was  present  from  Geneva,  and  Peter 
Martyr  from  Zurich.  The  dispute  was  conducted  with  a  good 
degree  of  courtesy  and  moderation  ;  though,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  a  compromise  was  found  to  be  impossible.  Notwith- 
standing the  prevailing  disorders,  the  Protestants  at  this  time  were 
prosperous  ;  and  their  numbers  were  continually  increasing.  They 
are  said  to  have  had  not  less  than  two  thousand  one  hundred  and 
forty  congregations  dispersed  through  every  part  of  France. 

In  January,  1562,  a  national  convention  assembled  at  St. 
Germaine,  and  agreed  that  the  Protestants  should  be  allowed  to 
hold  private  worship  until  otherwise  determined  by  a  general 
council.  Neither  party  was  satisfied  with  this  decision ;  and  it 
was  followed  by  tumultuous  proceedings.  In  order  to  secure  an 
addition  to  his  territory,  the  king  of  Navarre  now  abandoned  the 
Protestants,  and  summoned  the  duke  of  Guise  to  the  capital  to 
aid  in  suppressing  the  existing  tumults.  On  his  way,  his  soldiers 
fell  upon  a  congregation  of  Protestants  who  were  assembled  for 
worship,  and  two  hundred  and  sixt}^  of  them  were  put  to  death. 
The  queen-regent  and  her  son,  not  thinking  themselves  safe  in 
the  power  of  the  Guises,  retired  to  Fontainebleau ;  but  they 
found  no  safety  there.  An  army  was  sent  to  bring  them  back  to 
Paris,  where  they  were  retained  in  a  sort  of  custody. 

The  result  was  a  civil  war.  The  Protestants  made  Orleans  their 
headquarters ;  and  the  prince  of  Conde  and  the  admiral  Coligni 
were  their  leaders,  while  the  Catholics  were  commanded  by  the 
duke  of  Guise,  the  apostate  king  of  Navarre,  and  the  constable 
Montmorenci.  Much  blood  was  shed  in  this  conflict ;  and  many 
towns  were  taken  and  ravaged.  The  king  of  Navarre  was  slain 
in  battle  ;  the  duke  of  Guise  was  assassinated  ;  while  Montmorenci 


990  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

was  taken  prisoner  by  tlie  Protestants,  and  Conde  by  the  Catholics. 
Peace  was  concluded  at  Amboise  in  March,  1563,  on  the  ground 
of  a  general  amnesty  for  the  past,  and  free  toleration  of  Protestant 
worship  in  all  the  towns  of  which  they  held  possession. 

This  treaty  was  not  well  observed ;  and  the  Protestants,  finding 
the  court  determined  on  their  ruin,  renewed  the  war  in  1567 
under  Coligni  and  the  prince  of  Conde.  In  this  second  war 
Montmorenci  fell,  and  many  other  noblemen  on  both  sides.  Peace 
was  concluded  early  in  1568  on  nearly  the  same  terms  as  before ; 
but  within  three  months,  in  consequence  of  hostile  movements  by 
the  court,  the  war  was  renewed  with  increased  violence.  It  was 
carried  on  with  various  success  and  witli  terrible  ferocity  for  the 
next  two  years.  The  prince  of  Conde  fell  in  battle.  In  the 
■course  of  the  war,  the  queen  of  Navarre,  with  her  son  (afterwards 
Henry  IV.),  and  her  nephew  the  young  prince  of  Conde,  joined 
the  Protestants,  bringing  with  them  three  thousand  men.  This 
queen  of  Navarre  (Jean  de  Albret)  was  daughter  of  Margaret, 
queen  of  Navarre,  the  old  friend  and  protector  of  the  Protestants. 
She  inherited  the  principles  and  virtues  of  her  mother  ;  and,  when 
her  husband  went  over  to  the  Catholics,  she  had  no  longer  any 
regard  for  him.  She  died  at  the  royal  palace  shortly  after  this, 
under  a  suspicion  of  having  been  poisoned  by  the  queen-mother. 

Despairing  of  being  able  to  subdue  the  Protestants  by  force, 
the  Catholics  concluded  to  give  them  a  favorable  peace,  and  en- 
deavor to  lull  them  into  a  false  security.  A  treaty  was  signed  in 
1570,  on  the  conditions  of  amnesty  for  the  past,  free  toleration  of 
the  Protestants  everywhere  for  the  future,  a  right  to  except 
against  Catholic  judges,  and  the  possession  of  four  cities,  of  which 
Rochelle  was  the  chief,  to  be  garrisoned  by  Protestants  for  two 
years.  The  terms  of  the  treaty  were  strictly  enforced  ;  a  mar- 
riage was  proposed  between  the  young  king  of  Navarre  and  King 
Charles's  sister ;  Coligni,  the  young  prince  of  Cond^,  and  other 
Protestant  nobles,  were  invited  to  court ;  and  every  thing  was  done 
to  •vercome  the  prejudices  of  the  Protestants,  and  allay  their 
fears.  But  all  this  was  hypocritically  and  cruelly  done  in  prepara- 
tion'for  the  approaching  assassination  on  St.  Bartholomew's  Eve. 

Paris  was  at  this  time  full  of  Protestants,  who,  under  one 
pretence  or  another,  had  been  decoyed  thither.  The  bloody  scene 
commenced  at  midnight,  Aug.  22,  1572,  at  the  tolling  of  the 
great  bell  of  the  palace  ;  and  continued  three  days.  Coligni  was 
the  first  victim  ;    and  with  him  five  hundred  noblemen  and  six 


THE    REFORMATION   IN    FRANCE.  991 

thousand  Protestants  were  butchered  in  Paris  alone.  Orders 
for  a  like  massacre  were  despatched  to  all  parts  of  the  empire ; 
and  more  thaji  thirty  thousand  —  some^  say;  sevenjj  thousand 
—  perished  by  the  hands  of  the  royal  assassins.  The  joy  of  the 
pope,  the  cardinals,  and  of  Philip  II.,  king  of  Spain,  was  un- 
bounded, in  view  of  what  had  been  done.  The  pontiff  went  iiL 
state  to  his  cathedral,  and^  returned  jjublic  thanks  to  Heaven  for 
so  signal  a  mercy.  In  commemoration  of  the  event,  he  ordered 
a  jubilee  throughout  Christendom. 

But  the  results  of  this  dreadful  massacre  were  not  such  as  had 
been  anticipated.  The  Protestants  were  indeed  stunned  and 
paralyzed,  but  not  destroyed.  On  the  other  hand,  an  abhorrence 
of  the  dreadful  crime  caused  many  Catholic  noblemen  to  join  the 
Protestants.  As  to  the  king,  he  seemed  never  to  have  had  any 
peacejifteinvards.  He  was  nervous  and  agitated.  The  blood  he 
had  shed  seemed  ever  to  stream  before  his  eyes.  He  wasjvisited 
with^a  disorderjyyhich  Js  sometimes  witnessed  in  our  days.  His 
blood-vessels  were  not  able^  to  retain  his  own  bloody  Jt  oozed 
from  jyimii^^ontiimally,  smearing  his  attenuated  and  wretched, 
bodj.  He  died  May  30,  1574,  leaving  his  mother  regent  until 
the  throne  could  be  filled  by  his  absent  brother. 

This  brother  was  Henry  III.,  who  had  been  made  king  of 
Poland,  and  was  now  absent  in  that  country.  He  wore  the  crown 
of  France  about  fifteen  years  ;  and  his  reign  is  justly  regarded  as 
one  of  the  most  contemptible  in  the  annals  of  that  country.  For 
the  first  two  years  there  was  war  with  the  Protestants,  which 
was  terminated  by  a  peace  in  1576.  The  Protestants  were  to 
enjoy  freedom  of  worship  everywhere,  except  at  Paris  and  within 
two  miles  of  the  court  of  the  king.  Courts,  half  Catholic  and 
half  Protestant,  were  to  be  established  in  the  principal  cities ;  and 
ten  cautionary  towns  were  to  be  given  them.  The  Catholics, 
dissatisfied  (as  usual)  with  these  concessions,  combined  with  the 
pope  and  the  king  of  Spain  to  prevent  the  king  from  carrying 
the  treaty  into  effect.  Hence  the  war  was  renewed  the  next  year, 
and  continued,  with  some  interruptions,  until  1580 ;  when  the 
Protestants  were  again  allowed  their  former  liberties  and  their 
cautionary  towns  for  six  years. 

In  1584,  the  Catholic  chiefs,  led  on  by  the  Guises,  formed  a 
league  with  Philip,  king  of  Spain,  for  exterminating  the  Protes- 
tants, and  transferring  the  crown  to  the  family  of  Guise  on  the 
decease  of  the  present  king.     This  led  to  a  war,  not  only  with 


992  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY, 

the  Protestants,  but  with  the  adherents  of  the  present  reigning 
family ;  and,  at  the  instigation  of  the  king,  the  duke  of  Guise  was 
assassinated.  Henry  now  found  it  necessary,  in  order  to  his  own 
personal  safety,  to  become  reconciled  to  the  king  of  Navarre  and 
the  Protestants,  who  generously  supported  him  until  his  death. 
He  was  assassinated  by  a  Dominican  friar,  Aug.  2,  1589.  A  little 
previous  to  this,  the  Cardinal  Guise,  brother  of  the  duke,  had 
been  sent  to  prison,  where  he  was  despatched  by  his  guards. 

Twelve  days  after  the  assassination  of  the  Guises,  the  queen- 
mother,  Catharine,  breathed  her  last.  For  more  than  thirty  years 
—  during  the  reigns  of  her  husband  and  her  three  sons  —  she  had 
been  the  disturber  and  corrupter  of  France,  a  curse  to  the  people, 
a  Jezebel  in  the  house  over  which  she  ruled.  Her  influence  was 
all  gone  before  her  decease  ;  and  she  died  unpitied  and  unlamented. 
In  the  miserable  death  of  the  Guises  and  of  the  que^n,  we  see 
the  end  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  terrible  Massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's. Verily  there  is  a  God  who  judgeth  in  the  earth ;  and 
he  is  sometimes  known,  even  here,  by  the  judgments  which  he 
executeth. 

The  successor  of  Henry  IH.  was  Hemy  IV.,  late  king  of 
Navarre,  and  the  first  of  the  roj'al  house  of  Bourbon.  He  was 
supported  by  all  the  Protestants,  and  by  the  Catholics  who  adhered 
to  the  late  king.  But  the  party  of  the  Guises  refused  to  acknowl- 
edge him  ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  contend  several  years  for  his 
crown.  At  length,  in  the  year  1595,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  and 
with  a  view  to  put  an  end  to  the  civil  wars,  he  made  profession 
of  the  Catholic  religion.  Yet  he  never  ceased  to  love  and  protect 
his  Protestant  subjects.  In  the  year  1598  he  published  the  cele- 
brated Edict  of  Nantes,  designed  to  be  the  basis  of  their  future 
liberties.  By  this  edict,  he  confirmed  to  the  Protestants  all  the 
immunities  ever  before  conceded  to  them.  He  gave  them  equal 
rights  and  privileges  in  the  universities  and  public  schools  ;  allowed 
them  courts,  half  Protestant  and  half  Catholic,  in  the  principal 
cities ;  made  them  eligible  to  all  public  offices ;  and  allowed  them 
to  establish  public  worship  in  places  prescribed  throughout  the 
kingdom.  He  also  gave  them  an  annual  stipend  of  forty  thousand 
crowns  for  the  support  of  their  ministers.  And  though  the 
Catholics  murmured,  and  endeavored  to  deprive  them  of  their 
rights,  Henry  protected  them  to  the  end  of  his  reign. 

Having  succeeded  to  a  great  extent  in  quieting  dissensions, 
Henry  devoted  himself  to  the  good  of  his  subjects,  and  to  a  cul- 


THE     REFORMATION    IN    FRANCE.  993 

tivation  of  the  arts  of  peace.  He  was  never  loved,  however,  by 
the  bigoted  Catholics,  and  fell  by  the  poniard  of  Ravaillac,  a 
Jesuit,  in  1610.  He  was  one  of  the  best  monarchs  that  ever  sat 
on  the  throne  of  France. 

The  number  of  Protestants  in  France  at  this  period  was  not 
less  that  one  million  five  hundred  thousand,  among  whom  were 
some  men  of  great  learning  and  distinction.  They  were  in  close 
fellowship,  both  as  to  doctrine  and  discipline,  with  the  Church  of 
Geneva  and  the  Dutch  Protestants.  Notwithstanding  all  their 
commotions  and  persecutions,  they  had  continually  gathered 
strength,  and  prospered. 

Though  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  extended  beyond  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  proper  period  of  the  Reformation,  it  may  be  proper 
to  sketch  the  history  of  this  interesting  branch  of  the  Protestant 
Church  a  little  farther. 

Henry  IV.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Louis  XIII.,  a  mere  child, 
under  the  regency  of  Mary  de  Medicis,  his  mother.  He  was  a 
Aveak  prince,  and  a  bigoted  Catholic.  His  prime-minister  and 
principal  adviser  was  the  celebrated  Cardinal  Richelieu.  It  was 
thought  that  France  never  could  be  safe  and  enjoy  peace  until  the 
reformed  community  was  deprived  of  its  fortifications,  castles, 
strong  towns,  and  other  high  civil  privileges  which  it  had  long 
enjoyed.  It  must  cease  to  be  an  imperium  in  imperio  (a  state  in 
some  respects  by  itself),  and  become  merged  in  the  general  govern- 
ment of  France.  To  effect  this  object,  Avar  was  declared  against 
the  Protestants ;  and,  after  various  efforts  and  conflicts,  Richelieu 
obtained  his  object.  By  means  of  a  mole  which  was  constructed  in 
the  harbor  of  Rochelle,  this  strong  fortress  was  taken  in  1628,  and 
subjected  to  the  king.  This  last  of  their  fortresses  being  sub- 
jugated, the  Protestants  had  little  to  rely  upon  but  the  clemency 
of  the  government.  To  be  sure,  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  still  in 
force,  and  they  had  many  privileges  as  a  tolerated  sect.  They  had 
a  longer  peace  than  they  had  before  enjoyed,  and  cultivated  among 
themselves  the  arts  of  peace.  They  increased  in  number  and  in 
wealth,  and  constituted  a  very  important  part  of  the  population  of 
France. 

Louis  XIII.  died  in  1643,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Louis 

XIV.,  then  a  minor,  and  under  the  regency  of  his  mother,  Anne 

of  Austria.     His  reign  continued  until  1715,  —  more  than  sixty 

years.     During  the  first  part  of  it,  while  under  the  direction  of 

Cardinal  Mazarin,  he  favored   the    Protestants ;  and   they  pros- 
es 


994  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

pered,  as  they  had  done  during  the  latter  part  of  his  father's  reign. 
But,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jesuits,  he  began  at  length  to  change 
his  policy,  and  to  oppress  and  persecute  his  Protestant  subjects. 
Their  cemeteries  were  defaced ;  their  churches,  in  many  instances, 
were  taken  from  them;  and,  where  they  were  not,  they  were 
robbed  of  their  bells,  ornaments,  and  others  appendages.  The 
Huguenots  were  excluded  from  office,  and,  like  the  Jews  in  the 
middle  ages,  were  often  forbidden  to  sue  for  their  debts.  Their 
homes  were  invaded ;  their  children  taken  from  them ;  and  their 
families,  in  many  instances,  were  broken  up.  They  were  openly 
denounced  as  heretics  and  rebels ;  mobs  were  stirred  up  against 
them ;  and  the  destruction  of  their  property  was  winked  at  by  the 
official  authorities. 

Proceedings  such  as  these,  pertinaciously  persisted  in,  were  pre- 
paratory to  a  still  greater  outrage,  —  the  formal  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes.  This  took  place  in  1685,  and  left  the  poor  Prot- 
estants more  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies  than  ever 
before.  A  new  system  of  proselytism  was  now  entered  upon,  — 
one  never  heard  of  before  or  since ;  viz.,  that  of  the  detestable 
dragonades.  These  were  companies  of  soldiers  accompanied  by 
priests.  They  were  sent  into  Protestant  towns  and  villages,  quar- 
tered upon  the  people,  and  instructed  to  perpetrate  all  sorts  of 
outrage,  until  the  miserable  inhabitants  would  submit,  and  accept 
the  Romish  faith.  The  atrocities  which  followed  this  course  of 
proceeding  are  beyond  all  description ;  and  they  were  persisted 
in  until  France  was  more  than  half  ruined.  Although  the  poor 
Protestants  were  forbidden  to  emigrate,  and  bands  of  soldiers  were 
placed  everywhere  on  the  frontier  to  carry  the  mandate  into  execu- 
tion, yet  from  five  to  eight  hundred  thousand  —  and  these  some 
of  the  more  useful  men  in  France  —  did  find  their  way  to  other 
countries.  Not  a  few  came  to  this  country,  and  were  an  ornament 
and  honor  to  it  as  long  as  they  lived. 

From  this  terrible  infliction  neither  the  Protestants  of  France 
nor  France  itself  have  ever  recovered.  Within  less  than  a  century, 
the  blood  of  the  Huguenots  was  terribly  tivenged ;  and  both  the 
altar  and  the  throne  were  crushed  together  under  the  ponderous 
wheels  of  the  first  French  revolution. 


CHAPTER    XL VII. 

THE    REFORMATION    IN   THE    NETHERLANDS. 

OF  the  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands  to  the  year  1555,  when 
Charles  V.  abdicated  the  government  in  favor  of  his  son, 
Philip  II.,  we  have  before  spoken.  The  edicts  of  Charles  against 
the  Protestants  were  severe  and  arbitrary;  and  many  were  called 
to  seal  their  testimony  with  their  blood.  A  modified  Inquisition 
was  estabhshed ;  but  it  could  not  be  worked  vigorously  in  any  of 
the  provinces,  and  in  some  of  them  could  not  exist  at  all. 

Philip  II.  was,  or  might  have  been,  the  most  powerful  monarch 
in  Europe.  His  dominions  embraced  Spain,  Sicily,  Naples,  Sar- 
dinia, Milan,  Portugal,  and  the  Netherlands.  He  possessed  the 
gold  and  silver  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and  controlled  the  com- 
merce of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  of  Africa  and  the  Levant,  of 
the  North  Sea  find  the  Baltic.  By  his  marriage  with  Mary,  queen 
of  England,  he  exercised  for  a  time  a  strong  influence  in  the 
councils  of  that  kingdom  ;  yet  with  all  his  dominions,  his  authori- 
ty and  power,  he  was  really  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  and 
contemptible  of  men.  He  had  but  one  idea,  that  of  his  own  great- 
ness ;  but  one  ambition,  that  of  command  ;  and  but  one  enjoyment, 
that  of  inspiring  terror.  He  was  selfish,  careworn,  irritable,  melan- 
choly, and  destitute  of  all  those  affections  which  go  to  soften  and 
ennoble  human  nature.  Though  ignorant,  he  was  cunning,  and  an 
adept  in  all  those  arts  of  deceit  and  falsehood  which  went  to  con- 
stitute the  kingcraft  of  the  age :  add  to  all,  he  was  an  unyielding, 
unmerciful  bigot,  who  believed  that  his  most  acceptable  service  to 
God  was  to  promote  the  Catholic  religion,  and  destroy  heretics. 
Such  was  the  man  who  now  entered  upon  that  long  and  terrible 
reign  which  menaced  utter  ruin,  not  only  to  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion, but  to  national  prosperity,  in  the  Netherlands. 

Philip  continued  in  the  Netherlands  some  four  years  after  his 
coronation,  —  long  enough  to  show  his  dislike  of  the  people,  and 

995 


996  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

their  utter  dislike  of  him.  He  re-enacted  the  persecuting  edicts 
of  his  father,  revived  the  Inquisition,  and  established  thirteen 
new  bishoprics,  for  the  double  purpose  of  being  able  to  exercise  a 
more  perfect  ecclesiastical  supervision,  and  of  augmenting  the  num- 
ber of  his  satellites  in  the  assembly  of  the  states-general.  To 
provide  for  the  endowment  of  so  many  new  bishops,  he  suppressed 
the  abbeys  and  monasteries,  and  employed  their  revenues  for  this 
purpose. 

In  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  Philip  engaged  in  war  with 
the  pontiff,  Paul  IV.,  and  with  Henry  II.  of  France.  Having  come 
out  of  these  with  honor,  he  formed  the  design  of  going  into  Spain. 
He  constituted  the  duchess  of  Parma,  who  was  his  half-sister, 
viceroy  during  his  absence,  with  Granville,  bishop  of  Arras,  as 
her  principal  adviser.  He  also  quartered  a  large  body  of  foreign 
troops  in  the  cities  and  towns  to  enforce  obedience,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  be  supported  by  the  people. 

Before  his  departure,  he  summoned  a  convention  of  the  States, 
which  met  at  Ghent.  He  attended  in  person,  with  the  new  regent 
and  the  bishop  of  Arras.  He  urged  upon  the  deputies  the  main- 
tenance of  order,  and  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  edicts  for  the 
suppression  of  heresy.  Whatever  else  was  done  or  omitted,  the 
ancient  faith  must  be  supported. 

The  reply  of  the  deputies  was  not  so  obsequious  as  Philip  anti- 
cipated. They  remonstrated  firmly  against  the  foreign  troops 
remaining  in  the  provinces,  against  the  establishment  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, and  against  the  unwonted  severity  of  his  edicts ;  and  even 
intimated  that  a  persistence  in  those  measures  might  occasion  an 
open  resistance  to  his  authority.  But  the  king  was  inexorable, 
affirming  "  that  he  had  rather  be  no  king  at  all  than  have  heretics 
for  subjects." 

All  things  being  in  readiness,  on  the  20th  of  August,  1559, 
Philip  set  sail,  with  a  great  fleet,  on  his  way  to  Spain.  He  encoun- 
tered a  terrific  storm  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay :  many  of  his  ships 
were  wrecked,  and  more  than  a  thousand  of  his  soldiers  perished 
in  the  waves.  The  disaster  made  a  strong  impression  upon  the 
king,  under  the  influence  of  which  he  fell  upon  his  knees,  gave 
thanks  to  God  for  his  deliverance,  and  solemnly  pledged  himself 
that  the  future  of  his  life  should  be  devoted  to  the  extirpation  of 
heresy.  And  most  fearfully  was  that  pledge  redeemed.  It  Avas  at 
this  period  that  the  Inquisition  in  Spain  was  making  its  most  vigor- 
ous efforts  to  destroy  the  last  vestiges  of  Protestantism  in  that 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   THE   NETHERLANDS.  997 

country.  After  the  king^'s  arrival,  new  fires  were  kindled  for  liis 
special  gratification.  More  than  thirty  persons  were  brought  to 
the  s'take  at  Valladolid.  The  king,  with  his  courtiers  and  guards, 
enjoyed  the  pleasing  spectacle ;  and  in  the  exultation  of  the 
moment  he  drew  his  sword,  and  took  a  solemn  oath  to  support  the 
Inquisitioii  and  its  ministers  against  all  heretics  and  apostates,  and 
to  compel  his  subjects  everywhere  to  yield  obedience  to  its  decrees. 

For  some  little  time  after  Philip's  departure,  the  Netherlands  en- 
joyed a  degree  of  prosperity  ;  but  the  popular  discontent  began 
soon  to  be  manifested  in  opposing  the  measures  which  he  had  dic- 
tated to  the  regent.  When  these  measures  were  communicated  to  the 
council  of  state,  William,  prince  of  Orange,  and  some  other  of  the 
nobles,  resisted  their  enforcement,  as  being  in  direct  violation  of 
the  fund^imental  laws  of  the  constitution.  William  was  at  this 
time  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  objected  strongly  to  the  violent  meth- 
ods proposed  for  the  suppression  of  heretical  opinions,  which  he 
knew  pervaded  every  province,  town,  and  village.  "  Men,"  he 
said,  "  must  be  convinced  of  error  by  reason  and  argument :  heresy 
can  never  be  eradicated  by  fire  and  sword."  Philip  consented, 
after  a  time,  to  dismiss  Bishop  Granville,  who  had  been  made  a 
cardinal,  and  was  unrelenting  in  the  execution  of  the  persecuting 
edicts :  but  the  edicts  themselves  were  not  revoked ;  and  the 
causes  of  general  dissatisfaction  still  remained. 

Finding  all  other  methods  unavailing,  the  nobles,  in  November, 
1565,  entered  into  a  confederacy  for  the  defence  of  their  own  and 
their  country's  rights  against  the  destestable  tribunal  of  the  Inqui- 
sition and  other  persecuting  measures.  A  strong  written  bond 
was  drawn  up,  called  the  Compromise,  which  was  subscribed  by  the 
confederate  nobles,  and  by  vast  numbers  of  all  ranks,  both  Protes- 
tants and  Papists.  Having  formed  their  league,  the  confederates 
resolved  to  present  to  the  regent  a  catalogue  of  their  grievances, 
and  to  ask  a  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  laws.  Accordingly,  a  depu- 
tation of  some  four  hundred  gentlemen  waited  on  her  for  this  pui*- 
pose.  Intimidated  by  their  number,  she  betrayed  her  fears  by  the 
pallor  of  her  cheeks  :  whereupon  her  attendant  and  chief  councillor 
whispered  to  her,  and  told  her  not  to  be  afraid  of  Gueux  (beggars). 
An  epithet  thus  applied  to  the  confederates  in  contempt  was 
adopted  by  them  as  a  distinctive  title  of  their  party.  They  were 
for  a  long  time  called  the  G-ueux  (beggars). 

The  appeal  of  the  confederates  having  been  treated  with  con- 
tempt, the   popular  feeling   began   to   show  itself  in   mobs  and 


998  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

tumults.  In  many  of  the  cities,  and  particularly  at  Antwerp,  tlie 
churches  and  monasteries  were  forcibly  entered ;  and  every  object 
of  idolatrous  worship  was  seized  and  destroyed.  The  Protestant 
ministers  and  the  nobles  endeavored  to  quell  tire  tumults,  but  in 
vain.  The  excesses  and  riotous  proceedings  were  persisted  in, 
until  many  of  the  nobles  withdrew  from  the  provinces ;  and  the 
confederacy  was  virtually  dissolved.  Many  who  had  subscribed  to 
the  Compromise  united  their  influence  to  the  regent's  authority,  and 
thus  succeeded  in  dispersing  the  mobs,  and  restoring  tranquillity  to 
the  country.  The  only  effect  of  this  rising  of  the  populace  was 
to  provoke  the  government  to  new  severities.  A  cruel  vengeance 
was  taken  on  the  iconoclasts,  the  Gueux,  and  on  all  heretics.  The 
executioners  were  everywhere  full  of  work.  In  every  city,  the 
victims  might  be  counted  by  hundreds. 

At  this  time,  the  regent,  Margaret,  wrote  to  the  prince  of  Orange 
and  to  others  of  the  nobility,  requesting  their  opinion  as  to  the 
real  state  of  affairs,  and  the  general  policy  which  it  would  be 
advisable  for  her  to  pursue.  Of  course,  they  recommended  moder- 
ate measures  and  an  attempt  to  conciliate  the  people ;  and  the 
regent  was  inclined  to  accept  their  counsel :  but  the  king  would 
hear  nothing  of  it.  The  confederacy  was  overthrown,  he  said ; 
the  power  of  the  Protestants  Avas  broken ;  and  now  was  the  time 
to  crush  out  tlie  last  remains  of  the  heresy  which  had  produced  so 
much  confusion  and  disorder.  Accordingly,  he  resolved  to  send 
into  the  Netherlands  a  formidable  army  under  the  command  of  an 
experienced  and  successful  general,  with  full  power  and  authority 
to  put  down  all  resistance,  and  establish  the  Catholic  religion 
everywhere. 

On  the  22d  of  August,  1567,  the  duke  of  Alva  entered  Brussels 
at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men.  When  information  was  re- 
ceived of  his  coming,  thousands  upon  thousands  fled  into  other 
countries.  The  roads  were  thronged  with  bands  of  emigrants,  and 
the  sea  was  covered  with  fugitive  vessels.  Germany,  France,  and 
England  received  these  unfortunate  refugees ;  but  the  Netherlands 
lost  them,  and  their  loss  Avas  irreparable. 

This  duke  of  Alva  Avas  one  of  the  most  unfeeling  tyrants  that 
ever  lived.  Morose,  Avily,  Avithout  compassion,  and  Avithal  suj^er- 
stitious  and  vindictive,  it  may  be  truly  said  of  him  in  the  language 
of  Scripture,  "  His  mouth  Avas  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness,  and 
his  feet  Avere  SAvift  to  shed  blood.  Destruction  and  misery  were  in 
his  Avays ;    and  the  Avay  of  peace  he  had  not  known."     On  his 


THE   REFORMATION   IN  THE   NETHERLANDS.  999 

arrival,  the  regent,  Margaret,  resigned  her  authority,  and  retired 
into  Italy.  Alva  was  at  the  head  of  the  government  for  the  next 
six  years ;  and  they  were  emphatically  years  of  blood. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Alva  after  his  arrival  was  the  institu- 
tion of  a  tribunal,  entitled  the  Council  of  Disorders^  but  which  the 
Flemings  called  more  appropriately  tlte  Council  of  Blood.  It  was 
designed  to  assist  the  inquisitors  in  the  discovery  and  apprehension 
of  heretics,  and  consisted  of  twelve  persons,  principally  Spaniards. 
Alva  was  himself  president ;  and  John  de  Vargas,  a  Spanish  law- 
yer, distinguished  for  his  avarice  and  cruelty,  was  vice-president. 
The  jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal  was  unlimited  ;  and  its  powers 
were  exercised  as  dictated  by  the  governor.  Among  its  first  vic- 
tims were  the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorn,  who  were  seized  by 
treachery,  and  beheaded.  The  rich  were  the  most  likely  to  be 
taken,  as  their  destruction  furnished,  not  only  blood,  but  spoils. 
Alva  himself  boasted  that  he  had  caused  by  this  instrumentali- 
ty the  death  of  eighteen  thousand  persons,  and  that  the  property 
of  the  murdered  and  proscribed  brought  into  the  royal  treasury 
twenty  million  of  dollars  annually. 

The  whole  machinery  of  Papal  oppression  and  cruelty  was  now 
put  in  active  operation ;  while  the  army  was  so  organized,  and  dis- 
tributed through  the  provinces,  that  resistance  was  impossible.  No 
distinction  was  made  of  age,  sex,  or  condition.  Persons  in  the 
morning  of  life,  and  those  worn  out  under  the  infirmities  of  age; 
persons  of  the  highest  rank,  as  well  as  the  lowest  of  the  people, 
(on  the  slightest  evidence,  and  sometimes  on  bare  suspicion),  — 
were  alike  sacrificed  to  the  rapacity  and  cruelty  of  the  governor 
and  his  associates.  At  the  time  of  the  carnival,  the  soldiers,  ac- 
companied by  the  inquisitors,  were  ,let  loose  like  so  many  wolves 
among  the  Protestants,  who  were  seized,  often  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  and  thrown  into  prisons  and  dungeons.  They  were 
dragged  by  horses  to  the  place  of  execution;  and,  before  their 
bodies  were  committed  to  the  flames,  their  torments  were  pro- 
longed with  ingenious  cruelty.  To  prevent  them  from  bearing 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  their  profession,  their  tongues  were  first 
scorched  with  a  glowing  hot  iron,  and  then  screwed  into  a  machine 
so  contrived  as  to  produce  the  most  excruciating  torment. 

In  the  year  1567,  the  first  of  Alva's  administration,  a  Dutch  his- 
torian says  that  "  the  gallows,  the  wheels,  and  the  trees  of  the  high- 
ways, were  so  loaded  with  dead  bodies,  that  the  air,  which  was 
made  for  the  respiration  of  the  living,  was  impregnated  with  the 
effluvia  of  death." 


1000  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

In  tlie  next  year  the  king  passed  a  decree,  declaring  all  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Low  Countries,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  whose 
names  had  been  sent  to  him,  heretics,  or  the  abetters  of  heresy, 
and,  as  such,  guilty  of  high  treason  ;  and  they  were  to  be  proceed- 
ed against  as  such.  So  horrid  a  sentence  had  never  before  been 
passed  upon  a  whole  nation  since  the  foundation  of  the  world ; 
and  the  persecutors  left  no  means  untried  to  carry  it  into  full  exe- 
cution. To  show  with  how  much  carelessness  persons  were  often 
condemned,  Ave  may  cite  a  single  instance.  James  Hessels,  one  of 
Alva's  judges,  used  to  sleep  after  dinner  upon  the  bench  while 
trying  the  heretics  ;  and,  when  they  aroused  him  to  give  sentence, 
he  would  rub  his  eyes,  and  say,  '■'■Ad  jmtibulum''''  ("Let  him  be  exe- 
cuted"), as  if  the  life  of  a  man  was  the  merest  trifle.  Some  ten 
years  after,  Hessels  was  himself  hanged  in  the  city  of  Ghent. 

In  the  year  1572,  some  events  transpired,  which,  in  their  conse- 
quences, led  to  an  entire  revolution  in  the  affairs  of  the  Nether- 
lands, and  to  the  emancipation  of  the  seven  northern  provinces  from 
the  dominion  of  Spain.  Many  of  the  Protestants,  who  had  been 
driven  from  their  homes  by  persecution,  and  had  concealed  them- 
selves in  the  woods  and  marshes,  became  organized  as  guerilla 
bands,  and  preyed,  as  they  had  opportunity,  upon  the  property  of 
their  enemies.  Others  had  procured  vessels,  and  Avere  engaged  in 
piratical  exploits  on  the  sea.  They  plundered  the  ships  of  Philip, 
and  often  took  rich  prizes.  In  the  year  1572,  a  fleet  of  these 
pirates,  under -the  direction  of  Count  de  la  Mark,  attacked  and 
captured  the  town  of  Brill,  Avhich  was  the  stronghold  of  the  Bel- 
gic  provinces.  This  movement  was  poAverfally  seconded  by  the 
prince  of  Orange.  Under  him,  many  of  the  inhabitants  who  had 
so  long  groaned  under  the  oppression  of  the  Spanish  governor 
flew  to  arms,  eager  to  avenge  their  wrongs,  and  retaliate  upon 
their  persecutor.  The  cities  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and  Friesland, 
joined  in  the  revolt ;  which  was  further  strengthened  by  the  acces- 
sion of  Utrecht.  In  an  assembly  at  Dort,  July  15,  1572,  William 
was  appointed  stadtholder,  or  governor,  of  the  revolted  provinces ; 
and  thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  new  republic. 

Alva  redoubled  his  efforts  to  recover  what  he  had  lost ;  and  deso- 
lation and  carnage  marked  the  progress  of  his  arms.  He  sent  his 
son,  Don  Frederic,  into  Gelderland,  who  surprised  Zutphen,  and 
treated  the  inhabitants  most  barbarously.  He  caused  fifteen  hun- 
dred burghers  to  be  hanged  upon  trees,  or  drowned  in  the  Yssel ; 
and  ordered  the  town  to  be  set  on  fire  in  eight  places.    He  extorted 


THE   REFORMATION   IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  1001 

great  sums  of  money  from  the  other  burghers,  and  did  not  spare 
even  the  Romish  clergy.  He  then  repaired  to  Narden,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  which  opened  to  him  their  gates,  and  entreate/i  his  pardon. 
Yet  all  of  them,  except  sixty,  were  put  to  death.  Catholics  and 
Protestants  shared  the  same  fate  :  the  churches,  convents,  and  hos- 
pitals were  plundered.  The  young  Alva  was  not  willing  to  be 
outdone  in  cruelty  by  his  father. 

Harlem  Avas  besieged  at  this  time  by  the  Spaniards ;  and  after  a 
protracted  and  obstinate  defence,  the  city  was  taken.  Its  capture 
was  followed,  as  usual,  by  the  most  frightful  atrocities.  The  Span- 
iards glutted  their  rage  upon  the  soldiers  and  burghers  ;  and  vast 
numbers  of  them  were  put  to  death.  Those  who  were  willing  to 
confess  to  the  priests  were  beheaded ;  and  those  who  refused  con- 
fession were  hanged.  About  three  hundred  persons  were  bound 
together,  two  and  two,  and  thrown  into  the  lake.  But  the 
Spaniards  paid  dear  for  this  conquest :  it  cost  them  not  less  than 
twelve  thousand  men.  They  attempted  soon  after  to  capture 
Alcmar,  but  failed ;  thus  showing  that  they  were  not  invincible. 

But  the  administration  of  the  duke  of  Alva  was  now  at  an  end. 
He  was  recalled  at  his  own  request,  and  left  for  Spain  in  Decem- 
ber, 1573.  Never  was  such  an  administration  before  —  so  blood}", 
so  tyrannical,  so  maliciously  cruel  —  in  any  civilized  land  ;  and 
yet  Vargas,  his  lieutenant,  complained  that  "  the  Low  Countries 
were  lost  out  of  a  foolish  compassion." 

The  duke  of  Alva  was  succeeded  in  the  government  by  Don 
Lewis  de  Requesens,  who  is  represented  as  an  honest,  well-mean- 
ing, moderate  man.  The  principal  event  of  his  administration, 
which  lasted  about  two  3^ears  and  a  half,  was  the  siege  of  Leyden, 
which  he  failed  to  capture.  After  having  endured  the  utmost 
privations  from  sickness  and  famine,  the  miserable  inhabitants 
were  relieved  by  the  prince  of  Orange.  He  ordered  the  dikes  to 
be  opened  and  the  sluices  raised,  and  swept  off  the  besiegers  by 
the  waves  of  the  sea.  More  than  a  thousand  Spanish  soldiers 
perished  in  the  flood.  Requesens  died  of  fever  on  the  5th  of 
March,  1576. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  notice  all  the  civil"  changes  which 
took  place  at  this  period  in  the  government  of  the  Netherlands. 
Requesens  was  succeeded  by  Don  John  of  Austria,  a  son  of 
Charles  V. ;  but  he  died  in  less  than  two  years,  without  having 
accomplished  any  thing  of  special  importance.  Owing  to  tlie  dis- 
content of  the  Spanish  troops,  and  the  superior  generalship  of  the 


1002  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

prince  of  Orange,  all  the  provinces,  with  the  exception  of  two  or 
three  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the  Netherlands,  revolted  from 
Spain,  and  united  in  what  was  called  the  Pacification  of  Crhent. 
Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  1578,  when  Alexander  Farnese, 
prince  of  Parma  and  a  nephew  of  Philip,  assumed  the  command 
of  the  Sj)anish  troops. 

Meanwhile  an  alliance  had  been  formed  with  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  England.  This  she  was  induced  to  accede  to  from  an  appre- 
hension tliat  the  provinces  would  otherwise  place  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  France.  She  had  previously  refused  the 
possession  and  sovereignty  of  Holland,  Zealand,  Friesland,  and 
Utrecht,  offered  to  her  by  an  embassy  from  those  States ;  but  now 
policy  dictated  a  bolder  and  more  decisive  course.  By  this  treaty, 
she.  agreed  to  furnish  a  contingent  both  of  men  and  money. 

The  differences  of  religious  opinion  which  prevailed  between  the 
northern  and  southern  portions  of  tlie  provinces  enabled  the  prince 
of  Parma  to  conduct  his  plans  of  re-conquest  with  considerable 
success.  Protestantism  was  the  prevailing  religion  of  the  north ; 
and  Popery,  of  the  south.  He  made  a  skilful  use  of  these  dissen- 
sions, and  thus  separated  those  who  adhered  to  the  faith  of  Rome 
from  Holland,  Zealand,  Friesland,  Utrecht,  Gelderland,  Over- 
yssel,  and  Groningen,  which  had  established  the  reformed  worship. 
These  seven  provinces  were  forirted  into  a  distinct  confederacy  by 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht  on  the  23d  of  January,  1579.  Their  decla- 
ration of  national  independence  was  not  made,  however,  until 
July,  1581.  The  prince  of  Orange  was  at  once  elected  their  chief 
magistrate,  with  the  title  of  stadtholder ;  and  it  was  through  his 
influence  that  they  were  induced  to  declare  their  independence 
as  a  defence  against  the  proscriptions  of  the  king  of  Spain.  Philip 
was  so  enraged  at  the  success  of  William,  and  the  loss  of  those 
seven  provinces,  that  he  offered  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand 
crowns  for  his  assassination.  This  was  accomplished  at  Delft,  in 
1584,  by  a  bigoted  Papist  and  Jesuit,  Balthasar  Gerhard.  Ger- 
hard had  communicated  his  design  to  several  other  Jesuits,  Avho 
encouraged  him  in  it,  and  assured  him,  if  he*  died  in  the  attempt, 
that  he  would  be  reckoned  among  the  martyrs.  In  order  that  he 
might  have  free  access  to  the  prince,  the  murderer  pretended  that 
he  was  the  child  of  one  who  had  suffered  death  for  the  reformed 
religion.  He  appeared  very  devout ;  frequented  the  Protestant 
churches ;  and  always  carried  about  with  him  the  Bible,  the 
Psalms,  or  some  other  religious  book.    William  had  given  a  public 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   THE   NETHERLANDS.  1003 

dinner  at  Antwerp ;  and,  as  he  was  quitting  the  dining-room  to  go 
to  his  private  chamber,  Gerhard  stepped  forward,  and  presented 
him  a  private  petition ;  and,  while  William  was  reading  it,  the 
murderer  discharged  a  pistol  at  his  head.  The  ball  struck  him 
under  the  left  ear,  and  went  out  through  the  right  cheek.  As  he 
staggered  and  fell,  he  exclaimed,  "  O  God !  have  mercy  upon  me 
and  upon  my  poor  people." 

Few  characters  have  ever  presented  themselves  on  the  page  of 
history  more  worthy  of  study  and  imitation  than  that  of  William, 
prince  of  Orange.  He  was  wise,  brave,  truthful,  conscientious, 
who  loved  his  country,  and  had  sacrificed  every  thing  for  its 
welfare.  He  was  a  Catholic  in  the  former  part  of  his  life,  but 
afterwards  became  a  Protestant.  He  was  a  man  of  great  liber- 
ality, and  better  understood  the  subject  of  religious  freedom  than 
any  one  of  that  or  the  following  age.  He  would  suffer  no  one, 
.  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant  or  Anabaptist,  to  be  molested  for 
his  religious  opinions,  if  he  was  not  a  disturber  of  the. public  peace. 

His  murderer  was  instantly  seized,  and  suffered  death  in  the 
usual  barbarous  manner  of  the  times.  But  the  Jesuists  honored 
him  as  a  martyr,  and  continue  to  do  so  to  this  day.  They  care- 
fully gathered  up  his  remains,  and  exposed  them  as  holy  relics  for 
public  veneration. 

After  the  death  of  William,  the  prince  of  Parma  used  his  utmost 
endeavors  to  induce  the  seven  United  Provinces  to  return  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  king  of  Spain  ;  but  they  rejected  every  such 
overture  with  abhorrence.  They  seemed  resolved  to  show,  that, 
however  much  they  honored  their  fallen  leader,  their  existence  did 
not  depend  upon  him  alone.  A  council  of  state  was  at  once  estab- 
lished, consisting  of  eighteen  members,  at  the  liead  of  which  was 
unanimously  placed  Maurice  of  Nassau,  son  of  the  late  prince, 
who  had  already  given  evidence  of  the  highest  wisdom  and  valor. 

But,  though  the  prince  of  Parma  could  not  flatter  or  force  the 
United  Provinces  into  subjection  to  the  king  of  Spain,  he  was 
gradually  gaining  ground  in  the  other  provinces.  Town  after 
town  either  opened  its  gates  to  him,  or  submitted  to  his  arms ; 
so  that,  within  a  year -after  the  death  of  William  of  Orange,  the 
authority  of  Spain  was  again  established  in  nearly  all  of  what  in 
our  times  is  denominated  Belgium.  He  had  the  greatest  struggle 
with  the  city  of  Antwerp.  This  endured  a  siege  of  fourteen 
months ;  and  it  was  only  by  the  greatest  efforts  that  it  was 
brought  at  the  end  of  that  period  to  capitulate. 


1004  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

But  these  victories  of  the  prince  of  Parma  were  barren  in  any 
of  those  results  which  humanity  would  wish  to  see  in  a  train  of 
conquest.  The  reconciled  provinces  presented  a  most  deplorable 
spectacle.  The  chief  towns  were  well-nigh  depopulated.  Multi- 
tudes had  been  destroyed;  more  had  emigrated;  and  few  were 
coming  in  to  take  their  places.  Villages  were  abandoned ;  grass 
grew  wild  in  the  streets ;  and  those  who  had  formerly  been  per- 
sons of  rank  and  wealth  were  reduced  to  beggary. 

The  United  Provinces,  feeling  that  they  were  not  alone  able  to 
withstand  the  power  of  Spain,  renewed  their  application  to  the 
queen  of  England  for  help  ;  and  she  sent  them  over  a  considerable 
sum  of  money,  and  six  thousand  troops  under  the  command  of  the 
earl  of  Leicester.  Leicester  came  with  great  pomp  and  display ; 
and  the  people  received  him  with  all  honor.  They  conferred  on 
him  the  title  of  governor  and  captain-general  of  the  provinces  ;  but 
he  quickly  showed  that  he  had  neither  courage  nor  capacity  equal 
to  the  trust  confided  to  him.  By  his  arbitrary  and  indolent  con- 
duct, he  soon  disgusted  those  whom  he  had  come  over  to  assist. 
Leicester  continued  in  the  provinces  but  about  a  year,  when  he 
returned,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

Meanwhile,  young  Maurice,  prince  of  Nassau,  was  winning  gold- 
en opinions.  He  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  stadtholder,  captain- 
general,  and  admiral  of  Holland  and  Zealand ;  and  showed  himself 
worthy  of  the  honors  he  received. 

Several  things  took  place  at  this  time  calculated  to  weaken  the 
power  of  Spain,  and  to  divert  it  from  the  Avar  in  the  Netherlands 
into  other  channels.  One  was  the  fitting-out  of  the  grand  Armada 
for  the  purpose  of  invading  England.  This  swallowed  up,  for  the 
time,  all  the  resources  of  Spain ;  and  the  failure  of  the  mad  enter- 
prise inflicted  a  blow  upon  that  unhappy  country  from  which  it 
has  never  recovered.  Another  was  the  interest  which  Philip  felt 
in  resisting  the  claims  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  throne  of  France.  Here, 
again,  he  failed ;  and  the  failure  was  not  only  a  disappointment  to 
him,  but  a  source  of  weakness.  But  that  which,  beyond  every  thing, 
tended  to  hasten  the  close  of  the  war  in  the  Netherlands,  was  the 
failure  of  Parma's  health.  His  exposures  and  hardships  had  worn 
him  out ;  and  he  died  on  the  3d  of  December,  1592.  A  few  years 
later,  Philip  died  ;  and  the  wars  of  the  Low  Countries  were  ended. 

The  last  martyr  in  this  protracted  struggle  was  Anne  Hove, 
who  suffered  in  1595.  Her  punishment  was,  to  be  buried  alive. 
After  she  had  been  laid  in  the  grave,  they  first  threw  some  earth 


THE   REFORMATION   IN   THE   NETHERLANDS.  1005 

upon  her  feet,  and  then,  little  by  little,  upon  her  body,  up  to  her 
neck.  The  Jesuits  then  asked  her  whether  she  was  willing  to  re- 
tract her  errors,  and  return  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  But  she 
said,  "  No.  Those  who  thus  seek  to  save  their  lives  here  shall 
lose  them  hereafter."  The  executioner  then  threw  the  earth  upon 
her  face,  and  trod  it  down  with  his  feet.  Her  groans  were  heard 
for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  were  silenced  in  death. 

Philip  II.  left  the  government  of  the  ten  Catholic  provinces  to 
his  daughter  Isabella,  who  was  married  to  the  archduke  of  Austria. 
War  was  continued  between  the  archduke  and  the  United  Prov- 
inces until  1609,  when  a  truce  was  concluded  for  twelve  years.  At 
the  close  of  this  period  the  war  was  renewed,  and  was  not  finally 
terminated  until  1648.  By  the  treaty  of  Munster,  at  this  time  en- 
tered into,  the  independence  of  the  United  Provinces  was  distinctly 
acknowledged,  and  all  claim  of  sovereignty  over  them,  on  the  part 
of  Spain,  forever  renoimced. 

Meanwhile  the  United  Provinces  had  been  making  rapid  prog- 
ress in  every  thing  which  contributed  to  national  honor  and  great- 
ness. Their  cities  and  towns  were  filled  with  manufactures  of 
various  kinds ;  their  commerce  whitened  every  sea ;  their  merchants 
were  princes  ;  and  their  pecuniary  resources  knew  no  bounds.  In 
the  cause  of  general  and  public  education,  too,  they  were  an  exam- 
ple to  other  nations.  As  early  as  1575,  while  in  the  midst  of  their 
contest  for  independence,  the  states-general  founded  the  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden.  Others  were  subsequently  founded  at  Utrecht 
and  Groningen. 

Their  church  was  organized  and  a  confession  of  faith  published 
in  1563,  which  is  strongly  Calvinistic.  The  government  of  their 
churches  is  Presbyterian,  though  not  precisely  after  the  model  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland.  The  church  courts  or  judicatories  are 
called  consistories,  classes,  and  synods.  The  consistory  is  the  low- 
est court,  and  is  made  up  of  the  clergy  and  elders  of  a  particidar 
church  or  town.  It  corresponds  to  the  session  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches.  The  classes  consist  of  deputies  from  several  consistories, 
and  correspond  to  the  presbyteries  of  Scotland  and  America.  The 
synods  are  either  provincial  or  national ;  the  first  l^eing  assembled 
every  year,  while  the  other  is  brought  together  only  on  important 
occasions,  when  essential  doctrines  are  to  be  discussed. 

The  struggle  in  the  midst  of  which  these  Dutch  reformed  church- 
es took  their  rise  was  more  terrific  than  any  other  connected  with 
the  Reformation,  —  more  terrible,  I  had  almost  said,  than  any  the 


1006  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

world  ever  saw.  There  was  nothing  in  the  Decian  or  Diocletian 
persecutions  to  compare  with  that  which  was  visited  upon  the 
Netherlands  under  the  duke  of  Alva.  But  having  emerged  from 
the  storm,  and  become  established,  these  churches  of  Holland  set 
the  first  example  of  a  universal  toleration.  All  denominations 
were  permitted  to  enjoy,  unmolested,  their  several  forms  of  •  wor- 
ship, provided  no  attempts  were  made  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of 
the  State.  It  was  in  Holland,  it  will  be  remembered,  that  our 
Pilgrim  Fathers  found  a  refuge  when  they  were  driven  out  of  Eng- 
land. The  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  will  never  forget  the  debt 
of  gratitude  which  they  owe  to  the  worthy  Hollanders  for  the  hos- 
pitahty  which  was  showed  them  at  that  trying  period. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

DIFFERENT    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS    IN   THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY, 
SUBSEQUENT   TO    THE    REFORMATION. 


I.  — THE  ROMISH  CHURCH. 

THE  points  of  difference  between  the  Romisli  and  Protestant 
churches  may  be  resolved  into  two^  which  are  fundamental^ 
and  out  of  wliich  all  other  differences  spring. 

1.  The  Romish  Church  everywhere  acknowledges  a  subjection  to 
and  dependence  on  the  Roman  pontiff,  the  bishop  of  Rome.  He  is 
the  head  of  all  power  and  authority  ;  and  the  bishops  and  all 
other  church-officers  are  dependent  on  him.  This  the  Protestant 
churches  deny ;  many  of  them  regarding  him  as  no  Christian 
bishop  at  all,  but  i-ather  as  Antichrist. 

2.  The  second  point  of  difference  respects  the  ride  of  faith. 
With  Protestants,  the  Scriptures.,  and  these  alone,  are  the  rule  of 
faith.  With  Romanists,  the  rule  of  faith  is  the  jScriptures  as  inter- 
preted by  the  fathers.,  the  Church.,  and  the  ecclesiastical  traditions  and 
canons.  Here,  you  see,  is  a  mighty  difference,  —  one  wide  enough 
to  let  in  all  the  minor  differences  which  are  found  to  exist.  Give 
to  the  Romanist  his  rule  of  faith,  and  you  give  him  all :  his  whole 
system  of  usurpation  and  superstition  is  established. 

The  Roman  pontiffs  were  chosen  in  the  sixteenth  century  —  as 
they  had  been  for  several  hundred  years,  and  as  they  are  now  —  by 
the  cardinals.  These,  cardinals  are  seventy  in  number,  —  six  bish- 
ops, fifty  presbyters,  and  fourteen  deacons,  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
They  not  only  elect  the  pontiff,  but  constitute  his  standing  council, 
whom  he  is  bound  to  consult  on  all  important  matters,  and  whose 
advice  he  is  expected  to  follow.  No  one  is  eligible  to  the  office  of 
pontiff  who  is  not  already  a  cardinal  and  a  native  Italian. 

The  Romish  Church  was  continually  occupied  during  the  greater 

1007 


1008  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

part  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  its  controversy  with  the  reformers  ; 
and  its  particular  history  has  been  anticipated  in  the  history  of  the 
Reformation.  Wlien  the  struggle  with  the  Protestants  was  meas- 
urably over,  and  the  different  churches  had  become  established, 
the  Romanists,  finding  that  they  had  lost  a  considerable  part  of 
Europe,  undertook  to  make  up  for  the  loss  by  extending  their  re- 
ligion into  foreign  lands.  Before  the  close  of  the  century,  the 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese  commenced  propagating  their  religion  in 
their  newly-acquired  provinces  of  North  and  South  America.  Also 
Francis  Xavier  and  liis  associates  and  followers  began  their  mis- 
sionary operations  in  the  East  Indies.  Xavier  entered  upon  this 
work,  under  the  direction  of  the  Portuguese,  in  1542.  Seven  years 
later  he  proceeded  to  Japan,  and  laid  the  foundation  "of  that  nu- 
merous body  of  Christians  which  flourished  there  for  a  long  period. 
Three  years  later  he  sailed  for  China,  but  did  not  live  to  reach  the 
coast.  .  He  died  within  sight  of  China,  in  the  year  1552.  He  was 
followed  to  China  by  Matthew  Ricci,  an  Italian  missionary,  who 
may  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  Romanism  in  that  vast  empire. 
Ricci  was  a  Jesuit,  and  pursued  the  same  compromising,  corrupt 
mode  of  conducting  missions  as  the  other  Jesuits.  He  suffered  his 
converts  to  offer  sacrifices  to  their  deceased  ancestors,  to  visit  the 
idol  temples,  and  to  place  crosses  wreathed  with  flowers"  among 
the  idols. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  the  history  of  the  Romish 
Church  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  the  institution  of  the  order 
or  society  of  Jesuits.  The  founder  of  this  order  was  Ignatius  Loyo- 
la, a  stern  fanatic,  who,  after  passing  through  a  variety  of  expe- 
rience, was  appointed  general  of  the  order  in  1541.  This  hew 
order  was  much  needed  by  the  pontiff  at  this  time.  The  mendi- 
cants, who  had  been  his  body-guard  for  some  centuries,  had  become 
comparatively  imbecile  and  inefficient ;  and  he  stood  in  need  of  a 
class  of  men  like  the  Jesuits,  who  should  be  wholly  devoted  to 
his  interests,  and  whose  only  object  in  life  should  be  to  extend  his 
dominion,  and  exalt  his  power.  The  Jesuits  entered  at  once,  and 
with  great  spirit,  into  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  and  by  their 
zeal  provoked  others  to  follow  them.  For  the  success  of  its  mis- 
sions, and  the  strengthening  of  its  cause  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  Church  of  Rome  owes  more  to  this  single  new  society  than  to 
all  its  other  ministers  and  resources. 

The  great  Protestant  defection,  occurring  in  this  century,  was 
not  without  an  indirect  favoring  influence  upon  the  Church  of 


THE   ROMISH   CHURCH.  1009 

Rome.  The  pontiffs  were  constrained  to  be  a  more  decent  class 
of  men,  in  point  of  morals,  than  they  had  been  for  a  long  period  ; 
and  the  same  was  true  of  the  clergy  generally.  They  could  not 
otherwise  have  been  tolerated.  Then  the  revival  of  learning  conse- 
quent upon  the  Reformation,  the  spring  which  was  given  to  the 
human  mind,  the  necessity  for  study  which  was  laid  upon  all 
classes  who  were  connected  in  any  way  with  this  protracted  strug- 
gle, acted  favorably  upon  the  cause  of  learning  in  the  Romish 
Church.  Her  teachers  must  give  themselves  to  reading  and  research, 
—  they  must  study  the  Bible,  the  fathers,  and  the  history  of  the 
Church,  —  or  they  must  be  overwhelmed.  Among  the  learned  Ro- 
manists of  the  age,  I  may  mention  Cajetan,  before  whom  Luther 
had  his  first  hearing  in  Germany ;  Eck,  with  whom  Luther  and 
Carlstadt  disputed  at  Leipsic ;  Bellarmine,  the  great  polemic  of 
his  church ;  and  Baronius,  her  great  historian.  Baronius's  "  An- 
nals "  were  j)ublished,  near  the  close  of  the  century,  in  twelve 
volumes  folio. 

The  Council  of  Trent  was  held  in  this  century,  commencing  in 
1545,  and  finally  closing  in  1563  ;  holding  twenty -five  sessions, 
and  embracing  a  period  of  eighteen  years.  In  this  time  the  coun- 
cil was  twice  broken  up,  and  twice  revived.  On  some  accounts, 
this  was  the  most  important  council  that  the  Romish  Church  ever 
held.  It  gave  creed  and  law  to  the  entire  Church  and  (on 
Catholic  principles)  to  the  whole  Christian  world  from  that  pe- 
riod to  the  present.  And  yet  how  poorly  it  was  entitled  to  exer- 
cise such  authority  is  evident  from  the  fewness  of  its  members,  and 
from  the  perpetual  intrigues,  disputes,  and  quarrels  by  which  it 
was  characterized.  After  long  expectation  and  preparation,  the 
pope's  legates  arrived  at  the  time  and  place  appointed,  where  seats 
had  been  provided  for  four  hundred  members  ;  but  not  a  single 
member,  except  the  bishop  of  Trent,  was  there.  At  the  end  of  a 
week,  only  three  had  arrived  ;  and,  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  first  convocation  of  the  council,  the  average  attendance  was  not 
over  fifty.  At  the  two  subsequent  convocations  the  number  was 
greater,  but  never  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty,  —  less  than 
the  whole  number  of  bishops  even  in  Italy. 

To  narrate  all  the  disputes  and  squabbles  which  occurred  in  the 
council  during  the  eighteen  years  of  its  continuance  would  require 
volumes ;  and  when  its  work  was  done,  so  obscure  and  unsatis- 
factory were  some  of  its  decrees,  that  it  produced  more  controver- 
sies than  it  settled,  and  needed  an  order  of  men  to  be  set  apart 

64 


1010  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

expressly  for  the  purpose  of  interpreting  it.  However,  the  decrees 
of  this  council,  and  the  connected  creed  of  Pius  IV.,  are  the  latest 
and  most  authoritative  symbols  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

Besides  the  controversies  which  the  Church  was  obliged  to  sus- 
tain against  the  Protestants,  she  had  several  at  this  time  in  her 
own  borders.  The  first  had  relation  to  the  extent  and  magnitude 
of  the  powers  of  the  pontiff.  The  Jesuits  maintained  that  the 
pontiff  is  infallible ;  that  he  cannot  err ;  that  he  is  the  source  of 
all  the  power  which  Christ  has  imparted  to  his  Church ;  that  all 
bishops  and  teachers  are  dependent  on  him,  and  subject  to  him  ; 
that  he  is  not  bound  by  any  ecclesiastical  decrees  or  rules ;  that  he 
has  a  right  to  frame  his  own  decrees,  which  no  one  can  resist  with- 
out mortal  sin.  But  others  were  disposed  to  qualify  these  strong 
statements.  They  taught  that  the  pope's  authority  was  inferior  to 
that  of  councils  ;  that  he  was  bound  to  respect  the  decrees  of  coun- 
cils ;  and  that,  if  he  did  not,  a  council  might  be  called  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  him,  and  even  depose  him. 

The  old  controversy  respecting  depravity^  j;/Tt7?sfm«^«o??,  and 
grace,  was  still  carried  on  in  the  Romish  Church.  Formerly  it  had 
been  contested  between  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  :  now  it 
was  debated  chiefly  between  the  Jesuits  and  Jansenists ;  the 
Jansenists  affirming  the  views  of  Augustin  in  relation  to  these 
points,  and  the  Jesuits  denying  them. 

There  were  warm  disputes  also,  between  the  Jesuits  and  many 
others,  respecting  the  efQcacy  of  the  sacraments ;  the  Jesuits  in- 
sisting that  their  saving  virtues  are  imparted  ex  opere  operato,  —  by 
the  mere  external  act,  without  any  reference  to  the  state  of  mind 
and  heart  in  the  recipient,  —  while  others  taught  that  faith  and  a 
good  heart  were  necessary. 

The  Jesuits  likewise  taught  a  very  loose  and  corrupt  system  of 
morality,  which  exposed  them  to  the  keen  shafts  of  their  adversa- 
ries. Those  who  wish  to  study  this  controversy  will  do  well  to 
read  Pascal's  "  Provincial  Letters." 

In  short,  the  state  of  the  Romish  Church  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury was  any  thing  but  satisfactory.  It  commenced  the  centur}^  in 
peace  and  prosperity :  but,  in  the  course  of  it,  its  power  was  weak- 
ened ;  its  ranks  were  broken ;  it  was  divested  of  a  considerable  part 
of  its  European  possessions  ;  it  received  a  blow  from  which  it  has 
never  recovered,  and  never  will.  A  vial  of  wrath  was  poured  out 
upon  the  seat  of  the  beast ;  his  kingdom  was  full  of  darkness  ;  and 
his  followers  gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain. 


THE   LUTHERAN   CHURCH.  1011 

II. —  GREEK   ANT)    OTHER    ORIENTAL    CHURCHES. 

The  Greek  Cliiirch  of  the  sixteenth  century  is  the  same  as  the 
old  Eastern  Orthodox  Church,  which  had  so  long  been  in  contro- 
versy with  the  Church  of  Rome.  It  includes  all  those  Christians 
which  are  in  connection  and  fellowship  with  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  right  of  electing  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople 
belongs  to  the  twelve  bishops  nearest  the  city.  The  right  of  con- 
firming him  in  office  belongs  to  the  sultan,  and  is  usually  paid  for 
at  a  pretty  dear  rate. 

The  Greeks  acknowledge  as  the  basis  of  their  religion  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  the  decisions  of  the  six  first  general  councils. 
Their  symbol,  or  creed,  is  entitled  "  The  Orthodox  Confession 
of  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Oriental  Church."  The  Roman 
Catholics  have  often  tried  to  effect  a  union  with  the  Greek  Church, 
but  in  vain.  Tlie  Lutherans  made  an  attempt  of  this  nature  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  but  Avith  no  better  success.  Melancthon 
sent  a  letter  to  the  Greek  patriarch  on  the  subject,  but  did  not 
even  obtain  an  answer.  The  great  body  of  the  Russians  are  con- 
nected with  the  Greek  Church,  though  the  metropolitan  of  Moscow 
is  nearly  and  perhaps  entirely  independent. 

There  are  some  Roman  Catholics  scattered  through  the  East ; 
but  the  great  body  of  Christians  not  connected  with  the  Greek 
Church  are  either  Nestorians  or  Monophysites.  The  Nestorians 
reside  chiefly  in  the  Koordish  mountains,  near  the  head-waters 
of  the  Tigris.  Formerly  they  were  a  great  people,  their  churches 
extending  through  all  Central  Asia  and  into  China  ;  but  by  the 
conquests  of  the  Tartars,  Turks,  and  Persians,  they  have  been 
diminished,  and  brought  low. 

The  jNIonophysites  include  the  Armenians  in  Asia,  and  the  Abys- 
sinians  and  Copts  in  Africa.  These  African  Christians  are  in  a 
state  of  great  ignorance  and  depression.  The  Armenians  have 
more  light  and  wealth  and  influence,  but  are  inveterately  wedded 
to  their  superstitions.  Both  classes,  however,  have  had  the  firm- 
ness to  resist  the  most  strenuous  efforts  of  the  Catholics  to  draw 
them  into  the  embraces  of  Rome. 

III.  — THE    LUTHERAN    CHURCH. 

The  Lutheran  Church,  as  a  distinct  body  of  Christians,  had  its 
origin  in  the  sixteenth  century.     It  commenced  in  the  year  1520, 


1012  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

when  Luther  formally  withdrew  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
bui'ned  the  pope's  bull  of  excommunication  against  him.  It 
acquired  a  stable  form  and  consistency  in  1530,  when  the  Augsburg 
Confession  Avas  drawn  up  and  adopted.  It  became  a  legally  recog- 
nized community  in  1552,  when  a  permanent  peace  was  given  to 
the  Protestants. 

The  rule  of  faith  hi  the  Lutheran  Church,  as  in  all  the  other 
Protestant  churches,  is  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  symbolical 
standards  of  this  church  are  the  Augsburg  Confession ;  also  the 
Articles  of  Smalcald,  the  Catechisms  of  Luther,  and  the  Formula 
of  Concord. 

The  Lutheran  churches  do  not  all  observe  the  same  rites  and 
forms ;  nor  are  they  all  subject  to  the  same  kind  of  ecclesiastical 
government.  In  Sweden  and  Denmark,  these  churches  are  Epis- 
copal. In  Germany,  they  occupy  a  middle  ground  between 
Episcopacy  and  Presbyterianism.  Their  ecclesiastical  courts  are 
called  consistories  ;  and  what  would  be  bishops  in'  some  other  coun- 
tries are  here  called  sujyemitendents. 

In  one  respect,  the  Lutheran  churches  in  Europe  are  all  alike : 
they  are  in  close  connection  with  the  State,  —  bound  hand  and  foot  - 
to  it,  —  and  cannot  exercise  that  spiritual  freedom  and  independ- 
ence which  their  best  good  requires. 

The  sixteenth  century  was  an  age  when  the  cause  of  learning 
revived  and  made  great  progress,  not  only  among  the  Lutherans, 
but  in  all  parts  of  Europe.  New  universities  were  founded  ;  old 
ones  were  rejuvenated  and  reformed ;  schools  were  established  ; 
and  literature  and  literary  men  Avere  patronized.  All  who  aspired 
to  the  sacred  office  were  required  to  make  themselves  familiar 
with  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  languages.  Ecclesiastical 
history  was  profoundly  studied  and  illustrated  by  Flacius  and 
others,  commonly  called  the  Magdeburg  Centuriators.  It  was 
their  great  work  which  roused  Baronius  to  publish  his  "  Popish 
Annals,"  hoj)ing  thereby  to  refute  and  defeat  them. 

Luther  and  Melancthon,  though  profoundly  versed  in  the  Aris- 
totelian dialectics,  soon  came  to  despise  them.  They  needed  a 
freer  and  more  natural  method  of  publishing  the  truth.  But, 
when  they  were  dead,  their  successors  soon  reverted  to  the  old 
forms.  Aristotle  was  restored,  and  reigned  another  hundred  years, 
—  till  the  times  of  Bacon  and  Descartes. 

Luther  and  Melancthon  reformed,  not  only  the  philosophy  of  the 
times,  but  also  the  mode  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures.     Renoun- 


THE   LUTHERAN   CHURCH.  1013 

cing  the  old  allegorical  methods,  they  aimed  to  unfold  the  real 
sense  of  the  sacred  writings.  In  this  they  were  followed  by  other 
commentators  ;  and  a  permanent  change  was  effected  in  the  matter 
of  biblical  interpretation. 

In  theology,  Melancthon  was  the  oracle  to  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury. His  "  Loci  Communes  "  passed  through  many  editions,  and 
served  as  a  common  guide  to  all  the  Lutheran  teachers  of  theology, 
both  in  their  lectures,  treatises,  and  public  discourses. 

The  internal  state  of  the  Lutheran  Church  was  peaceful  so 
long  as  the  great  reformer  lived.  His  authority  was  sufficient  to 
overcome  opposition ;  and  those  who  were  unwilling  to  bow  to  it 
had  no  alternative  but  to  retire  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Church. 
It  was  his  authority  which  cleared  the  Church  of  the  fanatics, 
Anabaptists,  and  other  high-fliers,  with  which,  for  a  time,  it  was 
infested. 

After  the  death  of  Luther,  whicli  took  place  about  the  middle 
of  the  century,  the  peace  of  the  Church  was  often  disturbed. 
Melancthon,  though  more  than  equal  to  Luther  in  point  of  learn- 
ing, had  not  his  firmness  and  strength  of  character,  or  his  influence 
over  the  popular  mind.  For  the  sake  of  peace,  he  was  disposed 
to  yield  certain  points  both  to  the  Catholics  and  Calvinists  which 
Luther  would  have  preserved  inviolate.  Hence  arose  a  violent 
controversy  between  what  may  be  called  the  strict  and  the  moderate 
Lutherans ;  in  which  some  of  the  former  did  not  hesitate  to 
denounce  Melancthon  as  an  apostate  from  the  true  religiou.  This 
controversy  related  to  several  points :  as,  1.  Things  indifferent ; 
Melancthon  admitting  more  things  to  be  regarded  as  indifferent 
than  his  opposers  would  allow.  2.  Synergism,  or  whether  the 
human  will  acts  while  acted  upon  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  Melancthon 
affirming  such  action,  and  his  opposers  denying  it.  3.  The  neces- 
sity of  good  works  in  order  to  salvation  :  INIelancthon  holding  that 
they  are  in  some  sense  necessary  ;  his  opposers  denying  this,  and 
even  affirming  (or  some  of  them  did)  that  they  are  prejudicial  to 
salvation.  4.  Original  sin  ;  the  opposers  of  Melancthon  affirming, 
and  he  denying,  that  it  attaches  to  the  very  substance  of  the  soul. 
5.  The  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist ;  Melancthon  being  less 
strenuous  on  this  point  than  Luther. 

After  the  death  of  Melancthon,  in  the  year  1560,  some  of  the 
Lutheran  princes  of  Germany  took  measures  to  put  an  end  to  these 
bitter  controversies.  They  first  got  together  a  convention  to 
discuss  the  points  in  dispute.    But,  this  effort  failing,  they  appointed 


1014  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

James  Andreee,  a  professor  of  Tubingen,  to  draw  up  a  formula  of 
concord,  which  all  parties  were  expected  to  adopt  and  subscribe. 
After  long  labor,  the  formula  was  prepared  ;  but,  as  it  usually  hap- 
pens with  such  paper  compromises,  it  created  more  difficulties  than 
it  healed.  Few  really  liked  it ;  and  the  followers  of  Melancthon 
were  specially  displeased  with  it.  However,  it  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  most  of  the  princes,  and  was  admitted  to  a  place  among 
the  symbolical  standards  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 

The  principal  men  among  the  Lutherans  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury (after  Luther  and  Melancthon)  were  James  Andrese,  Paul 
Fagius,  Matthias  Flacius,  Martin  Chemnitz,  Francis  Lambert, 
Osiander,  Bugenhagen,  &c. 

IV.— KEFORMED   CHURCHES. 

Those  who  separated  from  the  Romish  Church  in  the  sixteenth 
century  are  divided  by  the  German  historians  into  two  general 
classes,  —  the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed.  All  those  who  left  the 
Romanists,  and  did  not  join  the  Lutherans,  are  classed  together 
under  the  name  of  Reformed.  These  constitute,  not  one  church, 
but  several  distinct  churches,  inhabiting  different  countries,  and 
practising  different  rites  and  forms.  Thus  the  Church  of  England 
is  Episcopal ;  the  Church  of  Scotland,  Presbyterian ;  and  others 
are  Congregational,  or  Independent. 

The  first  founder  of  these  reformed  churches  Avas  Ulric  Zwin- 
gle,  a  pastor  of  Switzerland.  He  differed  from  Luther  in  regard  to 
the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist.  In  consequence  of 
this  difference,  they  were  led  to  separate ;  and  their  followers 
became  distinct  communities.  Much  pains  was  taken  by  the  Prot- 
estant princes  of  Germany  to  harmonize  them ;  but  in  vain. 
Zwingie  died  early  (A.D.  1630),  —  sixteen  years  before  the  death 
of  Luther.  He  died  in  the  defence  of  his  country  against  the 
Roman  Catholics. 

The  second  father  of  these  reformed  churches  was  John  Calvin. 
To  the  original  ground  of  difference  between  the  Lutherans  and 
the  Reformed,  Calvin  added  another;  viz.,  the  Augustinian  doctrine 
of  predestination,  which  the  Lutherans,  in  general,  reject. 

Until  the  time  of  Calvin,  the  reformed  community  was  small  in 
extent,  being  confined  almost  entirely  to  Switzerland;  but  owing 
to  his  energy  and  zeal  in  writing,  preaching,  lecturing,  and  pub- 
lishing, and  more  especially  in  establishing  a  theological  school,  to 


REFORMED   CHURCHES.  1015 

which  young  men  from  different  countries  resorted  with  a  view  to 
quaUfy  themselves  for  the  ministry,  he  was  a  means  of  extending 
the  reformed  communities  over  a  considerable  part  of  Western 
Europe.  Calvin  died  in  the  year  1564,  —  eighteen  years  after  the 
death  of  Luther. 

The  churches  which  embraced  the  reformed  religion  were  the 
palatine*  churches  in  Germany,  the  Protestants  of  France  (com- 
monly called  Huguenots),  the  churches  of  England  and  Scotland, 
and  the  Dutch-Reformed  churches. 

King  Henry  IV.  of  France  was  originally  a  Protestant.  He 
embraced  the  Catholic  faith  as  a  matter  of  policy  when  he  came 
to  the  throne ;  but  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes  he  gave  to  his  Protes- 
tant subjects  a  firm  legal  toleration,  under  which  they  flourished 
and  prospered  for  almost  a  hundred  years. 

The  state  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  sixteenth  century 
was  various,  —  Protestant  under  Henry  VIH.  and  Edward  VI., 
Catholic  under  Mary,  and  Protestant  under  Elizabeth  and  her  suc- 
cessors. Tliis  was  the  age  of  the  Puritan  controversy  in  England. 
This  controversy  commenced  among  the  English  exiles  in  the 
reign  of  Mary.  Some  of  these  exiles  were  for  carrying  the  Refor- 
mation farther  than  it  had  ever  been  carried  in  England,  —  were 
for  conforming  their  worship  and  discipline  to  that  of  the  Swiss 
churches ;  others  were  for  preserving  the  Episcopal  forms  and 
rites  as  they  had  been  left  by  Edward  VI.  On  the  death  of  Mary, 
these  exiles  returned  into  England,  and  carried  the  controversy 
with  them ;  where  it  raged  through  the  long  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
and  far  down  into  the  next  century.  The  Puritans  were  severely 
persecuted  by  Elizabeth  and  her  successors,  but  could  not  be  exter- 
minated. They  gave  birth  to  the  dissenting  churches  of  Old  Eng- 
land and  to  the  first  settlers  of  New  England.  They  were  the 
earnest  advocates,  not  only  of  simplicity  in  worship,  but  of  the 
Christian  sabbath,  and  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Mr.  Hume 
(who  was  no  friend  to  them)  allows  that  the  English  are  indebted 
to  them  for  almost  all  the  liberty  which  they  now  enjoy. 

After  the  promulgation  of  the  formula  of  concord  in  Germany, 
some  of  the  more  moderate  Lutherans,  who  were  displeased  with 
it,  left  their  own  church,  and  joined  the  reformed.  This  was  the 
case  with  the  princes  of  Nassau,  Hanau,  Isenburg,  Anhalt,  and 
some  others.  Before  the  close  of  the  century,  the  remains  of  the 
Hussites,  or  Bohemian  brethren,  also  of  the  Waldenses  and  Albi- 
genses,  were  brought  into  close  connection  with  the  reformed 
churches. 


1016  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

The  Holy  Scriptures,  and  tliese  alone,  are  held  in  all  the  reformed 
communities  to  be  the  rule  of  faith.  Nearly  all  of  them  have 
creeds  of  their  own,  which  are  regarded,  not  as  taking  the  place  of 
Scripture,  but  as  concise  and  convenient  expressions  of  what  they 
conceive  to  be  the  sense  of  Scripture. 

Calvin  set  the  example  of  excluding  profane  and  immoral  per- 
sons, and  such  as  gave  no  evidence  of  piety,  from  the  communion 
of  the  Church.  This  was  a  new  measure  in  those  times,  and 
caused  the  reformer  a  vast  deal  of  trouble.  Men  could  bear  his 
doctrine  of  absolute  decrees  much  better  than  they  could  bear  to 
be  stigmatized  (for  it  was  then  a  stigma)  in  being  excluded  from 
the  supper  of  the  Lord.  The  example  of  Calvin  in  this  respect 
was  copied  by  some  of  his'  followers.  It  has  obtained  in  all  the 
Puritan  churches  both  of  Europe  and  America. 

Learning  was  much  cultivated  in  all  the  reformed  churches  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  philosophy  studied  was  that  of  Aris- 
totle. At  the  head  of  all  the  interpreters  of  Scripture  stand  Calvin 
and  Beza.  Calvin's  "  Commentaries  "  are  in  high  repute  at  the 
present  day.  They  have  recently  been  translated  into  English, 
and  published  in  fifty  octavo  volumes. 

Calvin  stands  at  the  head,  too,  of  the  teachers  of  theology.  His 
"  Institutes  "  are  a  text-book  in  most  evangelical  theological  semina- 
ries. Systems  of  theology  were  also  prepared  by  Musculus,  Peter 
Martyr,  Piscator,  and  some  others. 

There  were  fewer  controversies  in  the  reformed  churches  ill  the 
sixteenth  century  than  in  the  Lutheran.  The  principal  one  was 
the  Puritan  controversy  in  England,  to  which  I  have  already 
referred.  Calvin  had  frequent  controversies  with  subverters  of 
the  gospel  at  Geneva.  At  one  time,  the  opposition  was  so  strong 
against  him,  that  he  was  banished  from  the  city,  and  retired  to 
Strasburg.  But  he  was  soon  recalled ;  and  his  authority  was 
more  firmly  established  than  ever.  He  had  controversy  with  a 
class  of  Antinomian  fanatics,  whom  he  calls  Spirituals  and  Lib- 
ertines. They  Avere  of  the  same  stamp  with  the  Brethren  of  the 
Free  Spirit,  of  whom  we  read^  in  the  previous  centuries.  They 
held  that  religion  consists  in  such  a  union  of  the  soul  Avith 
God,  that  those  who  have  attained  to  it  cannot  commit  sin. 
Whatever  they  may  do,  they  are  as  guiltless  as  God  himself.  Cal- 
vin had  controversy  also  Avith  Castalio  and  Bolsec  and  Ochin  and 
Servetus ;  all  of  whom  seem  to  have  been  enemies  to  him  because 
they  were  enemies  to  the  right  Avay  of  the  Lord.    Calvin  has  been 


ANABAPTISTS,   OR  MENNONITES.  1017 

charged  with  treating  those  from  whom  he  differed  with  undue 
severity ;  and,  judged  of  by  the  customs  and  standards  of  our  own 
times,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  charge  is  true  ;  but,  judged  of  by 
the  standard  of  the  age  in  which  he  Hved,  I  think  he  may  be  honor- 
ably acquitted.  He  did  not  treat  those  from  whom  he  differed 
with  more  severity  than  was  thought  to  be  right  by  religious  men 
of  that  day.  He  has  been  often  charged  with  burning  Servetus ; 
but  this  is  not  true.  Servetus  was  burned  by  a  decree  of  the  senate, 
and  against  the  wishes  and  advice  of  Calvin.  He  wished  the 
sentence  of  death  to  be  commuted ;  but  the  senate  would  not 
yield  to  him. 

This  century  was  an  age  of  great  men,  more  especially  in  the 
reformed  churches  of  Europe.  Besides  Zwingle,  Calvin,  and 
Beza,  there  were  Bucer,  CEcolampadius,  Bullinger,  Farel,  Peter 
Martyr,  INIusculus,  Ursinus,  Cranmer,  and  many  others,  who  were 
lights  to  the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and  to  the  succeeding  ages. 

v.  — THE  ANABAPTISTS,  OR  MENNONITES. 

Among  the  sects  which  arose  in  Protestant  Europe  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  a  prominent  place  is  to  be  given  to  the  Anabaptists. 
We  have  heard  of  them  already  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation. 
Through  all  the  middle  ages,  God  had  a  people  in  the  earth.  They 
Avere  poor,  despised,  persecuted,  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  holding 
to  many  fanatical  notions  ;  but  yet  many  among  them  were  truly 
pious.  They  bore  different  names  in  different  countries  and  at 
different  times  ;  such  as  Paulicians,  Paterines,  Cathari,  Albigenses, 
&c.  By  their  enemies,  they  were  denounced  as  Manichseans.  They 
^ere  waiting  and  longing  for  spiritual  liberty  ;  and,  when  the  Ref- 
ormation came,  they  thought  they  had  gained  it.  They  rose  almost 
simultaneously  in  different  countries,  and,  under  the  influence  of 
bad  leaders,  were  soon  involved  in  reproach  and  ruin.  They  held 
to  the  doctrine  of  perfection  and  a  community  of  goods.  They 
would  have  no  religious  teachers,  and  no  magistrates.  Many  of 
them  denied  the  proper  divinity  of  Christ,  and  the  eternity 
of  future  punishment.  They  believed  in  visions  and  revelations ; 
rejected  infant-baptism  ;  and  baptized  all  who  joined  them,  whether 
they  had  been  before  baptized  or  not.*     At  first,  they  satisfied 

*  These  Anabaptists  did  not  insist  on  immersion  as  essential  to  baptism;  nor  did  they 
uniformly  baptize  by  immersion.  —  See  Chris,  Review  for  July,  1861,  ^p.  399. 


1018  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

themselves  with  merely  publishing  their  peculiar  sentiments ;  but, 
urged  on  by  their  leaders,  they  soon  rushed  to  arms.  They 
expected  the  immediate  coming  of  Christ  to  set  up  his  kingdom 
in  the  world  ;  and  their  mission  was  to  fight  the  Lord's  battles,  and 
so  prepare  the  way  for  his  universal  reign.  Their  first  military 
leader  was  Thomas  Munzer,  who  gathered  a  large  army  in  1525 : 
but  his  forces  were  utterly  routed  by  the  German  princes  ;  and  he 
was  put  to  death.  Eight  years  later,  they  rallied  again,  under 
John  Bockold,  a  tailor  of  Leyden ;  took  the  city  of  Munster,  and 
there  practised  their  fanatical  rites :  but  again  they  were  routed, 
and  their  leaders  were  slain. 

Finding  all  their  plans  defeated,  they  now  scattered  themselves 
into  different  countries.  Some  went  to  Holland,  some  to  France, 
some  to  Britain,  and  many  remained  in  Gennan3^  In  this  scattered 
condition  God  raised  them  up  a  leader,  Menno  Simonis,  who  was 
altogether  suited  to  their  wants.  He  had  been  a  Popish  priest,  and 
was  a  man  of  some  learning,  —  learning  enough  to  be  deemed  an 
oracle  by  the  ignorant  people  whom  he  undertook  to  lead.  He 
corrected  their  extravagances,  reformed  their  abuses,  healed  their 
divisions,  and,  from  a  turbulent,  distracted  multitude,  brought  them 
into  a  sober,  compacted  state.  From  him  they  took  the  name  of 
Mennonites,  which  the  Baptists  in  Holland  still  retain. 

In  the  course  of  the  century,  they  became  divided  into  two 
classes,  —  the  strict  and  the  moderate^  or  the  fine  and  the  gross.  The 
strict  adhere  more  closely  than  the  rest  to  the  original  principles 
and  discipline  of  the  Anabaptists :  the  moderates^  sometimes  called 
Waterlanders^  approximate  more  nearly  to  the  views  and  practices 
of  other  Christians.  These  Waterlanders  drew  up  a  confession  of 
faith,  and  (except  in  the  matter  of  baptism)  differed  but  little 
from  the  reformed  churches.  They  gave  a  commendable  attention 
to  learning ;  and  many  of  their  teachers  were  learned  men. 

In  the  contest  of  William,  prince  of  Orange,  against  the  Papists, 
the  Mennonites  aided  him  with  money  and  soldiers  ;  and,  to  reward 
them  for  their  kindness,  he  gave  them  a  legal  toleration  in  Holland. 
This  took  place  about  the  year  1572,  and  was  the  first  legal  estab- 
lishment which  they  gained  in  Europe. 

To  the  persecuted  and  dispersed  Anabaptists  of  Germany,  the 
Baptists  of  England  "and  America  undoubtedl}^  owe  their  origin. 
For  a  long  time,  they  retained  more  or  less  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  original  sect ;  and,  for  a  still  longer  period,  they  bore  some- 
thing of  their  reproach ;  but,  in  our  times,  they  have  cleared 
themselves  of  both. 


THE   SOCINIANS.  1019 


VI.  — THE   SOCINIANS. 


This  sect  originated  with  Lelius  Socinus,  about  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  an  Italian  by  birth,  but  spent  most 
of  his  mature  life  at  Zurich,  in  Switzerland.  He  adopted  the 
Socinian  peculiarities,  but  never  professed  them  :  he  continued  in 
communion  with  the  Swiss  churches  till  his  death. 

Faustus  Socinus  was  the  nephew  of  Lelius.  He  inherited  the 
private  papers  of  his  uncle,  and  from  them  drew  out  and  published 
what  has  since  been  called  the  Socinian  doctrine. 

The  Socini  were  not  the  first,  however,  after  the  beginning 
of  the  Reformation,  who  called  in  question  the  proper  divinity  of 
Christ.  Tliis  was  done,  as  I  just  now  said,  by  some  among  the 
Anabaptists.  It  was  also  done  by  Hetzer,  Campanus,  Servetus, 
and  many  others.  These  earlier  Unitarians  were  for  the  most  part 
Arians  or  Semi-Arians  ;  and,  after  being  driven  from  place  to  place, 
many  of  them  took  refuge  in  Poland.  Here  they  mingled  for  a 
time  with  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  and  would  not  be  known 
as  a  separate  people.  Many  of  them  were  men  of  talents  and 
learning.  Their  works  are  published  in  several  .folio  volumes, 
entitled  "Opera  Fratrum  Polonorum."  They  translated  the 
Scriptures  into  the  Polish  language,  and  published  a  confession 
of  faith,  commonly  called  the  Racovian  Confession. 

To  this  community  Faustus  Socinus  attached  himself  in  the 
year  1579,  and,  after  a  good  deal  of  discussion  and  opposition, 
brought  them  to  adopt  his  peculiar  views.  He  revised  their  con- 
fession of  faith,  and  secured  for  them  a  quiet  legal  establishment. 

About  this  time,  Socinianism  was  propagated  in  Transylvania 
by  George  Blandrata  and  Francis  David,  and  obtained  a  legal 
establishment  there. 

The  Socinians  of  these  early  times  were  much  like  those  of  our 
own  age.  They  denied  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  took  great  liberties  in  interpreting  them.  They  regarded 
Jesus  as  a  highly-gifted  man,  and  no  more  :  he  taught  a  pure 
moralit}^  and  sealed  his  doctrines  with  his  blood. 

The  Socinians  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  not  entirely  har- 
monious among  themselves.  They  all  believed  in  the  simple 
humanity  of  Jesus  Christ ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  Socinus  and 
some  others  held  that  he  should  be  worshipped.  This  Francis 
David  denied ;  and,  for  his  denial  of  the  right  of  worshipping 
Christ,  Socinus  caused  him  to  be  shut  up  in  prison  till  his  death. 


1020  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

Persecution  for  conscience'  sake  was  not  peculiar  to  any  sect  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 

The  Socinians  continued  to  flourish  in  Poland  through  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  till  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth.  Then  they 
fell  under  the  power  of  the  Papists,  who  commanded  their  schools 
to  be  broken  up,  their  instructors  to  be  banished,  their  printing 
establishment  to  be  destroyed,  and  their  churches  closed.  Soon 
after  this,  they  were  driven  from  Poland ;  and  it  was  made  a 
capital  offence  either  to  profess  their  doctrines,  or  to  harbor  those 
who  did. 

From  this  dispersion  the  Socinians  have  never  recovered  as  a 
distinct  sect.  They  were  scattered  into  most  of  the  countries  of 
Europe,  and  have  lived  by  silently  mingling  with  other  sects,  and 
propagating  their  opinions  among  them.  In  this  way  they  have 
corrupted,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  most  of  the  Protestant  sects 
of  Christendom.  The  Lutherans  of  Germany,  the  Genevans,  the 
Dutch,  the  Protestants  of  France,  the  Presbyterians  of  old  Eng- 
land, and  the  Congregationalists  of  New  England,  have  all  received, 
secretly,  the  leaven  of  Socinianism :  it  has  gradually  worked  in 
these  communities  ;  and  it  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  the  entire 
lump  has  not  been  leavened. 


PEEIOD    IX. 

THE     SEVENTEENTH     CENTURY. 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 


HISTORY    OF    DIFFERENT    CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 


I.  —  THE    KOMISH    CHURCH. 

THE  Roman  Catholics  commenced  their  foreign-missionary 
operations  in  the  sixteenth  century;  but  they  continued  them 
(chiefly  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Jesuits)  with  still 
greater  vigor  and  success  in  the  seventeenth.  Institutions  were 
established  at  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  educating  men  to  be  foreign 
missionaries,  and  also  to  send  them  forth  and  support  them  in  their 
fields  of  labor.  The  principal  of  these  was  the  celebrated  Congre- 
gatio  de  Pr'opaganda  Fide,  established  in  1522,  the  annual  income 
of  which  was  about  twenty -four  thousand  dollars. 

The  Romish  missionaries  in  this  age  visited  several  parts  of 
India  ;  also  Siam,  Tonquin,  Cochin-China,  and  China  itself.  Under 
the  ministry  of  the  Jesuits,  the  Catholic  religion  prevailed  exten- 
sively in  China,  and  also  in  Japan.  In  Japan,  the  missionaries  ex- 
pected to  change  the  religion  of  the  entire  country ;  and,  for  a  time, 
appearances  seemed  to  justify  the  expectation  :  but  when  success 
had  rendered  them  insolent  and  overbearing,  and  had  emboldened 
them  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  government,  suddenly  the 
emperor  took  the  alarm.  He  commenced  a  most  terrible,  relent- 
less, and  desolating  persecution,  and  persisted  in  it  until  Christiani- 
ty was  completely  overthrown.  The  missionaries  were  banished  ; 
and  all  the  native  Christians  who  refused  to  return  to  the  old 

1021 


1022  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

religion  were  put  to  death.  Perhaps  there  has  never  been  a  perse- 
cution more  unsparing  and  relentless,  or  borne  with  seemingly 
greater  fortitude,  than  this.  From  the  close  of  it  until  very  recent 
times,  Japan  has  been  shut  against  all  Christian  influences,  and  has 
had  almost  no  intercourse  with  the  other  nations  of  the  earth. 

It  was  in  the  seventeenth  century  that  the  Romish  religion  was 
propagated  all  over  Spanish  and  Portuguese  America  ;  but  this  was 
accomplished  almost  entirely  by  force.  The  natives  were  not  in- 
structed or  reformed,  but  were  compelled  to  accept  the  religion  of 
the  conquerors,  or  be  put  to  death.  Indeed,  Cortez  recommended 
that  the  converts,  in  some  instances,  should  instantly  be  put  to 
death :  for  "  if  they  live,"  said  he,  "  they  will  certainly  apostatize, 
and  may  lose  their  souls ;  whereas,  if  we  kill  them  as  soon  as  they 
are  baptized,  we  shall  save  them." 

But  the  zeal  of  the  Romanists  for  church-extension  was  not  man- 
ifested merely  in  missionary  efforts.  It  attempted  by  all  methods 
to  break  down  and  destroy  the  Protestant  churches  of  Europe,  and 
thus  recover  the  ground  which  in  the  preceding  century  it  had 
lost.  To  this  end,  it  involved  Europe,  in  the  first  place,  in  a  thirty- 
years'  war.  This  terrible  war  commenced  in  Bohemia  in  1618 ; 
and  was  carried  on,  with  various  success,  until  1648.  On  the 
Protestant  side,  the  principal  powers  engaged  were  the  Bohemians, 
the  Danes,  the  Dutch,  the  French,  some  of  the  German  princes, 
and  especially  Gustavus  Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden.  This  victori- 
ous assertor  of  Germanic  liberty  fell  in  the  battle  of  Lutzen  in 
the  year  1632.  Those  on  the  other  side  were  the  Austrians,  the 
emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  king  of  Spain.  This  dreadful  war 
was  terminated  by  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  in  which  Rome  was 
defeated  of  her  object,  and  the  rights  of  the  Protestants  were  con- 
firmed. 

Meanwhile  the  Romanists  were  harassing  and  persecuting  the 
Protestants  wherever  they  had  the  power.  The  Hungarians,  the 
Poles,  the  poor  Albigenses  and  Waldenses,  and  the  Protestants  of 
France,  —  all  were  the  objects  of  cruel  and  relentless  persecution. 
In  the  previous  century,  Henry  IV.  of  France  had  secured  to  his 
Protestant  subjects  a  legal  toleration  by  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  But 
this  was  repealed  by  Louis  XIV.  in  1685,  and  was  followed  by  a 
persecution  more  cruel  and  terrible  than  any  which  has  been  ex- 
perienced in  modern  times.  Vast  niimbers  were  put  to  death ; 
others  were  compelled  by  a  thousand  modes  of  torture,  vexation, 
and  suffering,  to  profess  with  their  lips  what  they  abhorred  in  their 


THE   ROMISH   CHURCH.  1023 

hearts ;  while  not  less  than  half  a  million  made  their  escape  to  other 
lands.  Many  took  refuge  in  England  and  America.  Not  a  few 
of  our  best  families  are  descendants  of  the  exiled  Huguenots  of 
that  period. 

Another  measure  of  the  Romanists,  having  the  same  end  in 
view,  was  the  final  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from  Spain.  These 
Moors  were  descended  from  the  Saracens,  who  invaded  Spain  in 
the  eighth  century,  and  had  held  possession  of  a  considerable  part 
of  it  through  all  the  intervening  period.  They  had  before  been 
despoiled  lof  their  political  power ;  but  they  had  become  incorpo- 
rated with  the  people,  dwelt  among  them,  and  were  a  peaceful  and 
useful  class  of  citizens.  But  the  clergy  did  not  cease  to  importune 
the  king,  till  in  this  century  he  drove  them  all  from  the  country. 
They  were  very  numerous  ;  and  from  the  loss  of  so  many  industri- 
ous people,  —  laborers  and  artisans,  —  poor,  impoverished  Spain 
has  never  recovered. 

Through  the  whole  seventeenth  century,  the  designs  of  tlie  Ro- 
manists against  England  were  unwearied  and  incessant.  Early  in 
the  century  occurred  the  famous  gunpowder-plot,  which  was  got 
np  by  the  Jesuits  with  a  view  to  destroy  the  king  (James  I.),  his 
son,  and  both  houses  of  parliament,  at  a  stroke.  For  this  purpose,  a 
large  quantity  of  gunpowder  was  concealed  under  the  parliament- 
house,  and,  at  an  appointed  signal,  was  to  be  fired.  The  plot  was 
discovered  barely  in  time  to  prevent  its  execution. 

When  all  these  and  like  means  of  crushing  the  Protestants  had 
failed,  the  Romanists  had  recourse  to  milder  methods.  They  un- 
dertook to  negotiate  and  compromise,  and  cajole  the  Protestants 
into  a  union ;  but  these  measures  were  attended  with  very  little 
success.  There  could  be  no  union  with  Rome  but  by  submission ; 
and  this  the  Protestants  were  not  at  all  inclined  to  yield. 

The  controversies  of  the  Romish  Church  in  the  seventeenth 
century  were  the  following  :  — 

1.  With  several  of  the  Papal  states  and  kingdoms,  respecting 
the  extent  of  pontifical  power.  The  popes  were  arrogant  and  am- 
bitious as  ever  ;  but  the  princes  gave  them  to  understand  that  they 
could  not  be  cowed  and  coerced  as  formerly.  The  Venetian  sen- 
ate had  a  long  quarrel  with  the  pope.  Afterwards,  there  was  a 
more  serious  contest  between  the  pontiff  and  the  king  of  France. 

2.  There  was  a  long  controversy  with  the  Jesuits  respecting 
their  peculiar  mode  of  conducting  missions.  They  always  pro- 
ceeded on  the  principle  of  compromise :  "  Meet  the  heathen  half- 


1024  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

way  in  order  to  draw  tliem  towards  you  the  other  half;  concede 
all  you  can  to  their  heathen  practices,  that  you  may  induce  them 
to  adopt  some  of  the  more  essential  of  the  Christian  rites."  Thus 
Robert  de  Nobili,  a  Jesuit  missionary  in  India,  feigned  himself  to 
be  a  Brahmin  from  a  distant  country,  and  by  staining  his  face,  and 
adopting  a  Brahmin's  course  of  life,  persuaded  the  people  to  believe 
him.  Other  Jesuit  missionaries  followed  the  example  of  Robert ; 
and  a  famous  mission  was  established  on  these  principles  at  Madu- 
ra. The  missionaries  deceived  the  natives  as  to  their  true  charac- 
ter, and,  when  charged  with  such  deception  at  Rome,  persistently 
denied  it.  Their  converts  practised  most  of  the  heathen  rites,  and 
were  as  degraded  in  character  as  the  other  natives.*  But  this 
mode  of  conducting  missions  seemed  very  defective  to  the  Capu- 
chins, Carmelites,  and  other  orders  of  monks  ;  and  a  protracted 
controversy  was  the  result,  which  it  took  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
court  of  Rome  to  heal. 

3.  The  next  controversy  in  this  age  was  that  between  the  Jesu- 
its and  Jansenists  respecting  the  doctrines  of  predestination  and 
grace  ;  the  Jansenists  arguing  in  favor  of  these  doctrines,  and  the 
Jesuits  against  them.  This  was  protracted  through  long  years ; 
each  party  appealing  to  the  pontiffs,  and  each  being  put  off  with 
vain  excuses  and  promises.  At  length,  the  question  was  decided 
against  the  Jansenists ;  and  they  were  bitterly  persecuted.  From 
this  period, "'nearly  all  appearance  of  piety  has  departed  from  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

•1.  There  was  still  another  controversy  with  the  Mystics  respect- 
ing the  nature  and  evidences  of  piety  ;  the  eloquent  Bossuet  taking 
one  side,  and  Fenelon,  Madame  Guion,  and  their  associates,  the 
other.  Tliis  controversy  was  decided  against  Fenelon ;  and  the 
venerable  prelate  was  publicly  censured  for  the  part  he  had  taken 
in  it. 

IL  — THE  GREEK  AND   ORIENTAL   CHURCHES. 

Of  the  Greek  Church  in  the  seventeenth  century  little  requires 
to  be  said.  The  old  attempts  at  union  with  the  Latins  were  re- 
newed, but  with  no  better  success  than  before.  The  most  distin- 
guished of  the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople  was  Cyrillus  Lucaris, 
a  learned  man  who  had  travelled  over  Europe,  and  whose  mind 
had  been  liberalized  and  enlightened.     He  favored  the  Protestants 

*  See  Am.  Pres.  Review  for  October,  1869,  p.  676. 


THE  LUTHERAUf   CHURCH.  1025 

more  than  the  Catholics,  corresponded  with  them,  and  sent  them 
valuable  manuscripts-  from  the  East.  He  sent  to  England  the 
celebrated  Alexandrine  codex  of  the  Bible,  and  with  it  a  copy  of 
Clement's  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  We  owe  it  to  him 
that  Ave  have  this  most  valuable  relic  of  the  apostolical  fathers. 
For  his  favor  to  the  Protestants,  Lucaris  inciv'red  the  hostility  of 
the  Roman  Catholics  and  of  some  of  his  own  people,  who  com- 
plained of  him  t(^  the  sultan,  by  whom  he  was  put  to  death. 

In  that  part  of  the  Greek  Church  which  is  subject  to  the  Rus- 
sians, there  was  quite  a  revival  of  religion  and  learning  in  this 
century,  under  Peter  the  Great.  He  invited  learned  men  to  his 
court,  established  schools,  and  endeavored  to  awaken  in  his  rude 
subjects  a  love  for  liberal,  pursuits.  He  granted  liberty  of  con- 
science to  his  people,  though  he  would  not  suffer  the  Jesuits  to 
come  among  them  with  their  proselyting  arts.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  his  successors  have  not  all  of  them  followed  his 
good  example. 

The  Nestorians  and  Monophysites,  once  so  j)Owerful  in  the  East, 
had  at  this  time  been  subjugated,  and  brought  low.  Their  religion 
too,  like  that  of  the  Greeks,  had  degenerated  into  mere  lifeless 
forms,  —  a  skeleton,  from  which  flesh  and  soul  had  both  departed. 
They  have  a  name  to  live,  but  are  dead  ;  and  need  to  be  quickened 
into  life  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit  and  the  gospel  as  much  as 
the  heathen. 

III.— THE  LUTHERAN  CHURCH. 

In  the  century  before  us,  several  of  the  German  princes  left  the 
Lutheran  Church,  and  joined  the  Reformed.  This  was  true,  in 
particular,  of  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  and  the  elector  of  Branden- 
burg. Various  attempts  were  made  to  bring  about  a  union  with 
the  reformed  churches,  but  without  success. 

Great  attention  was  given  to  learning  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury in  all  branches  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  philosophy 
chiefly  studied  in  the  beginning  of  the  century  was  that  of  Aris- 
totle ;  but  this  gradually  gave  place  to  the  systems  of  Descartes 
and  Leibnitz.  The  theology  of  Melancthon  continued  to  be 
studied,  and  also  a  system  prepared  in  this  age  by  George 
Calixtus. 

Through  the  greater  part  of  the  century,  the  religion  of  the 
Lutherans  was  characterized  by  a  general  coldness  and  formality. 

.  65 


1026  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

The  spirit  and  fervor  of  the  first  reformers  had  in  great  measure 
passed  away.  There  was  needed  a  reformation  on  tlie  back  of 
their  former  reformation  ;  and,  before  tlie  close  of  the  century, 
there  was  a  precious  revival  of  religion  under  the  direction  of 
such  men  as  Arndt,  Spener,  Franke,  Anthony,  &c.  Their  fol- 
lowers were  contemptuously  called  Pietists  ;  and,  because  they 
exhibited  more  of  the  spirit  of  religion  than  their  cold  and  formal 
neighbors,  all  manner  of  evil  was  falsely  said  gf  them.  These* 
good  men  found,  to  their  cost,  that  the  offence  of  the  cross  had 
not  yet  ceased. 

The  Pietists  instituted  the  University  of  Halle,  which  for  a 
considerable  time  was  a  fountain  of  learning  and  of  true  religion. 
Here  most  of  the  missionaries  were  educated,  who  founded  and 
conducted  the  mission  at  Tranquebar,  in  the  East  Indies,  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago.  In  short,  these  reproached  and  per- 
secuted Pietists  constitute  altogether  the  fairer  portion  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Other  efforts  were  made  in  the  course  of  the  century  to  establish 
missions  among  the  heathen,  but  without  success.  In  the  year 
1664,  Justinian  Ernest,  baron  of  Wells,  proposed  the  formation 
of  a  society  for  this  purpose,  and  agreed  to  advance  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars  toAvards  the  object.  He  published  two  letters  ad- 
dressed to  the  Lutherans,  in  the  first  of  which  he  urges  the 
following  home-questions  :  "  Is  it  right  that  we,  evangelical  Chris- 
tians, should  keep  the  gospel  to  ourselves,  and  not  seek  to  spread 
it  abroad  ?  Is  it  right  that  we  should  encourage  so  many  to  study 
theology,  and  yet  give  them  no  opportunity  to  go  abroad,  but 
rather  keep  them  waiting  three,  six,  or  more  years,  for  parishes  to 
become  vacant,  or  for  the  posts  of  schoolmasters  ?  Is  it  right  that 
we  should  expend  so  much  in  dress,  high  living,  useless  amuse- 
ments, and  expensive  fashions,  and  5'et  furnish  no  means  for  spread- 
ing the  gospel  ?  "  Finding  little  encouragement  at  home.  Baron 
Wells  shipped  for  the  Dutch  West  Indies  to  engage  personally  in 
missionary  labor  ;  but  he  was  no  more  heard  of.'  His  name  surely 
should  be  kept  in  remembrance. 

There  were  various  controversies  among  the  Lutherans  in  this 
age,  the  most  important  of  which  was  that  concerning  the  Pietists. 
These  good  men  set  up  prayer  and  conference  meetings  much  like  f 
those  which  are  so  common  in  our  own  times ;  they  labored  to 
promote  a  reformation  of  morals,  and  a  stricter  church  discipline  ; 
they  insisted  that  none  should  be  inducted  into  the  gospel  minis- 


THE    REFORMED   CHURCHES.  1027 

try  but  those  who  gave  evidence  of  vital  godliness  ;  and  established 
schools  for  the  training-up  of  suitable  ministers.  These,  and 
others  of  the  like  nature,  were  new  measures  at  that  time  ;  and 
they  awakened  a  controversy  which*shook  the  Lutheran  Church 
to  its  centre. 

In  the  course  of  the  century,  the  Church  was  disturbed  by 
different  classes  of  fanatics,  the  principal  of  which  were  Jacob 
Behmen  and  Robert  Fludd.  Behmen  pretended  to  have  intercourse 
Avith  the  spiritual  world,  and  to  receive  revelations  from  it.  Fludd 
was  a  kind  of  chemico-religionist,  who  taught  that  regeneration, 
and  other  changes  in  the  mind,  are  brought  about  much  as  natural 
bodies  are  changed  by  fire.  Fludd  was  an  Englishman ;  but  his 
books  and'  his  principles  had  a  wide  circulation  in  Germany.  His 
followers  were  called  Fire  Philosophers. 

IV.  — THE  REFORMED    CHURCHES. 

The  most  disastrous  event  in  the  history  of  the  reformed 
churches  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  repeal  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  and  the  consequent  persecution  of  the  Protestants  of 
France.  Of  this  I  have  spoken  in  another  connection.  The  poor 
Protestants  were  forbidden  to  leave  their  country ;  and  yet  they 
were  terribly  persecuted  in  it.  At  the  same  time,  the  Waldenses 
were  dreadfully  persecuted.  In  the  year  1655,  their  valleys  were 
invaded  by  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  ;  and  such  scenes 
of  blood .  were  enacted  as  the  civilized  world  had  never  before 
witnessed. .  Houses  and  churches  were  burned  to  the  ground. 
Infants  were  torn  from  the  breasts  of  their  mothers,  and  their 
brains  dashed  out  upon  the  rocks.  The  sick  were  either  burned 
alive,  or  cut  in  pieces,  or  thrown  down  the  precipices  with  their 
heads  tied  between  their  legs.  Mothers  and  daughters  were 
violated  in  each  other's  presence,  impaled,  and  either  carried  on 
pikes  at  the  head  of  the  regiments,  or  left  upon  poles  by  the  road- 
side. Men,  after  being  barbarously  mutilated,  were  cut  up  limb 
by  limb  as  butchers  cut  up  their  meat.  Some  had  gunpowder 
thrust  into  their  mouths  and  other  parts  of  the  body,  and  were 
then  blown  up.  Some  were  dragged  by  the  hair  at  the  tail  of  a 
mule  until  life  was  extinct.  Numbers  were  cast  into  a  burning, 
fiery  furnace.  Young  women  fled  from  their  pursuers,  and  leaped 
down  the  rocks ;  preferring  rather  to  be  killed  in  this  way  than 
to  submit  to  brutal  violence.  Such  was  Rome  in  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 


1028  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

When  these  tilings  were  reported,  as  they  shortly  were,  to  the 
Protestant  States  of  Europe,  the  effect  was  instantaneous  and 
tremendous.  Remonstrances  were  jjoured  in  from  every  quarter  ; 
and  envoys  were  sent  to  put  an  end  to  this  bloody  procedure. 
One  of  them,  Sir  Samuel  Morland,  who  was  sent  by  Oliver 
Cromwell,  addressed  the  duke  of  Savoy,  the  chief  persecutor,  in 
the  following  words  :  "  In  view  of  what  has  been  done,  the  very 
angels  are  seized  with  horror.  Heaven  is  astonished,  and  men  are 
amazed,  at  this  atrocious  cruelty.  The  very  earth  blushes,  being 
discolored  with  the  blood  of  so  many  innocent  persons."  Cromwell 
sent  a  messenger  to  the  king  of  France,  demanding  that  this 
butchery  should  stop  ;  and  it  did  stop.  Cromwell  was  not  a  man 
to  be  disobeyed  with  im^^junity.  He  proclaimed  a  fast  throughout 
Britain,  and  ordered  a  contribution  to  be  taken  up  for  the  surviv- 
ing Waldenses,  amounting  to  more  than  thirty-eight  thousand 
pounds. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Milton,  Cromwell's  secretary,  wrote  the 
inimitable  sonnet  beginning  thus  :  — 

"  Avenge,  O  Lord !  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold. 
Slain  by  the  bloody  Piedmontese,  that  rolled 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.     The  moans 
The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 
To  heaven." 

The  reformed  churches  accomplished  something  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  in  the  way  of  spreading  the  gospel.  After  the 
Dutch  came  in  possession  of  the  Islands  of  Ceylon  and  Formosa, 
and  other  countries  in  the  East,  they  undertook  to  establish  the 
Protestant  religion,  and  oblige  the  natives  to  conform  to  it.  They 
divided  Ceylon  into  parishes,  built  churches,  established  pastors 
over  them,  and  undertook  to  promote  religion  by  a  governmental 
process.  The  consequence  was,  that  multitudes  of  the  natives 
made  profession  of  the  Christian  faith.  Near  the  close  of  the 
century.  Dr.  Leusden  wrote  to  Dr.  Increase  Mather  of  Boston,  that, 
"  in  and  near  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  the  Dutch  pastors  had  baptized 
about  three  hundred  thousand  of  the  natives."  But  when  the 
Dutch  government  was  overthrown,  and  the  island  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  English,  the  most  of  these  professors  relapsed  into 
their  old  heathenish  practices :  so  that  when  our  American  mis- 
sionaries went  to  Ceylon,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century, 


THE   REFORMED   CHURCHES.  1029 

nought  remained  of  the  old  Dutch  Christianity  but  some  deserted 
and  dilapidated  hoiises  of  worship.  Among  the  natives,  not  a  pro- 
fessing Christian  could  be  found.  A  good  comment,  this,  on  the 
governmental  mode  of  conducting  missions  to  the  heathen. 

It  was  in  the  seventeenth  century  that  our  Pilgrim  Fathers  came 
to  this  country ;  and  it  was  a  part  of  the  object  of  their  coming 
..to  Christianize  the  American  Indians.  They  entered  early  upon 
this  work,  and  prosecuted  it  vigorously,  and  with  encouraging 
success.  Those  principally  concernetl  in  it  were  John  Eliot, 
Thomas  Shepard,  the  Mayhews,  the  Sargeants,  and  several  others. 
Mr.  Eliot  translated  into  the  Indian  language  primers,  catechisms, 
"  The  Practice  of  Piety,"  Baxter's  "  Call  to  the  Unconverted,"  sev- 
eral of  Mr.  Shepard's  works,  and  at  length  the  whole  Bible,  which 
was  twice  published  in  this  country.  In  1687,  there  were  six 
churches  of  converted  Indians  in  New  England,  and  eighteen 
assemblies  of  catechumens  professing  Christ.  There  were  at  the 
same  time  twenty-four  native  preachers  of  the -gospel. 

Great  attention  was  given  to  learning  at  this  period  in  all  the 
reformed  churches.  •  The  philosophy  of  Aristotle,  which  had  been 
so  long  in  use,  gave  place  during  the  century  to  the  systems  of 
Gassendi  and  Descartes.  Gassendi  introduced  what  has  been 
called  the  empirical,  mathematical,  matter-of-fact  philosophy ;  and 
Descartes,  the  metaphysical.  The  former  has  prevailed  chiefly  in 
England ;  the  latter,  in  Germany  and  France. 

The  two  principal  expositors  of  Scripture  among  the  reformed 
were  Grotius  and  Cocceius.  The  former  is  a  fair,  though  some- 
what liberal  interpreter :  the  latter  abounds  in  types  and  allegories. 
It  is  commonly  said  that  "  Cocceius  finds  Christ  everywhere  in  the 
Old  Testament,  and  Grotius  nowhere."  The  first  part  of  the 
adage  is  most  true  ;  the  last,  not  so  true.  Cocceius  goes  upon 
the  princi^jle,  that  the  entire  Old  Testament  is  but  an  emblematic 
history  of  Christ  and  his  Church. 

It  was  in  this  century  that  the  Arminian  heresy  made  its  appear- 
ance in  the  reformed  churches.  Its  founder,  James  Arminius,  was 
professor  of  theology  at  Leyden.  While  undertaldng  to  refute  a 
work  which  assailed  the  doctrine  of  predestination,  he  became  a 
convert  to  the  views  he  was  opposing,  and  thenceforward  rejected 
the  Calvinistic  doctrines.  He  died,  however,  before  the  contro- 
versy had  fairly  commenced.  It  was  carried  on  by  his  pupils  and 
followers,  and  was  finally  submitted  to  a  general  synod  of  the 
reformed  churches  which  met  at  Dort  in  1618.     By  this  synod, 


1030  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

the  Arminian  doctrines  were  condemmed ;  and  by  the  states-general 
of  Holland  the  Arminian  teachers  were  silenced*,  and  some  of  them 
banished.  They  did  not,  however,  remain  long  in  banishment.  A 
re-action,  took  place  in  their  favor :  they  were  restored  to  their 
country  and  their  privileges,  and  were  soon  in  a  situation  to  spread 
their  principles  more  effectually  than  before. 

The  Arminians,  however,  have  scarcely  been  known  as  a  dis- 
tinct sect.  They  have  spread  their  principles  by  secretly  mingling 
with  other  sects,  and  corrupting  them.  Thus  the  originally  Cal- 
vinistic  Church  of  England  became  Arminian  under  Archbishop 
Laud,  aljout  the  middle  of  the  century ;  and  those  churches 
which  fell  ultimately  into  Socinianism  came  to  it  through  the 
channel  of  Arminianism.  Originally  Calvinistic,  they  first  became 
moderate  Calvinists,  then  Arminians,  then  Arians,  then  Socinians. 
This  was  the  course  which  things  took  at  Geneva,  in  France,  in 
Holland,  among  the  English  Presbyterians,  and  among  the  Uni- 
tarians of  our  own  country. 

The  English  Church  passed  through  a  variety  of  changes  in  the 
course  of  the  century.  Under  James  L,  it  was  governed  much  as 
it  had  been  under  Elizabeth.  The  Puritan  controversy  still  raged ; 
and  the  Puritans  were  oppressed  and  persecuted.     Under  Charles 

I.  and  Archbishop  Laud,  the  Puritans  were  more  severely  perse- 
cuted ;  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  force  high-church  Episcopacy 
upon  the  whole  British  Empire.  But  this  aroused  an  opposition 
before  which  the  throne  and  the  hierarchy  fell.  The  king  and 
the  archbishop  were  both  beheaded ;  monarchy  was  overthrown ; 
the  commonwealth  was  established  ;  and  Cromwell  ruled  under  tha 
title  of  Protector.     All  sects  were  tolerated  under  Cromwell. 

Upon  his  death,  the  monarchy  was  re-established ;  and  Charles 

II.  came  to  the  throne.  He  promised  liberty  of  conscience,  but 
soon  violated. his  word,  published  his  act  of  uniformity,  and  com- 
menced persecuting  all  who  dissented  from  the  Established  Church. 
This  course  of  things  continued  through  his  wicked  and  voluptuous 
reign,  and  during  the  reign  of  his  brother  and  successor,.  James  II. 
Both  these  kings  were  concealed  Papists. 

At  length,  the  English  nation  could  endure  no  longer.  They 
hurled  James  from  the  throne,  drove  him  into  exile,  and  invited 
William,  prince  of  Orange,  and  Mary  his  wife  (who  was  a  daughter 
of  James),  to  take  possession  of  the  throne.  They  came  ;  and  their 
government  was  established.  In  1689,  they  published  an  act  of 
toleration,  which  put  an  end  to  further  persecution.     From  that 


THE   REFORMED   CHURCHES.  1031 

time  to  this,  though  Episcopacy  is  the  established  religion  of  Eng- 
land, all  other  sects  demeaning  themselves  peaceably  have  been 
tolerated. 

During  the  protectorate  of  Cromwell,  full  liberty  of  conscience 
was  enjoyed,  and  consequently  new  sects  arose.  There  were  the 
fifth-monarchy  men,  —  a  fanatical  sect,  who  expected  the  speedy 
coming  of  Christ  to  set  up  his  kingdom  in  the  earth.  The  four 
great,  universal  monarchies  of  ancient  time  had  passed  away ;  and 
the  fifth  and  last  was  about  to  be  established  by  the  Saviour. 
Hence  they  were  called  fifth-monarchy  men. 

There  were  the  Antinomians,  who  had  made  their  appearance 
at  different  times  in  every  period  of  the  Church's  history,  and 
who  now  arose  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Tobias  Crisp.  He  held 
that  all  the  sins  of  the  elect  were  put  over  to  the  Saviour,  and  all 
his  righteousness  put  over  to  them  ;  so  that  they  were  as  holy  and 
immaculate  as  Christ  himself.  What  woul^  be  sin  in  others  was 
no  sin  in  them.  Crisp's  sermons  were  published  after  his  death, 
and  occasioned  a  long  and  bitter  controversy  in  England.* 

The  Quakers  also  arose  at  this  period,  —  a  class  of  modern 
mystics,  —  the  followers  of  George  Fox.  Though  they  do  not 
expressly  set  aside  the  Scriptures,  yet,  like  all  mystics,  they  profess 
to  be  governed  chiefly  by  the  inner  light.  They  repudiate  an 
established  ministry  and  outward  ordinances,  and  speak  only  as 
the  Spirit  gives  them  utterance.  They  were  at  the  first  a  tur- 
bulent, factious  people,  and  were  severely  persecuted  ;  but  latterly 
they  have  become  remarkably  quiet  and  orderly,  and  are  pretty 
numerous  both  in  England  and  America. 

The  Independents,  or  Congregationalists,  arose  before  the  time  of 
Cromwell,  and  were  particularly  favored  under  his  government. 
They  commonly  speak  of  John  Robinson  as  their  founder.  It  was 
the  Congregationalists  who  colonized  and  settled  New  England; 
and  they  are  a  numerous  and  powerful  body  of  Christians,  both  in 
Britain  and  in  this  country. 

The  Baptists,  as  a  sect,  appeared  in  England  at  about  the  same 
time  with  the  Congregationalists,  and  agree  with  them  in  the  mat- 
ter of  church  independency.  They  probably  sprang  from  the 
Anabaptists  of  Germany,  as  many  of  these  are  known  to  have 
emigrated  into  England.  The  first  Baptist  church  in  this  country 
was  founded  at  Providence  by  Roger  Williams  in  1638.  The 
Baptists  in  both  Old  England  and   New  are   divided   into   two 

*  Hist,  of  Dissenters,  vol.  i.  p.  399. 


1032  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

classes,  —  the  Arminian  and  Calvinistic,  or  the  general  and  partic- 
ular. In  both,  they  constitute  large  and  highly  respectable  bodies 
of  Christians- 

In  the  seventeenth  century  appeared  the  first  open  opposition  to 
Christianity  which  occurred  in  modern  times ;  and,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  it  sprang  up  in  Protestant  England.  Pre-eminent 
among  the  old  Englisli  infidels  were  Thomas  Hobbes ;  John , 
Wilmot,  earl  of  Rochester ;  Anthony  Astley  Cooper,  earl  of 
Shaftesbury ;  Lord  Herbert,  Charles  Blount,  John  Toland,  Neville, 
Martin,  Harrington,  and  others.  Their  forms  or  systems  of  infidelity 
were  various ;  but  they  all  aimed,  covertly  but  really,  to  discredit 
the  Bible,  and  overthrow  the  Christian  religion.  Their  influence 
extended  into  the  next  century,  and  laid  a  foundation  for  that 
terrible  development  of  atheism  and  blood  which  occurred  in  the 
first  French  revolution. 

In  this  century  flouijshed  Benedict  Spinoza,  a  Portuguese  Jew, 
who  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the  father  of  modern  Pantheism. 
He  taught  that  the  universe  and  God  are  one  and  the  same  ;  and 
that  whatever  takes  place  arises  from  the  immutable  laws  of 
Nature,  which  necessarily  existed  and  were  active  from  all  eternity. 
This  form  of  religion,  or  rather  of  irreligion,  prevails  extensively 
in  Europe  at  the  present  time ;  and  the  name  of  Spinoza  is  highly 
venerated. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  an  age  of  distinguished  philoso- 
phers and  of  learned  men.  Among  the  English  flourished  Lord 
Bacon,  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Robert  Boyle,  Ralph  Cudworth,  Henry 
More,  Isaac  Barrow,  John  Milton,  and  John  Locke.  Among  the 
Italians,  we  find  Galileo ;  among  the  French,  Descartes  and  Gas- 
sendi ;  among  the  Danes,  Tycho  Brahe ;  among  the  Germans, 
Kepler,  Leibnitz,  and  many  others.  Never  was  the  human  mind 
more  active  than  it  was  in  Europe  during  this  century ;  nor  were 
greater  advances  ever  before  made  in  most  branches  of  science  and 
learning.  Where  shall  we  look  for  a  longer  or  brighter  array  of 
eminent  scholars  than  is  furnished  in  the  history  of  the  seveur 
teenth  century  ? 


PEEIOD    X. 

FROM  THE   COmiENCEMENT   OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 
TO   THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


CHAPTER   L. 

HISTORY    OF    DIFFERENT   CHURCHES    AND    SECTS. 


I.  — THE  ROMISH  CHURCH. 

AT  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  enjoymg  the  ordinary  measure  of  prosperity. 
Her  missionaries  were  hiboring  with  considerable  success  in  India 
and  China.  The  long  dispute  between  the  Jesuits  and '  other  mis- 
sionaries in  regard  to  the  best  mode  of  conducting  missions  was 
decided  in  1704  against  the  Jesuits.  Still  they  paid  little  regard 
to  the  decision  of  the  pontiff,  and  continued  to  prosecute  their 
labors  much  as  before. 

The  protracted  controversy  between  the  Jesuits  and  Jansenists 
had  been  decided  against  the  Jansenists  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Still  the  difficulty  was  not  at  an  end.  It  revived  again  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  troubled  the  Romish  Church  for  a 
time.  At  length,  however,  the  previous  decisions  of  the  pontiffs 
were  re-affirmed  ;  and  nought  remained  to  the  poor  persecuted  Jan- 
senists but  to  flee  out  of  France  into  Belgium,  where  a  remnant  of 
them  still  remains. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Jansenists  was  a  great  injury  to  the  Church 
of  Rome.  It  alienated  some  of  her  best  members  and  ministers, 
extinguished  almost  entirely  Avhatever  of  the  spirit  of  religion  was 
left,  and  tended  in  many  ways  to  bring  on  that  series  of  calamities 

1033 


1034  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

which  all  but  over  whelmed  the  Church  towards  the  close  of  the 
century. " 

There  were  nine  pontiffs  in  the  chair  of  Rome  during  the 
eighteenth  century ;  and  six  more  have  held  the  same  high  station 
in  the  present  century.  Compared  with  some  of  the  pontiffs  of 
the  middle  ages,  these  were  moral  and  learned  men.  Public 
opinion  would  not  allow  them  to  be  otherwise. 

The  Jesuits,  who  hatl  so  long  reigned  supreme  in  the  Church, 
and  had  trampled  on  the  rights,  not  only  of  princes,  but  of  the 
other  ecclesiastical  orders,  found  their  popularity  waning,  and  a 
retribution  preparing  for  them,  in  the  course  of  this  century. 
Benedict  XIV.,  who  filled  the  Papal  chair  from  1740  to  1758,  was 
opposed  to  them ;  while  their  ambition,  their  avarice,  and  their 
disposition  perpetually  to  intermeddle  with  the  affairs  of  govern- 
ment, made  most  of  the  courts  of  Europe  their  enemies.  In 
Portugal,  they  were  charged  with  an  attempt  upon  the  life  of  the 
king  ;  in  consequence  of  which  the}'  were  banished,  and  driven  into 
Italy.  Next  the  order  was  suppressed  in  France,  then  in  Spain, 
then  in  Naples,  in  Cathohc  Switzerland,  and  in  the  duchy  of 
Parma.  The  court  of  Rome  was  now  beset  with  entreaties,  and 
sometimes  with  threats,  to  follow  up  the  blow  wliich  the  CathoHc 
sovereigns  had  inflicted ;  and,  after  some  delay  and  hesitation,  the 
pontiff  yielded.  By  a  decree  passed  July  21^  1773,  Clement  XIV.  _ 
"abohshed  and  annulled  the  Society  of  Jesus,  their  functions, 
houses,  and  institutions."  The  crushed  Jesuits,  constrained  to 
retreat  from  Catholic  Eirrope,  took  refuge,  some  in  Russia,  and 
some  in  England,  in  Prussia,  and  in  other  Protestant  countries. 
This  was  a  step  of  very  great  importance.  It  caused  much 
excitement  all  over  Europe,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  coming 
encroachments  on  the  powers  and  prerogatives-  of  the  Chiu'ch. 

Infidelity  began  to  make  its  appearance  in  France  about  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  slyly  insinuated  in 
the  writings  of  Bayle  ;  and  more  boldly  in  those  of  Voltaire,  Rous- 
seau, Diderot,  and  D'Alembert.  Mixed  up  with  their  ii:^fidelity, 
these  men,  and  others  associated  with  them,  combined  the  most 
radical  notions  of  liberty  and  equality.  These  they  industriously^ 
circulated  among  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  thus  prepared  the 
way  for  the  first  French  revolution.  This  subverted,  not  only 
the  Church  of  France,  but  the  throne ;  involving  both  in  one 
common  ruin.  Nor  did  the  ruin  stop  here.  The  contagion  flew  to 
other  cotmtries ;  and  all  Europe  was  convulsed.    The  revolution- 


THE   ROMISH   CHURCH.  1035 

ary  torrent  first  sprecaci  into  Belgium,  then  into  Holland,  then  into 
the  Rhenish  provinces  of  Germany,  and  then  into  Italy.  Rome 
was  invaded,  and  the  palace  of  the  pontiff  invested.  Pope  Pius 
_VI.  entreated  his  enemies  to  let  him,  an  old  man  of  eighty,  die 
where  he  had  lived.  But  they  replied,  that  he  could  die  anywhere 
else  as  well.  They  plundered  his  apartments,  robbed  his  person, 
and  even  tore  the  ring  from  his  finger :  they  then  took  him,  and 
\      carried  him  off  to  France,  where  he  died  in  the  summer  of  1799. 

It  now  seemed  as  though  the  Papal  power  was  forever  crushed. 
The  deep  hostility  of  the  revolutionists,  and  their  constant  suc- 
cesses, apparently  looked  at  no  other  result.  Events,  however, 
very  soon  occurred  to  defeat  such  expectations.  Some  advantages 
having  been  gained  over  the  revolutionists  by  the  allied  princes, 
the  cardinals  were  emboldened  to  get  together,  and  elect  a  new 
pontiff.     Pius  VII.  was  chosen  on  the  13th  of  March,  1800. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  had  long  been  in  the  ascendant,  and 
was  fast  rising  to  imperial  power,  now  resolved  on  the  re-establish- 
-ment  of  the  Catholic  religion  in  France.  He  entered  into  nego- 
tiations with  the  new  pontiff  on  the  subject ;  and  the  preliminaries 
were  speedily  arranged,  though  involving  enormous  concessions 
on  the  part  of  the  Church.  This  event  took  place  in  the  year 
,1801. 

At  the  request  of  Bonaparte,  the  pope  consented,  in  1801,  to  go 
into  France,  and  give  to  the  coronation  of  the  emperor  and  empress 
the  sanction  of  the  holy  oil.  But  this  act  of  condescension  proved 
no  benefit  to  him  in  the  end.  Bonaparte  only  wished  to  use  him 
as  a  tool  fol"  the  accomplishment  of  his  own  purposes ;  and,  when 
he  ceased  to  be  as  pliant  a  tool  as  Napoleon  expected,  he  sent  and 
~  took  from  him  his  temporalities,  brought  him  into  France,  and 
shut  him  up  at  Avignon,  a  mere  pensioner  upon  the  emperor's 
bounty.  This  degradation  was  reached  in  the  beginning  of  the 
->year  1813. 

But,  almost  immediately,  the  course  of  events  was  changed;  and 
Popery  revived  again.  Napoleon's  defeats  in  Russia  and  at  Water- 
loo, and  the  consequent  successes  of  the  allies,  inspired  the  pontiff 
with  new  hopes ;  and  in  May,  1814,  he  returned  to  Rome.  It  was 
the  three  anti-Catholic  powers  of  Europe  —  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
_  England — which  restored  him. 

Almost  immediately  after  his  return,  he  re-established  the  order 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  claimed  to  exercise  the  power  of  his  predecessors. 
This,  however,  was  not  granted  him.     He  met  with  resistance  in 


1036  ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. 

France,  in  Spain,  and  in  other  Catholic  countries.    In  the  revolution 
of  1848,  Pius  IX.  was  obliged  to  flee  in  disguise  from  Rome. 

In  1829  occurred  what  has  been  called  the  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion in  England.  The  disabilities  under  which  the  English  Catho- 
lics had  remained  from  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary,  in 
1688,  were  removed  ;  and  they  were  placed,  in  respect  to  civil  priv- 
ileges, on  a  level  with  other  dissenters. 

On  the  whole,  the  fortunes  of  the  Papacy  from  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  have  been 
various.     From  a  state  of  quiet  and  prosperity,  the  Church  ran 
down,  stage  after  stage,  until,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  it 
had  reached  its  utmost  degradation.     It  could  go  no  lower.     It 
seemed  as  though  it  could  never  revive ;  and  it  never  would,  but 
for  the  intervention  of  the  anti-Catholic  powers.     But,  from  the     ' 
early  part  of  the  present  century,  Poperj^  has  been  gradually  recov-  .- 
ering.     It  has  had  some  rebuffs,  particularly  in  the  loss  of  its  tem-^  . 
poral  dominions,  and  in  the  recent  crippling  of  Austria,  and  the 
revolution  in  Spain  :  still  it  retains  something  of  its  former  vigor  ; 
and  how  much  longer  it  is  to  remain  to  scourge  and  afflict  the  guilty 
nations,  God  only  knows. 

II.  — THE  GREEK  CHURCH,  ETC. 

Of  the  Greek  and  Oriental  churches  during  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries,  very  little  of  interest  can  be  said.  Through 
the  eighteenth  century  and  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth, 
they  were  sorely  oppressed,  and  often  persecuted,  by  the  Turks. 
For  the  last  thirty  years,  the  Turkish  government  has  been  more 
liberal.  It  is,  however,  a  wretched  government,  under  which  noth- 
ing can  prosper  ;  and  all  its  subjects  are  more  or  less  oppressed. 
The  political  event  of  more  interest  to  the  Greek  Church  tlian  any 
other  in  the  period  under  review  was  the  independence  of  Greece. 
This  was  achieved  after  a  long  and  bloody  conflict,  and  was  ac- 
knowledged in  the  year  1828. 

In  Russia,  belonging  to  the  Greek  Church,  there  was  an  effort 
made  to  give  the  Bible  to  the  people  near  the  commencement  of 
the  present  century,  under  the  patronage  of  Alexander  I.  The 
Scriptures  were  circulated,  and  missions  were  established  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Asiatic  Russia ;  but,  when  Nicholas  came  to  the 
throne,  these  works  of  mercy  were,  in  general,  suppressed. 

The  present  monarch,  Alexander  II.,  has  shown  himself  the 


THE   LUTHERAN   CHURCH.  1037 

.  friend,. not  only  of  civil  liberty,  but  of  the  Bible.  He  has  liberated 
milUons  of  serfs.  He  has  procured  a  new  translation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  is  laboring  to  circulate  them  through  his  vast  empire. 

The  brightest  hope  for  the  Greek  and  other  Oriental  churches  — 
for  those  especially  lying  out  of  Russia — rests  now  on  the  mis- 
sions established  within  their  borders,  bringing  to  the  benighted 
people  education,  the  Bible,  a.  Christian  literature,  and  a  preached 
gospel. 

III. —THE   LUTHERAN   CHURCH. 

The  Lutherans  celebrated  in  peace  and  prosperity  the  two-hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  their  church  in  1717,  and  that  of  the  Augs- 
burg Confession'  in  1730.  The  Pietistic  revival  commenced  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  continued  to  exert  its  happy  mlluence 
through  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth.  The  University  of  Halle 
was  founded  by  the  Pietists,  and  was  for  many  years  a  fountain 
of  good  influences  to  Germany  and  to  the  world.  Here  those  ex- 
cellent missionaries  were  educated  —  Zeigenbalg,  Swartz,  and  oth- 
ers —  who  were  sent  by  the  king  of  Denmark  to  Tranquebar  in 
the  East  Indies,  and  the  fruits  of  whose  faithful  labors  -remain  to 
this  day. 

The  Moravians  commenced  their  establishment  at  Hernhut,  in 
Germany,  about  the  year  1730.  To  be  sure,  they  were  not  Luther- 
ans ;  but  tl^ey  were  taken  under  the  patronage  of  Lutherans,  and 
were  protected  by  them.  They  were,  in  their  early  days,  and  have 
continued  to  be,  a  pious,  devoted  class  of  Christians.  The  mis- 
sionary spirit  never  burned  purer  or  stronger  among  any  people 
than  it  did  among  the  Moravians  during  the  first  thirty  years  of 
their  existence  as  a  church.  In  spirit  they  were  all  missionaries, 
and  were  ready  and  waiting  to  become  such  in  reality.  They  were 
willing  to  go  anywhere,  —  to  Labrador,  Greenland,  Iceland,  among 
the  Hottentots,  West-India  slaves,  and  American  Indians,  —  any- 
where, to  any  people,  wherever  the  Lord  their  God  should  call. 
Though  few  in  numbers,  and  feeble  in  resources,  they  soon  had 
their  missionaries  in  almost  every  part  of  the  heathen  world. 

The  Lutheran  religion  was  preserved  in  a  good  degree  of  doctri- 
nal purity  down  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  but,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  century,  it  was  sadly  corrupted,  not  to  say 
subverted,  by  the  inroads  of  Rationalism,  Pantheism,  and  other 
forms  of  infidelity.    Among  the  causes  which  led  to  this  disastrous 


1038  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

result  were  the  writings  of  the  English  and  French  infidels,  which 
were  translated,  and  widely  circulated.  Frederic  the  Great,  who 
reigned  ovar  Prussia  from  1740  to  1786.  was  an  infidel,  the  fi'iend 
of  Voltaire,  who  ihd  all  he  could  to  discredit  serious  rehgion,  and 
mate  his  subjects  as  unbeheving  as  himself. 

Another  cause  which  led  to  the  rehgious  revolurion  in  Germany 
was  the  prevalence  of  dangerous  Sf/sfems  of'  philosophy.  The  Leib- 
nitzian  philosophT,  as  interpreted  by  Wolfe,  had  a  strong  tendency 
in  this  direction.  But  much  stronger  and  more  cUsastrous  was  the 
influence  of  the  transcendental  philosophy,  as  inculcated  by  Kant 
and  his  successoi"s.  Kant  himself  was  no  better  than  an  infidel ; 
but  Fichte.  Schelling.  Hegel,  and  others  of  the  same  school,  have 
pushed  out  theu*  speculations,  until  they  have  left,  not  only  Chiis- 
tiauity  and  truth,  bur  common  sense  and  reason,  far  behind  them: 
They  have  corrupted"  and  (_so  far  as  they  could)  subverted  the 
religion  of  then-  coimtrv. 

The  fii"st  of  the  sarionahstic  theologians  was  Semler.  He  com- 
menced his  career  as  a  theological  teacher  in  1752.  He  was  a 
man  of  varied  and  extensive  learning,  but  employed  all  his  learn- 
ing to  imsettle  the  faith  of  his  countrymen  in  the  tUvine  authority 
and  inspu"ation  of  the  Bible,  and  in  the  most  essential  rehgious 
truths.  Semler  was  educated  at  Halle  :  and  it  was  through  his  in- 
fluence that  this  noble  university,  which  was  founded  by  the  Pie- 
tists, and  had  long  been  used  by  them  as  an  instrument  for  the  pro- 
motion of  Christ's  kingdom,  was  one  of  the  first  and  njost  deeply 
corrupted.  The  moral  condition  of  the  students  at  Halle,  and  even 
of  the  theological  students  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  Tholuck  tells  us,  was  deplorable.  Those  of  them  who 
resided  in  Dr.  Semler's  house  were  frequently  seen  abroad  in  a 
state  of  nudity.  Bahrdt,  who  called  himself  a  theologian,  kept 
a  coft'ee-house  of  his  own,  where  he  received  his  boon  companions, 
and  where,  says  Tholuck.  "  the  waiting-maid  took  the  place  which 
belonged  to  the  wife."  He  died  in  early  life  of  a  vile  disease,  the 
lesult  of  his  debaucheries. 

Next  to  Semler.  Lessing  bore  an  important  part  in  corrupting 
the  Lutheran  churches  of  Germany.  While  in  chai-ge  of  the  great 
Ducal  library  at  Wolfenbattel,  he  published  certain  "  Fragments,'* 
so  called,  pretending  to  have  foimd  them  in  manuscript  in  the 
library.  It  is  now  known  that  they  were  written  by  Prof,  Rei- 
mjlrus,  and  set  forth  the  principles  of  the  English  deists.  The 
leading  thought  of  the  book  is,  that  the  convictions  of  Christians 


THE   LUTHERAN   CHURCH.  1039 

as  to  the  truth  of  their  religion  care  of  no  more  vahie  than  those 
of  the  Mohammedans  or  Hindoos  as  to  the  truth  of  theirs. 

This  neology,  or  new  divinity,  as  its  promoters  called  it^  was 
for  a  time  immensely  popular  in  Germany.  It  spread  from  place 
to  place,  from  one  university  to  another,  until  nearly  all  were  cor- 
rupted. The  University  of  Berlin  was  scarcely  less  infidel  than 
that  at  Halle.  "  A  Berlin  theologue  and  an  infidel,"  Tholuck  tells 
us,  "  were  regarded  as  quite  synonymous  terms." 

It  would  be  endless  to  mention  all  the  theologians  (so  called) 
who  helped  to  carry  on  this  miserable  crusade  against  the  Bible 
and  religion.  After  Semler,  some  of  the  more  considerable  were 
the  following,  —  Henke,  Wegseheider,  Bretschneider,  Gesenius, 
Eichhorn,  De  Wette,  Gabler,  Gruner,  Eberhard,  and  Steinbart. 

The  Rationalists  of  Germany,  properly  so  called,  were  distin- 
guished for  the  loosest,  wildest  schemes  of  biblical  criticism  and 
interpretation.  They  amused  themselves,  and  startled  others,  by  the 
strangest  methods  of  explaining  away  the  miracles  and  other  plain 
representations  of  Scripture.  This  course  of  things  at  length 
received  a  check,  and  from  a  source  where  it  might  least  have 
been  expected.  I  refer  to  the  publication  of  Strauss's  "  Life  of 
Jesus "  in  1835.  Strauss  ridicules  the  efforts  of  his  brethren  to 
explain  away  the  miracles  of  Christ ;  proposes  to  let  them  stand 
as  they  are  recorded;  and  then  turns  them  all  into  myth  and  fable. 
It  was  never  intended  that  the  sacred  record  should  be  understood 
literally,  but  parabolically,  conveying  truth  under  a  fictitious  garb. 
The  publication  of  this  infidel  book  produced  a  great  shock  in 
Germany.  It  was  attacked  by  theologians  of  different  classes,  and 
produced  a  re-action,  wliich  was,  on  the  whole,  favorable  to  evan- 
gelical truth. 

Since  the  year  1820,  there  certainly  has  been  a  reviving  of  evan- 
gelical religion  in  Germany  under  the  influence  of  such  men  as 
Tholuck,  Neander,  Hengstenberg,  Krummacher,  Olshausen,  and 
many  others.  Previous  to  this,  the  evil  had  gone  so  far  in  differ- 
ent directions,  that  some  of  its  abetters  became  frightened  at  them- 
selves. They  started  back  from  the  vortex  to  which  they  were 
nearing,  and  in  which  all  their  institutions  of  Church  and  State 
were  likely  to  be  whelmed  together. 

That  the  tendency  of  things  in  the  Lutheraij  Church  is  now, 
and  for  some  years  has  been,  upward,  I  rejoice  to  believe.  Still, 
most  of  the  German  theologians,  even  the  best  of  them",  hold  some 
of  the  essential  truths  of  the  gospel  very  loosely ;  and,  until  thev 


1040  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

break  away  from  the  trammels  of  their  transcendental  philosophy, 
I  have  little  hope  that  they  will  emerge  into  the  clear  and  holy 
light  of  the  gospel. 

I  only  add,  that  the  Lutheran  Church  has  greatly  extended  itself 
within  the  last  centuiy  by  emigrations  to  the  United  States  of 
America.  I  am  not  able  to  state  the  precise  number  of  their 
churches  in  this  country ;  but  it  is  known  that  they,  are  very 
numerous.  They  constitute  one  of  our  largest  denominations  of 
Christians. 

IV.  — EEFORMED  CHURCHES,  AND  OTHER  SECTS. 

The  course  of  things  in  the  reformed  churches  of  Continental 
Europe  during  the  eighteenth  century  was  uniformly  downward, — 
first  a  moderate  dead  Calvinism,  then  Arminianism,  then  Arian- 
ism,  then  Socinianism.  So  it  was  in  Geneva,  the  home  of  Calvin  ; 
so  it  was  in  Holland.  Arminianism,  condemned  in  the  Synod  of 
Dort,  soon  spread  itself  secretly  through  the  churches,  rooting  out 
serious,  evangelical  religion,  and  preparing  the  way  for  greater 
defections.  So  it  was  with  the  reformed  churches  in  Germany, 
They  slid  down  with  the  Lutherans  into  rationalism  and  infidelity, 
and  with  them,  we  hope,  are  now  returning  to  the  faith  and  spirit 
of  the  gospel.  A  strong  effort  was  made  by  the  king  of  Prussia, 
about  forty  years  ago,  to  unite  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
churches  in  his  dominions,  and  bring  them  all  into  one  body  ;  but 
the  union  has  encountered  a  violent  opposition,  particularly  on  the 
part  of  the  ultra  Lutherans ;  and  what  the  result  may  ultimately 
be,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

Though  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  England  are  Calvinistic, 
the  prevailing  theology  had  come  to  be  Arminian  previous  to  the 
commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  some  instances,  it 
was  even  worse  than  that.  In  the  year  1772,  between  two  and 
three  hundred  clergymen  of  the  English  Church  —  among  whom 
where  Archdeacon  Blackburn  and  Bishop  Law  —  petitioned  Parlia- 
ment for  relief  from  the  necessity  of  subscribing  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  on  the  ground,  mainly,  that  they  did  not  believe  them,  or 
at  least  some  of  them.  The  truth  is,  they  were  Unitarians.  Their 
petition,  however,  was  not  granted ;  and  yet  (with  a  single  excep- 
tion) they  all  compounded  the  matter  with  their  consciences,  and 
clung  to  their  livings  in  the  Church. 

There  have  been  frequent  discussions  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 


REFORMED   CHURCHES,   AND   OTHER   SECTS.  1041 

land,  wkhin  the  period  under  review,  as  to  the  divine  right  and 
authority  of  Episcopacy.  The  old  founders  of  the  English  Church 
—  Ckanmer,  Jewett,  Ridley,  Latimer  —  were  all  of  them  what 
would  now  be  called  Low  Churchmen.  They  preferred  Episco- 
pacy to  any  other  form  of  government,  but  had  no  thought  that  it 
_was  of  divine  institution,  and,  as  such,  binding  upon  all  the  church- 
es of  Christ.  The  doctrine  of  divine  right  was  first  advocated  in 
England  by  Bishops  Bancroft  and  Laud  in  the  first  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century ;  and  from  that  time  to  this  the  question  has 
been  a  contested  one.  In  the  first  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Bishop  Hoadly  appeared  as  the  advocate  of  Low-Church  principles, 
and  was  soon  involved  in  a  violent  controversy,  which  (as  Hoadly 
was  bishop  of  Bangor)  is  commonly  called  the  Bangorian  contro- 
versy. In  our  own  times,  Dr.  Pusey  has  distinguished  himself  as 
the  advocate  of  extreme  High-Church  principles ;  in  following  out 
which,  many  of  his  party  have  dropped  the  name  of  Protestant, 
and  adopted  most  of  the  Popish  rites.  Some  have  gone  over  by 
profession  to  the  Romish  Church. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  state  of 
religion  in  the  Church  of  England  was  low.  Many  of  the  clergy 
were  a  disgrace  to  their  profession ;  and  dead  formalism  generally 
prevailed.  But,  witli  the  opening  of  the  present  century,  a  better 
state  of  things  was  introduced.  A  powerful  evangelical  party  has 
-risen  up  in  the  Church,  the  influence  of  which  is  everywhere 
happy.  The  gospel  is  preached,  the  Bible  is  circulated,  the  cause 
of  missions  is  promoted ;  and  the  Church  itself  seems  quickened, 
animated,  by  a  new  and  living  spirit. 

At  the  same  time,  a  disposition  is  manifesting  itself — we  hope 
but  temporarily,  and  on  a  small  scale  —  to  relapse  into  the  latitu- 
dinarian  principles  and  interpretations  of  Germany.  Unless  the 
efforts  of  certain  prominent  individuals  *  in  this  direction  are 
effectually  checked,  the  Church  of  England  may  hi\ve  occasion  to 
lament  over  an  apostasy  such  as  she  has  never  before  experi- 
enced. 

Tlie  dissenters  of  England  have  had  no  occasion  to  complain  of 
palpable  persecution  since  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  in 
1689.  Queen  Anne  did  not  favor  them ;  yet  she  never  revoked 
the  toleration  which  had  been  granted  by  William.  Under  the 
house  of  Hanover,  they  have  been  generally  favored,  and  have 

*  The  authors  of  the  celebrated  Essays  and  Reviews. 
66 


1042  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

prospered.  They  have  increased  and  multiplied,  until  they  probably 
•outnumber  the  Establishment. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  most  consid- 
erable body  of  dissenters  in  England  was  the  Presbyterians ;  but 
Arianism  sprang  up  among  them  in  1720,  and  most  of  their 
churches  fell  into  Unitarianism,  and  almost  to  nothing.  Of  late, 
there  has  been  a  reviving  among  them.  They  are  far  exceeded, 
however,  in  point  of  numbers,  by  the  Independents  and  Baptists, 
who,  as  a  general  thing,  have  held  fast  their  integrity,  and  been 
greatly  prospered. 

The  old  English  Deists  commenced  their  publications  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  continued  them  far  into  the  eighteenth. 
Among  their  later  writers  were  Tindall,  Chubb,  Mandeville,  Mor- 
gan, Lord  Bolingbroke,  David  Hume,  and  Thomas  Paine.  The 
poison  of  their  infidelity  extended  into  France,  and  led  on  to 
French  atheism  and  the  French  Revolution.  It  extended  into 
Germany,  and  prepared  the  way  for  those  forms  of  infidelity  of 
which  I  have  just  spoken.  Wicked  men,  when  they  enter  upon 
their  courses  of  error  and  sin,  little  think  what  immense  evils  may 
grow  out  of  them. 

In  our  own  country,  the  religion  of  the  first  settlers  continued 
to  prevail  through  the  seventeenth  century,  and  through  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth ;  though,  as  early  as  1730,  there  were  fre- 
quent complaints  of  laxity  in  doctrine,  and  of  a  tendency  to 
Arminianism.  But,  in  1735,  the  great  revival  under  President 
Edwards,  Whitefield,  the  Tennents,  and  their  co-adjutors,  com- 
menced, and  continued  for  about  twenty  years.  It  reached  nearly 
all  the  settled  parts  of  New  England,  and  far  into  the  Middle 
and  Southern  States.  It  prevailed  at  the  same  time  in  England  and 
ScotLand ;  and  hundreds  and  thousands  were  hopefully  converted. 
This  revival  was  an  inestimable  blessing  to  the  countries  where  it 
was  enjoyed.  ,  It  rekindled  the  holy  fires  of  the  sanctuary  when 
they  seemed  fast  going  out.  It  revived  and  strengthened  the 
things  that  remained  which  were  ready  to  die. 

Closely  connected  with  it,  both  in  England  and  in  this  country, 
were  the  labors  of  the  Wesleys,  and  the  commencement  of  that 
widely-extended  connection,  the  Wesleyan  Methodists,  which  has 
since  grown  up.  The  Wesleys  and  Whitefield  were  students 
together  at  Oxford.  They  were  converted  and  commenced  their 
labors  together  ;  and  together  would  they  have  continued  to  labor, 
but  that  they  differed  in  regard  to  some  of  the  high  points  of  Cal- 


REFORMED   CHURCHES,  AND   OTHER   SECTS.  1013 

vinisra.  The  Wesleys  were  Arminians  in  doctrine ;  and  so  has 
their  connection  continued  to  be  to  the  present  time.  Their 
Arminianism,  however,  is  not  of  the  cold,  unevangeHcal  stamp  ; 
it  is  full  of  warmth,  vigor,  and  life :  and  they  have  carried  '  the 
salvation  of  the  gospel  to  thousands  and  millions  who  might  other- 
wise have  perished  in  their  sins. 

The  followers  of  Whitefield,  like  those  of  Wesley,  in  many 
places  formed  separate  churches ;  but  these,  for  the  most  part, 
have  disappeared,  being  merged  in  other  denominations. 

In  Scotland,  during  the  period  under  review,  Presbyterianism 
has  been  almost  the  only  form  of  church  government.  There 
were  a  few  Episcopal  churches  in  the  eighteenth  century,  as 
there  are  now,  which  are  generally  of  the  High-Church,  exclusive 
stamp.  There  have  been  frequent  secessions,  also,  from  the  estab- 
lished Presbyterian  Church,  as  the  Glassites,  the  Burghers  and 
Antiburghers,  the  Sandemanians,  &c. ;  but  the  greatest  secession 
Avas  that  of  the  Free  Church,  which  took  place  almost  in  our  own 
times.  Believing  that  their  religious  liberties  had  been  invaded  by 
the  civil  power,  and  would  be  again,  the  better  part  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  under  the  lead  of  the  great  Chalmers,  seceded  from 
the -Establishment,  and  set  up  public  worship  by  themselves.  This 
secession  has  thus  far  been  greatly  prospered  ;  while  their  example 
has  exerted  a  favorable  influence  upon  the  church  which  they  left 
behind. 

Among  the  sects  which  have  sprung  up  in  the  period  under 
review  are  the  Swedenborgians,  the  Shakers,  and  the  Universalists. 
'  Swedenborg  died  in  1772 ;  and  his  New-Jerusalem  Church  was 
.organized  soon  after.  He  has  a  few  followers  in  Sweden,  Ger- 
many, France,  England,  and  in  this  country. 

The  Shakers  commenced  their  establishment  in  1774.  They  are 
the  followers  of  Anne  Lee,  and,  with  all  their  strange  notions  and 
practices,  are  the  only  successful  communitists  of  modern  times. 
They  are  an  industrious,  economical  people ;  and  some  of  their 
establishments  are  wealthy  and  flourishing. 

The  first  congregation  of  Universalists  Avas  founded  in  England, 
in  1760,  by  James  Relly.  He  was  soon  joined  by  Murray  and 
Winchester ;  and  from  England  the  doctrine  spread  into  this 
country.  It  has  prevailed  here  much  more  extensively  than  in 
England.  The  Universalists  have  changed  their  ground  of  reason- 
ing several  times ;  but  all  agree  in  the  grand  conclusion,  that  the 
whole  human  race  will  finally  be  saved. 


1044  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  great  revival  in  this  country  which  occurred 
about  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  This  was  followed  by  a  long 
season  of  coldness  and  worldliness.  From  the  year  1760  to  1790, . 
there  were  few  revivals,  and  the  spirit  of  religion  greatly  declined. 
The  political  troubles  of  the  country,  resulting  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  and  in  the  establishment  of  American  independence, 
engrossed  the  minds  and  hearts  even  of  good  people,  and  tended 
to  smother  the  spirit  of  religion. 

It  was  during  this  season  of  declension  that  a  foundation  was 
laid  for  Unitarian  and  Universalist  errors,  which  crept  in  unawares, 
and  have  carried  away  many  of  the  sons  and  the  churches  of  the 
Pilgrims. 

Uuiversalism  began  to  be  preached  here,  and  societies  to  be 
formed,  as  early  as  1770.  The  general  convention  of  Univer- 
salists  was  organized  at  Oxford,  Mass.,  in  1785. 

Unitarianism  was  embraced  by  some  of  our  ministers  quite  as 
early;  but  it  was  held  in  secrecy  and  silence.  No  one  would 
acknowledge  himself  a  Unitarian.  It  was  not  till  the  spring  of 
1815  that  the  mask  of  concealment  was  fairly  taken  off,  and 
American  Unitarianism  stood  confessed  to  the  world. 

The  season  of  declension  of  which  I  have  spoken  continued  till 
near  the  close  of  the  last  century ;  when  the  cloud  seemed  to  pass 
away,  and  a  new  era  to  open  upon  our  evangelical  churches. 
While  true  religion  was  reviving  among  the  decayed  Protestants 
of  Europe,  it  revived  still  more  conspicuously  and  gloriously  in 
this  country.  Seasons  of  spiritual  refreshing  were  multiplied;  and 
with  them  new  systems  of  effort  were  inaugurated,  having  for 
their  object  the  spread  of  the  gospel  througliout  the  earth.  Of 
these  various  efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge,  and 
the  spread  of  Christ's  kingdom,  I  shall  speak  in  my  next  and  con- 
cluding chapter. 

The  two  great  things  for  which  our  age,  in  a  religious  view,  is 
distinguished,  are  revivals  of  religion  and  the  spread  of  ike  gospel^ 
—  kindred  objects,  which  always  must  proceed  together.  Let 
these  be  kept  uppermost,  as  they  should  be,  in  the  minds  of 
Christians,  and  go  on  harmoniously  and  vigorously  together,  and 
the  day  cannot  be  distant  when  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall 
fin  the  earth  as  the  waters  fill  the  channels  of  the  deep. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

BENEVOLENT    OPERATIONS    IN    THE   PRESENT    CENTURY. 

A  T  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  I  spoke  of  a  revived  state  of 
-^  religion  in  some  parts  of  Europe  and  in  this  country  near 
the  commencement  of  the  present  century.  An  era  of  revivals 
seems  then  to  have  commenced,  which  has  continued,  without  much 
interruption,  to  the  present  time.  In  these  revivals,  the  tone  of 
religious  thought  and  feeling  has  been  elevated ;  new  churches 
have  been  gathered,  and  old  ones  strengthened ;  multitudes  of  young 
and  active  Christians  have  been  brought  into  the  fold  of  Christ ; 
and  a  vast  machinery  of  effort  has  been  put  in  operation  for  the 
diffusion  of  religious  knowledge,  and  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
throughout  the  earth.  My  present  object  is  to  give  a  condensed 
account  of  some  of  these  efforts ;  showing  where  and  how  they 
commenced,  how  they  have  prospered,  and  what  their  present 
condition  and  results.  It  will  appear  to  my  readers,  I  am  sure,  as 
it  does  to  me,  that  they  constitute  one  of  the  signs  of  the  present 
time,  and  ought  not  to  be  omitted  in  a  general  history  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  I  begin  with  some  notice  of  efforts  to  translate 
and  circulate  the  Bible. 

In  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  century,  several  societies  were 
formed  in  Great  Britain,  having  for  their  object,  in  part,  the  dissem- 
ination of  the  Scriptures.  But  no  concentrated  effort  was  made  for 
this  purpose  until  the  year  1804,  when  the  British  and  Foreign  Bi- 
,  ble  Society  was  organized.  The  particular  circumstance  which  led 
to  the  formation  of  this  society  was  the  great  scarcity  of  Bibles  in 
the  principality  of  "Wales.  In  the  year  1802,  a  Welsh  clergyman 
inquired  of  a  little  girl  belonging  to  his  meeting  if  she  could  repeat 
the  text  from  which  he  had  preached  the  preceding  sabbath.  In- 
stead of  answering  him,  she  wept,  and  remained  silent.  At  length 
she  told  her  minister  that  her  custom  had  been  to  travel  seven 
miles,  over  the  hills,  to  get  sight  of  a  Welsh  Bible  in  which  to 

1046 


10-4:6  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

study  and  commit  the  text,  but  that  the  bad  weather  during  the 
week  had  prevented  her  going.  The  remark  struck  her  minister 
with  great  force.  It  revealed  "  a  famine  of  the  Word  "  of  which 
he  had  no  conception.  He  lost  no  time  in  taking  measures  for  the 
better  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  and,  at  the  end  of  two  years, 
had  the  satisfaction  of  assisting  in  the  formation  of  a  society  for 
this  noble  purpose. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  — 
a  society,  which,  for  the  extent  and  importance  of  its  operations, 
may  challenge  comparison  with  any  other  on  the  globe.  The 
society  received  at  once  the  approbation  of  a  number  of  the  prel- 
ates of  the  English  Church,  of  several  synods  of  the  Scottish  es- 
tablishment, and  of  various  bodies  of  dissenters.  It  was  fortunate 
in  securing  for  its  first  president  the  excellent  Lord  Teignmouth. . 
Still  the  society  encountered  for  a  while  a  strong  opposition,  par- 
ticularly from  the  unevangelical  part  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Its  friends  were  divided,  too,  on  the  question  of  publishing,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Bible,  the  apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. This  question  was  finally  settled ;  and  the  apocrypha  was 
excluded  about  the  year  1826. 

From  that  time  the  society  has  gone  forward  and  prospered,  and 
has  accomplished  an  immense  work  for  Christ  and  his  kingdom. 
Besides  supplying  Britain  with  English  Bibles,  it  had,  twenty  years 
ago,  published  the  Scriptures  in  a  hundred  and  forty-four  different 
languages  and  dialects,  in  the  most  of  which  the  Scriptures  had 
never  been  printed.  It  is  supported  by  not  less  than  four  thousand . 
auxiliaries.  It  has  already  expended  millions  of  pounds  sterling  ; 
and  its  operations  and  usefulness  were  never  greater  than  at  the 
present  time. 

Following  this  great  Bible  establishment  in  England,  similar 
societies  sprang  up  in  rapid  succession  in  different  parts  of  Europe 
and  in  India.  It  would  be  needless  to  mention  all  of  them.  The 
following  are  some  of  the  more  important  societies,  together  with 
the  date  of  their  establishment :  The  Prussian  Bible  Society  was 
instituted  in  1805  ;  the  Swedish,  in  1809 ;  the  Russian,  in  1813  ; 
the  Danish,  in  1814 ;  the  Calcutta  Bible  Society,  m  1811 ;  the 
Protestant  Bible  Societ}^  at  Paris,  in  1818 ;  and  the  Bombay  and 
Madras  Bible  Societies,  in  1820. 

Meanwhile,  the  same  work  has  been  undertaken,  with  great 
vigor  and  success,  on  our  side  of  the  Atlantic.  From  the  begin- 
ning-of  the  century,  several  local^  societies  had  been  established  in 


BENEVOLENT   OPERATIONS.  1047 

this  country  for  the  cUsse  mi  nation  of  the  Scriptures  ;  but  there  was 
a  loud  call  for  a  more   extended  plan  of  oj)eration.     The  subject 

.was  talked  of  for  several  years,  when  in  181.")  a  proposal  ^vas  issued 
by  the  New-Jersey  Bible  Society  for  the  formation  of  a  national 
institution.  A  convention  was  held  for  this  purpose  in  New  York 
on  the  11th  of  May,  1816  ;  when  the  American  Bible  Society  was 
formed.  A  member  of  the  convention  thus  describes  the  meeting : 
"  We  came  together,"  says  he,  '-  in  great  weakness,  humility,  and 
prayer  ;  fully  sensible  of  the  difficulty  of  combining  all  denomina- 
tions ;  and  feeling,  each  one,  the  necessity  of  keeping  his  own  heart 
and  tongue,  lest,  a  spark  of  unhallowed  fire  falling  on  the  train,  it 
should  explode.  We  felt  that  the  place  where  we  stood  was  holy  ; 
that  God  was  there  :  and  none  of  our  fears  were  realized  ;  but  our 
hopes  were  surpassed,  so  perfect  and  cordial  was  our  unity.''  The 
principal  agent  in  bringing  about  this  noble  organization  was  the 
lamented  Samuel  J.  Mills. 

The  first  president  of  the  society  was  tlie  Hon.  Elias  Boudinot, 
ex-governor  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  The  local  societies  which 
were  already  in  existence  soon  connected  themselves  with  the  na- 
tional society  as  auxiliaries.  Almost  a  hundred  of  these  smaller 
societies  were  thus  annexed  in  the  first  year.  These  auxiliaries  have 
constantly  increased  to  the  present  time :    they  number  already 

.about  fifteen  hundred,  and  are  located  in  nearly  all  the  States  and 
Territories  of  the  Union.  Besides  circulating  the  Scriptures  among 
all  classes  of  our  population,  —  in  prisons  and  hospitals,  among  sea- 
men and  boatmen,  in  the  army  and  navy,  among  the  colored  peo- 
ple of  the  South,  and  Indians  in  the  West,  —  the  American  Bible 
Society  has  contributed  largely  to  their  distribution  in  the  Roman- 
Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  in  South  America,  and  Mexico ;  also 
in  China,  India,  Ce3-lon,  Africa,  and  the  Pacific  islands.  Numer- 
ous editions  have  been  published  in  foreign  languages,  —  some  of 
them  barbarous  languages,  which  have  been  reduced  to  writing  for 
this  very  purpose.  Probably  not  less  that  twentj^  millions  of  Bibles 
and  Testaments  have  been  already  circulated.  The  annual  receipts 
of  the  society  for  several  years  have  been  more  than  half  a  million 
of  dollars. 

For  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  society's  existence,  it  embraced 
Christians  of  all  denominations  in  the  United  States.     But,  in  1836, 

.the  greater  part  of  the  Baptist  denomination  withdrew,  that  so 
they  might  circulate  foreign  versions  favoring  their  particular  views 
as  to  the  mode  of  baptism.     They  organized  at  once  a  society  of 


1048  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

their  own,  called  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  which 
has  since  been  an  efficient  helper  in  disseminating  the  Scriptures. 

I  have  thus  sketched,  as  briefly  as  possible,  wliat  has  been  done 
in  the  present  century  for  the  general  circulation  of  the  Bible, 
and  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality  of  two  great  societies,  — 
the  British  and  Foreign  and  the  American  Bible  Societies.  We 
hope  nothing  may  occur  to  check  the  progress  and  growth  of  these 
noble  institutions  until  the  Bible  shall  be  translated  into  every  lan- 
guage under  heaven,  shall  be  carried  to  every  land,  and  be  laid  at 
the  door  of  every  human  being.* 

We  turn  now  to  contemplate  another  branch  of  the  great  work 
of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  —  the  missionary  tvorlz.  I  have  spoken 
already  of  the  revivals  which  commenced  near  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  and  which  have  continued,  with  little  inter- 
ruption, to  the  present  time.  Now,  the  spirit  of  religion  and  the 
spirit  of  missions  are  the  same  ;  and  hence,  when  the  former  is  re- 
vived, the  latter  must  be.  And -so  it  has  proved  in  the  present  • 
instance. 

We  do  not  say  that  there  were  no  successful  modern  missions  pre-, 
vious  to  the  commencement  of  the  present  century.  There  cer- 
tainly Ixave  been  such  missions,  and  those,  too,  of  great  value.  Wit- 
ness the  Danish  niission  at  Tranquebar,  and  the  missions  of  the 
United  Brethren,  both  of  which  were  commenced  and  successfully 
prosecuted  in  the  last  century.  But  there  is  this  peculiarity  about 
the  missions  of  our  own  time,  especially  the  foreign  missions,  —  tliey 
look  to  the  conversion  of  the  ^vhole  world  to  Christ.  Previous  missionary  - 
efforts  have  aimed  at  the  conversion  of  a  single  province  or  people  ; 
but  those  now  in  progress  have  a  wider  aim.  With  them,  "  the 
field  is  the  world  ;  "  and  they  are  looking  to  its  entire  evangehza- 
tion. 

The  honor  of  commencing  these  new  missionary  efforts  belongs 
to  the  Baptists  of  England.  The  movement  originated  with  the  f^- 
Rev.  William  Carey,  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  Drs.  Fuller, 
Ryland,  and  several  other  Baptist  ministers.  Their  society  was 
formed  in  1792 ;  and,  in  the  following  year,  their  first  two  missiona- 
ries, Messrs.  Carey  and  Thomas,  commenced  their  mission  to  India. 
The  first  station  permanently  occupied  by  them  was  Serampore, 

*  Since  the  establishment  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  it  has  issued  more  than 
fifty-seven  million  copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  American  Bible  Society  has  issued 
twenty-five  millions,  and  other  Bible  societies  twenty-five  millions  moire  ;  making  more  than 
a  hundred  millions  in  all. 


■BENEVOLENT   OPERATIONS.  1049 

about  twelve  miles  north  of  Calcutta.  Here,  having  been  joined 
by  other  missionaries,  they  set  up  schools,  and  a  large  printing  es- 
tablishment for  supplying  the  natives  with  tlie  Scriptures  and  tracts 
in  their  own  hinguage.  This  oldest  of  the  modern  missionary  socie- 
ties has  stations  in  different  parts  of  India,  in  Western  Africa,  in 
Jamaica,  and  other  West-India  islands.  In  proportion  to  the 
means  at  its  disposal,  its  success  has  been  very  great. 

Closely  following  the  effort  above  noticed  was  the  establishment 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  which  is  sustained  chiefly  by 
the  Independents,  or  Congregationalists.  The  immediate  occasion 
of  the  formation  of  this  society  was  an  "  Appeal "  publislied  by 

^Rev.  David  Bogue  in  1794.  The  society  was  organized  the  fol- 
lowing year ;  and  a  large  company  of  missionaries,  with  their  wives 

-.  and  children,  were  sent  to  the  Society  Islands  in  179G.  These 
brethren  went  out  under  the  most  promising  circumstances ;  were 
favorably  received  at  first,  but  were  destined  to  meet  with  great 

.  discouragements.  After  laboring  seventeen  years,  instead  of  hav- 
ing made  any  converts  from  heathenism,  one  of  their  own  number 
had  relapsed  into  heathenism,  and  had  taken  a  heathen  wife.  In 
consequence  of  desolating  wars,  they  were  driven  from  Tahiti,  and 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  neighboring  islands.  Very  soon,  how- 
ever, a  revolution  took  place  :  King  Pomaree  became  a  convert,  and 
Avas  restored,  a  general  revival  of  religion  followed,  and  most  of  the 
natives  professed  to  be  Christians.     The  prosperity  of  the  mission 

.  was  afterwards  much  hindered  by  an  invasion  of  the  French,  who 
took  possession  of  the  islands,  and  endeavored  to  bring  over  the 
natives  to  the  Roman-Catholic  faith.  The  most  of  them,  however, 
adhered  to  their  original  profession;  and  they  have  become  a 
Christian  people. 

In  1806,  the  London  Missionary  Society  commenced  a  mission 
to  China.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Morrison  was  their  first  missionary, 
who  succeeded  in  preparing  a  Chinese  grammar  and  lexicon,  and 
translating  the  whole  Bible  into  that  difficult  language.  The  soci- 
ety early  established  missions  in  India,  at  JSIadagascar,  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  the  West-India  islands.  It  has  long  been,  and 
still  is,  one  of  the  most  efficient  organizations  for  the  spread  of 
the  gospel. 

The  Church  ^lissionary  Society  is  next  in  order  among  the  estab- 
lishments of  Britain  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel.  It  originat- 
ed in  a  revival  of  religion  in  the  evangelical  portion  of  the  Church 
of  England  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.      Among 


1050  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

its  earliest  friends  were  Simeon,  Cecil,  the  Venns,  and  William 
Wilberforce.  The  society  was  formed  in  1801,  and  had  its  first 
missionary  station  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa.  It  has  missions 
also  in  Ea^ern  Africa,  in  Austi-alia,  at  New  Zealand,  in  different 
parts  of  India  an4  China,  in  Greece,  and  among  the  Indians  of 
British  America.  This  is  one  of  the  strongest  missionary  organiza- 
tions in  the  world.  For  many  years,  its  annual  income  has  been 
more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

Another  of  the  great  British  establishments  for  the  spread  of 
the  gospel  is  the  General  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.  Under  / 
the  direction  of  Dr.  Coke  and  others,  the  Wesleyans  had  estab- 
lished missions  in  the  West  Indies  and  in  British  America  before 
the  close  of  the  last  century.  Coke  died,  while  on  his  way  with  a 
company  of  missionaries  to  the  East  Indies,  in  1813.  Two  years 
later,  the  General  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  was  formed.  The 
present  missions  of  this  society  are  in  Ireland,  Germany,  France, 
Switzerland,  Spain,  India,  China,  New  Zealand,  Australasia,  Poly- 
nesia, South  and  West  Africa,  the  West  Indies,  and  in  British 
America.  It  will  be  seen  that  they  have  spread  themselves  over 
no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  world.  The  success  of  these  missions 
has  been  very  great.  Their  annual  income  is  even  larger  than  that 
of  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 

In  Scotland  as  well  as  England,  the  revival  of  evangelical  religion, 
near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  was  fallowed  by  a  revival  of  the 
missionary  spirit.  In  1796,  under  the  presidency  of  the  venerable 
Dr.  Erskine,  a  missionary  society  was  instituted  in  Edinburgh  and  v. 
Glasgow.  An  overture  was  transmitted  to  the  General  Assembly 
with  a  view  to  interest  that  great  body  in  the  work,  and  to  secure, 
through  them,  a  general  collection  in  the  churches  to  aid  in  propa- 
gating the  gospel  among  the  heathen.  But  the  moderates  had 
then  a  majority  in  the  assembly ;  and  the  proposition  was  rejected. 
After  thirty  years,  another  effort  was  made,  and  with  better  suc- 
cess. A  board  of  missions  was  instituted,  collections  were  taken 
up,  and  the  work  of  spreading  the  gospel  was  commenced.  The 
celebrated  Dr.  Duff  was  their  first  missionary,  and  the  first  that 
had  ever  been  sent  out  by  a  Protestant  church  in  its  corporate 
capacity.  Those  which  preceded  him  had  all  been  commissioned 
by  voluntary  societies.  In  the  subsequent  disruption  of  the  Scot- 
tish Church,  the  Free  Church  carried  with  it  almost  all  the  mis-  - 
sionaries,  and  most  of  the  missionary  spirit,  of  Scotland.  The  seat 
of  most  of  the  Scottish  missions  is  in  India. 


BENEVOLENT   OPERATIONS.  1051 

We  have  not  time  to  speak  particularly  of  other  Protestant  mis- 
sionary societies  in  Europe,  as  those  of  France,  Switzerland,  Swe- 
den, Norway,  the  Netherlands,  and  Germany.  They  are  earnest, 
active,  useful  bodies,  doing  what  they  can  to  promote  the  great 
work  of  the  Church  in  these  latter  days ;  but  their  means  and 
their  influence  are  comparatively  limited. 

I  spoke  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  missions  of  the  Moravians,  or 
V  United  Brethren,  and  of  the  zeal  and  success  with  which  their 
work  was  prosecuted.  It  has  continued  now  for  more  than  a^  hun- 
dred years ;  and,  though  the  ardor  of  their  first  love  may  have 
somewhat  abated,  they  have  never  ceased  to  be  a  missionary  people. 
.  The}''  have  stations  in  various  countries,  —  Labrador,  Greenland, 
Iceland,  South  Africa,  and  the  West  Indies,  —  where  their  brethren 
and  sisters  are  patiently  laboring  and  suffering,  and  gathering  fruit 
unto  eternal  life.  What  Christian  would  not  deem  it  an  honor 
and  a  privilege  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  such  a  people  ? 

But  it  is  time  that  we  turn  to  contemplate  the  missionary  work 
.  in  our  own  country.  Several  local  missionary  establishments  were 
commenced  in  this  country  as  early  as  1801,  designed  chiefly  to  carry 
the  gospel  to  our  new  settlements  and  to  the  American  Indians. 
In  1809,  some  of  the  students  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  An- 
dover  —  Messrs.  Mills,  Judson,  Newell,  and  Nott  —  projected  a  mis- 
sion to  the  heathen  in  some  foreign  land.  They  laid  their  plans 
before  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts ;  and,  in  the  fol- 
^  lowing  year,  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  was  duly  organized.  This  is  the  largest,  as  well  as  the 
oldest,  of  all  our  foreign  missionary  establishments.  In  1812,  their 
first  missionaries  —  four  in  number  —  sailed  for  Calcutta,  not 
knowing  exactly  where  they  should  find  an  open  field  in  which  to 
labor.  From  these  small  beginnings,  the  American  Board  has  been 
pressing  onwards  for  more  than  half  a  century,  occupying  new 
fields,  and  multiplying  laborers,  until  their  missions  are  now  found 
in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Their  earliest  establishments  were 
in  Bombay  and  Ceylon  ;  but  they  now  occupy  a  considerable  part 
of  Southern  India.  They  have  their  stations  in  China,  in  Persia,  in 
Turkey,  Syria,  and  Greece,  in  Soathern  and  Western  Africa,  in 
the  Pacific  islands,  and  among  various  tribes  of  American  Indians. 
'  Through  the  instrumentality  of  this  board,  the  Sandwich-Islanders 
have  been  raised  from  the  condition  of  mere  savages  and  idolaters 
to  that  of  a  civilized  and  Christian  people.  They  are  already  send- 
ing out  missionaries  of  their  own  to  plant  Christianity  in  the  islands 


1052  ■    ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

around  tliem.     The  annual  receipts  of  the  American  Board  for 
several  of  the  last  years  have  been  nearly  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

The  Calvinistic  Baptists  of  this  country  conduct  their  foreign 
missions  through  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union.  Tlie 
immediate  occasion  of  the  formation  of  this  society  was  the  con- 
version of  two  of  the  first  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  — 
Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  —  to  the  particular  views  of  the  Baptists. 
These  brethren  changed  their  sentiments  soon  after  tlieir  arrival  . 
in  India  ;  and  a  society  was  immediately  formed  by  the  Baptists  of 
this  country  for  their  support.  The  society  was  first  called  the 
General  Missionary  Convention  ;  but  in  1846  it  assumed  the  name 
of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union.  Its  first  mission  was 
formed  by  Dr.  Judson  at  Rangoon,  in  the  Burman  Empire ;  but  its 
principal  success  has  been  among  the  Karens  in  that  vicinity.  It 
has  'Stations  also  in  Assam,  in  Cliina,  in  Western  Africa,  and  in 
France,  Germany,  and  Greece.  Its  annual  receipts  for  several 
years  have  been  about  a  hundred  thous'and  dollars. 

The  Presbj'-terians  in  this  country,  and  the  Protestant-Episcopal 
Church,  conduct  their  missions  by  means  of  ecclesiastical  boards. 
The  Presbyterian  Board  have  missions  in  Northern  India,  in  Cliina, 
in  Western  Africa,  and  among  the  American  Indians.  The  Epis- 
copal Board  have  missions  in  Liberia,  in  Cliina,  in  Greece,  and  at 
Constantinople.  Both  are  efiicient  bodies,  and  are  doing  much  for 
the  general  diffusion, of  the  gospel. 

The  energy  with  which  the  Methodist-Episcopal  Church,  from 
its  first  planting  in  this  country,  has  prosecuted  the  work  of  domes- 
tic missions,  will  account  in  part  for  the  lateness  of  its  efforts  for 
the  salvation  of  the  heathen.  The  Methodist-Episcopal  Missionary. 
Society  was  formed  in  1836.  It  has  missions  in  Liberia,  in  South 
America,  in  China,  and  among  various  tribes  of  American  Indians. . 

The  American  INIissionary  Association  was  formed  in  1816.  It 
has  been,  from  the  first,  of  a  decidedly  antislavery  character,  and 
grew  out  of  a  difference  of  opinion  among  some  of  the  supporters 
of  the  American  Board  in  reference  to  that  subject.  It  has  mis- 
sions in  Western  Africa,  in  Siam,  in  Jamaica,  and  among  the 
American  Indians ;  but,  since  the  close  of  the  late  war,  its  efforts 
have  been  chiefly  directed  to  the  freedmen  in  the  Southern  States. 
Its  income  is  large  at  present ;  and  it  is  doing  a  great  and  good 
work. 

The  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union  was  formed  in  1849. 
It  labors  chiefly  for  the  conversion  of  RomaiTLQatholics ;  and  its 


BENEVOLENT  OPERATIONS.  1053 

stations  are  found  in  most  of  the  Catholic  countries  of  Europe  and 
America,  not  forgetting  the  numerous  Catholic  emigrants  to  the 
United  States.  It  occupies  a  wide  and  important  field.  We  only- 
wish  that  its  receipts  were  increased,  that  so  it  might  occupy  it 
more  efficiently. 

There  are  several  smaller  foreign-missionary  associations  in  the 
United  States,  of  which  I  will  mention  only  that  of  the  Freewill 

.baptists.  It  was  founded  in  1837.  Its  principal  mission  is  at  Orissa, 
in  the  East  Indies. 

The  work  of  home  missions  in  this  country  was  commenced 
earlier  than  that  of  foreign  missions.  Several  local  societies  were 
in  active  operation  previous  to  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century.  These  continued  to  multiply  until  the  year  1826,  when 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  was  formed ;  and  most  of  the 
societies  already  in  existence  became  auxiliary  to  it.  Formerly 
the  Presbyterians  were  connecte(i  with  this  society ;  but  they  have 
left  it,  and  are  conducting  their  domestic  missions  through  their 

-  ecclesiastical  boards.  At  present,  therefore,  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  is  confined  to  the  Congregationalists.  Its  re- 
ceipts are  large ;  and  it  is  doing  a  vastly  important  work.  Its  mis- 
sions are  found  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  countr}^,  from  Eastern 
Maine  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Inhabiting  so  vast  a  country  as  we  do,  and  the  most  of  it  a  new 
country,  the  home-missionary  work  assumes  an  importance  here 
which  it  can  present  nowhere  else.  Evangelical  Christians  of 
every  class  enter  heartily  into  it,  and  are  exciting  one  another  to 
love  and  good  works.  It  would  be  needless  to  mention  particular- 
ly all  the  various  home-missionary  organizations.  Next  to  the  Con- 
gregationalists and  Presbyterians,  those  of  £he  Methodists  and  Bap- 
tists are  the  most  numerous  and  efficient.  The  Lord  prosper  every 
well-directed  effort  to  send  the  gospel  into  all  parts  of  this  broad 
land  until  the  whole  of  it  shall  be  given  to  Christ ! 

The  Christians  of  Europe  have  not  the  same  inducements  with 
us  to  engage  in  the  work  of  domestic  missions.  The  field  has  been 
long  occupied,  and  is  a  comparatively  contracted  one.  Still  they 
are  doing  something  for  this  ol)ject,  particularly  in  Great  Britain 
and  among  the  Protestants  of  France.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
speak  of  their  different  organizations ;  but  we  have  not  time. 

It  remains  that  we  refer  briefly  to  some  other  important  benevo- 
lent efforts  which  characterize  the  age  in  Avhich  we  live.  One  of 
them  is  to  seek  out  and  educate  pious  and  promising  young  men, 


1054  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY. 

and  prepare  tliem  to  become  pastors  and  missionaries.  And  much 
of  this  work  is  doing,  and  has  been  done.  The  establishment  of 
theological  seiTiinaries  in  this  country  dates  back  to  the  early  part 
of  the  present  century.  There  were  no  such  institutions  here  at 
an  earlier  period.  And  the  origin  of  education  societies  is  even 
more  recent  than  that  of  seminaries.  The  American  Education  , 
Society  was  formed  in  Boston  in  the  year  1816  (more  than  half  a 
century  ago),  and  has  been  in  constant  and  efficient  operation  ever 
since.  It  has  aided  in  sending  two  thousand  young  ministers  into 
the  great  field  of  the  world,  of  whom  about  two  hundred  have 
been  foreign  missionaries.  Other  societies  and  educational  boards 
have  accomplished  nearly  as  much. 

The  circulation  of  religious  books  and  tracts  has  also  been  under- 
taken both  in  this  country  and  in  England,  and  has  been  carried 
to  a  vast  extent.  The  London  Tract  Society  was  formed  in  1799, 
chiefly  through  the  instrumentaUty  of  Rev.  George  Burder.  It 
was  aided  by  Christians  of  different  denominations,  and  was 
pledged  to  publish  nothing  to  offend  any  class  of  serious,  evan- 
gelical Christians.  At  the  end  of  fifty  years,  its  receipts  had  been 
almost  six  millions  of  dollars ;  and  the  number  of  publications 
issued  was  five  hundred  millions.  It  must  have  published  as  many 
more  since  that  time.  Religious  tract  societies  have  also  been 
established  in  France,  in  Holland,  in  Germany,  and  even  in 
Russia. 

The  American  Tract  Society  at  Boston  was  formed  in  1811,  and, 
after  a  fruitful  and  prosperous  course  of  about  ten  years,  was 
united  with  the  larger  society  at  New  York.  Owing  to  a  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  the  propriety  of  circulating  antislavery  publications, 
the  two  societies  separated  several  years  ago,  and  have  not  as  yet 
become  united.  They  have  accomplished  the  same  great  work  in 
this  country  which  the  London  society  has  performed  in  England. 
Their  issues  of  tracts  and  books  in  different  languages  amount  to 
millions,  while  their  annual  receipts  have  been  not  less  than  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

We  shall  not  enter  at  large  into  the  history  of  the  Sabbath-school 
enterprise.  It  commenced  in  England,  under  the  direction  of 
Robert  Raikes  of  Gloucester,  and  William  Fox  of  London ;  and 
was  at  \  first  intended  only  for  the  children  of  the  poor.  The 
English  Sabbath-school  Union  was  established  in  1803  ;  and  its  ~! 
influence  is  felt  in  every  part  of  the  British  islands.  The  Sunday 
schools  in  this  country  are  of  later  origin ;  but  their  extension  and 


BENEVOLENT   OPERATIONS.  1055 

usefulness  have  been  immense.      In  the  year  1824,  most  of  the 
existing  Sabbath-school  societies  were  merged  in   the  American 

^  Sunday-school  Union  at  Philadelphia,  in'tended  to  unite  the  several 
evangelical  denominations  in  establishing  and  sustaining  schools 
throughout  the  country.  From  that  day  to  this,  the  work  of  the 
union  has  been  vigorously  prosecuted  in  sending  out  agents  to 
establisli  schools  in  destitute  regions,  and  supplying  their  schools 
with  libraries  and  books.  The  Methodists,  and  some  other  denom- 
inations, have  preferred  not  to  unite  with  the  Union,  but  to  prose- 
cute their  Sabbath-school  operations  by  themselves. 

In  addition  to  this  vast  array  of  benevolent  operations,  all  look- 
ing directly  or  indirectly  to  the  same  end,  —  the  sjiread  of  Christ's 
kingdom  throughout  the  earth, — much  has  been  done  in  various 
^ways  to  abolish  unchristian  practices,  and  promote  a  moral  refor- 
mation. j\Iy  space  will  allow  me  to  speak  of  only  two  of  these ; 
viz.,  the  temperance  reformation^  and  the  overthrow  of  slavery. 
There  was  a  steady  increase  of  intemperance  in  the  United  States 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  centurj^,  which  awakened  the 
greatest  solicitude  among  all  good  men.  The  evil  was  vigorously 
assailed,  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it,  by  such  men  as  Dr.  Rush  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Drs.  Beecher,  Humphreys,  Hewit,  and  Justin 
Edwards;  and -a  deep  and  general  impression  was  made.  Temper- 
ance societies  began  to  be  formed  as  early  as  1813;  and  these  have 
been  steadily  increasing  in  numbers  and  efficiency,  and  have  been 
improving  their  methods  of  operation,  to  the  present  time.     The 

I  result  has  been  an  entire  change  in  the  habits  of  the  community, 
from  the  promiscuous  sale  and  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  to  an  almost 
entire  abstinence.  In  several  of  the  States,  the  sale  of  such 
liquors  is  sternly  prohibited ;  while,  in  all,  a  jpublic  sentiment  has 
been  created,  which  renders  their  sale  and  use  unpopular,  and  even  -v 
scandalous.  The  gain  to  morality  and  religion  which  tins  refor- 
mation has  accomplished  is  incalculable.  We  wish  tliat  it  had 
made  as  much  progress  in  other  countries  as  in  our  own. 

One  hundred  years  ago,  not  only  slavery,  but  the  African  slave- 
trade,  was  in  full  blast ;  and  the  enormity  of  it  was  scarcely 
suspected.  Good  men  participated  in  it  without  compunction  or 
restraint.  The  evil  seemed  to  be  past  removal ;  but  God  opened 
the  eyes  of  individuals  in  England  and  in  this  country  to  see  the 
enormity  of  it,  and  stirred  them  up  to  expose  and  attack  it.     The 

^slave-trade  was  first  assailed  in  the  British  Parliament  by  such  men 
as  Wilberforce,  Sharp,  and  Clarkson  ;  and,  after  a  long  and  severe 


1056  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

struggle,  was  abolished  in  1807.  Next  followed  the  emancipation 
of  slaves  in  the  British  West  Indies  in  18o3  ;  and,  ten  years  later, 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  British  possessions  in  the  East.  And, 
within  the  last  few  years,  not  only  the  slave-trade,  but  slavery, 
has  been  abolished  in  our  own  country.  At  the  same  time,  the 
emperor  of  Russia  has  emancipated  millions  of  serfs  or  slaves  in 
his  dominions.  In  view  of  these  rapid  and  surprising  changes, 
involving  a  loss,  to  the  owners  of  slaves,  of  untold  millions,  we  can  - 
only  look  on  with  wonder,  and  exclaim,  "  What  hath  God  wrought !  " 
The  world  could  never  have  been  evangelized  while  the  curse  of 
slavery  was  upon  it :  and,  to  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  all 
good  men,  God  has  suddenly  interposed ;  and  the  insuperable 
obstacle  is  taken  out  of  the,  way. 

In  concluding  this  hasty  sketch  of  what  has  been  accomplished 
for  Christ  and  his  kingdom  since  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  is  it  not  obvious  that  we  are  living  in  a  most  remarkable 
period  of  the  world  ?  Through  the  entire  track  of  ages  over  which 
we  have  passed  in  this  history,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present 
time, '  where  shall  we  find  another  such  period,  or  any  thing 
approaching  to  it  or  resembling  it  ?  And  what  do  these  great 
and  glorious  events  which  our  own  eyes  see  occurring  around  us 
—  what  do  they  mean  ?  What  do  they  j)ortend  ?  Can  we,  or  cani 
we  not,  discern  the  signs  of  the  times?  Remembering  the  predic- 
tions of  the  holy  prophets,  that  a  day  is  to  come  when  "  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  fill  the  earth  as  the  waters  fill  the 
channels  of  the  deep ; "  when  "  the  kingdom  and  dominion,  and 
the  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be 
given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,"  —  can  we  avoid 
•the  conckision,  that  the  latter-day  glory  of  the  Church  is  near  at  - 
hand,  and  that  the  great  movements  which  we  have  contemplated 
are  preparing  the  way  for  it  ?  For  myself,  I  acknowledge  that  I 
can  put  no  other  interpretation  upon  them.  I  tvould  ^wt  no  other. 
I  see  the  hand  of  God  in  all  the  changes  which  have  been  wrought, 
and  the  great  things  which  have  been  accomplished,  —  the  same 
God  who  inspired  the  utterances  of  the  holy  prophets ;  and  I  cannot 
resist  the  conclusion,  that  these  utterances  are  already  in  the 
progress  of  fulfilment,  and  that  the  day  is  approaching  when  they 
shall  be  to  the  letter  fulfilled.  I  knoAV  that  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  wickedness  yet  in  the  world ;  alas!  a  great  deal.  There  is 
ignorance  to  be  removed,  and  prejudice  to  be  subdued,  and  oppo- 


BENEVOLENT  OPERATIONS.  1057 

sition  to  be  broken  down,  and  sin  to  be  extirpated;  but  the  God 
of  all  the  promises  is  on  the  throne,  and  he  is  able  to  fulfil  them. 
It  IS  not  his  wont  to  begin  a  great  work,  and  then  abandon  it.  He 
who  has  already  accomplished  so  much  as  we  have  seen,  and  all 
m  the  same  direction,  will  assuredly  carry  it  on  to  a  glorious  com- 
|>letion.  Let  us,  then,  patiently  wait,  and  fervently  pray,  and 
earnestly  labor,  for  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  and  be  ready  to  meet 
him  at  his  coming. 


INDEX. 


Aaron  meets  Moses,  228. 

dies,  266. 
Abel,  when  slain,  127. 

in  heaven,  128. 
Abelard,  764. 
Abraham  and  his  time,  165-192. 

when  born,  165. 

his  removals,  166. 

in  Egj-pt,  167. 

parts  from  Lot,  168. 

engaged  in  war,  169. 

his  covenant,  172,  174. 

a  church  in  his  family,  175. 

in  Beersheba,  182. 

required  to  sacrifice  his  son,  182. 

marries  Keturah,  187. 

his  sons  by  Keturah,  187. 

dies,  188. 

our  example,  191. 
Adam  and  Eve  on  probation,  104. 
Adrian,  599. 
Ahab,  339. 
Albigenses,  782. 
Alexander  the  Great  bom,  398. 

invades  the  Persians,  399. 

spares  Jerusalem,  399. 

punishes  the  Samaritans,  400. 

defeats  the  Persians,  401. 

his  death,  402. 

his  empire  divided,  403. 
Alexander  Janneus,  444. 
Alexandria  built,  401. 
Alexandrian  library,  405.  . 
Alva,  duke  of,  998. 

his  cruelty,  999,  1000,  1006. 

returns  to  Spain,  1001. 
Ambrose,  680. 
Anabaptists,  909,  1017. 
Andrew,  life  of,  526. 
Anselm,  763. 
Antinomianism  in  the  fii'st  centurj',  594. 


Antiochus  Epiphanes,  414-424. 
Antipater,  father  of  Herod,  448. 
Antoninus  Pius,  600. 
Apologies  for  Christianity,  602. 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  764. 
Arabic  learning,  788. 
Ararat,  150. 

Aristotelianism  prevails,  717,  813. 
Arius  and  Arianism,  685-688,  731. 
Ark  among  the  Philistines,  306. 
Arminius  and  Arminianism,  1029. 
Art  of  printing,  812. 
Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  384-395. 
Asa's  reign,  337-340. 
Athanasius,  075. 
Augsburg  Confession,  947. 
Augustine  of  Hippo,  679. 
Aurelius,  Marcus,  601. 

Babel  built,  158. 

Babylon,  history  of,  362-373. 

taken  by  Cyrus,  370. 
Balaam  sent  for,  268. 

slain,  271. 
Baptism  and  regeneration,  618. 
Barbarians,  666.- 
Barnabas,  562. 
Baronius'  Annals,  38. 
Beaton,  Cardinal,  a  bitter  persecutor,  970. 

slain,  971. 
Bede's  History,  37. 
Beguinre,  809. 

Belgium  separated  from  Holland,  1002. 
Benedictine  monks,  721. 
Bernard,  abbot  of  Clairval,  763. 
Bible  societies,  1048. 

Bishop  of  Rome  in  the  fourth  century,  669. 
Bishops  of  Rome  and  Constantinople,  692,  719, 

771. 
Bishops  distinct  from  presbyters,  608. 
Bloody  sacrifices  early  instituted,  126. 
1069 


1060 


INDEX. 


Boniface,  Apostle  of  Germany,  712. 

Boniface  VIII.,  793. 

Bossuet's  History,  39. 

Bradwardine,  798. 

Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit,  807.       r 

Briconnet,  bishop  of  Meaux,  617. 

Bushmen  of  South  Africa,  116. 

Cain  and  Abel,  125-133. 
Cain's  posterity,  128. 

wife,  130. 
Calvin,  his  birth  and  education,  925. 

studies  law,  926. 

his  conversion,  927. 

publishes  his  Institutes,  928. 

arrives  at  Geneva,  929,  1014,  1016. 

banished  from  Geneva,  985. 

recalled,  986. 

his  death,  986. 
Canaan,  the  conquest  of,  255-287. 
Cardinals,  752. 
Carlstadt,  895. 

Catechetical  school  at  Alexandria,  648. 
Cathari,  782. 
Cellites,  809. 
Celsus,  603. 

Centuriators,  their  history,  37. 
Charlemagne,  716,  738. 
Charles  V.  chosen  emperor,  853. 

invades  Italy,  944. 

abdicates,  995. 
Christ's  birth,  475. 

state  of  the  world,  471-474. 
Christ,  his  life,  475-508. 

carried  into  Egypt,  477. 

resides  at  N.azareth,  477. 

his  baptism,  479. 

his  ministry,  its  duration,  480. 

his  transfiguration,  486. 

raises  Lazarus,  491. 

purges  the  temple,  493. 

his  journeys,  494. 

his  last  passover,  496. 

institutes  the  Lord's  Supper,  497. 

is  crucified,  500. 

rises  from  the  dead,  502. 

his  risen  body,  505. 

his  ascension,  507. 
Christian  dispensation,  when  commenced,  510. 

Church,  who  its  first  members,  512. 
Christianity  widely  diff"used,  584-587. 
Christians,  character  of,  at  first,  596. 
Chronology  of  the  Old  Testament,  68-79. 

Hebrew  and  Septuagint,  68. 

Chinese,  72. 

Egyptian,  72. 

Chaldsean,  78. 


Chronology  of  the  Hindoos,  73. 

Hebrew,  preferred,  77.  ^ 
Chrysostom,  678. 
Church  of  God  one  body,  509,  572. 

and  State  united,  668. 
Churches  at  first  congregational,  573,  580. 

their  powers  and  rights,  574. 

independent,  575. 

in  fellowship,  577. 
Church  historians,  34. 

officers,  577-580. 
Circumcision  instituted,  175. 
Claudius  of  Turin,  761. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  616. 
Clement  of  Rome,  567. 
Clergy,  character  of,  in  the  middle  ages, '758, 

814,  824. 
Cobham,  his  martyrdom,  955. 
Colenso,  Bishop,  his  objections,  239.  ■ 
Columba,  724. 
Commodus,  602. 

Consequences  of  the  apostasy,  112. 
Constantine  the  Great,  633,  656-660,  668. 
Constantinople  taken  by  the  Turks,  792. 
Controversy,  the  first,  590. 

with  Gnostics,  592-594. 

in  the  Romish  Church,  1010,  1023. 

in  the  Lutheran  Church,  1013. 
Council  of  Constance,  794. 

of  Trent  opened,  950. 

broken  up,  951. 

re-assembles,  952, 1009. 

of  Nice,  670. 
Councils,  CEcumenical,  670. 
Cranmer,  Archbishop,  957. 
Creation,  what,  80. 

incalculably  remote,  82. 

six  days'  work,  83-85. 
Creed,  Nicene,  689. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  1028. 
Crusades,  743-748. 
Culdees,  711,  968. 
Curses  after  the  Fall,  109. 
Cyprian,  645. 
Cyrillus  Lucaris,  1024. 

Dancers,  808. 

Daniel  carried  to  Babylon,  365. 

under  Darius  and  Cjt.-us,  374-376. 
Dante,  818. 

Darius  Hystaspis,  378-381. 
David,  his  early  historj'-,  319. 

kills  Goliath,  313. 

made  king,  322. 

his  wars,  323-326. 

his  fall,  325. 

his  death,  329. 


INDEX. 


1061 


D'Aubign^'s  History,  44. 

Days  of  creation,  literal,  85-89. 

Deacons  appointed,  518. 

Death  threatened  (Gen.  ii.  17),  what,  105. 

temporal,  what,  105. 

terminates  probation,  111. 
Decius  a  persecutor,  629. 
Deluge,  133-154. 

time  of  it,  135. 

its  universality,  136. 

traditions  of  it,  139-144. 

and  geology,  145. 
^     objections,  147-154. 

its  lessons,  153. 
Depravity,  28,  112,  121. 
Diet  at  Worms,  803.' 

Nuremberg,  885,  890. 

Spire,  943,  945. 

Augsburg,  947. 
Diffusion  of  the  race,  118. 
Dioceses,  how  formed,  608. 
Diocletian  persecution,  631-633. 
Dispersion  of  mankind,  160. 
Doctrines  of  apostolical  fothers,  588-590. 

in  the  second  century,  618-625. 
Dominicans,  760,  806. 
Donatists,  693; 
Dorcas  raised,  522. 
Dort,  Synod  of,  1029. 
Duns  Scotus,  798. 
Du  Pin's  History,  39. 

Ebioxites,  629. 

Eck,  850,  855,  911. 

Eden,  where,  96. 

Edward  VI.  of  England,  961. 

his  death,  963. 
Egypt,  its  plagues,  220-237. 
Egyptians,  their  learning  and  arts,  224. 
Elijah  the  Tishbite,  339. 
Elisha,  341. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  965. 

restores  Protestantism,  966. 

persecutes  the  Puritans,  966. 

her  character,  967. 
Elohistic  and  Jehovistic,  59. 
Emser's  Testament,  880. 
England  in  fifth  period,  710. 

sixth,  737. 

the  seventeenth  centuiy,  1030. 
English  infidels,  1032,  1042. 
Enoch's  translation,  132. 
Episcopacy  in  the  third  century,  637. 
Erasmus,  his  opinion  of  Luther,  861. 
Esau  and  Jacob  born,  192. 

sells  his  birthright,  192. 
Esther,  385-3S7. 


Eusebius  of  C?esarea,  674. 
Eusebius'  History,  35. 
Evagrius'  History,  36. 
J£zra  sent  to  .lerusalcm,  385. 

liis  work  at  Jerusalem,  387. 

Fall  of  man  possible,  117. 
Famine  in  Egypt  described,  206. 

in  Canaan,  207. 
Fare],  915. 

Fathers  of  New  England,  1029. 
Flagellants,  7G9,  807. 
Fleury's  History,  38. 
France,  civil  wars,  989,  991,  993. 

the  murders  of  St.  Hartholomew's,  990. 
Francis  I.,  king  of  France,  918. 

taken  prisoner,  919. 

liberated,  921. 

his  death,  925. 
Franciscans,  760,  806. 
Frederic  the  Wise,  822. 

his  dream,  841. 

his  death,  899. 
French  Revolution,  1034. 

Garden  of  Eden,  where,  96. 
Geneva,  reformation  in,  983. 

Calvin  settles  there,  984. 
Genghis  Khan,  742. 
Geology  and  Scripture,  91. 

and  the  Deluge,  145. 
German  rationalism,  1038. 
Giesler  and  Ncander,  42. 
Gnosticism,  621,  623. 
Gnostics,  58. 

Gospel  sent  to  the  Gentiles,  523. 
Gottschalk,  762,  773. 
Greek  Church,  1011. 
Gregory  the  Great,  725. 

Vn.,  753. 
Guises,  brothers  in  France,  987. 

Ham,  where  settled,  162. 

Hamilton,  Patrick,  martyr,  970. 

Hannib.al,  412. 

Hebrew  vowel-points,  388. 

Henke's  History,  42. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  992. 

gives  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  992. 
Henry  VIII.  of  England,  955. 

seeks  a  divorce,  955. 

man-ies  Anne  Boleyn,  957. 

excommunicated,  957. 

head  of  the  English  Church,  957. 

permits  the  Bible  to  be  read,  960. 

his  death,  961. 
Hennas,  570. 


1062 


INDEX. 


Herod  begins  to  reign,  454. 

makes  peace  with  Augustus,  457. 

rebuilds  the  temple,  459. 

his  death,  461. 

his  descendants,  462. 
Hezekiah,  349-352. 
Hierocles,  635. 
History,  pre-Adamite,  27. 

Christ  in  it,  31. 

ecclesiastical  benefits  of,  467-476. 
Hobbes,  58. 
Hutten,  820. 

Idolatry  early  practised,  166. 

in  Jacob's  family,  203. 

in  the  camp  of  Israel,  270. 
Ignorance  of  the  clergy,  813. 
Image  of  God,  what,  104. 
Image- worship,  734,  771. 
Independence  of  churches  lost,  609. 
Indulgences,  768,  812,  830,  893. 
Infidelity  in  France,  1034. 
Inquisition,  939. 
Inspiration,  56. 
Interim,  951. 

Interpretation,  allegorical,  619. 
Interpreters  classified,  729;  786. 
lona,  724. 
Irenseus,  614. 
Isaac  born,  181. 

his  marriage,  187. 

his  death,  196. 
Ishmael  born,  173. 

in  Arabia,  181. 
Israel,  the  kingdom  of,  destroyed,  347. 
Israelites,  how  long  in  Egypt,  221. 

leave  Egypt,  237. 

number  who  came  out,  238. 

pass  through  the  sea,  243. 

journey  to  Sinai,  244-249. 

their  previous  government,  249. 

worship  the  calf,  253. 

leave  Sinai,  259. 

arrive  at  Kadesh,  261. 

sent  back  into  the  desert,  262. 

their  residence  there,  265. 

bitten  with  serpents,  267. 

conquer  Sihon  and  Og,  268. 

Jacob  and  Esau  bom,  192. 

obtains  the  blessing,  195. 
flees  to  Padau  Aram,  196. 
in  Padan  Aram,  199. 
his  return  to  Canaan,  200. 
wrestles  and  prevails,  201. 
in  Canaan,  202. 
meets  his  father,  203. 


Jacob  and  his  famil}^  go  into  Egypt,  214. 

his  death,  216. 
Jael  and  Ehud,  303. 
James  the  Elder  put  to  death,  524,  528. 
James  the  Less,  535. 
Jchoshaphat,  340. 
Jehovistic  and  Elohistic,  59. 
Jehu  made  king,  343. 
Jephthah  and  his  daughter,  294. 
Jeroboam,  335. 
Jerome,  681. 
Jerome  of  Prague,  795. 
Jerusalem  destroyed,  356.  « 

rebuilt,  391. 
Jesuits,  1008. 

suppressed,  1034. 
Jesus,  son  of  Sirach,  440. 
Jewish  temple  in  Egypt,  436. 
Jews  under  the  Babylonians,  362-373. 

iinder  the  Medo-Persians,  374-399. 

return  to  their  land,  376. 

under  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  405- 
418. 

persecuted,  811. 
Job,  his  histoiy,  226. 

•  the  book  written  by  Moses,  226. 
John  Baptist,  478. 

imprisoned,  481. 

put  to  death,  484. 
John  Hyrcanus,  438. 
John  the  apostle,  536-539. 
John  of  Damascus,  730. 
John,  king  of  England,  759. 
John  Huss,  795. 
John,  elector  of  Saxony,  899. 

his  death,  949. 
John  Frederic  becomes  elector,  949. 
Jonathan  MaccabKus,  435. 

his  death,  437. 

succeeded  by  Simon,  437. 
Joseph  sold  into  Egypt,  205. 

his  promotion,  20G. 

made  known  to  his  brethren,  211. 

his  death,  218. 
Joshua,  first  mention  of,  247. 

his  early  history,  283. 

author  of  the  book,  284. 

contents  of  the  book,  285. 

lessons  from  it,  289-292. 

his  death,  287. 
Josiah,  353. 
Jotham,  348. 
Judas  Slaccabceus,  his  victories,  420-434. 

purifies  the  temple,  422.       ^ 

his  death,  434. 

his  character,  434. 
Jude  the  apostle,  533. 


INDEX. 


1063 


Judges,  author  of  the  book,  293. 

its  contents,  297-303. 

who  were  the  judges,  284. 

the  number  of  them,  284. 

how  long  they  i-uled,  295. 

lessons  from  the  book,  305. 
.Julian  the  Apostate,  6C1. 
Julius  Cfcsar  fovors  the  Jews,  451. 
Justin  Martyr,  611-614. 
Justinian,  709. 

Kempis,  Thomas  a,  800. 

Kings  and  Chronicles  compared,  356-361. 

Knights  of  St.  John,  748, 

Templars,  748. 

Teutonic,  748. 
Knox,  John,  971. 

returns  to  Scotland,  974. 

his  death,  979. 
Korah  destroj-ed,  264. 

Language  confounded,  158. 

what  the  original,  159. 
Learning,  history  of,  786-788. 
Le  Clerc,  918. 
Le  F6vre,  916. 
Lollards,  809. 
Lombard,  Peter,  764. 
Louis  XIV.,  king  of  France,  993. 

revokes  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  994. ' 

persecutor,  dragonades,  994. 
Luke,  35,  561. 
Luther,  his  birth  and  early  life,  827. 

graduates  at  Erfurt,  828. 

studies  law,  829. 

enters  a  convent,  829. 

distressed  for  sin,  830. 

his  conversion,  831. 

professor  at  Wittenberg,  832. 

goes  to  Rome,  833. 

his  theses  on  free-will  and  grace,  836. 

attacks  indulgences,  841. 

summoned  to  Rome,  846. 

his  trial  before  Ctijetan,  847. 

meets  Miltitz,  849. 

disputes  with  Eck  at  Leipsic,  850. 

excommunicated,  855. 

burns  tlie  bull,  858. 

protected  by  the  elector,  860, 

before  the  Diet  at  Worms,  864-871. 

shut  up  in  the  Wartburg,  873, 

returns  to  Wittenberg,  877. 

encounters  the  fanatics,  879. 

publishes  his  New  Testament,  880, 

his  reply  to  Henry  VIIL,  882. 

is  married,  900. 

his  death,  950. 
Lutheran  Church,  1011,  1025,  1037. 


Maccabees,  419-454. 

Machpelah,  185. 

Magicians,  their  miracles,  230. 

Malachi,  394. 

Manasseh,  352. 

Manes  and  his  heresy,  649. 

Manna,  245. 

Jhtrgarct,  Queen  of  Navarre,  917,  986. 

Mariolatry,  778. 

Mark  the  ev.angelist,  560. 

Mark,  John,  561. 

^hirpurg  conference,  913,  945. 

Martyrs  in  the  third  century,  627. 

first  of  the  Reformation,  888. 
Marj',  Queen  of  England,  903. 

restores  the  Catholic  religion,  963. 

puts  many  to  death,  964. 

her  death,  965. 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  970. 

educated  in  France,  971. 

marries  the  king  of  France,  972. 

returns  to  Scotland,  977. 

imprisoned  and  beheaded,  978. 
Matthew  the  apostle,  530. 

his  Gospel,  532. 
Matthias,  father  of  the  Maccabees,  420. 
JIatthias  the  apostle,  535. 
JIaurice  betrays  the  Protestants,  951. 

defeats  the  emperor,  952. 
JIaximilian,  822. 
Melancthon  converted,  851. 

publishes  his  Theology,  880. 
Melchisedek,  170. 
Jlen  not  savages  at  first,  125. 
Mendicants,  759. 

Millenarianism  in  tenth  century,  595. 
Milman's  History,  44. 
Milner's  Church  Historj',  44. 
Miltitz,  848,  855. 
Miracles,  52. 

cease,  606. 
Miriam  dies,  266. 
Missionary  societies,  1048-1053. 
Mohammed,  714. 

Monasteries  in  England  suppressed,  958. 
Monasticism,  619,  703,  770. 
Monks,  character  of,  758. 
Monophysites,  691,  731,  780. 
Monothelites,  733. 
Montanus,  624. 
Moravians,  1037. 
Moses,  first  church  historian,  34. 

author  of  Pentateuch,  60-65. 

and  his  times,  221-282. 

his  birth,  exposure,  and  rescue,  223. 

his  education  in  Eg}-pt,  224. 

his  residence  in  Midian,  226. 


1064 


INDEX. 


Moses  commissioned  to  deliver  Israel,  227. 

before  Pharaoh,  228-235. 

in  the  mount  252-255. 

his  last  address  to  his  people,  273. 

his  death  and  burial,  275. 

his  character,  276-280. 

lessons  from  his  history,  280-282. 
Mosheim's  History,  40. 

Nathanael  the  apostle,  530. 
Neander  and  Gieseler  compared,  42. 
Nebuchadnezzar,  365-368. 
Nehemiah  sent  to  Jerusalem,  390. 

his  administration,  390-395. 

his  character,  394. 
Neo-Platonic  philosophy,  647. 
Nestorius  and   Nestorians,  690,  712,  731,  742, 

780,  792. 
Nineveh,  history  of,  362-365. 

destr(»yed,  365. 
Noah  after  the  Deluge,  71, 156. 

his  offering,  155. 
Norman  pirates,  750. 
Novatians,  652. 

Okigen,  640-644,  647,  653,  701. 

Paisic  about  the  end  of  the  world  in  tenth  cen- 
tury, 770^ 
Papess  Joanna,  757. 
Passover  instituted,  236. 
Patriarchal  government,  21. 
Patriarchs,  669,  720. 
Patrick,  St.,  667. 
Paul  the  apostle,  540-559. 

his  conversion,  541. 

in  Arabia,  541. 

his  first  mission,  543. 

his  second  mission,  546. 

at  Ephesus,  550. 

imprisoned  at  Ctesarea,  553. 

carried  to  Rome,  554. 

after  enlargement,  556. 

his  martyrdom,  557. 

his  character,  558. 
Paulicians,  780. 
Peace  of  Augsburg,  953. 
Pelagius  and  Pelagianism,  695-699. 
Pentateuch,  author  of,  58-66. 
Pentecost,  when  occurred,  515. 

its  great  events,  514-517. 
Pepin,  716. 
Persecutions  at  Rome,  583. 

in  first  century,  581. 

in  second  century,  598-601. 

in  third  century,  627-634. 

in  Spain,  891,  997. 

in  France,  920-925,  988. 


Peter  the  apostle,  life  of,  524. 

Petrarch,  818. 

Pharaoh,  his  cruelty,  222. 

how  God  hardened  him,  242. 

God's  dealings  with  him  vindicated,  233. 
Pharisees,  441. 
Philip  the  apostle,  529. 

landgi'ave  of  Hesse,  891. 
Philip  II.  succeeds  his  father,  995. 

his  character,  995. 
Philosophy  of  history,  26-33. 

transcendental,  22-26. 
Pietists,  1026. 

Plagues  of  Egypt,  their  design,  235. 
Polycarp,  569. 

Pompey  captures  Jerusalem,  449. 
Pontiffs,  how  chosen,  1007. 

their  characters,  757. 
Pope  of  Rome,  his  temporal  power,  716. 

defends  images,  736. 

his  high  claims,  751-753. 

his  contests  with  sovereigns,  753-757. 

Leo  X.  dies,  834. 
Popedom  removed  to  France,  793. 
Popery  and  forgery,  752. 
PorphjTy,  634. 
Pre-Adamite  men,  none,  89. 
Priscillianists,  700. 
Progress  of  Christianity  in  second  century,  603- 

606. 
Prophecy  fulfilled,  424-430. 
Protestant,  origin  of  the  title,  945. 
Protestants  form  an  alliance,  948. 

form  a  treaty  with  Charles,  949. 

defeated  at  Ingolstadt,  951. 

secure  a  lasting  peace,  953. 
Puritans,  origin  of,  966. 
Pyramids,  70. 

Quakers,  1031. 
Quietists,  808. 

Realists  and  Nominalists,  776,  813. 
Reformation,  preparation  for  it,  817-824. 

attempts  for  it,  825. 

its  influence  on  literature,  883,  893. 

established  in  Zurich,  903. 

established  in  Berne,  912. 

in  France,  916-929. 

in  Denmark  and  Sweden,  930. 

in  the  Netherlands,  931,  995. 

in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  933. 

in  Italy,  934-939. 

in  Spain,  939-942. 

in  England,  954-967. 

in  Scotland,  968-980. 

in  Ireland,  980. 


INDEX. 


1065 


Reformation  in  Switzerland,  902-915,  982-986. 

Reformed  clmrclies,  1014,  1027,  1040. 

Refonners  disagree,  894. 

Relioboani,  335. 

Renata,  dnchcss  of  Fen-ara,  987. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  993. 

Rites  connected  with  baptism,  639. 

multiplied,  010,  638,  671,  722,  778,  811. 
Romanists  engage  in  missions,  1008,  1021. 
Romish  persecutions,  1022. 

Church  in  the  eighteenth  ceuturj',  1033. 

Sabbath,  672. 

Sabellius,  652. 

Sacred  history,  peculiarities  of,  47-56. 

Sadducees,  409. 

Salvation,  how  sought  in  the  fifth  period,  728. 

Samaria,  a  revival  there,  520. 

Samuel  and  Saul,  306. 

anoints  David,  311. 

his  death,  313. 

his  character  and  works,  314-318. 
Saracens,  749,  792. 
Sarah  dies,  184. 
Saul  made  king,  309. 

his  treatment  of  David,  313-320. 

his  death,  315. 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  his  conversion,  521. 
Savonarola,  800. 

Saxons  converted  by  Charlemagne,  713. 
Schaff  's  History,  45. 
Schism  of  the  West,  794. 
School  at  Antioch,  684. 
Schools  of  the  prophets,  314. 

sabbath,  1054. 
Scotists,  806. 
Scotland  becomes  Popish,  968. 

state  of,  before  the  Reformation,  969. 

reformed  religion  established  in,  976. 
Semi-Arianism,  689. 
Semi-Pelagianism,  699. 
Semler's  rationalism,  42, 
Septuagint  translation,  406. 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  482. 
Serpent,  what,  106. 
Shakers,  1043. 

Shedd's  Historj-  of  Doctrines,  44. 
Shera,  where  settled,  162. 
Shinar,  where,  157. 
Signs  of  the  times,  1056. 
Simon  the  Just,  404. 

the  sorcerer,  520. 

Zelotes,  532. 

the  Stylite,  667. 
Slavery  and  Christianity,  665. 

overthrown,  1055. 
Socinians,  1019. 


Sociology,  22.  « 

Socrates  the  historian,  36. 
Sodom  destroyed,  178. 
Solomon  born,  325. 

made  king,  325. 

builds  the  temple,  331. 

his  fall,  322. 

his  death,  333. 

lessons  from  his  history,  333. 
Sozomen's  History,  30. 
Spies  sent  into  Canaan,  261. 
Spinoza,  58,  1032. 
Spirits,  evil,  their  influence,  30. 
Spurious  writings,  649. 
State  of  religion  in  second  century,  625. 

in  period  third,  654.  • 

in  period  fourth,  702. 

in  period  fifth,  736. 

in  period  sixth,  788,  790. 

in  period  seventh,  814,  816. 

of  Europe  in  period  fifth,  707. 

in  period  sixth,  738-740. 
Stephen  put  to  de.ith,  519. 
Superstitions  in  period  sixth,  768-771. 
Synagogues  established,  388-392. 
Synods  commence,  609. 

T.\BERNACLE  buUt,  254. 
Talmud,  389. 
Tamerl.ane,  792. 
Temperance  reformation,  1055. 
Temple,  Bishop,  24. 
Temple  rebuilt,  377-379. 

on  Mount  Gerizim,  394 
Tertullian,  616. 
Tetzel,  836-839,  843. 
Theocracy,  what,  250. 

when  instituted,  250. 
Theodoret's  History,  36. 
Theodosius  the  Great,  664. 
Theologians,  how  divided,  648,  729,  805. 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  800. 
Thomas  the  apostle,  532. 
Thomists,  805. 
Timothy,  563-566. 
Titus,  566. 
Tract  societies,  1054. 
Trajan,  598. 

Transubstantiation,  714. 
Tree  of  life,  99-102. 
Trinity  corrupted,  683. 
Turks,  749. 
TjT)es  and  symbols,  52. 

Unitaeianism  in  New  England,  1044. 

United  Brethren,  934. 

Unity  of  the  human  race,  114-124. 


1066 


INDEX. 


Unity  important,  124.        ' 
Universalists,  1043. 
Universities,  787,  812. 

Waldenses,  783,  810,  815,  923,  1027. 

Waldo,  Peter,  784. 

War  not  encouraged  in  Josliua,  288. 

of  the  peasants,  896-898. 

of  the  Anabaptists,  950. 

between  the  Protestants  and  emperor,  951. 

Thirty -Years',  1022. 
Water  from  the  rock,  247,  266. 
Wesleyan  Metliodists,  1042. 
White  brethren,  808. 
Wickliffe,  John,  801,  804,  954. 
William,  prmce  of  Orange,  997. 

slain,  1002. 


William,  prince  of  Orange,  his  character,  1003. 
Wishart,  George,  971. 
Witch  of  Endor,  316. 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  955. 

Xavier,  Feaxcts,  1008. 
Xenophon's  Anabasis,  397. 
Xerxes,  381-383. 

Zechariah  and  Elizabeth  bom,  446. 

Zoroaster,  380. 

Zwlngle,  his  birth  and  education,  902. 

settled  at  Zurich,  903. 

his  theses,  904. 

is  married,  907. 

slain  in  war,  914. 

compared  with  Luther,  914,  1014. 


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